Great Crested Grebe - Underwater

[Pete Woods]

Captured this image today at my local nature reserve. Whilst crossing over a foot bridge this Grebe took a dive and swam underwater for some distance

Canon 1DMK3 EF100-400 @400 f5.6 1/1000sec ISO-1250 Hand Held

[Robert O'Toole]

This was shot from the surface, very interesting perspective, the feet look like little paddles.

Running NR selectively on the BG avoiding the subject would really help the image.

Robert

[Steve Maxson]

Very cool perspective, Pete. I like the bubbles trailing out behind. Noise reduction on the background would help - but don't lose those bubbles. :)

[Arthur Morris]

Way cool. I love these... As above, plus, the focus is sharp on the feet but the face and eyes are soft. There are various things that you could do to make the eye look sharper... Love the feet and the bubbles.

later and love, artie

[Pete Woods]

Thanks all, the water was really murky, was not expecting the shot to come out as well as it did. My Photoshop skills are not the best, I have already cleaned the water up a bit with the healing tool to get rid of the larger debris.

[Robert Amoruso]

Pete,

Very cool looking perspective. Focusing was probably struggling to get AF. Artie is correct that you could selectively sharpen the head/eye to make it look better. Nice work capturing this.

[Pete Woods]

Well I have had another play, not sure if I have improved it though

Removed it was rubbish

[Pete Woods]

It was rubbish so removed. me and CS3 have fallen out :(

[Pete Woods]

Right had another play. I have sharpened the head and tried to preserve the colours as it would be underwater rather than over saturate

[Pete Woods]

OK

I am sure I am getting this wrong. If anyone would like a go at improving this image the RAW file can be downloaded here (http://www.peterwoodsphotography.co.uk/images/PWP73589.CR2) it is 12meg in size

[Linda Robbins]

Really interesting image you've captured here. I'm not crazy about the big color shift in your second attempt. I decided to give it a try, and here is what I came up with. Like you, I found it challenging to try to keep the underwater feel and yet still sharpen the bird. Anyway, I'll be interested to know what you think.

What I did....

Got rid of junk in the water with the Spot Healing tool.

Selective Sharpen just the bird and bubble trail – 2 rounds unsharp mask at 15,65,0
(If you don’t know how to do this, please let me know and I’ll give you precise instructions)

Desaturate – 12 pts

Dodge - at 15%, just the branches

Worked on eye to make it appear sharper. Selected elliptical marquee tool. Drew approximate eye shape. Control “T” – makes a box around the selection. Move the curser outside the box and you can rotate the selection to match the angle of the eye. Feather the selection 4 or 5 points (Select/Modify/Feather/4) Use the Move Tool (“V”) to line it up with the eye, moving by placing the curser inside the selection. Hit enter. Increase saturation. I used the blur tool to soften the edges a bit more.

Curves adjustment

Selective Color Adjustment – Neutrals -3

[Roger Williams]

Linda, you're repost is an amazing transformation of the original post. It would be helpful if you would post the instructions for selective sharpening.

roger

[Pete Woods]

Linda - Wow thanks :) Seems like you spent some time on this

CS3 and me are not best friends yet. If I could achieve the results you have I would be well pleased. :)

[Brian Wong]

Hi Pete!

What a great moment, and congratulations on photographing such a unique perspective! I think your image has lots of potential, so I accepted your offer and downloading your file to check it out. I hope you don't mind me giving it a go.

I am really amazed how you were able to focus on anything underwater, and that the feet and tail area are so nicely focused! I love how the bubbles are coming out of his back!

This histogram had a "sharp mountain" in the center, with information to the right ... it had no information to the left. Seeing that, I decided to try giving it more blacks, and tried to expand the range. I also added more contrast with S curve, with the thought it might also help the relative appearance of sharpness. I also fiddled around with the color temperature between the bird and the water. Some work on the eye, cloning and cleaning up, expanded the canvas, and then a bunch of selective USM. Now that I look at it ... way too much saturation ... sorry about that!

I liked how Linda's version maintained the appealing underwater look. I probably went too over the top, but maybe some ideas & some possibilities in post-processing.

I would love to try getting an image like yours someday!

[Dave Phillips]

interesting how we all do something different......I just played.
Was fun.....good grab shot

[Arthur Morris]

Interesting re-posts. Pete's re-post is garishly over-saturated and way too contrasty. For the best sharpening job Linda's re-post wins by a mile, while I liked the colors best in Dave's re-post. Brian, the head on yours is too contrasty and the tighter crop reveals image quality issues.

Thanks to all for their efforts. And later and love, artie