Yellow-eyed Penguin - Portrait

[Paul Davey]

For background information, check out this thread. (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2505)

Yellow-eyed Penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Fujifilm Finepix S5600, Aperture Priority Mode, f/3.2, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, 10X optical zoom at 380mm focal length, flash, handheld

I have played around with this in the GIMP editing software. Have increased contrast and saturation as recommended for the counterpart of this photograph in the other thread.

Many thanks,

Paul

[Tony Whitehead]

This is an impressive portrait Paul. The problem is with tone control - the huge expanse of featureless white on the breast is unnatural and there are no solid darks. If you look at your histogram there is a big spike on the right that butts right up against the right side indicated clipped highlights. On the left it tapers down with virtually no dark tones of significance. If that is how it was in camera it indicates an over-exposed image. If it is due to post processing it is due to over-enthusiastic left movement of the highlight slider in levels. I have done a simple levels adjustment to bring up the dark tones but the light are unrecoverable from this image. If the original image has no highlight detail I would suggest reducing your fill flash by 1.7 - 2 stops. This must have been an exciting encounter. Your framing and focus are great. Try checking your histogram when shooting and adjust your exposure so that it nudges the right side without any step to it. Arthur's Digital Basics file covers this really well and is a great buy especially with the current NZ/US $ exchange rate

[John Cooper]

Hi Paul, Yes i think Tony has covered the problem. Just wondering if your monitor has been calibrated recently as this image is showing marked over-exposure compared to the majority of the other images posted here.

[Glenn Bartley]

Its a beautiful portrait and has a tonne of potential. But as noted the image is overexposed as posted.

[Paul Davey]

Tony, thanks for the input. I believe the original shows traces of overexposure which is a deep shame. And until I get a DSLR I cannot decrease the flash by stops. John and Glenn your comments are also appreciated, although I'm guessing the marked overexposure was performed in the field, because I haven't tweaked my computer monitor myself. Here is the original. Suffice to say, the portrait photo is ruined. But again, practise I guess.

Paul

[Tony Whitehead]

Hi Paul, if this is the original image as the camera recorded it it is over exposed but all is not completely lost as there is some texture remaining on most of the breast - only the left side has completely blown. I have duplicated the image onto another layer, set the blend mode to multiply then reduced the opacity of the new layer to approx 70%. I have then added a levels adjustment layer and raised the black point (left hand) slider and moved the middle slider a little to the left then used a layer mask to limit these effects to the white breast - this has brought back a bit of texture into most of the white area. I then flattened the image, selected the bird and applied unsharp mask. This has been a bit quick, rough and ready and I am sure there are other and better approaches to this.