pellican

[Giovanni Frescura]

Too much crowned and no particular cclear shoot ?
Thanks

[dankearl]

I like it. Cartoon birds and all sharp.
You didn't post your settings but it looks like a very small aperture shot, judging
from the Land, f16?
It works.

[arash_hazeghi]

very interesting perspective and action here. the image is a bit dark

[Giovanni Frescura]

I like it. Cartoon birds and all sharp.
You didn't post your settings but it looks like a very small aperture shot, judging
from the Land, f16?
It works.

1/6400
f.10
iso 800
Tokina 12/24
Canon 7D

[Colin Knight]

Can I ask why the techs? 1/6400 at ISO 800? This is quite an interesting image. I don't really know what to make of it at first glance.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Looks like a bright day on Lake Kerkini. Tough getting the exposure right on those pelicans in the bright light.

You need to see if you can adjust the image with curves. Looks like you have over darkened the entire image to bring back some of the blown highlights. Some posterisation in the sky. Did you use a polarizing filter?

I don't mind the composition so much - the action is the point of focus. It could be strengthened by cropping tighter and losing the isolated bird on the right and some off the sky.

But I think you really need to go back to your original file and start over with the PP.

Good luck with it!

Gerald

[Ofer Levy]

An interseting and unique image! Like it a lot! BG looks quite noisy.

[Giovanni Frescura]

Looks like a bright day on Lake Kerkini. Tough getting the exposure right on those pelicans in the bright light.

You need to see if you can adjust the image with curves. Looks like you have over darkened the entire image to bring back some of the blown highlights. Some posterisation in the sky. Did you use a polarizing filter?

I don't mind the composition so much - the action is the point of focus. It could be strengthened by cropping tighter and losing the isolated bird on the right and some off the sky.

But I think you really need to go back to your original file and start over with the PP.

Good luck with it!

Gerald

Ok Gerard it is right: lake Kerkini off course and you known that it is not easy with the sun in the afternoon ..
So I had some problem in pp because I used too much detail extractor and then Topaz so the sky was no good.
I used iso 800 because I would like a lot of deep and very hight time of shoot.
I made another mistake...no made a good selection and I gived the curves only to the pellican..but it is no fine.
I will try again starting from raw and making a crop.
If you would like give me more tips ..before start again ..I will be happy.
Thanks a lot
Giovanni

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Giovanni, I like the perspective. very cool shot. if you start from RAW, you might be able to do a good job. seems a little high on the contrast side...if you keep the whites nice and with details and then raise the midtones, it would be better, I think.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Giovanni, Thanks for sending me the RAW file to have a look at it. I am not a PP guru, by any means, just learning as I go. So I have used my typical workflow on your image and this is the result. I hope you feel I have done it justice and that you can experiment to get a result that suits you. I have used Lightroom 3, Photoshop 5.1, Topaz Detail, Nik Dfine and Nik Color Efex Pro 4 - Tonal Contrast.

Your original RAW file was somewhat underexposed, so the challenge was to improve the overall tonality of the image. In LR, I have increased the Exposure by 0.95 stops and added some Fill Light (15); Brightness at 35 and added some Contrast to balance the Fill Light (36). Under Presence I set Clarity at 30 and Vibrance at 10. I then started adjusting the Tone Curve increasing the Darks (+24) and the Lights (+19), plus the Shadows (8) but this started to bring a lot of noise into the darker areas. The colours in the pouches were looking a bit washed out at this stage so I just added a touch of orange and Red Saturation - probably better to have done this in PS later, but...

Opened the image then in PS 5.1. In Levels, I moved the whites slider to the left to meet the curve (232) and then moved the mid-tone slider also to the left (1.17). You need to move the sliders and watch the image and stop where it looks good for you. Then in Curves, I used the little sliding finger thing to identify areas in the image I wanted to vary the tone and made a number of small adjustments to more of an "S" curve - further brightening the Lights and darkening the Darks a little.

When I was happy with the image I added a Layer of Topaz Detail - Small Detail at .18 and Small Boost at .03. I added a black mask to this and used the brush to expose only the birds, other wise the noise is also enhanced! I used Nik Dfine for NR first one pass on the water and the sky, then a second pass on the sky only. As for the Detail, I masked and exposed the areas I wanted to change. (I use the "\" key to provide a color mask that shows me what I have / have not exposed - a useful little trick!). I then used Color Efex Pro - Tonal Contrast - reduced the settings a bit and then used the Brush to paint on the effect on the main birds and the splashing water - really lifted the water nicely.

After saving the master file I flattened it and cropped it to 1020 px wide at 96 pxi removing the bird on the right and reducing the depth of sky to make the action more prominent. Added a layer which I sharpened at 200, .2, 0, masked the layer and exposed the main group of birds. Flattened and Saved for Web. Eh voila!

