I captured this image of a Wood Stork at Lake Mirror in Lakeland, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a monopod
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV -1/3 ISO 125 Auto WB, image captured at 290mm
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction when needed
Cropped for composition and presentation
P.S. Learn more about Lake Mirror in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link The BAA Middle of Florida Site Guide
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
From my end it appears you did very well processing the bird here in terms of whites. Staring at that one bright white patch up from the black feather as a baseline I would venture to say the colors are true. Fantastic details here as well.
Hi Joe, very nice and I like the framing here, cool detail in the white plumage. The head and bill look a bit flat, no idea if it was on an overcast day, but I think you could open the head/bill up? Adding some saturation too and a little more USM tends to bring out some nice tones, but you were there, just a thought.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Joe, very nice and I like the framing here, cool detail in the white plumage. The head and bill look a bit flat, no idea if it was on an overcast day, but I think you could open the head/bill up? Adding some saturation too and a little more USM tends to bring out some nice tones, but you were there, just a thought.
TFS
Steve
Thanks Steve, will give it a go.
Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 06-22-2020 at 01:40 PM.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Really digging this one Joe! The fluffy feathers are really nice, and you've capture loads of detail across the subject. I wish his head was a bit higher to clear the feathers intersecting the beak, but that's relatively minor.
Otherwise, I might move him a bit right in the frame; he's a tad close to the left side as is.
not the prettiest bird but you got a good view, soft light and good details in the whites, A bit soft as posted and can benefit from sharpening as Steve mentioned. Comp is too centered for my taste and as Dorian pointed out, I'd also move him to the right. the plain BG isn't ideal and would be better to get him against something more interesting with contrasting colors a bit
not the prettiest bird but you got a good view, soft light and good details in the whites, A bit soft as posted and can benefit from sharpening as Steve mentioned. Comp is too centered for my taste and as Dorian pointed out, I'd also move him to the right. the plain BG isn't ideal and would be better to get him against something more interesting with contrasting colors a bit
TFS
Hi Arash, thank you for viewing and commenting. After reading yours and Dorian's comments I had another look at the image. The sharpening was set to zero, a quirk/bug of lightroom when going back and forth to Photoshop if the history is not clicked before continuing work on a image. I sharpened the image again. The background is the overcast surface of the lake, I guess really calm. Here is the sharpened image also I moved the bird more right as Dorian suggested.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joe, yes a bit better, this was where I was thinking but probably too much. Added a fraction more to the LHS too. The Blue BKG I tweaked in Col balance
The sharpening was set to zero, a quirk/bug of lightroom when going back and forth to Photoshop
Joe, at the raw stage its set to default 40 (albeit more or less subject to camera brand, but you will not know, another hidden element), thereafter you need to change it, but I think it's too much via LR, unless you use the Export window, or PS from 'sharpen for web'.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Joe, yes a bit better, this was where I was thinking but probably too much. Added a fraction more to the LHS too. The Blue BKG I tweaked in Col balance
Joe, at the raw stage its set to default 40 (albeit more or less subject to camera brand, but you will not know, another hidden element), thereafter you need to change it, but I think it's too much via LR, unless you use the Export window, or PS from 'sharpen for web'.
Hi Steve, I always zero the default of forty in the Detail module. All my originals from the camera have zero sharpening. I only sharpen the 16 bit TIFF and then Lightroom sharpens the JPEG for posting on BPN. Nikon has a flat setting in Picture Control I use that in the field and Camera Flat profile when processing in Lightroom. The images look crappy on the back of the camera but the flat setting really helps post processing.
Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 06-22-2020 at 04:48 PM.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Steve, I always zero the default of forty in the Detail module.
Hi Joe, OK, let me try to clarify my previous reply, plus this may also shed some light too.
LR does a lot 'behind the scenes' apart from stuff I try to tell folk, including within the Sharpening module. So the default is now 40 after the big update, but it's NOT, depending on the camera used, it might be less or more, one will never know.
All my originals from the camera have zero sharpening.
Yep, ditto here.
Nikon has a flat setting in Picture Control I use that in the field and Camera Flat profile when processing in Lightroom. The images look crappy on the back of the camera but the flat setting really helps post processing
Like Canon, we have Neutral or Faithful which I use and yes, images look crappy on the screen, but the screen is for Composition, Histogram and to show any blown HL's... in my book, NEVER for colour, who would? For me, having a bland, dull as ditchwater raw, provides the cornerstone to build on and where nothing has influenced the file, a blank canvas so to speak.
I only sharpen the 16 bit TIFF and then Lightroom sharpens the JPEG for posting on BPN. .
Now, this is the interesting bit, I think LR sharpening on a 'baked' 16 Tiff is too aggressive, especially for Web unless you use the Export Window and 'may be' highlighting why you sometimes have halo's. Just a thought, but try some pre sharpening in LR at the RAW STAGE, then ONLY sharpen the 16 bitt via PS (or use LR Export and values for screen sharpening), cropped JPEG, PRIOR to converting to sRGB. If you choose PS, then export from LR to the correct Output size, 16bitt Tiff, sharpen in PS, flatten, Save for Web Legacy.
Personally Joe, this could be the new way forward to reducing those halo's.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Now, this is the interesting bit, I think LR sharpening on a 'baked' 16 Tiff is too aggressive, especially for Web unless you use the Export Window and 'may be' highlighting why you sometimes have halo's. Just a thought, but try some pre sharpening in LR at the RAW STAGE, then ONLY sharpen the 16 bitt via PS (or use LR Export and values for screen sharpening), cropped JPEG, PRIOR to converting to sRGB. If you choose PS, then export from LR to the correct Output size, 16bitt Tiff, sharpen in PS, flatten, Save for Web Legacy.
Personally Joe, this could be the new way forward to reducing those halo's.
Hi Steve, we agree on all up to this. I zero the sharpening on the Raw in Lightroom. I do this because sharpening also sharpens any noise in a image making the image appear to have more noise than exists. I use Neat Image at the default of 60% to remove any noise in a image. Unlike some that I read on BPN I reduce noise on the whole image (not just the background) if the background is pure or has a pure area to use. With a pure background Neat Image finds only noise and not detail/feather detail. After using Neat Image in Photoshop I export the image back into Lightroom for tweaking what I did not do to the original and sharpening. The halos that sometimes show on my image is from too aggressive sharpening for feather detail and because I sometimes fight a war with my glasses when using the computer. When I export a image at 1900 or 1200 pixels for BPN I use the Lightroom Export module with the sharpening set to standard. Standard seems about right, the high setting leads to the image appearing crunchy.
I know Lightroom does a lot behind the scene, I try to eliminate all that it does such as contrast, blacks, and sharpening. I want as you say a dishwater image to begin with, that solves so many problems with highlights clipping and blacks blocking.
Stay healthy, my friend.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Fifty Shades Of White...
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Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski
