More Bombay Hook Egerts
Panasonic GH2; Lumix G Vario 100-300mm
201mm, F5.0, 1/1000, ISO 250
LR4: reduce highlights, slight vignetting
Photoshop: Cloned an obscuring reed.
From this morning, 09/08/2012. My main question... is the photoshop cloning obvious? Im still working on my photoshop skills.
...Jerry
Last edited by Jerry amEnde; 09-08-2012 at 03:49 PM.
Very nice (and different) image Jerry! Looks like you got both egrets in focus and the detail in the white feathers is great. If it were mine, I would try and brighten the background a bit and add some canvas to the bottom.
Hmmm... I actually worked to make the background darker - to add drama to the shot. Furthermore, the background it's rather busy - so I wanted the viewer's focus to be on the birds. I'd like to hear some opinions on this. I am a Newbie and am more than willing to learn and revise my strategy.Originally Posted by Cathy McEntee
Also, pardon me for being obtuse - what does adding "canvas" mean?
...Jerry
PS: Thanks for the comments.
Last edited by Jerry amEnde; 09-08-2012 at 05:01 PM.
I love the white bird dark background contrast as well It just looks like the great white's feet are lost in the picture. Adding canvas is the same as adding more space to the bottom of the picture (if you have it to add). There are ways to add in PS as well. P.S. - I'm fairly new as well so let's see what others say.
In Photoshop it's Image > Canvas Size. You'll get a grid with 9 boxes. Click the top center one to add to the bottom. Then you can clone or do a content-aware fill (with PS CS6 -- was it also in 5?) Select the new canvas -- make it white when you add it to separate it cleanly from the dark BG -- and do Edit > Fill and choose Content Aware to paint in the new area. First expand the selection by 2-3 pixels so you don't get a fine white line. (Select > Modify > Expand)
Was you cloning in the area below the great's bill? If so, you could go over it a bit more to pull in some of the darker areas from its left.
I don't mind the dark BG -- it's dramatic. And what a wonderful catch and great sharpness on both!
Okay, thanks all for the comments. Here's my next attempt. To add "canvas", I just recropped - and agree it looks better. Here's my next attempt (and, yes, the reed obscured the Great White's beak). I still like the darker background, but am willing to be convinced otherwise.
...Jerry
Jerry.....I like this image....I wish it were mine! I love the drama and the wingspan of the fg egret.....nice sharpness as well. The bg green is a bit murky green but that doesn't really bother me and being dark is the right choice in my opinion. Your adding canvas worked well....Now that you know the technique you will find yourself using it often as it is so useful. I have learned many photoshop tips by being on this forum as will you. TFS
PS.......Hope to meet up sometime!
Jerry, another tip about adding canvas -- or doing anything else -- with content aware fill. Sometimes, you'll get a portion of the image in the filled area that you really don't want there. Here's how to avoid that. Before doing the fill, first add a layer mask to the layer with the region you're going to fill. When you do that, the mask will be active. Choose the lasso tool and use it to outline anything you don't want included. No need to be exact; err on the side of including too much. When you go around the whole area and return to where you started, you'll have a selection marked by marching ants. Do an Edit>Fill>Black. That'll mask off the area you don't want included.
At this point, the mask is still active, so click elsewhere on the same layer in the layer palette. Now, you can define the area you want filled, and the masked region(s) won't be included. If you google content aware fill layer mask, you'll find some videos that illustrate this.
@Diane Miller, @Dennis Miller. Thanks so much for the "adding canvas" tips. My PS skills are somewhat weak, but this is how I learn. Alas, I'm on CS3 which doesn't seem to have the "content aware fill" feature. Maybe it's time to upgrade?
...Jerry
Jerry,
Neat capture indeed, a good way to make sure you can always tell them apart! I jumped in late in the game here, but I like all the progress I've seen on this image. I think that somehow in the second image you lost some of the brightness in the egret's wing. I like how they stood out from the background in the first shot, and the added contrast in the second removed some of that separation. And good job in removing the reed over the egrets beak.
@Dennis, neat tip on CAF. I'll have to give it a try sometime!
Jerry, very cool picture- I do prefer the lighting on the first image, though that may be due to monitor variances-good clarity on both birds. I'm no expert on cloning techniques -my best efforts are very small areas. While it does show, it looks more like part of the out of focus foreground. I'd try cloning over the blue spot of water on the lower edge and work the area under the bill with sharper lighter green areas so as not to have the bill appear as though it's in front of the foreground. Again, a gorgeous capture.
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