Best of the day….. but 🤔

[Larry S.]

I was pretty happy to get a green heron in flight today. Actually thrilled. I presented a series about this earlier in the “presentation forum”. This post is about shooting conditions and decisions I made to get the string of shots…
1. Temperature 91 degrees; shots across water; humidity 80+%
2. Time: 1:40pm overhead sun….yuck!
3. Nikon Z9 w/600 PF f/6.3
4. 1/2500 sec./iso auto (1600 resulting)
This is a reduced resolution image to fit forum size. You have to be there when the critters show up…they don’t know or care about the “golden hour”.
Tech questions:
A. Do cross-water shots degrade BIF images in hot humid weather.
B. Could this species be shot slower in flight?… 1/1000-1600?
C. Can editing tools sharpen, de-noise and improve my heron.

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[JAJohnson]

Tech questions:
A. Do cross-water shots degrade BIF images in hot humid weather.
B. Could this species be shot slower in flight?… 1/1000-1600?
C. Can editing tools sharpen, de-noise and improve my heron.

A) Possibly yes, depending on atmospheric conditions. Given the conditions you describe I’d say it‘s a factor in your photo.
B) In my experience, about 1/1600 is the slowest I’ve tried which gets wing position frozen. But blurred wings can be great for showing motion, so experiment with slower shutter speeds to see what results.
C) Topaz AI has denoise and sharpening tools. It’s undergone a great deal of change over the past 18 months or so, not always for the best. In my experience, denoise works well when I’ve used it. Sharpening is hit and miss. Sometimes it’s surprisingly good, sometimes not. Denoise in Lightroom is good, sharpening is okay when used in moderation. My impression on this is subjective and opinions vary.