jacal playing

[Giovanni Frescura]

Canon 1D mark IV
Canon 500 f.4 IS
iso 1600
f.5,6
1/4000

I am not sure : sharpening is ok ? and bk ?
Thanks

[Gen Benjamin]

Great action and very sweet expression on the one on the right. Not sure whats going on in the forground maybe a bit over sharpened. Over all nice image
Gen

[Steve Uffman]

I sure like it...I took a number of images of Jackals last month....cute but none as cool as this one....on FG, I think you can do some cloning and make the OOF FG go away...

[Giovanni Frescura]

I sure like it...I took a number of images of Jackals last month....cute but none as cool as this one....on FG, I think you can do some cloning and make the OOF FG go away...
Thanks Steve
my english is bad....
could you give me more detail about your tips (for example FG what means...?)
Thanks
Gio

[Steve Uffman]

So sorry about the abbreviations. I used FG to mean Foreground. OOF for Out of Focus.

First remember I like the image very much....more "cuteness" than any of the Jackals I have taken.

I think you need the space in front of the Jackals as you composed. ...so cropping it out is not a good option in my opinion...... But maybe you can improve the image a small bit more by cloning " in focus" grass over the strip of foreground grass that is out of focus..

The pros on here could give advice that might be more sound....I learn from them all the time

but what I would try is to clone the grass that is in focus to the immediate right and left of the Jackals and place it over the grass in the Foreground (FG) that is out of focus (OOF).....I think you can do that pretty easily

To me, the grass in front of the Jackals is out of focus because of f/5.6. (Hindsight maybe you could have used a different aperture like f/8 as you had plenty of shutter speed.... but I know that does not always work when something "cute" happens. Often when the action happens, one goes with what they have.) .

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Giovanni
, like this playful scene of the jackals you captured.
Like the colors and the contrast you got here, likewise the sharpening.Think you can make it better if the raw is sharp, just a question of technique you use. I cannot remember how many different settings and tools i tried,until now sometimes i fiddle around.
From here i would say a bit more usm on the jackals can help.

I think the composition could work better if you crop out most of the background.I do not mind about the OOF grass in the FG , looks quite natural to me when using a long lens.And the grass on the level of the jackals, should be sharp as the jackals themselves, at least for me.Others think different in that way.

Ps: no color profile was embedded, my colors look a bit off now.

Hope that helped.
Cheers Andreas

[Giovanni Frescura]

Hi Giovanni
, like this playful scene of the jackals you captured.
Like the colors and the contrast you got here, likewise the sharpening.Think you can make it better if the raw is sharp, just a question of technique you use. I cannot remember how many different settings and tools i tried,until now sometimes i fiddle around.
From here i would say a bit more usm on the jackals can help.

I think the composition could work better if you crop out most of the background.I do not mind about the OOF grass in the FG , looks quite natural to me when using a long lens.And the grass on the level of the jackals, should be sharp as the jackals themselves, at least for me.Others think different in that way.

Ps: no color profile was embedded, my colors look a bit off now.

Hope that helped.
Cheers Andreas

Hello Andreas
thanks for all.
First question what is usm ?
About sharp on raw how you procede ?
Thanks ?

[Giovanni Frescura]

So sorry about the abbreviations. I used FG to mean Foreground. OOF for Out of Focus.

First remember I like the image very much....more "cuteness" than any of the Jackals I have taken.

I think you need the space in front of the Jackals as you composed. ...so cropping it out is not a good option in my opinion...... But maybe you can improve the image a small bit more by cloning " in focus" grass over the strip of foreground grass that is out of focus..


The pros on here could give advice that might be more sound....I learn from them all the time

but what I would try is to clone the grass that is in focus to the immediate right and left of the Jackals and place it over the grass in the Foreground (FG) that is out of focus (OOF).....I think you can do that pretty easily

To me, the grass in front of the Jackals is out of focus because of f/5.6. (Hindsight maybe you could have used a different aperture like f/8 as you had plenty of shutter speed.... but I know that does not always work when something "cute" happens. Often when the action happens, one goes with what they have.) .

Thanks Steve.
It is a little crop so no problem if I would like more space on the front...Off course the grass will be out of the fcus..but I not like make too much cloning (and if it isn't made well it is terrible!)

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi giovanni

USM - is the Unsharp Mask filter in Photoshop
I do not sharpen the RAW file at all .

Cheers Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Giovanni
Nice action here! I like the clarity you got on the eyes and the expressions.
Andreas' crop is great, and his colours do look better, but to my eyes his repost has a bit too much red and magenta in - somewhere between the 2 would be ideal for me.

[Steve Uffman]

Agree improved if colors are tweaked as suggested.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey guys did not work on the colors at all.!!!

The OP has no COLOR PROFILE embedded, i think that was the reason for the color shift.

I only made the crop, and saved the image.

Cheers Andreas

[Giovanni Frescura]

Agree improved if colors are tweaked as suggested.
Thanks a lot.
I think the crop was fine ..but, I think a little too much; I think a little more space could be interesting to avoi jacals too much central

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Giovanni, firstly I think you need to look at your last part of the workflow to ensure your image is an sRGB file. By doing so it will ensure that the image is properly displayed, plus for those of us who download the file to make our comments for feedback do not have the issues with an untagged image, it makes life much easier and you will benefit from better feedback. :S3:

So, is this a crop, or almost full frame? Based on the EXIF data the image should be far better in terms of Image quality (IQ), at 1/4000 you will have frozen the action, however I feel the sharpness/clarity is not there and perhaps this is down to movement, was this hand held, on a bean bag...? Certainly a tighter crop would help to focus on the subjects better and the image is too magenta/red/yellow as presented, however this I think is down to the image not being sRGB as illustrated by Andreas's RP.

I have tried to remove various colour casts, added a slight bit of depth to the subjects, applied a little bit of Levels (Right hand slider moved in a little) and one round of USM, however it still looks a little crunchy, but that is down to the OP. Overall if you get the image colour balance better Giovanni then the detail I feel will come through, as the Reds/Yellows are perhaps masking the image as presented.

Hope this helps.

TFS
Steve

[Giovanni Frescura]

Hello Steve
Thanks for your kindlly and professional help.
Normally I post only with space Srgb ...but if I no made ..it was a mistake..
I have cropped only a little space down to cut the grass no ok with focus.
I made this shoot with no space in the car and no time so could be possible that all wasn't stopped in the right mode..
Your composition is fine..for me (but I could be wrong) a little less red on the grass and a more dark the shadow....
When you write "added a slight bit of depth to the subjects" how you do it..many times it is a roblem for me...
Also about sharpening I am alway afraid to use too much
Thanks , thanks, thanks to all

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Giovanni, no worries about the Colour Profile, just wanted to make sure you were aware that you need to change the Colour Profile when you post images on the web.


I made this shoot with no space in the car and no time so could be possible that all wasn't stopped in the right mode..
OK, so this is not a crop so the IQ should be good, however you made have made a mistake in the setting, fine, as you are aware of that, and so the ISO could have come down.


a little less red on the grass and a more dark the shadow....
I think you need to balance the Yellow & Red in the original file, it's very difficult trying to adjust a web image especially this one, but you get the idea


"added a slight bit of depth to the subjects"
I did this with a copy of the Blue channel, however this might be difficult to explain, but you could try adding some mid tone, try moving the middle slider in Levels to the right and see what happens


Also about sharpening I am alway afraid to use too much
Each image will vary, however you need to add some sharpening, then after resizing the file will require additional sharpening, this will be a lot less. I would look at the Forum Workflow and the monthly exercise this will give you some good pointers in how to do things.

Good luck.
Steve