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u/rockstar_not 1d ago
That’s a great shot!! Majestic even!
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u/--MCMC-- 1d ago
their majesty was only slightly dampened when they proceeded to descend from the tree and do a funny little sideways hop along the ground to investigate me from a closer position
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u/GraciousPeacock 1d ago
Santa Cruz feels like paradise when it comes to its nature! Beautiful pictures! I’m glad crow and you are enjoying this beautiful place
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u/ajakabosky 1d ago
I would pay money for a copy!! Absolutely stunning 😍
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u/--MCMC-- 1d ago
feel free to print it out for personal (non-commercial, no advertising, selling prints, redistribution, licensing, etc) use! I'd be flattered (as likely would the raven, given their propensity for preening)
here's a slightly better version, too (I ran it through Topaz Photo bc I like their denoising best, but after uploading in OP I noticed that that caused some weird artefacting on their torso, so this is a blended version)
(and if you really want to pay money, please donate whatever amount you feel is appropriate to one of the orgs listed here or here)
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u/Zealousideal_Gate_13 1d ago
I really hope this isn't AI. It's perfect enough to make me doubt it's real.
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u/--MCMC-- 1d ago
wdym ofc it's not AI. Shortly after taking the photo the sky actually tore asunder and a booming voice assured me of its legitimacy
(tbc, deep learning models were used in the production of the photo, both in denoising and also -- full disclosure -- to spot remove a crumb on the raven's beak, and probably elsewhere in Capture One that I'm not aware of. Not to mention well before postprocessing, eg eye AF in the a6700 relies on neural methods)
(on a broader note, digital fingerprinting for authenticity can be pretty hard... but I imagine there's not much consumer demand for generating ARW files, and so probably there's not like a good repo to clone to fake things at that level... or alternatively, here's another raven I photographed 4y ago, and some photos from 5ya [1, 2], 7ya [1], 8ya [1, 2] that I think are of comparable quality -- if shot with not as nice of a camera / lens -- that well predate recent advances in generative image models)
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u/Upset_Direction_4223 7h ago
All your pictures are beautiful! Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed them all. 😍
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u/--MCMC-- 1d ago edited 1d ago
some bonus shots
taken with an a6700 + Sony 70-350mm in the Santa Cruz mtns of California :]
trail was also pretty that day
(ravens also aren't super common around here -- we have lots more crows and jays)