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Olympus E-M1 MarkII: OH MY! (4 Viewers)

You can see the patterns in the feathers of the right wing, like on these tail feathers: (these are not moiré patterns, they are really there)
EM120948.jpg
It seems the focus grabbed onto the wing feathers which in themselves have lots of contrast edges against the background. So I would say it looks pretty much right on. You had the ISO up high so the shutter speed is actually more than enough. A slower shutter speed would blur the background even more, but always at the risk of getting some motion blur in the wings, which I don't really mind so much if the overall effect is good. Try reducing the highs and high mids to tone down the background (can also be done by darkening and de-saturating the greens and yellows) and bringing up the shadows. I think then you would see more detail in the feathers. Crows are hard to nail. Nothing worse than black birds against a light background. That is one area where I see improvement in the Mark II; there is definitely a little more to play with in the shadows.
And remember, film is cheap these days, so shoot lots! ;)

Edit:
I have taken the liberty to do a rough edit on the shot to illustrate what I mean. Hope you don't mind...
crow_in_flight1.jpg
 
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Back in the old B+W days we used to say 50% of photography takes place in the darkroom. Ansel Adams would sometimes spend as much as a month trying to get the "perfect" print.* Same is true today except darkroom has been replaced by Lightroom. ;)
The tools we have today are so good and so fast! Amazing what you can do with even the simplest image processing software. There are even some free programs out there, like RawTherapee, that blow my mind they are so powerful.

* I gave up my photography business back in 1980 because I was so tired of the all-nighters in the darkroom struggling to meet deadlines. Really took the fun out of it. Now, after so many years, I am having fun again.
 
Yup, that is getting there.
Have a look at the tint of the blue in the sky and the fringing on the leaves against the sky. Something you have to watch out for when making changes in the color. All in all, definitely much better.
 
Right, the blues need to be desaturated now. Thanks.

EDIT:

Toned them down a little bit, should be better now.
 
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Thanks Rob, but you have to take a LITTLE credit! After all, I have the rig balanced in my ball bearing fit Lensmaster RH 1. :t: No wiggle and no resistance.... it just floats.
I loved the E-M1/Canon combination, but the Mark II and a better copy of the 400/5.6 take it all one level up. Been shooting at f/8, but I am going to try maybe 2/3 of a stop more to get just a tad more dof. I don't think refraction will become a problem until f/11. But.... I need light to do it.
For these shots, I put 4 50x100cm white Styrofoam boards on the ground between me and the perch to reflect some light upwards. Helps a lot, and the birds don't seem to mind. But they get really pissed (in the US sense) if our cat decides to come out and help by flopping on the ground at my feet.
EM124389b.jpg
Has the advantage though of them staying longer on the perch. ;)
 
Yes I do remember that set up Dan.
Good idea to add some light back to fill the shadows in and will also help with the aperture with a bit more to play with .
I am enjoying the OMD mk II and 300f4 pro as its so much lighter than my big rig for when I want to walk .
Keep up the good work :)
Rob.
 
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