What technical feedback would you like if any? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated
What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Taken at a Florida rookery during a very abbreviated trip. Life goes on as normal in the rookery, as it will eventually for the rest of us.
Taken with a Nikon D5, Nikor 180-400 @320mm
Taken at F/5.6, ISO 360, 1/3200 sec.
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
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Cheryl: Looks like you didn’t attach the image to this post. You can just edit the post with the little pencil icon and add the image like you normally would.
Thanks Keith… Good to know that you are there, to help out. I put the image in, but must have deleted it accidentally…then tried to cancel, but couldn’t do that either.
Thanks Keith. Would you share what would you like to see done differently either in the photograph or the post process…. What could be done to give it more “punch”?
I grabbed the image an did a little work. He’s a summary of the things I did:
Curves Adjustment layer with the Linear Contrast Preset (very minor curve for a bit of contrast).
Did an object select on the birds and cleanup up the selection. Inverted the selection so the sky was selected. Probably could have just selected the sky easier…
Use that selection as a mask on curves adjustment layer. Chose the blue channel and pulled that curve up just a bit to add a bit more blue color, then used the RGB composite to pull the overall luminance of the blue sk down just a bit.
Used TK to select the brightest whites. Put that mask on a Burn layer and burned the hottest whites down just a bit.
Put a subtle freehand vignette on the image.
cloned on some artifact on th left edge directly left of the tail of the upper bird.
Here’s the result. I still like your original. Maybe this has a bit more punch??
Here’s a second version. I wasn’t all that thrilled with the first attempt. This one is simpler. Same concept on the sky. Then a high pass sharpen on the birds, then a burn on the birds with a soft light blending mode layer using the same mask as the high pass sharpening (just the birds). Bagged the vignette. Don’t think it helped.
Perfect timing, Cheryl. I love to watch them dance, and have managed to capture it once I think. I like what Keith did to give the image that extra punch.
It is a dandy image. I am surprised by how much detail you captured in both birds. I certainly prefer the darker sky. It makes the bird pop a bit more.
What a great opportunity and you did a great job of capturing the action, Cheryl! It’s just a little bit hot on the exposure but not enough to distract from the action and the great details in the feathers. I like Keith’s adjustments on the last version the best. It has a little more contrast on the bird and the darker blue background really makes them stand out more.
@Gary_Minish, @David_Leroy, @Shirley_Freeman Many thanks to you for your comments. I see the error of my ways. The original had a much more intense blue color sky, which I unwisely lightened… I think that with Keith’s comments, I will take a much more measured approach in the future. Live and Learn!
Excellent action, Cheryl. The original post is fine, though pumping up the sky a bit did make it pop more. I’m fine with some small areas of the whites being right at the limit-I think it adds to the contrast and helps make the image pop a bit more.
