How Do You PP Your Bird images?

[Russ]

Hi, Before a few months ago I only really photographed Land/Sea Scapes and some other odds and sods with Canon equipment but now moved over to Sony for mainly bird photography and wonder apart from getting it right in camera what do you do to your images to get the WYS image and what software do you tend to use? Thankyou, Russ.

[Alejandro]

If by “......getting the WYS image...” you mean being able to have your prints the same as what you see on the computer’s screen, I have always found that my prints look darker than what I see on screen (so I have to compensate that before printing). This, even when I was using a monitor calibrated using x-rite i1 Pro. Colours were fine.

To develop my raw files I use DxO’s program (it used to be called DxO Optics Pro originally, and it is now called DxO PhotoLab). I think it is a great program (not cheap though). For Sony’s raw files there are (among others) two programs that are free, Sony’s Imaging Edge and Capture One Express for Sony. These two have the basic features but allow you to process your raw files quite efficiently, but both are limited regarding correction of optical distortions of lenses (in which respect, DxO excels any other program).

To edit my 16 bits tiff files (to which format I export my raw files after processing them) I am now using Affinity Photo. It also allows you to process raw (with limited features).

I am no expert in taking photos of birds, but I have taken a few for fun and for my own enjoyment, some time ago. I just took photos of the ones that crossed my way when walking around with a camera to shoot photos of whatever subject that would draw my attention (well, not exactly, but I don’t go outdoors to the wild hunting for birds to take photos of them as you will probably be doing). Here are the photos of birds that I have taken till now https://alejandroceppi.zenfolio.com/pajaros

Most of those (not the two last ones) I took with an APS-C sensor camera (either a Sony A230 or an A580) using a Minolta 100-300mm F/4.6-5.6 APO zoom lens (most of them) or the Sony 55-200 mm f/4-5.6 kit lens.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Alejandro

[zansavier]

On 1/7/2021 at 4:29 AM, Russ said:

Hi, Before a few months ago I only really photographed Land/Sea Scapes and some other odds and sods with Canon equipment but now moved over to Sony for mainly bird photography and wonder apart from getting it right in camera what do you do to your images to get the WYS image and what software do you tend to use? Thankyou, Russ.

There are many software options available for editing RAW images, including Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, Dxo. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you may want to experiment to see which one works best for your workflow.

Edited May 6, 2023 by zansavier

[FunWithCameras]

3 hours ago, zansavier said:

There are many software options available for editing RAW images, including Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, Dxo. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you may want to experiment to see which one works best for your workflow.

You are responding to a thread that's over two years old, and to which the thread starter has never replied. In fact the person who asked the question hasn't visited the site since February 2021.

[AmirDeclan]

On 1/7/2021 at 4:29 AM, Russ said:

Hi, Before a few months ago I only really photographed Land/Sea Scapes and some other odds and sods with Canon equipment but now moved over to Sony for mainly bird photography and wonder apart from getting it right in camera what do you do to your images to get the WYS image and what software do you tend to use? Thankyou, Russ.

Review your images and select the ones you want to process. Choose the ones that are well-composed, in focus, and have good exposure. It's often better to work with a smaller selection of high-quality images rather than trying to process all of them.