I have troubles getting the most out of a series of photos of common buzzards gliding over me.
I wish I succeeded at creating more accutance but I guess that’s more of a capture problem. Though I’d be interested if you have any tips in this area.
I struggle to know what is needed is this common scenario (bird on a bright sky) to bring the most out of an image and to make the bird pop. I always go with trials and errors, without any methodology. I’m curious to know if anyone have a working approach for these?
Here is a basic version with Filmic as I feel it yields the most natural sky:
Used WB=as shot, bit extra denoising, 3EV+ exposure, bit of ToneEq, no CC, ContrEq masked at 33%to sharpen, 2x Sharpen masked, bit of LocContr, and ColorBalRgb to enhance and warmen. No Tonemapper. Frame=standard
Here is my attempt with DT using AgX as tone mapper. I might have over darkened the blue sky. I prefer the edit by @Jetze 20260809_0038.NEF.xmp (21.0 KB)
This is another attempt using base curve fusion in DT. I find this base curve fusion sometimes helpful with bird shots against the sky. 20260809_0038.NEF.xmp (17.7 KB)
To me, the AgX edit looks more natural: it’s obvious that feathers shine through, and there is no impression of a phantom light source on the ground. In the base-curve edit, there is also a yellow-green cast.
I had a similar process with some birds in flight recently. Fine details with a DorS preset, highpass+multiply, tone curve or AgX, chromatic aberrations, not much else.
My colour calibration channel mixer instance seems to have put fringing around the bird. And I have a masked CC instance to remove green from the feathers.
Here is another attempt using base curve fusion to show that the shadow brightness can be controlled by reducing the exposure shift. I personally prefer my previous attempt, but that is personal taste or lack of it. 20260809_0038.NEF.xmp (20.2 KB)
