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Jerry van Dijk
09-28-2012, 12:38 PM
This is from my summer holiday spent in Western Australia. I'm finally getting around to processing my images. This is Monkey Mia, a resort in Shark Bay where dolphins roam the coast and get close to shore to hunt in the shallows or to get the occasional fish at the so called "dolphin interaction sessions". Originally, this was a fishermen's place where the dolphins were attracted by the leftovers thrown in the sea by the fishermen.

Not sure whether this belongs in landscape or wildlife, but I decided to post it here because I would appreciate some feedback on the landscape aspects of this image. I'm pretty happy with it compositionwise, but it feels a little flat to me. I had left the Actcive D-lighting function on, which apparently strongly underexposes the image. No problem for the jpg (which is corrected using the D-light function), but a big problem for the RAW file. So far, this is the best I could get out of it. Any advice for improvement?

D7000, Nikkor 16-85 @48mm, handheld, ISO-400, f/7.1, 1/1600.
ACR6.7/CS5, cropped for composition, exposure, levels, curves, s/h, sharpening, NR. I cloned out two buoys.

Rachel Hollander
09-29-2012, 09:18 AM
Hi Jerry -I like the scene and I do think this is the proper forum for it. I played very quickly with your image. First I applied a luminosity mask at 35%, then I inverted the selection and applied a screen mask at 20%. Finally, I applied the Hougaard Malan Advanced LBM action (links posted by Morkel in a sticky at the top of the forum) at 70%. The changes are subtle but you can see them best if you toggle between the 2 versions. This is all to taste of course. WDYT?

Jerry van Dijk
09-29-2012, 10:56 AM
Hi Rachel, all new techniques to me, but I'll definately look into them! The differences, specifically in the sky, are amazing! Your repost is much closer to the scene as I remember it, with slightly more color and microcontrast to the morning sky. Thanks for posting!

Rachel Hollander
09-29-2012, 11:09 AM
Jerry - Robert taught me to use luminosity masks so check his sticky at the top of the forum for his how description and tutorial. Morkel taught me to invert the selection for a screen mask. Just paying it forward.

Rachel

Morkel Erasmus
09-30-2012, 04:28 PM
I like this Jerry, nice use of the dolphins as a compositional element. The yacht/boat anchors it nicely. I like that it's hard to discern where "earth ends and heaven begins", adds to the serene mood here. :5
Rachel's repost is great, though for my own tastes I'd go a bit darker overall (just a tad)

Dave Mills
10-03-2012, 03:57 PM
Hi Jerry,agree with Morkels comments and I feel Rachel's repost is an improvement. A simple but very effective image and composition.