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Thread: Puffin

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Default Puffin

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    Canon 1DX
    f/4 500mm with 1.4
    f/10
    1/1600
    ISO 800

    This is one from my recent visit to the island of Staffa, on the west coast of Scotland.

    Will

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    Really nice. The only thing that i would change are those black which look a bit too bright to me, at least on my monitor. I would darken the head and the back.

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    Nice composition William. I am curious as to why you used an aperture of F10? Is it as a result of the TC?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments guys. Hi Mike, looking back on it now, I would probably have been better using the bare lens. I was quite close with the TC on, as you can see from the flowers being OOF. The reason I choose f/10, was to make sure I was getting the whole bird in focus.

    Will

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Will, looks like the light was really harsh & strong based on the Blacks & Whites, or is it through compressing the Histogram in Levels for the B & W points, the shadow Blacks are really blocked, check your Histogram whilst converting the RAW. Bringing the overall exposure down, creating more tonal depth in the FG, with some more 'colour' back in the grass and flower heads, then it all starts to take shape. When did you calibrate your monitor??? Good detail, but the eye looks a 'lifted' a bit or is that the light??? If possible moving to you left I think would have helped?

    TFS
    Steve

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Thanks for that Steve, the light was pretty harsh that day, I did lift the shadows, lower the contrast on the blacks and also the levels(how did you know) I dodged the eye, very slightly, as I thought it looked a wee bit flat. I'll have another go with the RAW, and yes, its time for the monitor calibration, I do it monthly, is that enough?

    Will

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Shoot me over the RAW at some point Will, be interested to see the 'actual' histogram.

    I did lift the shadows, lower the contrast on the blacks and also the levels(how did you know)
    Why the shadows - lets see the RAW
    So you reduced the Contrast, yes?
    Levels adjustment, not a good route, that probably chocked your Shadow blacks, you need to correct that bit of your Workflow and understand what happens and the effect it has.

    The eye - your call, but it looks lifted IMHO.

    Monitor, depends on your Calibration software, mine is based on how many hours the monitors are on for, but certainly once a month and do it after about an hour of being on, not before.

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    RAW on its way Steve

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    I like the framing of the bird with the flowers. The upper left background is pretty dark compared to the rest.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Will, OK have the file and a very quick edit. FYI 95% of this was all done in LR so in essence you can do this is DPP or ACR. Focus spot on, but I think your choice of Cases wasn't quite right, or at least the set up, I would have certainly kept Auto Switch to 0 at least. The RAW is sharp to a degree but it could be improved. The light was harsh so you did well but then you have to address things in PP and on reflection I feel the sharpening is a bit too much adding to the issues, you really wanted to keep that sun behind you.

    Here is my take on it.

    cheers
    Steve

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Hi Steve, thanks for that. The blacks, do look better, and not so 'shiny'. Which 'case' do you think is best, for all round(perched and flight).

    Will

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    Will, the original capture was pretty good and well exposed, albeit in harsh light which did not help you. However I think you just messed it up in PP in all honesty, and especially the Level bit you did (it's a pants adjustment IMHO, as it did cause the main issues ), you need to get your head more around Curves. Yes Levels is OK, but you need to know when to use it, what it does and is it Selective or Global.

    Re Cases you just need to get your head around the first two settings, as you had both Brake & Accelerator on, which confuses the Camera AF. Each capture is different, i.e. is the subject flying across or straight at you and so that dictates often which direction you go. The MKII is more refined as such and I can't really remember how many notches you have on the MKI, but I will review the image and adjust accordingly, there isn't really a Silver bullet as such, because you may also need to look at frame rate, DoF...

    I think 'Perched' is very straight forward Will, as it's static.

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