Curious Ring-necked Duck

[Dorian Anderson]

Nothing ground breaking, just what I think is a fun look at this pond paddler.

I like that we can see the reddish neck ring for which this species is named; it is hidden when the bird is relaxed (i.e. 99% of the time)

This bird should be renamed Ring-billed Duck.

I don't have more room at bottom of frame as bird was on top of me.

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX2
1/1600 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Processed in LR CC. Did clone one water irregularity in front of bird.

189174

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Great Details and Beautiful Colors.

TFS

[Brian Sump]

Dorian, if ducks had nose hair we'd see it on this one. Yikes!

You captured the iridescence really nicely on this one and the green/yellow water hue compliments it well.

Did you sharpen in LR? I only ask because I would be tempted to sharpen on a layer in PS and then sharpen. This gives an option brush down at low opacity the brighter areas on top of the head, back of the neck and where the black and white feathers transition at the shoulder as those appears they might be a touch grainy due to sharpening. Could also absolutely be the close up view of the feathers.

Also, I'd love to see a version with the subject shifted right in frame slightly. As Gail says, these ones can go a million different ways.

Beautiful palette and nice execution overall!

[Dorian Anderson]

Ashamed to admit this, but I do everything in LR because I do not know how to use Photoshop or ACR or DPP or anything else. I cannot navigate the
drop down menus, I have no idea how to use layers or masks, and I do not understand when in the workflow things should and shouldn't be sharpened.
In LR, I just go down the right hand side and move the sliders around. The worst part? I sharpen the whole image and apply NR globally. People tell me
about the wonders of Topaz, but the idea of a plug-in for a confusing PS program is doubly crippling. I need to sit down with someone and go through
an alternative workflow because I m not computer savvy enough to figure it out on my own. I would venture to say my gap between in-camera technique
and processing ability is as wide as anyone on Earth. It's frustrating, but I plod on. Maybe when I'm done with the book I'll have the time and energy
to learn something new.


Dorian, if ducks had nose hair we'd see it on this one. Yikes!

You captured the iridescence really nicely on this one and the green/yellow water hue compliments it well.

Did you sharpen in LR? I only ask because I would be tempted to sharpen on a layer in PS and then sharpen. This gives an option brush down at low opacity the brighter areas on top of the head, back of the neck and where the black and white feathers transition at the shoulder as those appears they might be a touch grainy due to sharpening. Could also absolutely be the close up view of the feathers.

Also, I'd love to see a version with the subject shifted right in frame slightly. As Gail says, these ones can go a million different ways.

Beautiful palette and nice execution overall!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hey Dorian... Wow, you must have been really close. Sharp, nice color palette, wonderful purple iridescence. I have not seen the chestnut ring on the neck as prominent on the Ring-necked Ducks in Florida. Thank you for sharing.

Brian, I like Dorian do about 99% in Lightroom. I have tried other sharpening ways,Photoshop Smart Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, High Pass Filter etc., I find Lightroom is the easiest to use and the Masking slider controls where the sharpening is applied. If is some areas the sharpening appears too strong the Adjustment Brush can be used to apply negative sharpening (roll back) the sharpening in selected areas. Also the adjustment can be controlled by how much the brush is feathered and what the flow is set at. Flow works similar to opacity in Photoshop. The feature I really like using sharpening in Lightroom is that I can see where the sharpening will be applied using the Masking Slider, white get sharpened, black does not.

[gail bisson]

It blows my mind that you only use LR! PS is daunting and I understand your reluctance to try it but if I could convince you to add one thing to your toolbox it would be Topaz Denoise. It is literally 1 click of a button "auto" then "apply" and the program slowly churns out a beuatiful image and sends it back automatically to LR. And there are only 2 sliders you can move once you decide not to use "auto". So easy! And you can mask what you want denoised by using their one brush. Watch a youtube video and you will be up and running in less than 10 minutes. After a month of using the auto button you will start playing with the sliders and adjust to your taste.
Anyway, back to your lovely image. Great low POV, terrific detail and you have shown the iridescence well.
I am not fussy about the forward leaning position of the neck but agree that it shows the ring very well. I agree 100% about calling these guys ring-billed gulls!
Gail

[Brian Sump]

Dorian and Joe, sure you can do a lot in LR. And I've also been accused of "overprocessing" in the past, so there's a happy medium. Such "over-processing" has done one important thing though, given me a variety of tools to lean on. Some are of the mantra that if you expose and compose properly you don't need a lot of trickery but I am convinced that treating each frame uniquely and drawing out/pulling back certain areas and portions has a great benefit. Agree with Gail on Topaz Denoise, but again as I've said in recent threads, I also it needs to be applied carefully. Just my $0.02.

Dorian, I am glad to spend some time sharing what I know with you. It does not need to be super intimidating. With regard to layers and masks in PS, it gives you a world of flexibility that I truly don't believe LR can offer.

