Swing Time

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I spent five days in Costa Rica and was so excited to see the much talked about white faced monkeys. I didn't get any photo ops till my second to last day there and these guys came right to the hotel just for me :). Time of day was not favorable and i was having to work my exposure non stop since they were moving all over the place. I loved how I caught this guy in the middle of the curve of the leaf. Notice how the back feet are holding on to that single leaf.
Canon 1DMIII
100-400mm f4-5.6 L lens at 400 mm
ISO 1250
f5.6 @1/200 HH
NR and sharpening as well as some cleanup of a few whit reflective spots very little crop

[Marina Scarr]

The composition of this image is just awesome. Love the design of the leaf, the curve and the gaze of the monkey. It looks like tough light. I have a feeling Steve might be able to help you bump this one up yet another notch with some helpful PS hints.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Cheryl, well I will second that, the comp is a cracking one. :cheers:

With regard to the image I'm a little puzzled about the colours and the degree of certain 'strengths' coming through. Sadly not much I can do on this one, but if you care to 'whip the RAW file across' I will gladly see if there are any pointers I can make. BTW now I'm back do you want me to have a 'tinker' with the sloth?

Thank you Marina for the very kind words, much appreciate, however there are a few more 'bods' hot my heels who could also make the same observations. :bg3: I am clearly having to step up to the mark these days.

[John Ippolito]

Hi Cheryl, I really like the comp as well with the monkey inside the arc of fronds. Light was tough, but well exposed. A couple of minor vertical washed out strips of vegetation just left of the monkey might be toned down or evicted.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hi Cheryl, well I will second that, the comp is a cracking one. :cheers:

With regard to the image I'm a little puzzled about the colours and the degree of certain 'strengths' coming through. Sadly not much I can do on this one, but if you care to 'whip the RAW file across' I will gladly see if there are any pointers I can make. BTW now I'm back do you want me to have a 'tinker' with the sloth?

Thank you Marina for the very kind words, much appreciate, however there are a few more 'bods' hot my heels who could also make the same observations. :bg3: I am clearly having to step up to the mark these days.
Thanks Marina, Steve and John. I also love this comp but I think I may have suffered from the slow ss of 200 handholding at 400mm and also the movement of the monkey. Not the best IQ especially after downsizing for the forum. It looks better full size but still does lack the detail. I probably could have increased my shutter by a little bit in hind site but beins so backlit I wanted to make sure I didnt under expose. I am learning. Steve, I always appreciate and learn from your feedback.

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheryl, pop it over and I will gladly take a look if you wish. I might have blown the BKG to ensure the correct exposure for the subject. If you are using LR or ACR then you should get used to the sliders for sharpening :bg3: but we all have our favourite Workflows. :w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Cheryl - I agree, the comp is great and this is a fun image. I also noticed the bright/whiter vegetation to the left of the monkey that John mentions. Also there seems to be a magenta cast to the darker fur of the monkey. I would certainly take advantage of Steve's offer if I were you.

TFS,
Rachel

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Cheryl, pop it over and I will gladly take a look if you wish. I might have blown the BKG to ensure the correct exposure for the subject. If you are using LR or ACR then you should get used to the sliders for sharpening :bg3: but we all have our favourite Workflows. :w3

Thanks so much Steve but only if you have the time. Image on the way

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Cheryl, boy is this a tough one and probably it's still not there, as I think you could tweak for hours just to refine some subtle differences and colour balance.

I've again had to take a guess and made some assumptions, however the pale yellow in the BKG is almost impossible to remove or refine unless you spend hours with masks etc. My main concern was trying to get a balance and to extract more depth and detail from the image, difficult with the tech's specially with the slow SS. The green of the leaves may need to be colour corrected for example to say a more cooler colour, or a bit more vibrant. There are a few additional refinements from the Tiff you should now have, and I can fwd those to you if you want.

Basically built on three layers to make the initial file, then with various adjustment layers and masks I brought things through.

Hope this helps. BTW just a thought, but you could bracket this next time and blend the files together, might save to time and heart ache and perhaps better, but need more SS I think. :w3

cheers
Steve

[Marina Scarr]

All I can say is you're the bomb, Steve.

[Steve Kaluski]

All I can say is you're the bomb, Steve.

Is that good? :Whoa!:

[John Ippolito]

Is that good? :Whoa!:

Yup ! That's good. Excellent work on this one, Steve.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Is that good? :Whoa!:
You ARE the bomb! That looks so much better. Yes that yellow UGHH That's why I totally washed out the bg . It was the side of the hotel building behind the tree. Wow after looking at your file then mine I feel like "What was I thinking? or seeing?
Big improvement and as always thanks so much for your amazing talent and help. It really IS appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Cheryl, I'm glad it worked out.

Although now it's posted it wouldn't work, but I think offering it too to Morkel and any others would have been a good thread for ETL too. Trying to get as much 'in camera' as possible is key IMHO, but there is also a fair amount you can do in PP, but the IQ is not as good. If it has helped and has illustrated to others then for me it has been a good thread, as we can all keep learning, as I do from others on here. :S3:

Don't get too hung up about detail when processing, get the basics looking right and balanced, the detail is the last 10% as the image all comes together.

Have a good weekend.

Steve :wave:

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hi Cheryl, I'm glad it worked out.

Although now it's posted it wouldn't work, but I think offering it too to Morkel and any others would have been a good thread for ETL too. Trying to get as much 'in camera' as possible is key IMHO, but there is also a fair amount you can do in PP, but the IQ is not as good. If it has helped and has illustrated to others then for me it has been a good thread, as we can all keep learning, as I do from others on here. :S3:


Don't get too hung up about detail when processing, get the basics looking right and balanced, the detail is the last 10% as the image all comes together.

Have a good weekend.

Steve :wave:
Thanks Steve