Critique Golden Eagle CR3 RAW file PP invitation... UPDATED Post #37

RedRobin

Dances With Dogs
Messages
9,310
Name
Robin
Edit My Images
Yes
This image has been posted by me in the Canon EOS-R thread and several TP members have asked to have a go at post-processing it.

This is my attempt in CaptureOne :

GOLDEN EAGLE STANDING PROUD by Robin Procter, on Flickr

If you would like to have a go, please PM me with the title 'GOLDEN EAGLE - RAW PP' with your email so I can add it to my Dropbox for you to access and download.

I am not very expert at post-processing tricky images - I should have taken more care to look at the histogram for this one but there wasn't much time to grab the shot!

This is a JPEG screengrab of the original file : [I told you I was in misty cloud at high altitude!] :D

Golden%20Eagle%20RAW%20grab.jpg


I look forward to seeing any results.
 
Last edited:
Robin, may be worth posting a JPEG version of where you started so people can see what they're in for

.... I'm just in the process of uploading a PNG screengrab of the RAW file as viewed untouched in CaptureOne to then post it here but Photobucket is taking forever!!
 
Bluddy heck Rob! I like a challenge but... well, okay okay - PM coming over (y)
 
haha I pm'd him exactly the same thing when I saw the amount of mist!
 
Well, I went for a slightly more muted colour palette and I've got Lightroom sliders going all over the place. Here's my best effort I'm afraid:

Golden Eagle gman edit.jpg
 
Well, I went for a slightly more muted colour palette and I've got Lightroom sliders going all over the place. Here's my best effort I'm afraid:

View attachment 236893

.... That was fast!! Darth Vader of the Eagle World?
 
was it a big crop as iq seems a bit noisy !!!!!

.... Only a very small crop if you compare my misty screengrab in my original post.
 
Bluddy heck Rob! I like a challenge but... well, okay okay - PM coming over (y)

haha I pm'd him exactly the same thing when I saw the amount of mist!

.... This one was shot an hour earlier and is even mistier. Visibility through the cloud was very variable and it was windy.

Golden%20Eagle%20perched.jpg
 
Last edited:
.... That was fast!! Darth Vader of the Eagle World?

I kinda got to the point where I figured that with my skill level any further time spent would only reward with very minimal improvement, unless I was willing to invest some serious micro editing time - but it would be hours of work probably.
 
as they say sh*** in sh*** out
don't think you will be able to do much with that shot
except get another shot on a day with no mist
 
Can't open CR3 Rob, it's got to be TIFF or DNG. But hopefully someone else can help.
 
Last edited:
its the only bad shot on your flicker all the rest are great
surely you can see that ?
we can all take bad shots trust me but thats the ones i delete
 
Can't open CR3 Rob, it's got to be TIFF or DNG. But hopefully someone else can help.

I had to convert to dng, I'll reinstall drop-plop and put the dng in to be shared if it helps. These pesky modern cameras....
 
You should be able to see the DNG file in the dropbox folder now.
 
Phew! It's only three stops under-exposed Rob, and shot through fog...

I tried to get a bit more feather detail without losing the rich dark browns, and I think it's been partly successful but there's not a lot to work with. Sliders were all over the place and working at the extremes like that they can be unpredictable and one change effects another and you end up chasing your tail. Very little noise reduction applied. I assumed that the background was around neutral grey-ish, and those are pretty much the colours I ended up with. No idea if that's right though :)

Golden Eagle LowerRes jpg-1584.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think you could go round in circles all day with this one, get 10 different versions, all with their merits and none of them quite right. Its an interesting challenge, but ultimately the original file doesn't have the required detail to get a good end product.

Still in the interest of playing the game ...

Golden-Eagle_R_1584-RP.jpg

Mike
 
I think you could go round in circles all day with this one, get 10 different versions, all with their merits and none of them quite right. Its an interesting challenge, but ultimately the original file doesn't have the required detail to get a good end product.

thats what i said earlier but not as elequently s in s out ;)
 
I think you could go round in circles all day with this one, get 10 different versions, all with their merits and none of them quite right. Its an interesting challenge, but ultimately the original file doesn't have the required detail to get a good end product.

.... Agreed and I am surprised how different each posted result looks from each other - I wasn't expecting that. They each have something going for them but also something missing, including my own. That's fundamentally my fault for having under-exposed the image in the first place.

It only remains for me to say thank you to all those who spent their time having a go.
 
I had one more go and am happy with this - The version by @michael23 Michael is the most similar. I think it's time to move on and process more from this trip to Bulgaria rather than spend more time on this one but it's a very strong picture and has been worth pushing it, in my opinion.

Golden%20Eagle_R_1584%202.jpg
 
This PP is by Robin Lee. He says "Here's my retouch, used your DNG file, ACR slight adjust, used targeted shadow and highlights for post-processing with masks in Photoshop, saved JPEG full resolution, slightly cropped, no sharpening, no noise reduction... you can post it on my behalf on TP as I'm no longer PRO on Flickr account."

Golden-Eagle_R_1584.jpg
 
Hi @RedRobin, thanks for posting this for me. I see many colour/chroma noise in the shadow area of the bird, in which I do not wish to show on my PP as there's no value to it. To me, if it is a deep shadow, keep it as it is.

.... I think you are probably right and it's something I should sometimes learn to accept. Just because the software processing allows the option to pull out details in shadows doesn't mean you have to do it.

I have learnt quite a lot from the critiques of TP folks here - Again, Thanks!
 
.... I think you are probably right and it's something I should sometimes learn to accept. Just because the software processing allows the option to pull out details in shadows doesn't mean you have to do it.

