Grey Squirrel at Central Park

[shane shacaluga]

I was trying to organize my hard drive and came across this picture of a squirrel I took in Central Park a few months ago

D7000
70-300mm @ f9
1/320
ISO 400
Handheld

I should have gone for a slightly wider aperture to have a better background but it was quite close and wanted to make sure there was no OOF parts to the subject

Cropped for composition, toned down the closest foot as the whites were a bit blown

Separated and reduced green saturation and pulled down the curve slightly on BG

Sharpened main subject and toned down the tree trunk below the squirrel as it was a bit bright

Thanks for viewing

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Shane - Cute pose and the comp works for me. There's some blue in the squirrel, particularly in the whites that I would remove. Also if it were mine I would drop the green a bit more especially on the tree trunk. Finally I would also run a luminosity mask to further tame the highlights.

TFS,
Rachel

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the comments Rachel

Tried to tweak the image taking into consideration your points

Let me know what you think?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Shane - I think the color looks better. You could still do a bit more with the highlights and also perhaps give the midtones a slight boost to give the image a bit more pop.

Rachel

[shane shacaluga]

Tried a slight different method with the highlights

Any quick way to address the mid-tones?

[Rachel Hollander]

Sorry Shane but your last rp is not a good one. The IQ has suffered with whatever recovery tool you used for the highlights and the recovery is extremely obvious. What pp program are you using and what method of recovery did you use?

[shane shacaluga]

I tried a Select/colour range/ highlights in CS5 and then passed onto a new layer. Then pulled down the curve slightly and but it did not work that well so tried the burn tool also just on the highlights. They seem to go grey instead of white

need to read on oj the luminosity mask tutorial again

thanks for the help

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Shane, nice to see you stretching your wings and posting in Wildlife.

I like the composition and the way you have the curvature of the bow of the tree coupled with the pose of the squirrel. For us they are classified as vermin and have decimated our Red squirrels, so perhaps not the most popular, but still good to photograph. Based on the OP I would add a Luminosity layer, a mid tone action and then a mid channel curves adj to bring out more of the finer detail through the mid tone in the fur. You have good detail & clarity, pin sharp and conveyed in the tail. If it was me, I would just blend the BKG just above the start of the tail to reduce the grass blade highlights.

I'm away so would agree with Rachel about adjusting both the Cyan & Blue, but just warming the WB I think may also help and reduce the slight 'coolness'.

TFS
Steve

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks Steve. Will try work on the raw conversion again and see if i can address these points.

I will try and post a bit more in this section

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Shane.
Strong composition and good overall exposure. Your last repost shows a muddiness in the midtones from overcooking the burning of highlights, easy to back down and getting it looking natural again. Looking forward to more of your photos here! Happy 2014 :cheers:

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks

Will try working again from the RAW as I may be able to tame the highlights a bit better from there

What was the way to get back from the PSD to the RAW? I believe there was a shortcut but cannot find it. Do I have to open it as a Smart Object to be able to do this?

Thanks

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Shane,
good start into the new year…
Like the image design with the subject good isolated from the BG.Holding the food in the hands is a nice bonus.
The color issues are already mentioned in which i agree.Like the detail in the subject.

Well done , TFS Andreas

[edwardselfe]

Hi Shane,

I also think that the image is a bit 'cool'. Warming it and then working on the suggestions above will work well.

Ed

[keith mitchell]

Shane I am amazed at the amount of help and advice you have had with this image even though I don't understand all of it ,it does give plenty to work on.I can see the faults pointed out on the last post but I do like the darker stronger effect you have got.

Keith.:S3:

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks guys.

Keith this is what is so amazing about this forum. You post a picture and if you are willing to listen to the pros, your image is transformed and taken up quite a few levels

I am away on business but will continue to work on it when I get back home next week.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Shane, this may help too, as it's inline with my comments, however is done remotely so it may, or may not be a tad dark? Can't really tell if you need a hint of NR?

cheers
Steve

[shane shacaluga]

I really like your repost ;)

There are a lot more details around the neck area that I was unable to display correctly.

Thanks a lot and will use this as my benchmark when I reprocess this soon ;)

[Arthur Morris]

Kudos to Central Park wildlife! I like Steve's rendition in Pane 16 best. And I like the image for all the curves.