[dankearl]

Processing is not over rated but what you are doing in camera is the best photography..
Your images are in the top of my list, so maybe because you only use lightroom, you are more
aware of what you are shooting...
The more you shoot, the better you get, the less you rely on software anyway.
All about light and light angles. The less I process the better the photo.
I keep it simple, I use Capture to convert the RAW files, way better than lightroom.
Just do the simple sliders in Capture and take to PS for Topaz denoise although I could use it in Capture
I think, just have not tried.
I use TK action to downsize and sharpen for web.
It does not require a lot of thought, not hard or complicated.
Takes 1 minute per file. I don't spend much more.

[John Mack]

That light sure brings out the detail very nicely. Lovely color in the water. Nice to see the ring around the neck. Your images have a very clean look to them. I wouldn't change anything you are doing. Weather during capture or in post. You can use topaz as a plug in in Lightroom.

[Dorian Anderson]

Dorian and Joe, sure you can do a lot in LR. And I've also been accused of "overprocessing" in the past, so there's a happy medium. Such "over-processing" has done one important thing though, given me a variety of tools to lean on. Some are of the mantra that if you expose and compose properly you don't need a lot of trickery but I am convinced that treating each frame uniquely and drawing out/pulling back certain areas and portions has a great benefit. Agree with Gail on Topaz Denoise, but again as I've said in recent threads, I also it needs to be applied carefully. Just my $0.02.

Dorian, I am glad to spend some time sharing what I know with you. It does not need to be super intimidating. With regard to layers and masks in PS, it gives you a world of flexibility that I truly don't believe LR can offer.


Yeah, I can do a lot in LR (as I think my images attest) but I know PS is a much more powerful program, particularly with the ability to plug-in Topaz. I should really learn all of this, and I might take you up on the guidance at some point.

It seem a typical workflow might go.....

1) ACR for converting RAW > TIFF

2) PS for cloning and clean-up

3) Topaz (via PS) for noise. I assume you can use the Magic Wand to get only the background, for instance?

4) Sharpening in PS? I have zero understanding of when in the flow (or output) this should be done.

5) Export from PS for presentation (LR lets me set dimensions and file size, can you do the same thing in PS?)

[Dorian Anderson]

That light sure brings out the detail very nicely. Lovely color in the water. Nice to see the ring around the neck. Your images have a very clean look to them. I wouldn't change anything you are doing. Weather during capture or in post. You can use topaz as a plug in in Lightroom.

Interesting. I will have to look into this! Cheers!

[Dorian Anderson]

A lot of what you say makes sense. As full color saturation in kinda my 'thing' I don't bother to shoot on cloudy days; I go birding on those days instead. I am never above ISO 2000, and my basic
workflow is adequate under those circumstances. However, I see the higher ISO (like 6400) you and others and other post, and there's no way my current LR workflow lets me manage noise as
well as what you and others are doing. So, there isn't a huge impetus to learn a new flow right now, but I will be spending more time in the tropics once int'l resumes later in 2021. High ISO is the
norm in Colombia, Ecuador, and Thailand, etc, so they'll be more impetus to get stuff sorted out once I get back to those areas. You workflow sounds like something I could manage, once I get more
familiar with PS. What's the general consensus on doing the RAW conversion in ACR, CP1, or DPP? Arash has said and demonstrated that Canon's proprietary DPP leads to files with less noise than my
LR conversion. Do you have any sense if DPP would be better than ACR? If yes, would I even need to do the whole Topaz thing. It seems like Topaz is so good that is basically overcomes any upstream
considerations (i.e exactly in which the program the RAW conversion was done)? I hope all this rambling makes some sense......

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dorian ... image looks like a " Dorian image " :bg3:
Somehow you have found your style ... cool .
Great stuff in general ... funny to hear about your WF . It is limited , but you get around it very very well !!!
In my opinion , you should stay where you are ... unless you want to invest money and even more time for processing . As that will be the prize to pay .... more options in processing might end in confusion ( in the beginning ) or long hours of learning the process via ACR / Capture One / DPP and Photoshop . Not to forget the possible use of third party plugins like Topaz or NIK . Easy to get lost in all that stuff . So you should think about it ......

I for myself love that " complex workflow" and like to fiddle a lot . Trying to get the most and best out of my images , regardless how many times I sit in front of my screen .

Regarding this image ... I like it .
Justa bit tight at the foot for my liking and I think the blacks are a bit heavy , IMHO .

TFS Andreas

PS : if you like to know my experience and thoughts about DPP or Capture One ( long time user of both roughly 12 years ) , drop me a PM .

[kevin Hice]

Wow Dorian what a beauty. Details look great. I am with you on post processing. Photoshop was so frustrating for me. I am getting more comfortable starting to use layers and masks. Agree with Gail one hundred percent big game changer Topaz. Amazing really doesn't do it justice. TFS