I have learnt quite a lot from the critiques of TP folks here - Again, Thanks!

:plus1: given the condition you are in when photographing the eagles, I would probably do a few exposures +1ev to +2ev if, the eagle obliges obviously :p
 
:plus1: given the condition you are in when photographing the eagles, I would probably do a few exposures +1ev to +2ev if, the eagle obliges obviously :p

.... Ah, the exact science of hindsight!

When it comes to photographing some species such as wild Eagles it is wise to follow a certain etiquette in order to stand any chance of successful photography. Understanding their typical behaviour is key. As it is in all wildlife photography.

Agreed but the light and more critically the visibility was constantly changing due to being sat hidden on a mountain top in wind blown cloud. Also, I was not wanting to rattle off my camera's shutter sound for fear of spooking this wild Eagle and not seeing him/her again all day. By being quiet I at least was able to get this shot and others after the Eagle had decided the coast was clear and settled down to feed :

PROBABLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN EAGLE I HAVE EVER SEEN! by Robin Procter, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
@RedRobin you could use silent shutter too in this instance, that's the advantage rather than the traditional mirror slapping machine :giggle:

I think photographing in the fog is almost the same condition photographing in the snow, where the camera metering tends to underexpose.

.... I did use Silent Shutter Mode-1 on my mirrorless Canon EOS-R but it still makes a sound and this was my first ever wild Golden Eagle shot and I had been told they were easily spooked in that area. You can get away with just one click sound rather than any burst. I haven't tried Silent Shutter Mode-2 yet but must do so.

As said, the 'fog' was constantly changing and directly effecting visibility very quickly.

The advantage of mirrorless is that you can see the histogram in the viewfinder (you can't on my D-SLR 1DX-2 unfortunately) and I recently tend to shoot influenced by the histogram rather than being led by the exposure meter.

Friend and very highly respected professional Guy Edwardes who I was with on most of this Bulgaria trip advised me to be led by the histogram and not the exposure indicator. It's all a juggling act when shooting wildlife subjects in Manual-mode but it's a challenge I rise to.

I shot these Spotted Nutcrackers in snow on the same trip but handheld on the 1DX-2 because of its 14fps burst rate. My EOS-R was left on the 500mm on the tripod :

SPOTTED NUTCRACKERS SQUABBLING IN THE SNOW by Robin Procter, on Flickr
 
That's correct using histogram rather than your exposure indicator, hence the +1,+2 ev... I don't use the dedicated EV switch but instead of using either SS or ISO to compensate. That means your exposure indicator will be showing + value.

Nice shot of nutcracker! I've been eyeing for the golden eagle at Bulgaria for quite some time, but the ones in Norway seems to be more interesting. They also have the elusive Goshawk hide too.

I do like Guy Edwardes work, I see many of his shots from FB.
 
That's correct using histogram rather than your exposure indicator, hence the +1,+2 ev... I don't use the dedicated EV switch but instead of using either SS or ISO to compensate. That means your exposure indicator will be showing + value.

.... The ability to program the Control Ring on the mirrorless EOS-R so that I can change the ISO and see in the result live, along with the histogram, in either the EVF or back screen is a very valuable plus for me. I am impatient for Canon to release a mirrorless version/equivalent of the 1DX one day and hopefully before I am too old to take wildlife photos.

Nice shot of nutcracker! I've been eyeing for the golden eagle at Bulgaria for quite some time, but the ones in Norway seems to be more interesting. They also have the elusive Goshawk hide too.

.... Thanks for the Nutcracker compliment! Who offers this Norway trip please?

I do like Guy Edwardes work, I see many of his shots from FB.

.... And also on Instagram. When I first started wildlife photography about 5 years ago my daughter bought me a book '100 Wildlife Photography Tips' by a photographer called Guy Edwardes. He immediately became my hero and whose work I aspired to. About a year and a half ago I met him through a mutually close friend of us both and he lives quite close to me so we occasionally meet when he is not spending more than half the year abroad! He's in Japan for his first time at the moment.

Here is his website if you haven't seen it already : https://www.guyedwardes.com
 
Thanks for the Guy Edwards link Rob. Truly wonderful work. I find stuff like that both inspiring and also a bit depressing - how much time and effort and sheer talent does it take to get to that level? More than I have... :(

My wildlife hero is Stephen Dalton. I have most of his books and interviewed him several times for magazine articles. The man is a genius.
https://www.stephendalton.co.uk/
 
Hi Robin, I like your second attempt best. I think mist adds mystery and intrigue and should be retained somewhat. Handsome bird all the same!
 
Thanks for the Guy Edwards link Rob. Truly wonderful work. I find stuff like that both inspiring and also a bit depressing - how much time and effort and sheer talent does it take to get to that level? More than I have... :(

My wildlife hero is Stephen Dalton. I have most of his books and interviewed him several times for magazine articles. The man is a genius.
https://www.stephendalton.co.uk/

.... Me too! And it's even more depressing when I have been either sat or standing right next to him and he has nailed the shot better than I have! Apart from sheer talent he has being doing it for well over 20 years and he shoots a lot and most are carefully considered rather than machine gun spraying.

Stephen Dalton is very good too and has even more experience but my hero (only as far as photography is concerned, I hasten to add!) is still Guy. His wife Cat is very good too.
 
My original photograph had been (quite justifiably) criticised by some TP photographers as having noisy poor image quality - Basically I got my original exposure wrong. So I thought, ok it's not an oil painting (meaning a masterpiece) so why not make it one.

With a little help from Photoshop, voila! A digital filter 'oil painting'. Solves the image quality problem in one!! :D

GOLDEN EAGLE - 'OIL PAINTING' by Robin Procter, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Back
Top