Osprey in flight

[Peter Farrell]

The Osprey have begun to return to thier nests in this area. Late overcast afternoon near Jamestown, VA. Sony A700, 70-400G, f6.3, 1/640, iso800, +2.3ec. Levels and sharpen. I selectively reduced the yellow channel on the underwings to reduce a yellowish cast.

[Arthur Morris]

Removed the BLUE cast with a Robert O'Toole Average Blur Color Balance as described in Digital Basics. Learn about the most recent update here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/03/11/digital-basics-feb-2011-update/). Next I put the whole image on its own layer, added 70 points of BLACK to the WHITEs in Selective Color, and then use a Layer Mask to erase the effect on the bird only. This served to darken the sky nicely. Again as described in DB (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252).

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp with a nice COMP. I am not a big fan of the position of the bird's left wing; would have preferred the bird in full soar.

[Tom Redd]

Artie, for the less educated and ignorant (me) here, what is the white halo (at least I seem to see it on my monitor)?
Thank you for posting this Peter, as said, nice and sharp.

[Arthur Morris]

Tom, Thanks for catching my somewhat shoddy efforts. The BIG white halo (which I did not notice) came from the sloppy technique that I used when darkening the sky.

[Peter Farrell]

Arthur, Thanks for the re-post and explanation of what you did.
Peter

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. Sorry that I was not more careful but at leas the color was good :)

[Peter Farrell]

YAW. Sorry that I was not more careful but at leas the color was good :)


Arthur,
Will the Digital Basics guide help me if I am only using PS Elements?

[Tom Redd]

Artie, the repost looks better. Since I am a relative newbie, I wasn't sure which part of the PP caused that.

[Arthur Morris]

Tom, Caused what?

[Arthur Morris]

Arthur,
Will the Digital Basics guide help me if I am only using PS Elements?

I don't know Elements well at all but I have been told in the past that about 60-70% would apply. But with the addition of the section on Layer Masking that percentage would surely go down. None-the-less, I am sure that you would learn a ton.

What are you using to convert your RAW files?

[Tom Redd]

Artie, my bad. I wasn't sure what in the PP caused the white halo. In other words, is there one step that caused the halo or was it a sum of the adjustments?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the clarification Tom. I am not positive. Sometimes you can introduce those big halos by using values that are too large when making various tonal or color adjustments. Or it is possible that I painted outside of the lines when working with a Layer Mask...

[Tom Redd]

Ok, Thanks Artie

[Peter Farrell]

I don't know Elements well at all but I have been told in the past that about 60-70% would apply. But with the addition of the section on Layer Masking that percentage would surely go down. None-the-less, I am sure that you would learn a ton.

What are you using to convert your RAW files?

I convert my raw files with ACR that came with PS Elements. I am sure that is a scaled down version as well. Once I get back to work, I hope to be able to upgrade to CS.
Peter