Posting Before & After Shots

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D5 Image Basic LR Processing ISO 10,000D5 Image LR Processing + Topaz DeNoise ISO 10,000
View attachment 4777View attachment 4779
To really see the difference, click on each in turn. I guess this would have been a better demo with crops to 100% view :)

Great tip and great instructions Oztours! That's a pretty cool comparison tool for all kinds of compare and contrast kind of discussions.
The difference is obvious, well done.
 
Sandhill Cranes at the Rowe Audubon Sanctuary, Kearney Nebraska, April 6, 2022.
Nikon D850,Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF; 1/1600 sec. f/5.6, ISO 20,000
Before shot is SOOC no cropping or processing.
After shot is run through DxO PhotoLab 5 including ClearView and Deep Prime noise reduction followed by some polishing, straighten and 1x2 crop in LrC. Final image is 8124x4062 pixels. Not clear enough for a fine paper print, but more than adequate for a nice canvas print of 15x30 or 20x40 inches.
I am working on other shots that may be more interesting. Used this one as a test case.

BeforeAfter.jpg
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BeforeAfter-2.jpg
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Here's another high ISO comparison. If I'd been paying closer attention to falling light levels I would have traded some shutter speed to lower the ISO but I wasn't, so this was captured at the high ISO cap in my D5 (25,600). So here's a comparison of straight LR processing to the same processing plus Topaz DeNoise. I suspect the difference is pretty obvious on these images without resorting to a 100% crop but click on each image in turn if it's not obvious.

D5 image ISO 25,600 LR Processing (no sharpening)D5 image ISO 25,600 LR Processing (no sharpening) + Topaz DeNoise
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Very nice.
 
I’m just looking for critiques on the edit, not the actual photo for this one.
Thanks! Obviously both images had to be downsized.
Looks to me like you did a good job with tough lighting. I might try burning down the bright left edge of the perch a bit more or perhaps adding a vignette (edge darkening) to the overall image but to my eyes you did a very good job bringing out detail and managing the dappled lighting.

The bright background blob behind the bird is tough but it looks like you brightened it quite a bit while bringing out shadow detail. You might try an adjustment brush with set to pull up Shadows over the bird as a way to bring up your main subject without so much background brightening.
 
Looks to me like you did a good job with tough lighting. I might try burning down the bright left edge of the perch a bit more or perhaps adding a vignette (edge darkening) to the overall image but to my eyes you did a very good job bringing out detail and managing the dappled lighting.

The bright background blob behind the bird is tough but it looks like you brightened it quite a bit while bringing out shadow detail. You might try an adjustment brush with set to pull up Shadows over the bird as a way to bring up your main subject without so much background brightening.
Thanks! How’s this?
1667577926912.jpeg
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Thanks! How’s this?
I like it. I might try to pull the bird up a bit further which might take both Shadow and Exposure pulls with the selective adjustment. Hard to say if a bit more shadow pull would help or look over the top but I'd probably try it to see if it worked. But very nice job from the starting point.
 
Thoughts appreciated!


Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)

53A44373-9FE3-4E08-96BF-AC69A25B1DA4.thumb.jpeg.05ac169c539d985be80d9ac93c650501.jpeg

Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
1800
 
Thoughts appreciated!
Nice edit, I like it! Impressive how much sharpness you got out of the image without it looking fake and unnatural (y)

Two minor suggestions if I may: The beak looks slightly too shiny/glossy. I see that this effect is present in the original as well, however, if only seeing the edit, I can see how you would think this looks a bit off.
The other thing is the very tight crop on the left side. I would like to see the tail having a bit more space behind it 😊

What species is it? American widgeon?
 
Nice edit, I like it! Impressive how much sharpness you got out of the image without it looking fake and unnatural (y)

Two minor suggestions if I may: The beak looks slightly too shiny/glossy. I see that this effect is present in the original as well, however, if only seeing the edit, I can see how you would think this looks a bit off.
The other thing is the very tight crop on the left side. I would like to see the tail having a bit more space behind it 😊

What species is it? American widgeon?
Thank you! About the bill, I’m not sure what went wrong there. I’ll see if I have a chance to play around with that. Regarding the crop, as you can see, the original image didn’t have the best crop, so in order to have the bird looking more into the frame, I had to do that. You got the ID correct, but it’s spelled American Wigeon(without the D! Same thing goes for Pigeons).
 
Thoughts appreciated!


Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)

53A44373-9FE3-4E08-96BF-AC69A25B1DA4.thumb.jpeg.05ac169c539d985be80d9ac93c650501.jpeg

Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
1800
Its a very nice image.
 
Out-of-camera JPEG​
RAW after Photoshop Elements and NIK ColorEfex4​
Sonoita Creek before.jpg
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Sonoita Creek after.jpg
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A recent shot from Sonoita Creek State Natural Area (southern Arizona, managed by Arizona State Parks)
 
Critiques on this edit appreciated! Both files downsized for posting.
Nice job lifting the shadows on the bird. Maybe try selectively darkening the branch a bit and drop the black point overall to find true black under the bird's wing/tail. Compositionally maybe try it with the bird a little lower in the frame with its head closer to vertical center and the bottom of the frame almost at the bird's tail.
 
Out-of-camera JPEG​
RAW after Photoshop Elements and NIK ColorEfex4​
View attachment 57008
View attachment 57009
A recent shot from Sonoita Creek State Natural Area (southern Arizona, managed by Arizona State Parks)
Nice job brightening the FG w/out blowing out the sky. And you really pulled the detail out in the sky. Dramatic change before and after. Nice job.
 
Thoughts appreciated!


Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)

53A44373-9FE3-4E08-96BF-AC69A25B1DA4.thumb.jpeg.05ac169c539d985be80d9ac93c650501.jpeg

Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
I missed these earlier, but are those dust spots on the sensor? On the right hand side at least 4 spots.
 
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