Common Buzzard.
Even though there are high numbers of these raptors living on Mull, they still usually fly away as soon as a vehicle parks nearby.
Today, this one chose to ignore me, to continue scanning the area below where it was perched, for prey.
Gorgeous, oft overlooked birds, that have a wide range of variations in their plumage colours, and manage to survive in the harshest of conditions.
I'm a fan.
@petewalkden I thought buzzards were like vultures!
> The Buteo species of Eurasia and Africa are usually commonly referred to as "buzzards" while those in the Americas are called hawks. DNA testing shows that the common buzzard is fairly closely related to the red-tailed hawk
You jammy bugger!
*Really* liking this one, Pete - this presses all the right buttons for me.
What ISO were you at, Pete?
Thanks, Pete.
If you have a chance, could you humour me and put up a version without Topaz, please?
No problem if not.
Thanks, Pete.
OK, if you don't want to have this conversation that's absolutely cool, but: when you sharpen in Lr, do you use the Sharpening Mask tool?
I've been working with a pal who was unhappy with his "noisy" 7D Mk II, and it turned out that it was down to his Lr workflow.
With respect, your buzzard's BG is noisier than I would expect from 1600 ISO and a light(?) crop, so I'm just wondering.
Tell me to mind my own business, by all means!
😀
Case in point: not a great picture (not many Buzzards or Eagles on my doorstep! 🙂), this is my R7 at 4000 ISO, cropped.
I sharpened used the Sharpening Masking slider; then I selected the background (Select Subject > Invert), denoised it and "added" some -ve Texture.
I think this looks good, noise-wise - all easily done, and staying within Lr's toolset - and really, I could dial back on the (already light) NR on the bird.
(Again, I will wind my neck in if so instructed..! 😉)
@keithreeder Just tried that on my buzzard image and it looks great for the background.
A handy tip, thanks 👍 I may well use this in some shots in the future.
It just makes things easier - I think, anyway - not to *have to* hand off to another programme, Pete.
Plus, I find that I can get better results by applying sharpening and NR selectively rather than globally - that way there's less to-and-fro trying to get the perfect balance between the two. Even the "AI" NR apps available nowadays don't know what I want, better than I do.
"I’m assuming LR is more accurate these days at subject selection as it used to be a bit vague at times?"
Works fine for how I use it, Pete: I mainly use it to apply selective sharpening and Texture, which can really bring out fine detail used sparingly.
If I'm dealing with a lot of high ISO stuff, I'll likely use a different converter, one that gets the job done in one hit.
Capture One, say: R7 @ 5k ISO at C1 defaults, and I'm very happy with this in NR (not content!) terms:
Mind you, Lr's not too shabby at "only" 5000 ISO either: nothing done except Sharpening Masking, and Luminance at (an arbitrary) 6:
@keithreeder I do use the mask tool, but I really don't do much in LR.
Looking at your starling though, I might add some steps in.
That said, the background is usually dead easy to smooth out in PS with Neat Image or Topaz. I have more of an issue with noise on subjects, especially white ones, like barn owls (not that I've seen many here).
I should also point out that right now I'm limited to using my old MacBook Pro, not my PC. So images aren't to my usual standards.
Most US "hawks" are related to European/Eurasian Buteo species like Pete's Common buzzard.
Just bear in mind that we were calling them "buzzards" *long* before anyone in the US started using the name for your carrion-eating birds; and - strictly speaking - your "hawks" are misnamed too, as they're not Accipiter (true hawks) but Buteo.
Always amazes me the range of colours they come in My daughter calls them the v-neck jumper bird.
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