What would you do here?

[Harold Davis]

I posted this picture yesterday in the Avian Wild and Free Forum. I dont think it was much of a hit, but I think it could be. Some said it looked over-processed. I dont disagree. Problem was I had a bluish cast keep popping up and i could not control it.

This is the full frame version of it. No crop, NO POST PROCESSING, nothing. this is not a test either. just asking for some help here.

D50, Sigma 50-500 at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/160s, -1.3EV, ISO 200, flash fill with bb set at -1.3EV.

others said the sky in the bg looked unnatural. this is how every pic i took at this location turned out when i had blue skies in the bg. i didnt alter it at all and the white balance was set to auto.

thanks for the help!!!

[Julie Kenward]

Harold, did you try to do a color balance adjustment in Photoshop? I'm not sure it will get the blue out of the background but it should help render the owl a little more on the warm side. You might also try a warm-toned filter to counterbalance the blue.

[Harold Davis]

i sure did, julie!! it seemed everything i did went haywire!! i'm not trying to get the blue out of the bg at all. the comments were that it doesnt look natural. in everyone of the pics from that same place taken over a four month span with the same camera, the blue sky bg always looked electric blue. didnt bother me so much, but i guess it does look a little unnatural!! if they only saw what the bg looked like with clouds!!!! we were always thankful for some blue sky and that was few and far between!!

thanks for the comments!

[Nonda Surratt]

First off Mr H I like the image. In some ways it almost looks over flashed? (foreground leaves). The sky seems to have the color/look I've gotten when I have underexposed a backlit subject, sort of aqua with a hint of dark purple blue ..Make sense?
What to do about it? Don't have a clue. Great help huh.

[Harold Davis]

What to do about it? Don't have a clue. Great help huh.

thanks, dear. you have not helped me at all:p:p

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Hey buddy, I like it the way it is, except for the green blurred over the branch.
Have fun.

[Nonda Surratt]

thanks, dear. you have not helped me at all:p:p

You are more than welcome sir;)

[Dave Phillips]

Hi Harold...I think you can work the high res of this quite easily.
I first did a white balance via curves, using threshold to set white and black point.
Then I did a saturation reduction by eyedropping the blue/cyan sky(wasn't any other blue to be affected)
Then I did a local contrats enhancement via USM, (6/50/0)....and a bit of selective final sharpening.

And cropped for now so not tp deal with green OOF area
anyway, maybe this will be of some help....still need some fine tweaks on color IMO

[Dan Brown]

Hi Harold. I did a quick mask on all of the blue areas, then applied a heavy warming filter 85 to it (about 60%).
Then did another QM and decreased the brightness/contrast on the bright green blob. Don't know how it compares to previous attempts but I like it.

Dan Brown,
Sacramento

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Harold, I remember this from the Avian, Wild and Free forum and the comment I made re: over-processed look. Here is my quick version (of course it would be easier and better working on a larger version). The biggest "problem", if you will, is the blue sky which the camera rendered in a distracting and unnatural-like hue. I desaturated the cyan -85 points, and the blue -9 points. Added contrast +9 points. The sky no longer competes for attention against the owl. Darkened the pupils which seemed to have a semblance of red-eye in them, and cloned out the extra catchlight that was present on one of the owl's eyes. Also cloned out the green leaf at bottom right of perch (in hindsight I should have fixed the bright blotches at left of it too). Cropped to vertical - but Dave's square version works very well too.

[Dave Phillips]

Interesting Daniel....put yours and mine side by side and they are extremely similar

[Dan Brown]

If all else fails, do a Seeram illustration.:)

Dan Brown

[Harold Davis]

thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!! awesome reposts and great info!!!! i will give this a whirl again myself and see what i can come up with. i have a direction to go in and think i can make it work.

thanks again!!! you guys are awesome and the help is appreciated!!

[Gus Cobos]

Nice repost Dave..

[Alfred Forns]

Sorry I'm late on the fun Harold !!!! On the road playing with large numbers of spoons !!!

The original blue does seem a strange. Would try just altering the saturation only and see how it looks since it can't have a cast. I like the suggested crops eliminating clutter. Love the crispness and detail !!!!

[Brian Wong]

I posted this picture yesterday in the Avian Wild and Free Forum. I dont think it was much of a hit, but I think it could be. Some said it looked over-processed. I dont disagree. Problem was I had a bluish cast keep popping up and i could not control it.

This is the full frame version of it. No crop, NO POST PROCESSING, nothing. this is not a test either. just asking for some help here.

D50, Sigma 50-500 at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/160s, -1.3EV, ISO 200, flash fill with bb set at -1.3EV.

others said the sky in the bg looked unnatural. this is how every pic i took at this location turned out when i had blue skies in the bg. i didnt alter it at all and the white balance was set to auto.

thanks for the help!!!

Hi Harold!

I've been thinking about the strange cast on your image. One way to see it is to zoom in and concentrate just on the "white" feathers ... and you can definitely see a color cast there.

I would like to hear more from all the flash experts, but I believe the root of the problem has something to do with your flash, the white balance setting, and the processing.

The use of an external flash generally creates a very "cool" cast ... but this looks much more off than that alone (especially if set at -1.3).

If this was a JPEG, maybe you could try the "flash" white balance setting instead of the "auto" white balance setting. Also, be sure to check to be sure it didn't get bumped to some other setting, like "florescent" white balance. I don't know your camera, but if this was JPEG, do you also have your saturation cranked up?

If this was RAW, what is your post processing white balance setting?

[Harold Davis]

it was RAW and the setting was still AUTO. i never messed with any of the base adjustments in PP. i could go back and try. would be a good learning experience to see what happens.

thanks for everyone's time on this!!

have a great memorial day weekend and be safe out there!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Harold - I like daniel's repost - still love the eyes.

lance