How sharp is too sharp?

[frisby]

This is a New Zealand Shore Plover, I've done some post proc sharpening but I'm wondering if it's too much?

Th original image (taken on a tripod with mirror lock) wasn't as sharp as expected, I'm guessing that's because it was at the top end of my 70-300 and the shutter speed could have been higher.

Any thoughts on compostion, colour, etc. also appreciated.



EXIF:

Nikon D90
f8
1/125
ISO 200
300mm

[jdepould]

Doesn't look oversharpened at first glance. That lens doesn't perform at its maximum when you're zoomed out to 300. Just a limitation of the glass (many zooms share this weakness). In some instances you may be better off cropping from a slightly wider focal length.

[AnimalGurl]

Looks ok to me. I'm not a pro by any stretch but I really like your photo here.

[JFSanders]

Man! that bird is soooooo sharp, if he turned sideways he'd disappear!



Really not a bad job of sharpening. The way to tell is if you can see a halo of the out of focus color on the edges of your subject. Sharpening in post with programs such as photoshop and others is really bumping edge contrast at the pixel level. Lets the eye see a sharper edge and our mind perceives it as sharper.

Topaz has a pretty amazing program that actually goes to the pixel level and runs an algorithm on the amount of blur and performs pixel transformation on the bit level. Neat stuff.

Jim

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Great capture Frisby, a butt shot done good! He's a well banded bird, can I ask where?

[ravncat]

The amount of sharpening is related to the final image and who it will be displayed - it might not be sharp enough for a large print on a matte paper with alot of ink bleed, it may be too sharp for a small web image.. And images for the web, sharpening should be dependant upon viewing resolution - so it's a hard question to answer. Your image does not look oversharp on this monitor.

It looks very good on my home monitor - although you might consider masking out the sharpening done on the out of focus background in the upper right - the sharpening there might not really be needed...

[frisby]

Thanks guys.

@ravncat

That's awesome cheers. Will see if I can tweak the background.

@jdepould

I thought that might be the case with the 300. This might mean I have to trade up :-(

@JFSanders

I'll see if I can get him to turn sideways next time.

@FlyingKiwiGirl

Nothing wrong with a butt shot ;-) They're down at Plimmerton just now just down from the fire station. I thought they'd be hard to find but they're not.

@AnimalGurl

Ta :-)

[JFSanders]

Eh, it was an attempt at channeling Richard Pryor and his monologue on pimp culture. Sometimes you are the bug and sometimes you are the windshield...

[frisby]

Sadly lost on me on that occasion though you have inspired me to go out and get a Richard Pryor DVD ;-)

[JFSanders]

I have his stuff on 78 rpm albums. It is a scream. In my opinion R. Pryor and Redd Foxx were amazing. You had to see Redd Foxx live to get the full spectrum of the guy, but if you did it was so funny it hurts to remember laughing that hard.

Jim