Good Day. I am a new member and first time poster.
This is a photo from the past weekend - I spent the evening observing a parent and two juvenile Clark's Grebes at Farmington Bay WMA. The light became progressively better and the grebes became accustomed to my presence over time. This image was made close to sun down when the light was at its best.
1D3/600IS+1.4TC (II), tripod, evaluative metering, ISO640, 1/1250s@F/8, -1Ev, AI servo with all sensors activated, processing in DPP and CS4 (saturation +20pts), sharpened for web.
This forum has a number of fantastic photographers. I look forward to interacting with and learning from all of you.
I like the dynamic pose and low angle but the IQ is quite poor here, the details look coarse and lacking, some highlights are blown and image has a heavy yellow cast, this image has a lot of potential had the techs been better
Hi S Govindarajan,
It seems that the head/eye is out of focus. The WB is tooooo warm for me and there is too much saturation. Maybe try other post processing settings...
Anyway, composition is good.
Hope it helps,
Thanks for the feedback, Arash, Jerome. The warm colors come from the reflecting waters which was surrounded by (drying) reeds. I really haven't added much saturation to the image - it what I normally post-process my images with.
Pose, low angle, and BG all look great. +20 saturation is much too much, I never use anything more than +6 to 8 (maybe a touch more in CS as the algorithm is different). It is easy to overdo the contrast and saturation - I only need to look at my images form my earlier days to confirm that! As Arash mentions, this image has tons of potential.
I also want to wish you a big welcome to BPN!! Looking forward to more form you, and don't be afraid to comment on others' works too
Here's a reworked version. I have toned down the saturation (down by 15 points) and also brought down the overall brightness in PS. Does this look better?
Arash: I would like to understand what you mean when you say the details look coarse.
the repost is way too dark and underexposed with whites turned into grey. If the RAW file was overexposed unfortunately you cannot recover it. Overall I don't think this is a keeper
I recommend studying Artie's digital basics to get more familiar with correct exposure and basics of processing
Thanks again, Arash. Went back and checked the RAW image - I don't see any blown highlights (or shadows). The repost does look much darker than what I see in my screen, particularly in the neck. Looks like my color profile for saving to jpeg was wrong. Here's a second repost - hopefully this turns out better.
The last repost is a bit better than the orig. but the feather details are still quite lacking, it seems like the neck and shoulder whites were overexposed and have no detail as posted, they look flat with no texture while the blacks are blocked too and show no details. the heavy sharpening didn't help either. Overall I don't think you can save this image... I think you have too many issues at your hand now from original exposure to post processing, I am not sure if your screen is calibrated properly or what kind of workflow you use. I would start from Artie's guide, a great reference to get familiar with exposure and processing.
welcome to BPN and good luck
Last edited by arash_hazeghi; 10-11-2014 at 03:21 AM.
I see what you are saying, Arash. I have noticed in Clark's and Western grebes species, the neck is much smoother than the breast or back and does not show any texture unless there is a kink. This is particularly true when the grebe is stretching its neck in the sun. I hope to get another chance to photograph these birds and will try different exposure techniques.
Thanks for your detailed critique. It is very helpful and made me revisit my processing techniques.
I mostly agree with Arash (however without seeing the original raw file I believe the image may be salvageable), but must say that overall the last repost is a huge improvement and that shows me that you are on the right track!
Clark's Grebe
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