pintail at Bosque

[annmpacheco]

Taken at Bosque last November. Asking for help with regard to processing the whites: specifically, the whites do not show they are toast but some areas look a little hot. So where in PS do i go to find out if i am at 255 or not? Also, what are some ways to "correct" this: in LR I usually slide the highlights down, any other ways?

Also, for final sharpening after exporting as a jpeg, when i open the file in PS, do i smart sharpen again or utilize another sharpening option. I am having trouble bc after the image is resized, it is so small i can't judge my sharpening. If i enlarge the jpeg it looks terrible... help please thanks... a new year and working on processing!


1Dx
600mmII
iso 640
1/2000
5.6

[Isaac Grant]

This is such a sweet shot of a Pintail in flight. Excellent landing pose. Sharpening looks perfect to me. I am confused about what you said though. You are importing a jpeg in PS and not a 16bit Tiff? I convert my RAW file to a 16 bit TIFF and then open in PS. I sharpen in 2 ways. Either I use the Detail Extractor set to 25% opacity and the sharpen or just sharpen using NIK output sharpener set to default for my only sharpening. I prefer that to smart sharpen but only because I never seem to get the proper settings with smart sharpen.

As to highlights here is what I do. In DPP I adjust the highlight slider down as needed. If the image is a bit hot then I will go down as much as -3. Have also lowered the brightness slider a bit as well. Usually -.17 is enough. Won't export until my whites are in the 230's. After converting and importing into PS I do a highlight/shadow adjustment with the following settings.

Shadows seto to:
Amount 3%
Tone 5%
Radius 35px

Highlights
Amount 15%
Tone 10%
Radius 30px

Of course you can make adjustments from there if needed. After using these settings I have never had hot whites on a shot that was initially exposed well but say not perfectly.

[annmpacheco]

This is such a sweet shot of a Pintail in flight. Excellent landing pose. Sharpening looks perfect to me. I am confused about what you said though. You are importing a jpeg in PS and not a 16bit Tiff? I convert my RAW file to a 16 bit TIFF and then open in PS. I sharpen in 2 ways. Either I use the Detail Extractor set to 25% opacity and the sharpen or just sharpen using NIK output sharpener set to default for my only sharpening. I prefer that to smart sharpen but only because I never seem to get the proper settings with smart sharpen.

As to highlights here is what I do. In DPP I adjust the highlight slider down as needed. If the image is a bit hot then I will go down as much as -3. Have also lowered the brightness slider a bit as well. Usually -.17 is enough. Won't export until my whites are in the 230's. After converting and importing into PS I do a highlight/shadow adjustment with the following settings.

Shadows seto to:
Amount 3%
Tone 5%
Radius 35px

Highlights
Amount 15%
Tone 10%
Radius 30px

Of course you can make adjustments from there if needed. After using these settings I have never had hot whites on a shot that was initially exposed well but say not perfectly.

Hi Isaac,
I have been converting RAW to 16 bit tiff via LR, to PS, finish in PS, back to LR, then i export tiff , resized as a jpeg. It is after i have the jpeg that i am asking about a final sharpening... I am all over the map with my processing, would love to get a dedicated workflow etc, ...
Thanks for your info, its helpful to me.

[Isaac Grant]

If you finish in PS why do you go back to LR?

Many people will do all of their work, resize and then sharpen the resized image. Only sharpen once.

I never bother with that. Just do basic adjustments in DPP. Only highlights and shadows, contrast and saturation. Convert to Tiff and then open in PS. I do all of my work in PS. When done I Sharpen. Then save 3 ways. Save the Tiff. Save as a jpeg to post on flickr or facebook or wherever. Then I resize for web. Go to FILE, EXPORT, SAVE FOR WEB. Set size to 1200 x 800 and done. I guess would be just as easy to go back in history to before I sharpened and resize for web and then sharpen.

I'm confused as to why you go back and forth? What specifically do you do in LR that can't be done in PS?

I'd love to hear/see what everyone does to get their final results. Would be very interesting to me. Also would love for others to chime in on the best/optimal process.

[Richard Flack]

Wow, this is an awesome image. Definitely one of the best BGs I have seen. I can see what you say regarding the whites and I see Isaac has offered some good advice already. Sharpening looks good to me! To be honest I am definitely not the best post processor so will leave it to the experts. But really well done, this is a seriously stunning shot!

[David Salem]

Wow Ann this is spectacular!! Love the incoming pose with the flared tail and the great body and head angle. The exposure, details and colors all look great too. Killer BG!!
I would love to have this in my files!!

I know we talked about doing a skype or phone tutorial a while back but we have both been busy so here are a few tips on your questions.

First off I use LR and PS in their CC package and I use DPP for higher ISO images where noise is a bigger concern. I guess I got comfortable with LR and PS before DPP upgraded so I have stuck with my regular comfortable workflow.

I tend to like to slightly overexpose my images to get good details in the darks so the highlight slider is where I normally start in LR.
If I am close to where I want to be be then I might need to slide the highlights down about 10-30 points or less. Sometimes as much as 80 points for something a bit hotter. If I find myself at a higher level I may decide to zero out the highlights and go to the exposure slider and reduce the exposure a bit, then go back to the highlight slider and reduce it a little if need be.
A lot of times I like to use the adjustment brush in LR when I am dealing with a hot spot. This tool is awesome and allows you to paint over a specific area and then adjust your highlights or a multitude of sliders to only that spot. I use this tool a lot when I am processing birds like Terns, Skimmers and Shovelers as I am trying to expose these birds with a bit of blinkies on my highlight alert on my camera to get good details in the darks and then tame the highlights down in PP. Now once the spot is selected, drag down the highlights and you have only adjusted that spot. You can also use this tool to bring up the shadows in a specific area, which by the way works great. I use this tool quite a bit so I suggest playing with it and getting comfortable with its functions. This tool works great when I have brought the highlights down with the slider and there is still a small questionable spot or two left. You can use the burn tool in PS also but it tends to turn your whites grey if you aren't careful so I prefer this method. I sometimes use the burn tool but I have it set at 2-3 percent and only give a spot a quick swipe or two at the end if I still feel it needs it.
Hope that helps a little with the hot spots.

