Playing with new techniques... Thanks to Andreas critique/help...

[David Roach]

EOS R EF 400 DO I 1.4xtc II f8 1/800 ISO 160

Created this image last year in the Everglades National Park. The only place I've seen (second time only) the Great Blue Heron white morph. In critiquing a previous post and my explanation of sharpening technique, Andreas mentioned he never uses curve adjustments for contrast but prefers finer control with luminosity masks. So, this hobbyist has begun the journey to hopefully more nuanced and better controlled sharpening. In watching an online tutorial it was mentioned DxO Photolab automates the techniques and works for 99.9% of images. So, I downloaded the free evaluation suite, and used both the raw and final presentation sharpening for this image. I am a total newbie and haven't even watched the tutorials. I figured a white bird would be a good challenge.

As always, all comments, critiques and discussions welcomed and learned from. Please keep them coming.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi David, cool head shot, a slight angle towards us would have been ideal

the image has a blue look to it and the colors look a bit unnatural, especially the bill. that's not how an egret in evening light at everglades looks like..looks very cold .

Keep in mind many so called experts on the internet do not fully comprehend the concept of color correction and WB. Forcing the RGB values to be numerically equal on a neutral surface is not the right way to set the whites for images taken in natural light because our eyes and brains perceive things from the light that reflected rather than emitted from a subject. You can make something pure white from a colormetric mathematical point of view but that's not how human brain sees it.

have a look at this article on my blog to understand this topic better http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/color-correction-for-avian-photography/ it has an example very close to your scenario

hope this helps

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Arash, this is a white morph Great Blue Heron, that is why the bill is coloured differently than an egret's. I do agree the image is cool overall though and could also benefit from a bit more saturation. Sharpness looks spot-on.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi David ... nice tight portrait of this species I do not know , so cannot say something about color :w3. Color is a very subjective thing IMHO and you the author is the final judge how you want to portray a scene or a subject . The viewer can like it or not .... just my 2 cents .
A base for good presentation of color , is to use the right color profile when you save the file for the web . You have saved the file with the Adobe RGB color profile , but you need the image to be sRGB color profile for a good representation on different screens and browser .

This time the detail looks finer and the image appears sharper than previous one . But do not forget ... different image , so might be easier to get the things right . To many elements are having an impact in post production .

Read your intro ... and saw my name , well ok ... thanks .
Richard i have to say , you got me somehow wrong in my last commenting because of the contrast with curves .... might be a bit my fault , as I kept my answer ( suggestion) very short . Obviously too short for a " newbie" like you seem to be.

How to explain ... I do use in 95% of my PS edits ( on layers) a lot luminosity masks for very single adjustment layer ( for tone ; color ; contrast ; local contrast etc ) ... so 95 % of my edits are locally rather than globally . I do use i.e. curves for tonal and color adjustments .... also the famous S curve at times , but try to avoid to use the tools globally . Just ask Mr Google about the luminosity masks and their use ...
That is MY way of working with post production .... not THE way of post production . The options are endless within that business .... the output is what counts .

The curve adjustment has got nothing to do with the sharpening in general ... so please do not mix things .

Regarding your choice of DXO or other converters .... matter of taste IMHO , we all prefer different software for various reasons . Pick what suites your needs the best .... and stick with it , master that piece of software and do not jump between different brands . Not easy I know ... lots of opinions here in this forum or even more out in the web .

As a personal suggestion I might stick with DPP ( free of charge ) , it has it disadvantages , but you can create a very good base file to edit it further and finalize it in PS . DPP is compared to others quite slow and a bit clunky ... ( my personal opinion ) . But up to you which one you choose .... and stick with it .

Hope this helps ...

TFS Andreas

now attached a screen shot of my " typical" layer stack , for sure the adjustment layers change , so does the corresponding luminosity mask

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash, this is a white morph Great Blue Heron, that is why the bill is coloured differently than an egret's. I do agree the image is cool overall though and could also benefit from a bit more saturation. Sharpness looks spot-on.

I know it's a white morph but it doesn't look right to me

[Daniel Cadieux]

Arash, all good. I thought you were expecting an all-yellow bill since you called it an egret :S3:

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash, all good. I thought you were expecting an all-yellow bill since you called it an egret :S3:

ah my bad typo!

[John Mack]

Solid portrait. Nice framing,light and background.