Applying some techniques I’ve learned here on NPN from many of you was my goal with this post. This photo of a Ruby-throat feeding from a Leopard Lily was, I felt, a good shot, but applying a more critical eye, I felt it could be better. Details below.
What technical feedback would you like if any? Any
What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any
Pertinent technical details or techniques: Canon 60D, Canon 70-300 IS USM Zoom @ 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 1000, Ev -0.5 step, 1/3000 sec., Hand Held. Processed in Canon DPP and PS Elements 12. I applied light selective sharpening to the bird and flower, and adusted brightness, contrast, and color. Lightly processed in Topaz De-noise. Cloned an oof bright red flower on the left margin of the photo, but wasn’t happy with the result, so I applied a vignette to help draw the eye away from that area. What could I have done better?
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
Terry: So cool that you’re working on new techniques and skills from NPN. It is a great place to learn.
This image is a nice effort. Hummingbirds are tough and a challenge to get all the components to work together. Some things are hard to control like the bright green in the background. It could be toned down a bit in post to help a little. I looked at the larger version here, as well as downloading the image and just looking at it at it’s native pixel dimensions in PS. It’s OK, but not as sharp as it could be. Plenty of shutter speed so my guess is focus was off a bit, or there are still some NR issues.
Artifacts on the left are pretty obvious from cloning even after your vignette. Any chance you could upload a good sized jpeg of the original, unprocessed? Maybe we could go from there.
Well, shoot, Keith…I deleted all the prior iterations I was working on before I converted it for the web. I do have the RAW file I could convert to a .jpeg. I don’t doubt the focus was off a bit. Not to make excuses, but this camera often has issues locking on to objects like this; I can often hear it searching - particularly at full focal range of that lens.
Hi Terry. I’d say you’re getting pretty close here. I like the wing position, and the light isn’t too bad, though my preference would be for it to be more directly on the bird. I too noticed the cloning artifacts on the left side of the frame and the image quality issues. The feather detail could be better, and there is a lot of noise. I’d assume both stem from a good sized crop? and maybe some underexposure? Only thing I’d mention that Keith didn’t is that the plant in the background is pretty distracting. If possible, I’d choose a more isolated flower, where the background vegetation isn’t so close.
A nice shot and you’re improving a lot, Terry. The detail on the hummingbird looks close on the neck of the bird, so I suspect that’s where the focus was. Your shutter speed was certainly high enough to stop any motion blur except possibly the wings. The light looks rather harsh. You might try bringing down the highlights in the RAW editor (I believe that’s DPP in your case). I can see cloning artifacts, as Keith mentioned. That’s just a matter of practice, patience and a critical eye. It’s definitely not something to do when you’re tired or in a hurry. A jpg of the original would be helpful to see.
By the way, you’ve helped verify the solving of a friend’s question. He had a (very bad) picture of a hummingbird with a yellow cap on it’s head and was trying to ID it. I’d seen similar things with pollen from Columbine and told him that was probably it, then someone else chimed in that they’d seen one that was similar that had been foraging in a lily with yellow pollen. This shows one caught in the act.
This version is from the first cropped, unprocessed version. I don’t think it would have made much difference working on the second version.
Yes, focus was not quite crisp, so if that happens, all you can do is apply software to try and help which is never as good as getting focus correct. That said, I think you can see that this version looks crisper than your original. Plenty of Photoshop work, luminosity masking to isolate tones, and selective sharpening on the hummer.
I think Keith has worked some sort of voodoo here. No way I could come up with a finished product that good. But, going from the RAW, looks like you were overexposed a bit and attempted a HUGE crop. I’d also reiterate trying to find a flower that is more isolated so the background is more blurred.
