Saddleback or Tieke

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

The Saddleback is a previously rare and endangered NZ bird. It is glossy black with a chestnut saddle and orangey red wattles either side of it's bill. It is now only found on predator free island sanctuaries around the North Island. It is one of the success stories of Mokoia Island.

It's a very secretive bird and usually hides away on the forest floor foraging amongst the leaf litter. I happened across this one and it's mate out in the open. This is one of the captures that I'm thinking of sending to my contact who is doing a exhibition of life on Mokoia.

How does it look on any calibrated screens out there? I have had a little play with the RAW file I printed it and it seems reasonable but I'm no expert.

Does it tell you enough of a story. There is a marquee on the island(weird I know), the island is owned by a local Maori iwi (tribe) with the Department of Conservation doing the bird conservation part. The marquee is used for weddings, I guess people want to marry on an island that is known for it's Maori love story- the famous Maori legend of Hinemoa & Tutanekai. Anyway it just seems a bit of an oxymoron to have a very rare bird that you'd expect to see in the bush (if in fact you manage to see one in your lifetime),sitting on a fence post in front of a marquee.

Anything else that doesn't look right? It wasn't a good day generally although I have 3 or 4 bird photos I can probably use, I failed to find a good shot that wasn't just the birds of Mokoia.



Exif data
Camera Sony DSLR-A350
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 250 mm
ISO Speed 100

[natalie_danielle]

It looks a little pink to me, color correction can fix that using the roof in the background as a guide. I might add a little bit of fill light as the bird looks quite dark on y screen, not bad though - maybe just a touch. Other than that I like it, I think it looks good, great capture!

[windrider86]

I'd probably crop out the white at the top of the page. Its very bright and takes the attention away from the main focal point

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Thank you Natalie & windrider for your suggestions. I've had another play, not sure I've got the colour right still, I'm such a newbie to all adjusting photos manually. Litterally poking around in the the dark and hoping for the best. I think this capture has too much noise too?

Anyway here's the next attempt and a new crop, how does this one look please?

[sk66]

Better crop. nice sharpness, but very grainy. Why? The ISO was quite low... I'd guess excessive sharpening applied to the image overall. Using LR? In the detail panel hold down alt and move the masking slider rt until the sharpening is affecting only what you want (or close to it)
You said it has chestnut saddle? It looks orange red on my calibrated monitor..very close to the waddles and brighter/redder than the rump....no idea if that's "correct".

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Thanks sk66, the only work done was in ACR, I'm not sure that I sharpened though, I took note of what someone else said that I shouldn't sharpen if it was going to be printed, or sharpen not very much. I could be wrong though. I've lost track as I've been doing too many. Hmmm, I'll have to re visit to see what I've done. The saddle and wattles are quite a bright orange(the wattles are slightly brighter) and my screen shows them about right(although mine's not calibrated)

Thanks for your input, I'll go back and check that sharpening. I know I've had to crop quite a bit and it was a long focal length so quality is not that great.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by FlyingKiwiGirl

Thanks sk66, the only work done was in ACR, I'm not sure that I sharpened though, I took note of what someone else said that I shouldn't sharpen if it was going to be printed, or sharpen not very much. I could be wrong though. I've lost track as I've been doing too many. Hmmm, I'll have to re visit to see what I've done. The saddle and wattles are quite a bright orange(the wattles are slightly brighter) and my screen shows them about right(although mine's not calibrated)

Thanks for your input, I'll go back and check that sharpening. I know I've had to crop quite a bit and it was a long focal length so quality is not that great.

Same instructions work for ACR as for LR re. sharpening...it's under the details tab (triangles)....
If the noise wasn't added by sharpening (check your ACR "defaults") or resizing then the only thing that can be done is a little bit of noise filtering, or a light blur added to the BG.

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Thanks sk66, I've re-played but can't seem to loose the sharpened look. How do you go about "noise filtering" &/or adding blur?

[Bruce A]

Shellie, hit control J for a new layer, go to filters, go to Blur, choose gaussian blurr, click and a little preview box with sliders will open, adjust the level of blur, click okay. Click B for brush on your keyboard, check opaque level and click clear in the mode box and brush in what you want unblurred. Be sure your colour palette is set to black. When you have the desired finish, go to layers and click flatten layers. Practice and don't forget you can go back steps to get it right.

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Cool! Thanks Bruce. Another time waster to play with I am learning very fast that Photoshop is a very powerful tool!