I got to see what I wanted to see for a long time today, at lake Harriet in Minneapolis, Horned Grebes doing their dance! Sadly I choked with the camera and didn't get any really good shots. I was shooting them swimming and eating fish, exposing to the right for a dark bird on the water. When they suddenly rose up, I got all excited and just started clicking away, without changing the settings, because I didn't notice that their white belly is now reflecting some serious light. I blew out the bellies on all of them, except this one, and sadly it is one where the focus was off just a bit. I sharpened as best as I could, but it just isn't the quality I should have got But I still like it enough for maybe some smaller prints I guess. 1/1000 f5.6 640 iso
Michael, What a find! A beautiful pair. I know that feeling of when you find something special.
Have you tried adjusting the highlights in ACR or Lightroom. You haven't mentioned any PP. I might consider a wider crop to show the circular ends of the beautiful ripples. How unusual the reflection is. The face on the bird on the right is choked by the black. I would see what you could do there to lighten up a bit and get some feather detail. I would also crop a bit off the top. The BG is very nice.
Micheal your post skills are pretty good is there anyway to work on those highlights in the sharper images. I'm,learning mate and blow things all the time,but sometimes am amazed by what can be recovered.
A special moment regardless Michael,we have tried for similar with our native great creasted this year but no joy. Colours are fabulous as is the background and POV. Micheal I don't really know how to articulate the reflection looks really strange to me ,it's the straight lines especially the highlights running towards us that are foxing me.
take care
Stu
A cracking picture mate, sure I see the sharpness issue such a shame,these chances don't come along often but still wonderful to view
Michael, What a find! A beautiful pair. I know that feeling of when you find something special.
Have you tried adjusting the highlights in ACR or Lightroom. You haven't mentioned any PP. I might consider a wider crop to show the circular ends of the beautiful ripples. How unusual the reflection is. The face on the bird on the right is choked by the black. I would see what you could do there to lighten up a bit and get some feather detail. I would also crop a bit off the top. The BG is very nice.
Thanks. Yes tried everything, the pixels are unusable. It is in an area with lots of clutter I cropped out, so a wider crop would be pretty hard to pull off. good suggestion on the blacks, I followed that on some of the other shots and it looks better. ~MT
Micheal your post skills are pretty good is there anyway to work on those highlights in the sharper images. I'm,learning mate and blow things all the time,but sometimes am amazed by what can be recovered.
A special moment regardless Michael,we have tried for similar with our native great creasted this year but no joy. Colours are fabulous as is the background and POV. Micheal I don't really know how to articulate the reflection looks really strange to me ,it's the straight lines especially the highlights running towards us that are foxing me.
take care
Stu
A cracking picture mate, sure I see the sharpness issue such a shame,these chances don't come along often but still wonderful to view
Thanks! After getting over my disappointment in my shooting, really none of them are super sharp, I guess they were a tad too far away to get the best shots, too much cropping needed. There were no pixels available to fix the blown out bellies in any of them, so I tried cloning in some from another image in photoshop ;) the reflections are from various clutter, like docks, bouys and stuff, that and the ripples in the water make it hard to line things up.
The second post; You should post this on a thread of it's own. It needs a thumbnail so folk can see this! This one to me is just beautiful. You have done a great job of rebuilding blown whites. Sometimes I pinch feathers from a similar part of the body or even just paint in the slightest hint of colour. I think you could tone down the brighter bubbles under the LHS bird. Maybe also a trim off the top. I think you have done OK in the alignment of ripples. One more very minor nit. There are just a couple of very, very small water droplets in the BG that I might consider cloning/healing out. I don't think they add anything.
This is beautiful Mike. It deserves a thread of it's own.
Wow -- these are amazing! And we've all been there on blown reflections and the best poses being the ones with soft focus. Keep after them, especially if you can get this magic light again!
I certainly wouldn't call these seriously flawed. The vertical lines in the first reflection could be fixed with some cloning. Did you rebuild the reflection in the second one? It looks a little strange, but is close to being very nice. Maybe just a little more work on it would pay off...
The second post; You should post this on a thread of it's own. It needs a thumbnail so folk can see this! This one to me is just beautiful. You have done a great job of rebuilding blown whites. Sometimes I pinch feathers from a similar part of the body or even just paint in the slightest hint of colour. I think you could tone down the brighter bubbles under the LHS bird. Maybe also a trim off the top. I think you have done OK in the alignment of ripples. One more very minor nit. There are just a couple of very, very small water droplets in the BG that I might consider cloning/healing out. I don't think they add anything.
This is beautiful Mike. It deserves a thread of it's own.
Thanks for the good words Glennie! I will do a little work on it and post it on a new thread in the next day or so.~ MT
Wow -- these are amazing! And we've all been there on blown reflections and the best poses being the ones with soft focus. Keep after them, especially if you can get this magic light again!
I certainly wouldn't call these seriously flawed. The vertical lines in the first reflection could be fixed with some cloning. Did you rebuild the reflection in the second one? It looks a little strange, but is close to being very nice. Maybe just a little more work on it would pay off...
Thanks Diane! I see the lines below the birds now, I don't know how that got by my picky eyes haha, that's an easy one to fix. I am a bit stumped on how to fix the second one, it was totally blown out from the bright belly reflection. I am thinking of cropping some and applying more darkening and blur to the forground.
Michael, I am late to the party after a busy weekend.
The first post: Wow. The second post: My jaw dropped. I LOVE the pose on the second post. At the size you posted, the second image looks pretty decent in sharpness to me. Heck, I don't see any PS work in there on a first glance. The way the breasts come together does look a little strange at first. It looks like the bird on our right kinda grow from the left bird's breast. But, the water convinces me otherwise. That second picture does need a little it of CW rotation, though. What I am missing from the first picture (after comparing it with the second) is that black pupil on the birds' eyes. That to me gives some sense of "sharpness" if you know what I mean.
Mike thanks for posting the second ,although I utterly agree with Glennie tis so good it needs it's own thread,but hey we found it and were wowed,I'd like for more folks to see it for YOU though!!
Sorry not very constructive ( I have little left now),but the second rocks Mike, thank you so much for sharing it with us,
These images are both so impressive although the 2nd one is even more powerful IMHO. I think they both need more sharpening I believe the feather details are there but the heads especially need more sharpening. Well done!!!
I can't feel confident to evaluate sharpness on a small JPEG, but it was Marina, I think, several years ago, who convinced me of the efficacy of sharpening (very slightly) an exported JPEG. It can make a big difference for many images, as the resampling in downsizing can introduce some softness.
An additional strategy to consider here is a bit of Clarity, or possibly checking the histogram and seeing if the darkest tones can be brought down a bit darker. There is a very nice quality to the light in these two images, but the mid-tones might be just a bit light. Hard to know without trying, and maybe you already did.
Dancing Horned Grebes
I blew out the bellies on all of them, except this one, and sadly it is one where the focus was off just a bit.
I sharpened as best as I could, but it just isn't the quality I should have got But I still like it enough for maybe some smaller prints I guess. 1/1000 f5.6 640 iso
Originally Posted by Glennie Passier
