I used a layer technique in an effort to blur the background even more than it was in the photo out of the camera. I think it worked reasonably well for my first try, though I wouldn’t mind if the background had even a bit more blur. Thoughts or comments?
Technical Details
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom @ 200mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 1000. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure, cropping, and applying a Gaussian Blur to the background. Topaz De-noise applied.
The background looks good to me, Terry. It is just blurred enough to allow the Dasher to take center stage. . . at least for me. Wonderful detail in the face and body. Great capture.
Nice look at a really impressive specimen. The bg looks nicely blurred and hints at more of the environment besides the perch. Tons of spider silk there. You could have a go at opening the shadows in the face and shoulders if you wanted to. The eye color looks marvelous, too, if you wanted to try to boost that a bit.
Hi Terry,
Great shot! I love the detail and colors. I agree the BG is just blurred enough that it doesn’t distract from the subject but still hints at environment.
I do think the dark area in bottom left is a bit distracting, so maybe crop in a little bit more to remove that.
@linda_mellor Thanks for your comments and critique.
@_Kris I thought I got a terrific pose from him, but the one nit is that, because of the way he’s facing, his body blocked the light from his face. I did have a go at trying to lighten it a bit.
Thanks @dan_beaudreau I did a little content aware fill to eliminate that dark spot.
Terry, this is a fine look at this Dasher. The background blurring looks good although you might do more on the bits along the bottom edge (and the bright dot). While I rarely do it, one approach is to create a new lawer of the original, then apply a gaussian blur. I’d get the lower edge bits blurred to how I want it. The you add a black mask and paint in white at say 20 - 25 % opacity. This lets you adjust how much blur you put into particular areas by adjusting how much white you paint in. To my eyes this looks a bit oversaturated, although that may be the color of what looks like early/late light. There’s also a dark “splash” around the abdomen’s tip that looks like a processing artifact.
Thanks for the tips, @Mark_Seaver. I’m not seeing the artifact but I trust it’s there if you’re seeing it. Perhaps I used too large a brush, or perhaps because I performed several edits to the jpeg itself. I normally wouldn’t do so but, now that I have a roadmap of what needs to be done to improve this image, I think I’ll go back and reprocess the RAW file and try to avoid the potholes along the way. I think it’s worth spending some time on this photo.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. All comments and/or critiques, whether timely or late, are very much appreciated.
The repost looks good with more light on the face. The background blur looks about right to highlight the dasher, but still give a sense of the environment. Nicely captured.