This was taken near a feeder. Canon 7d, 400mm f/5.6 lens, Gitzo tripod, Wimberly Head, ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/200 sec, reduced flash.
Lightroom:highlights -100, shadows -26, whites +65, blacks -5, clarity +30
tone curve adjustments: highlights -71, lights -36, darks +34, shadows +32
NR luminance 38
This was cropped.
Would of course be nice to see more of the bird. Contrast appears a bit low. Try it with less of a move on Highlights. A tiny bit of blowout is probably just the snowflakes, and OK. Bring Whites right as needed, and Blacks left, to restore some contrast on the bird, but I know it isn't white so you may not need much.
Why minus on the shadows? That slider should normally go to the right.
How much of a crop? (The bird does look sharp.) Flash work looks good!
This is the original with no adjustments. Here I am pretty happy with the exposure of the bird and tree but the background brings the histogram to the left because the flash didn't make it that far. I think when I brought the whites up to correct the histogram it made the bird too white. I think that is why I have the highlight and shadow adjustments that I have made.
Jack, I would dial down the flash, you want an image not to show that flash is use. Also you want to use your flash off camera too, if you are not already.
Jack is the bird sharp in the RAW at 100%, sharpness here is only perceptual, it's the RAW that counts at the end of the day.
Steve I think this shot was EV -1 and 1/3. I couldn't find a spot in lightroom to tell me what the settings were for the flash so I couldn't post for sure as I was changing that setting if I changed distance from which I was shooting. I do use a wimberly flash bracket for an off camera flash and in my opinion the image is pretty sharp in raw. When I get home from work I will rework it. I think my main problem may be that I am stuck in doing things a certain way in lightroom and I don't normally use flash. I should probably be changing how I do things when I do.
Jack, see if the info is in DPP Command i (Cmd i), it may tell you, you really only want the Flash for fill-in, just a very subtle bit to help the shadows, looks like you are lighting both tree & subject, any more and you may find aircraft landing, good luck.
I don't think you would do things differently in LR because you used flash. Just adjust to make the subject look right. But expect that with flash, unless it is a very small amount, will make the more distant mid- or background darker. In this case you may not be able to balance the entire image. You may be able to correct the BG a little, but if it impacts the subject, don't go that far. You can always do two different conversions and stack and mask in PS, but it may not look natural.
You shouldn't be stuck in doing things in a certain way, as every image is different. Maybe not hugely different, but each will respond to slightly different adjustments to achieve its best look, depending on the subject and lighting.
Even if the raw file was tack-sharp, it is asking a lot to crop this much. And ideally I would crop even more than you did in the OP. If you can attract the bird by smearing suet on the tree (out of sight) and sit very quietly maybe with a camo drape, you might be able to get closer and get the whole bird. Worth a try -- woodpeckers are great subjects and you have a gorgeous one here.
The tree is about the same gray as the bird so you can find the best flash and camera settings before the bird comes in, and note it for the next time.
You are right Diane about treating each image different. That's what my problem with this one was. I usually slide the highlights all the way to the left on the first move. Less is more. This is my quick rework. Highlights 0, shadows +60,whites +55, blacks -10, clarity +30, n NR luminance 26.
It's much less flat now and has much better color. But bringing Shadows and Whites up that much suggests it may have been better to adjust for exposure first. Try this instead (and in general): First correct the exposure for the midtones and only then do the minimal needed in Shadows and Highlights. Then expand the ends of the histogram carefully if needed (and appropriate to the image) with Blacks and Whites. Re-tweak each setting as needed, when others change. Be careful with Clarity -- it can be wonderful but a little can go a long way. If it seems to help, carefully evaluate the more basic settings first, then see how much you need.
It's all a matter of balancing those sliders, which will be different for each image.
Thanks Diane. I have always tried to avoid bringing the exposure up but now I see why I needed to here. I brought it up .60 and made the adjustment in the other sliders. It's a subtle change but I think it's just what it needed. Once again thanks for the advice.
Glad everybody stayed with it! Subtle but nice improvement. Always good to do the sliders top to bottom, then of course tweak often. Each affects all the others.
If the BG was dark (or other tonal issues in other images), no reason to expect you can always rectify the lighting. You can only make the best of what you shot (and how you exposed it).
Have read all the above comments with interest and hope I have gained from them, think the repost is better but the only tiny thing that bugs me is the snowflake/highlight just above the bill, like I say that's been very picky.
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker
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