Shadow question.......

[Aaron Lee]

I was wondering what the best way to deal with unwanted shadows like the ones behind this Pheasant. I am using Elements and I already cloned out an errant feather,but cloning out the huge shadows doesn't seem to work. Any thoughts on the exposure appreciated also.

EOS 7D,100-400L,iso 200,F5.6,1/1250TV EM + 1 2/3 off snow

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4246664966_7d393482f6_o.jpg

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Did you metered off the snow and recomposed, nice techs? Did you use AF-Lock on the back or set any custom buttons, I have a 7D too and still finding my way around.

Did you consider Spot metering off the snow, you nailed it using EM!

I would crop off some of left that would take the shadow out of the middle-area of the frame. I use CS4 and might have suggested Shadows & Highlights removal tool - not sure about Elements - let's see what other say. Nice colors, HA, eye contact love the pose and low capture angle - well done.

[Aaron Lee]

Thanks Jeff. I mostly shoot weddings and BB games indoors but have dabbled in birds here and there,but I've been an avid birder for over 30yrs. All my 7D's customs settings are set up for different churches/gyms. The body is a piece of cake after a couple days. Get the battery grip for sure-it has a nice hair trigger!
Anyone feel free to play with this image and let me know how you removed the shadowing. This image only has 20% USM @.3 any more and it looks too sharp to my eyes.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Have the battery grip love the feel, thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Just curious, do you use sRGB or Adobe RGB and do you have the Auto Lighting Optimizer Disabled, assume you shot RAW?

[Aaron Lee]

I shoot most of the birds in RAW,weddings and ball games-NO.:eek: I shoot contract sports work for a local university and alot of local sales from high school sports. I work a full time job also,so it's hectic. Once the settings are recorded for known venues jpegs are fine. Some weekends I'll shoot thousands of files so Raws are not an option.
sRGB for workflow,optimizer disabled. I,like many others,shoot birds for a relaxing hobby. Also,like many others I'll never make any substancial money doing birds,but weddings and sports are still a cash cow.:)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

I also have it disabled and I shoot RAW 100% of the time. I use sRGB in workflow too. I shoot for relaxation as well. I have read many pros now make money on instruction and selling gear in addition to photographs - the market has shifted a bit.

Cool, you get the press pass and watch the games up close, hope you have never been too close to the action!

Talk later, keep posting.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Aaron,
This is a very nice capture...The exposure is dead on. I like the position of your bird in frame. You have a good color rendition, with good feather details, a good head angle and sharp eye contact. I don't mind the shadow, but you can clone in some texture from the surrounding snow to eliminate it if you wish. Looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Lance Peters]

real quick and dirty - just to give you the idea - You can do much much better!!
Good ha and eye contact and sharp to boot.
Like the composition.
Good show :)

[Bill Dix]

I didn't really mind the shadow when I first looked at it, except for the blue cast which is to be expected. But I like Lance's repost better. Exposure looks right on. Nice composition. Well done!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Great repost Lance, how did you do that in summary?

[Katie Rupp]

Hi Aaron, nice detail, beautiful bird and I really like Lance's version...hope he'll come back on and tell us how he got rid of that shadow.

[Lance Peters]

Great repost Lance, how did you do that in summary?

Nothing fancy here - Just used the clone tool and a real quick job at that, wasn't going to post it thought it was a bit rough.
Secret is just to work slowly and sample the area's that are much the same as the area you want to clone.
Enlarge the image and select a nice soft brush asnd just paint away.
Takes a bit of practice I guess, I do a lot of this on a daily basis with removing/inserting people into photo's.

Hope that helps :)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Thanks, was not sure if you used a mask or not (soft brush sounds ideal) - well done sir - great work as always.