A hunting little tern

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

One final image (more at the site in my sign) of a hunting little tern series.

These whites are difficult to control, after 9 AM. This image is from 11:35 AM

M2N, 300/2.8, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, manual mode, auto white bal. The image at the link beneath is with daylight white bal, set in the DPP.

Levels, S/H, USM 290/0,3/2

bigger image: http://www.all4mypics.com/albums/use...rka-6966-1.jpg

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Nikolay, This is a very nice image. Love the splash, the wing position, the fish, and the perfect COMP. Was this cropped from the left and elsewhere?

I like the color balance in the larger linked image a bit better. I have not checked this bird's forehead for over-exposure but it looks too bright and too white without detail.

You wrote, "These whites are difficult to control, after 9 AM. This image is from 11:35 AM."

While whites in midday sun might not be the most attractive, controlling them should not be much of a problem with careful capture technique and good optimization skills.

#1: When you are in the field, expose to the right but make sure that there are no flashing highlights.
#2: Be sure to check this every few minutes or sooner if the light changes.
#3: If you manage to make a few images with some flashing highlights, all is not lost; simply convert the RAW file darker. I use Breezebrowser. If the whites are problematic, I underexpose a bit and use the combined conversion which does a normal conversion for part of the image and a linear conversion for the highlights to recover any lost detail. (My description of this may not be technically correct but it works!) In ACR (and Lightroom???), you would use the Recovery Slider, and in DPP, the brightness slider (I think...)
#4: If you have an image where the whites are not over-exposed but where the brightest whites look too white or without significant detail, you can select these areas with either a Quick Mask or Select/Color Range/Sampled Colors or Select/Color Range/Highlights. Then I do both a 10 pixel feather and a Refine Edges at the default settings. Then change the blending mode to Linear Burn and reduce the opacity (if needed).

Also, see the "Linear Burn" thread and the "How White the Whites?" threads in Educational Resources.

Whites are not difficult to control as long as you pay attention to the small details--hey, that is totally true of nature photography in general and is the one big secret that everyone is looking for...

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great moment captured, there is not much to add to Artie's comments. I would tone down the whites on the forehead and wish for a more accentuated catchlight.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Hi Artie,

First of all, I would like to thank you for the extensive and detailed how-to-fix explanation :)

Actually, the original image, slightly croped from the left and right is this one

I've redone the image, trying to follow your guidelines.
In DPP - Daylight W.B; contrast set at -1, col.sat at +1, sharpness at +4

Afterwards in photoshop I firstly made some clone outs, then with the Select/Color Range/Sampled Colors or Select/Color Range (this one never used till now) and then with Burn Tool with range Hightlights and exposure 7% made some adjustments untill I like the image. With S/H technique you've told me at the very beginning of the site (one of my fist images here) I lighted up the dark zones under the bird with shadows section set at 25/25/5. In levels set 5/1,07/255 and finally, the USM 250/0,4/1.
I am not sure whether some of these settings overlap one another, but hope you to tell me that.

Here is the redone image itself:

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Nikolay,
I like the slanted flight take off position of your subject. The splashing water is a big plus. Exposure and composition are great. Congrats...:cool:

[Raymond Barlow]

very nicely done, a great capture, and nicely processed second image.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Thanks to all of you for the comments :)
Raymond, I personally am great admirer of your works! One of my fav. series is the peregrine one! It is a rare species im my coutry and dificult to be found and photographed. Nevertheless, I know a place where I try to do some really good photos, but till now, just a few passable images. Anyway, hope to see more and more crazy shots of you here and on your site :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Nikolay,
Great action!. I like the original crop with maybe just a hair more room on the bottom.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, First of all, I would like to thank you for the extensive and detailed how-to-fix explanation :)

Hi Nikolay, You are most welcome. You did not, however, follow these directions careully:

#3: If you manage to make a few images with some flashing highlights, all is not lost; simply convert the RAW file darker. I use Breezebrowser. If the whites are problematic, I underexpose a bit and use the combined conversion which does a normal conversion for part of the image and a linear conversion for the highlights to recover any lost detail. (My description of this may not be technically correct but it works!) In ACR (and Lightroom???), you would use the Recovery Slider, and in DPP, the brightness slider (I think...)

I opened the repost in Photoshop and saw--as I suspected--that the whites on the crown and elsewhere were still over-exposed. In addiiton, it seems that you used the Brun Tool rather than the procedure for Linear Burn as outlined in the Educational Resources forum...

Please try to covnert the image darker (wih no flashing highights at all) when you open the image in Photoshop, open a Levels ADJ layer, click on the highlight slider, and hold down the Alt. key. (The image should turn black and there should be no bright bits of white or color. They would indicate over-exposed pixels.

If you can do that, post the un-processed jpeg here.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

I opened the repost in Photoshop and saw--as I suspected--that the whites on the crown and elsewhere were still over-exposed. In addiiton, it seems that you used the Brun Tool rather than the procedure for Linear Burn as outlined in the Educational Resources forum...

You are right, I used the Burn Tool, as i did not find this Linear Burn - actually, I thought this was the same :o

Please try to covnert the image darker (wih no flashing highights at all) when you open the image in Photoshop, open a Levels ADJ layer, click on the highlight slider, and hold down the Alt. key. (The image should turn black and there should be no bright bits of white or color. They would indicate over-exposed pixels.

If you can do that, post the un-processed jpeg here.

Again, a very important way to control the overexposed areas with this alt+ hightlight slider in an adjustment levels combination! Thanks for this advise :)

It appears that only 1/3 stop down is necessary in the DPP to cover the several burning spots. I uploaded the image on a server, that will allow you to download the 1.3MB full res image for a couple of seconds. I eagery expect your postprocess of the image to see how the things should be done properly: http://www.all4smartphone.com/person...6-original.jpg