Now how I sharpen images for viewing on the web, specifically on BPN and a few other forums I post on.

First off I adjust the major exposure parameters in LR then its off to PS for Levels, contrast, saturation, cloning and sharpening. I use smart sharpening in PS and I use it at .5 diameter and about 100% on almost all my images. Once I am done with an image and it is finish sharpened and ready to save, I pretty much do everything that Issac just explained, and in the order he does, save a TIFF for my master files, then JPEG for sharing on the web or posting on my website.
I then go to Export/Save for Web, set the image size to 1200x800 and then set the quality to as high as I can but still being under the 400kb max size for this site. I then save this file and name it the file# plus Web and save it to my desktop. I then drag that saved file back into PS. Now look at it. It looks like crap, especially compared to the killer sharp image I had just processed. Now I use the Lasso tool and outline only the bird and use smart sharpen again. I use it at the same parameters .5 diameter and 100%. Then I do the same Export/Save for Web with the same file name. Make sure the file hasn't gotten bigger than 400kb as the sharpening will add to the file size. When I hit Save it tells me that the file already exists and do you want to replace it. Hit OK and you now have your sharpened file for the web.
It isn't near as good as the original but it's as good as it gets for web posting at this size. I used to try to over sharpen then downsize but it doesn't work as good, at least not for me.


I am posting two images of a Harrier that I just posted. The first is from the very sharp master TIFF file that was downsized to a JPEG@ 400kb. The second is after I brought the downsized JPEG back into PS and resharpened it using smart sharpen at .5 diameter and 100%. Hope this helps.

[David Salem]

Here are the two images

[Frank Schauf]

Great light and flight pose.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Ann. A stunning pintail flight shot! Whatever you did here, keep it up.

Good advice from Isaac and David, which I hesitate to add anything to. But since everyone has their own workflow, I will mention a few points in mine. I usually attempt to get just a very few blinkies in the camera. Then I make exposure/highlight/shadow adjustments in Capture NX-D until the whites are in the mid-230's before exporting to PS. In PS, to see the RGB values, go to the "Window" pull-down and click on Info. This will bring up a panel that shows the RGB values as you move the cursor around the image. As David suggests, avoid overuse of the Burn tool which can grey out a white area -- a trap I've fallen into many times.

In PS, the first thing I do is make a careful selection of just the bird, or if appropriate, bird and perch, and save that. Then I can use the selection to make various adjustments independently to subject and background, each on it's own layer. I work on the master file in TIFF until I'm satisfied (if that's possible). I don't do any sharpening at all until I've resized the image to it's final output. I make a duplicate of the TIFF master file and resize it to 1200 x 800 as a TIFF, and sharpen that to taste with the unsharp mask -- often just on the layer with bird and perch. This is often about 100 to 120 at 0.3, sometimes with a second round or some selective sharpening in areas. Only then do I Save to Web which converts to JPEG. I've always understood that reworking and resaving a JPEG will degrade it from more than one round of compression. But I must be wrong about this since David's images are unparalleled, and he seems to take the JPEG back into PS for some sharpening after saving for web. I'll have to reconsider my workflow.

[annmpacheco]

Thank you all very much for your input, it is most helpful to me. I understand everyone has their own workflow and for me I am still in the process of developing a consistent one. I appreciate the options folks have suggested and now ill try a few of them. Thanks again for your comments and explanations.

[Isaac Grant]

Amazing David. So that extra step really makes a huge difference. Now you have made me wonder if I have messed up every picture I have ever posted as I never do that last step. Just sharpen and then downsize. I guess the NIK output sharpener could sharpen more aggressively than you settings so it may be in between.

Also when I size for this site I always keep it at 100 when saving for web and adjust the size to get under 400kb. So you just keep at 1200 x 800 and adjust the percentage to get to under 400kb?

[keith mitchell]

Ann most of the technical bits have been well covered,what I like most is the colour palate on this lovely shot of yours ,really like the brakes on pose.

Keith.

[David Salem]

Amazing David. So that extra step really makes a huge difference. Now you have made me wonder if I have messed up every picture I have ever posted as I never do that last step. Just sharpen and then downsize. I guess the NIK output sharpener could sharpen more aggressively than you settings so it may be in between.

Also when I size for this site I always keep it at 100 when saving for web and adjust the size to get under 400kb. So you just keep at 1200 x 800 and adjust the percentage to get to under 400kb?

Issac, Yes. Just adjust the file size and leave the image size at 1200x800. I used to think that if the file size was smaller that it would be degraded but it isn't enough to tell.
I'm usually at the high 300s unless it is a large crop.

Try doing it this way and see how you like it. There are definitely more than one way to skin a cat, so I am not saying this is the only way, but it's what works for me.

Good luck

[Robert Kimbrell]

Ann, This is a stunning image with a to die for background. I think you processing looks very good, and great for you to ask how to make it better.

[John Whaley]

Beautiful capture. Interesting read.