I think this is the mate to the nesting swan. Swans can look extremely graceful or very awkward. I think this one is getting a bit on the awkward side.
In ACR - Shadows to the right. Clarity and Vibrance increased.
In PSCS6 - Curves Layer adjustment on bird and one HS layer on BG. A bit of dodging and burning. NR on BG cropped and smart sharpened.
Looks like things are improving Glennie and you are feeling more comfortable in highish ISO. Just watch the sharpening halo around the head & neck that is visible. I quite like the slight head turn.
Thank you Steve. When I shoot at the higher ISOs and SS I know there is a good chance of getting something better than my "old" method. It's funny, because I still panic when I find a willing bird.
I can see the halo now. I did very little sharpening to this. I did use the adjustment brush in ACR to lighten the head and neck, so I reckon that's a sloppy job. When I looked at the RAW file there was also some chromatic aberration, which wouldn't help, and I failed to tick the box to remove it. Still so much to learn!
Hi Glennie, What a beautiful catch! Nice feather detail, pleasing water and BG blur. My only nit would be the sun angle. If I were shooting this I would try to put the sun at my back. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Very nice!! Great sharpness, great pose, great BG, great crop! I think there is a hint of red/magenta creeping in -- have a play with the WB and see what you think. Maybe have a look at a slight reduction in contrast and bringing up a little more shadow detail.
Glennie now I'm back, I have had a proper chance to look at the OP.
The Blue is really over powering, likewise the Reds, Purples & Magenta. Not saying its spot on, you were there, but certainly warming the image up, i.e. Temp (WB) to the right, then adjusting the HSL. I feel you start to get a more faithful aspect to then work with. Also just opening the Shadows up a wee bit, not sure how far you pushed the Clarity & vib, but as I said go sparing if at all, but your call.
I think with the light and time of day, both subject & water reflect thinks more, but some may feel that a more saturated look is more pleasing???
Den - Thank you. If the sun was at my back I would have been in 10' of water.
Diane - Thank you. I'm working on a repost - (Steve beat me to it!) Work has got in the way. Take a few days off and get hammered when I get back.
Steve - Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to have a look. When I look at the OP now it does look a bit overdone. I will have to say though the red, in the OP, of the bill would be quite honest. And the blue of the water that day was the bluest I've seen. These swans are quite black, but feathers fringed in grey. This was late afternoon and I wanted to keep that "golden hour" look. I guess it is all subjective. Do I want a record of a black swan on a dam, or a "bird as art"? I could play all day with the temperature slider etc. Steve, your image seems a bit too golden now. I will take the time to repost soon.
Here is repost reworked from scratch. The smaller "crop" one is the straight from the camera with no adjustments. Is the blue and red still overpowering?
Improved, for me, but I'm still feeling the color isn't just right. But I certainly wouldn't call either of your versions overpowering. I'd try just a slight warming, but not as far a Steve went. Then see if a little Vibrance would bring back the blues, or resort to the HSL section. Then I'd try to bring up the darkest tones a little, if you can without noise issues.
I used Color Balance to pull out a little red and blue in the shadows, and a little Detail Extractor to bring out more detail in them. Of course you would want to do any changes in raw as much as possible instead of in PS.
It's a small difference -- you may have to stack the two versions and toggle to see the differences well.
Thanks Diane. I can see the difference between your post and mine. Especially the colour of blue and red. The noise was quite apparent when I lifted the darks, so left them darkish.
I'm swanned out! But, for the exercise, I'll be re working the reworked.
Noise is always a problem when you lighten dark tones. The noise is lurking there but doesn't show until you lighten things. That's why you hear ETTR espoused. Keep those dark tones as far to the right as you can, without blowing highlights.
Did you ever try doing a quick exposure bracket, shooting on high speed burst? One might give better results than the others. You can darken highlights (if not blown) better than you can lift darks.
Thanks Diane. ETTR! If you were shooting a fast moving, dark bird on water, on a very bright afternoon, what would be the lowest SS you might set to achieve no motion blur? I've pushed the ISO to 1000 and SS to 1/2000 hoping for a good result.
No. I haven't tried bracketing, as you have already suggested. I'm going out tomorrow to find a willing subject or two, so I'll give it a whirl. Would you set the bracketing all on the right side of the middle?
The SS is basically a matter of your experience. If you aren't seeing motion blur at 100%, you are good, although you want to keep it as low as possible to keep ISO low. For relatively slow birds in fight, such as egrets or osprey at fairly close range, I can usually use 1/1600 sec at focal lengths of around 200-400mm, hand holding. But that needs steady technique -- faster is safer. (I judge steadiness by zooming in on catchlights where there is one. That separates shake from focus errors, which also occur.)
So you might start with whatever your basic exposure premise is, and just set the camera to high speed burst mode and set exposure bracketing to -1, 0 and +1, and see how that goes for a while. (Or go to 5 and add another stop on each end, if you have time to hoot that many.) You can set the bracketing to remain in effect till you cancel it, or to cancel itself. I prefer the former but do have to remember to turn it off when I no longer want it. You'll need to count the shutter clicks, too, and just shoot 3 in a burst. If you shoot 2 or 4, the next burst will pick up where it left off. If that's a problem, instead of burst mode just shoot 3 as fast as you can.
It wouldn't work for a flying bird, but for a reasonably static situation it might be a good idea. Even with experience and careful exposure adjustment, getting the best one can be hit or miss sometimes.
Glennie, I continue to be in admiration of your integrity in the learning process, how you work every detail and take advantage of all the expertise you're offered. I think you also bring out the best in Diane and Steve, by their receiving the encouragement from a good and willing student. I'm a beneficiary on the sidelines.
Diane, when you bracket, do you combine exposures? Not in the hackneyed HDR process, but possibly in layers in PS?
In this case I'm only recommending bracketing as a way to get the optimal exposure without blowing highlights or blocking blacks, which seems to be an issue Glennie has struggled with. After a little experience is gained, it will probably not be necessary, but it never hurts to have a best exposure to choose from.
But for a static subject (VERY static, along with the camera) the new Merge to HDR in LR CC is really amazing. You get an amazingly natural blend and it's still a raw file with all the overhead for adjustments.
Diane - Jim has offered up some very kind words. I tried bracketing today...and got completely confused. I should have practiced at home before I got to the duck pond. I was hoping for a setting of 0, +1/3, +2/3. When I looked through the view finder there was only one little meter when I pushed the shutter button half way down, when I took my finger off the button the three little metres popped up. You would think it would be a simple thing to count to 3. I didn't think it was working. Any way, it did work. I'll do better next time. I think my increments were probably a bit close anyway.
Black Swan II
I'm going out tomorrow to find a willing subject or two, so I'll give it a whirl. Would you set the bracketing all on the right side of the middle?
Posting Permissions
