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Forum Participant
Hi Tobie
I can't really help with the processing on this but I think you have a great image. The behavior you have caught is nice and I like you composition.
Exposure looks good and I am sure someone will be able to help you get he tones and you would like them.
TFS
Iain
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Originally Posted by
Randall Farhy
Hi Tobie-what a warm and tender moment you've captured here! [snip] Edit: Adjusted Exp to +.16, Highs -14 and clarity +19. Fiddly I know, but I didn't like how the highlights started to washout.
Thanks Randall - I think you got a little further to where I was trying to get. You appear to have run into the same problem I've had: these light coats do not give you much leeway in terms of highlights! I have actually tried adjusting the indivudual channels but could not get a satisfactory result. Thanks again!
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Hi Tobie, YW. I liked this one so much that I started playing with Topaz adjustments to bring up the shadows without graying it out too much-I believe there is a lot of latent potential in the RAW. The highs on this one can still be brought in a bit more, and I'd try channels to isolate the fur (yellow&orange?) but you are correct-even the slightest adjustments to mids tend to push them to the right. I'll put up another version later on this evening.
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Randall, I've played around with colors again in PS (as well as a few brightness & contrast settings). I could not really get the color in the mane as I wanted, but I think the IQ is better in general. I'm actually wondering if I'm not unrealistic. The other photo's I'm comparing these colors to were taken at noon where this one was taken in the early morning sun. Maybe this tint is simply what I got at 08h00 and it's unrealistic to change it without changing the overall color cast of the photo?
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Hmm, I'd much prefer the softer warmth of morning sun to the high contrast, rather flat bluish cast of Noon, maybe your happy place would be someplace in between? Of course if you really wanted to bleach it without affecting the rest of the image, you could try a layers mask.... Another aspect to consider is that the lighting angle of this shot keeps a good amount of the subject in the shadows.
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Originally Posted by
Randall Farhy
It might be too "flat" for some tastes- R
Just a little, I would say - but not a bad version at all. It certainly eliminated a little of the yellow tint.
I guess there's no 'wrong' or 'right' here - it's all about what one's looking for? Thanks for having spent so much time on this, Randall!
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What a touching moment, well captured! I'm in a rush, catching up from a couple of days off, and don't have a strong opinion about the colors, but I wonder if going back to the RAW conversion could tame the lightest areas a little?
The RP in Pane 6 is a little too contrasty for my taste, but I think Randall did a good job in Pane 8, within the limits of working with the JPEG.
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Originally Posted by
Diane Miller
[snip]I wonder if going back to the RAW conversion could tame the lightest areas a little? The RP in Pane 6 is a little too contrasty for my taste, but I think Randall did a good job in Pane 8, within the limits of working with the JPEG.
Thanks for adding your comment Diane. It always helps to have more than one opinion to try and determine what one should try to aim for. I've wished so many times that I could calibrate my monitor to be identical to one of our mod's monitors so that I know I'm seeing what you're seeing.
The animals' light coats combined with the early morning sun has its challenges and I've spent quite some time trying to tame the lightest areas even more (inside LR as well as PS). I don't think it's going to get much better than this, if better at all.
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There are a range of monitor calibrations here, but I see generally good agreement on things like blown whites and blocked up blacks, so I think in many cases it's more a matter of experience than calibration, unless you have a monitor that is way off. And it's quite true that there is a limit to how far we can correct things.
There are valuable techniques such as Nik CEP's Detail Extractor, Tonal Contrast and Pro Contrast, and contrast masking, that can be used to tame highlights further in PS, once things heave been taken as far as possible in RAW conversion.
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Subtle changes to reduce highlights.
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Went back to RAW, starting all over with a luminosity mask to trim highlights. What I like about it is that more color seems to have remained than going the LR route.
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You brought up the shadows dramatically, compared to the OP. A good lesson in what is possible in dealing with shadows and highlights, by several methods. Color adjustments (temp, hue and saturation) and overall "exposure" can always be tweaked, largely independent of the shadow and highlight detail.
If it were me, I would reduce overall exposure and saturation slightly in this last version, but it's all a matter of taste. And experience. Lots of experience. We're all still learning.
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Originally Posted by
Diane Miller
[snip] If it were me, I would reduce overall exposure and saturation slightly in this last version, but it's all a matter of taste. And experience. Lots of experience. We're all still learning.
Thanks for your reply Diane. I also had my doubts about the exposure when I saw it in the browser and I've realised that it's a bit darker in LR / PS. Something to keep in mind in the future. I've lowered exposure a little and reduced saturation:
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Yes, I think this is better. On a difficult image, I'll usually put it away a while and look at it later for a better decision on the end point.
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Originally Posted by
Diane Miller
Yes, I think this is better. On a difficult image, I'll usually put it away a while and look at it later for a better decision on the end point.
Thanks Nancy. I've had a good look at it again - I'm more than happy with the end result! 