I hope you like the result and the explanation is helpful. Others may have some thoughts about a better, more efficient workflow - so I will be very pleased to hear from them, too.

Ciao!

Gerald

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Giovanni
i think you have a `problem image`here.
Beside the comp and the action who are really good and powerful,the image lacks in detail,color and contrast (too much). At least to my eyes.

Geralds attempt is too dull in color and contrast (looks washed out)

Maybe you can give others a chance to download the raw file ,and see what they can make out of this basically very interesting image.

Cheers Andreas

[Giovanni Frescura]

Hi Giovanni
i think you have a `problem image`here.
Beside the comp and the action who are really good and powerful,the image lacks in detail,color and contrast (too much). At least to my eyes.

Geralds attempt is too dull in color and contrast (looks washed out)

Maybe you can give others a chance to download the raw file ,and see what they can make out of this basically very interesting image.

Cheers Andreas

Thanks Andreas no problem
I thanks Geralds for his help but off course more options are accepted ,
I think this shoot is not my best ..but it could be a good opportunity to make some school's lesson ..and for me (and I hope also for the other people) it is very very good!!!
I have no problem to send you my raw file but it is heavy so I can send by we tranfer; so all people interested, please, send me an emai (gioeli@quipo.it) and I will send it you.
Thanks a lot for all cooperation ...you are all the best!
Gio

[Andreas Liedmann]

http://www.bilderload.com/bild/206957/pelican01LL9LB.jpg

At first thank you Giovanni for sending me the raw file.
then came the hard part ,simply because the image was underexposed by 2 stops made difficult to bring out detail in the dark parts.
Here is what i did as follow
ACR 7
exposure +1,5
wb : daylight
blacks:-15
reduced color noise 60 detail50
lens correction auto for that cam/lens combo Reduced color fringing
crop + canvas rotation
camera calibration set to "Camera neutral" sorry did this as first step.!!!!!

send as smart object into PS CS6 tryout
Raw pre sharpening via edge mask
Noise reduction with Neat Image on the whole image
Lighten the darker parts of the image via luminance mask and blend mode "screen".
Local contrast enhancement using median filter to an inverted Background copy in Blend mode "vivid light"
new layer set to blend mode " ineinanderkopieren" and desaturate ,masked out all the blue /cyan colors to get the LCE only to the pelicans.
set black point and white point via levels
curves to foreground and background using luminance masks
Vibrance +15
curves layer set to blend mode "multiply" only to the hot highlights at 45%
downsampling for web and sharpening
that`s it.

Hope you like it,comments most welcome. Cheers Andreas

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

liked the repost by Andreas. great job, I must say.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Giovanni, firstly can I ask, were you inspired by Bence Mate?

I think that Andreas has nailed it in the RP, the OP was too contrasty, with the blacks dominating, the second, although lighter, does look washed out with little definition & detail sadly. Hopefully with Andreas's detailed steps you will be able to see what he has done and apply certain steps to future images & posts. Always very difficult, but I do find the water in the FG, especially the splashes over sharp (easily corrected) and I might have applied another Smart objects layer for some of the birds in the BKG to adjust the exposure for the whites, then brought back via a mask. Just a thought, but this could work as a pano crop too, third for the sky/horizon, two thirds for the lake and subjects, WDYT?

I assume you were leaning out from a small feeding boat?

An interesting shot.

TFS
Steve

[Giovanni Frescura]

Thanks Steve..
Andreas made a very interesting work.
Thanks to all...for me sometimes is very difficult decide if the shoot is good or not and if possible give it a different importance.
I tried some shoot as Mate...but the first problem was the nt right lens and the difficult with the pellican's position too much near to the boat and so, at that time, the shado gived problem. Off course Mate is Mate...

[Steve Kaluski]

Off course Mate is Mate... - Is he? I met him last year at the BBC awards and he talked about how he got his image, hence my question.

[Giovanni Frescura]

Hello Steve
and what he said ?
How made his shoot...?
I would like return there next year and I would like do better than him...
Offf course I am crazy..but cold be interesting have notice about his shoot!

[Giovanni Frescura]

Hello Andres
well done!!
Your job was perfect. I think could be nice also without crop.
The lght is well balanced and all is right..now...
The problem for me is to known how is possible make it.
You wrote your step..but it is very difficult for me (to translate and to do!)...I will try but I think no good...
Another question about the shoot..; what you think about ? Is it too much crowned and not talk about the situation ?
Could be good or not? No problem

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks for the "master class", Andreas! This was a very challenging raw file and your PP skills are clearly at a much higher level than mine. Very well done!

Gerald

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks guys,
Gerald,Giovanni,Steve,Kaustubh for your kind words or critique for this challenging work on this really not optimal exposed image.makes me happy that others like my PP skills.

Special thanks to Giovanni for sending me the RAW file. Thanx.

Cheers Andreas