Soft Image R1 + 500L IS ii + 2X IS iii

[DhandaNot]

Why is this image so soft, it is unusable. The light is perfect and the sight too is good. The Focus Point is exactly on the eye but the image is blurred. What am I doing wrong.

[DhandaNot]

Attaching the image now. The focus point and other details:

[p4pictures]

I'm guessing you are a long way from the bird to need a 500mm + 2x extender and then use the 1.6x crop mode on the EOS R1, effectively 1600mm focal length. The metadata in the images indicates you are in UAE so even though the time stamp for when the photo was taken is 8:27am, then could it is very likely atmospheric conditions and or heat haze that is causing the softness you are seeing.

I saw that the image is quite flat in tone and contrast as well as sharpening. I don't know what you used to process it, but I did try using the camera RAW filter in Photoshop to add some sharpening with improved results. 

[TomRamsey]

In a scene like this where there is a lot of bight sky around a dark subject, a spot or center weighted metering might help, it should allow more contrast on the bird and not look so flat.

[jrhoffman75]

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@DhandaNot wrote:

Attaching the image now. The focus point and other details:

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Can you post the .CR3 file to Dropbox or One Drive?

[Waddizzle]

“ Attaching the image now. The focus point and other details: “

How far away was the subject?  Did you use a tripod or monopod?

 

 

I suspect that the subject is too far away, camera shake, or you missed focus.

 At this apparent distance, I would also suggest disabling the advanced AF features like subject and eye detection.  Take control of the camera. 

Also, you will not always be able to capture the shot when an opportunity presents itself.

[DhandaNot]

There was no heat haze at that time. 🙏 I am confused as I have managed to take this kind of shot with R6. I have not proceed it at all. I could bring out the image to some extent with processing. I sent the unprocessed image to show how it was captured.

Actually I was waiting for the Eagle to fly and wanted flight shot where the same bird with the wings spread would have covered good part of the sensor. I did get some shots that I can use. This is an example same camera and same glass. This one is a bit processed in LR Classic. Crop is almost down to 15%

[DhandaNot]

I rarely change the metering. The EFV shows the image as how it will be captured. If the subject is too dark I bump up the EV to get the subject bright. The camera captures at a higher ISO. I also try to open the aperture if it can be done and lower the shutter to allow more light to ensure ISO is capped to a decent value.

Please do elaborate how spot of center metering improves the contrast. I do not quite follow it.

[DhandaNot]

Here is the CR3 on OneDrive

Eagle Focus

[DhandaNot]

I was sitting in the car (switched off) and had a bean bag on the window when I took this shot. The EXIF here shows Zone 1, however I took some shots with single point (locked) focus also to see if that helps. Subject was far for sitting pose and not so far when it would fly. The subject and eye detection already get disabled when the point focus is used.

I noticed quite a few shots were blurred / mushy / soft. Whereas I would not expect them like that.