Help with Anihinga edits

[Andrew Harrell]

I got what I think is an interesting shot of an anihinga on a perch. However, I didn't realize I must have had some grass waving in front of me when I took the shot (windy out there today).

My question to the group is: How would you go about modifying this pic? I only have Lightroom, so no Photoshop at this point. Can the edits be done well enough in LR, or is this one of those situations where PS is really the only/best tool?

Photo and specs:



Sony SLT-A77v
Minolta 300mm F4
1/500sec at f7.1
no post processing at this point


AP

[Glennie Passier]

Andrew that's a lesson hard learnt. I've done this myself quite a lot! I don't use LR but ACR. I did have a go in PS and it wasn't too hard. I think LR is pretty much the same as ACR. This is what I would do in ACR.

First, I increased the yellow in the HSL panel. This showed me exactly how much OOF stuff there is. A lot.
Use the adjustment brush. Desaturate the yellows. Then use the exposure brush to bring back the desaturated yellow to make the patches a bit darker.
The blacks also in this image are quite black and you are losing a bit of detail there. Use the exposure adjustment brush again but go to the right on the very dark areas of the wing primaries and tail. You maybe able to also use the adjustment brush panel to bring back some of the yellows in the foliage and legs and bill. To be honest, I think the image is fatally flawed. But it would be a good exercise to try try and right it.

[Andrew Harrell]

Thanks Glennie: I like the pose too much to give up on it just yet. Will take your advice and see what I can do ...

AP

[Diane Miller]

Very interesting pose, and good focus. This is a situation that can happen too often, and it always seems to be on an image you really want. One of Murphy's Corollaries. If you have a depth-of-field preview button that can help you see things like this.

I'd go to the unadjusted raw file and bring out the best detail in the whites and blacks with the Highlights and Shadows sliders (balanced with others in the Basic panel) then worry about the OOF grasses. PS would be best for this but the adjustment brush for the grass might get you some improvement. As Glennie said, desaturate and darken the yellows (and maybe greens -- over-saturate to see what colors are there). It will need some finesse. You have a great resource in that after you get the initial tonalities as good as possible, you an make any number of virtual copies to try different adjustments. They are all non-destructive, but it's often a very good way to compare what you've done with different approaches to a difficult adjustment.

LR and ACR have the same engine and adjustments, just a slightly different interface.

[Isaac Grant]

I think the action in the pose is very engaging. I like the raised wings and outstretched neck. I also very much like the beautiful blue water in the background. However I feel that the shot has the following issues:

The bird is facing slightly away which is less than ideal. Facing you with good eye contact is what you would want.
Looks like this shot was taken when the sun was already high in the sky or perhaps not at the proper angle. This has caused the under wing, base of the neck and under tail to be too black and lacks fine feather details. Follow Diane's instructions to see if you can rescue any details from those areas.
Additionally the pouch under the mouth is badly over exposed. This is supposed to be a dull pink/flesh colored area surrounded by an off white trim. Again follow Diane's instructions to see if you can tone that down quite a bit.
The part of the snag that is protruding in front of the bird and through the neck and wing detract from the image.
The grass is something that I do not think that you can rescue. The one piece that goes through the leg of the bird and into the under wing can not really be eliminated without doing work on a large area of the bird. Photoshop is for sure the best for this kind of work. You would want to use the lasso and a content aware fill. But as the grass is covering such a large area on the bird I do not advise it.
There are 2 ways to look at a picture like this. You are either taking a nice action shot of a bird in its habitat or you are tying to get a technically good shot. My critiques are based on getting a technically good shot.
Here is my suggestion if trying to recreate this shot. Get there as early as possible. Anhingas often dry themselves on the same perch. If this is one of its favorite perches than you have a chance for a repeat. Being there at first light will mean that the sun is low in the sky. This will help light up the raised wings of the bird. As the sun angle gets higher there is no way to avoid the shadows. The early morning light will also be softer and will not cause the white areas of the bird to be too hot. As for the action you will have to sit and wait and hope it is facing you when the bird lifts its wings, which is all part of the fun of nature photography. I am not sure if this particular perch would ever allow this shot to be the way you want it. If the bird was facing you then the curved part of the branch would probably be going through the body of the bird. Is there a way to get to the left of where you took the shot to get away from the grasses and around the upturned snag?

[Andrew Harrell]

Diane: Thanks as always for your thoughts. I'll give it a go and see what I can come up with.

Isaac: Thanks for your comments as well. You made a nice point that this may simply be a good "action shot in nature" vs. a "technical" shot. But we are here to learn how to take better technical shots, so all of your points are helpful to me.

As for the shot itself, you are correct about the environment -- sun was up, winds were blowing hard from the N, and of course most of the bird(s) were facing into the wind with the sun behind them. Challenging day!! I can't get any further over to the left, as I'll either run into bushes that will obscure the branch, or I'll fall off the bank into the water!! But I'll come back to this spot another time just to check and see.


AP

[Andrew Harrell]

Diane/Glennie/Isaac: Thanks again for your comments.

I think you guys are collectively correct: There just is too much to do with this photo to make it "technically correct". Best to try to make some mods (I get to learn how to use the brush tool in LR) and leave it alone. Here is final rendition with grossly-applied edits to try to take out grass going through the bird, but maybe more importantly get back some of the lost details in the darks.





I'll use this image to play around and see if I can get better at using the adjustment brush, but not waste your time with the results from here on out ...

AP

[Diane Miller]

That's a start, and a good learning project. PS would let you go further. Sooner or later you'll find it a valuable ally, but having more limitations to what you can fix in post is good motivation to get the best capture possible. Even with expertise with all the tools, there are major limitations on fixing a bad image to the level of a good one. The tools offer ways to make a good one better.

[Warren Spreng]

Diane/Glennie/Isaac: Thanks again for your comments.

I think you guys are collectively correct: There just is too much to do with this photo to make it "technically correct". Best to try to make some mods (I get to learn how to use the brush tool in LR) and leave it alone. Here is final rendition with grossly-applied edits to try to take out grass going through the bird, but maybe more importantly get back some of the lost details in the darks.





I'll use this image to play around and see if I can get better at using the adjustment brush, but not waste your time with the results from here on out ...

AP

Much better Andrew, I like the pose as well. I gave it a shot in PS CC, and since the details were still there I selected the areas of the bird where the OOF grass was and played with color balance and curves to try and match the color as best to the bird as I could. Trying to bring out too much of the darker areas was also bringing up the OOF grass, so I left that alone in the back of the bird. I simply used the clone brush for the grass over the water.

[Glennie Passier]

That's a really good effort from all. To the untrained eyes (not like ours) I don't think too many would pick up on the OOF grass now. The changes have made it better, but I think it's one to keep until you get a better one. And I am sure you will.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice, Warren! A little subduing of the browns in the inboard wing section and more contrast there (leaning to the lighter tones) and you have a great improvement! I'd darken the leaves in the lower right, which are low contrast due to intervening grasses.

[Andrew Harrell]

Warren: That was really a job well done. I am saving this pic and working on my skills to see how much I can do in LR with the tools there. And I know in the future I'll get PhotoShop, and once again will use this photo as learning experience on how to use all the different tools.

AP