This is the original, with minor color enhancement and cloning off a dark spot on the beak, of the female card I tried to crop too close on a previous post. I think the bird constrasts nicely with the bk and this is the sharpest bird image I've done so far. Wondering what you pros think because I know I've got a long way to go yet.
Nikon D40x, 1/640 f5.6 280 mm
Hi Hazel, Pretty looking bird and a good capture. Branches always seem to be a nuisance for me. Nice job on the cloning, I don't see any tell tales. I think if you lightened up the bird you would get a lot more detail.
Dave
Lovely photograph of the Female Cardinal, and the first thing I would do is move the picture to the left by grabbing top title bar of this page & move with your mouse until you see only about 1/2" back of the tail, this will give you an idea how the bird looks in a square crop. Better IMHO, however, I would crop it square, then I would add canvas in the direction the bird is looking. Though you might like square. It's a matter of taste. However, most of that space behind the bird should go.
I think Dave's idea of lightening the bird is good, which I would do in increments using preset curves. I wouldn't go too far at the start. When you like the look of the bird, I would check out eye. It might need selective lightening & sharpening ?
All in all I think you have a good photograph that just needs a little tender care.
Well done, Young Lady, thanks for sharing it with us.
Uncle Gus
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 12-30-2008 at 03:11 PM.
Reason: Spelling
I think a picture is worth a 1000 words, and all my talk didn't explain what I was talking about? So ~ I took your photo into CS4 (See you use Gimp) and First I cropped it as shown.
Then I went to Image>Adjustment>Curves, and used preset, Lighten, when lighten opened in curves, I clicked on point and tapped up arrow a couple of times to lighten it. Clicked OK
Thought eye needed a bit of lightening & light sharpening.
So, I pressed Q (Quick Mask) then B (Brush Tool) and tapped bracket key to size to eye (L bracket for smaller) R bracket for larger),
Then pressed Q,for selection
Then pressed I (Invert)
Then pressed J (Layer)
First I went to curves as above, used preset lighten >OK
Then I went to Filter>Sharpen>USM used 30/1/0>OK
Then I pressed Ctrl+E (Flatten)
Then I went to Image>Mode>Lab Color
Then in Layers, Clicked Channels>Lightness
Then I went to Filter>Sharpen>USM used 2 passes 30/1/0>OK
Then back to Image>Mode>RGB
Then I went to Select>All
Then Edit>Stroke and selected 1px brownish color for 1 px border around
photo.
Also added tiny glint to eye.
This repost is not to say everyone should like it, but only an idea of what a quick edit can do.
FWIW
Uncle Gus
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 12-30-2008 at 03:59 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Hi Hazel,
I like the capture, but there are a few issues that need to be addressed...the base image is under exposed, and the background is too busy, I understand that some people might say that this is habitat; but the problem that I have here, is that your bird has too many intersecting branches going through the body, and the subject is too centered in frame. Also the bird is out of focus and a little on the fuzzy side. I like what Uncle Gus did....here is my rendition of the composition...see if this presents well with you...:cool:
Nice one, Hazel. I agree with others about brightening. I would mask out the background and brighten only the bird. I adjusted levels and used the shadow/highlight in Photoshop, but it could be done various ways. For some reason, I sort like all the branches in this shot, so I would leave them in. (I also added a bit of color to the eye and brightened the catchlight.)
Got lot of things going right with the image I like it. The most important thing is to check the histogram !!!!!!! This image is underexposed and opening up in PS will introduce noise and all sorts of trouble. Do check the histogram and will make things easier.
When making the image do look at merging branches with body parts, the main branch is overlapping the beak, might want to move a foot or so to the right etc. You did make a sharp image with a great pose !!! Doing well !!!
Excellent re post and ...... David that is one cool effect :)
Wow, what a lot of wonderful advice to think about and work on. Yes, I did use Gimp because I just switched from pc to mac (hooray!!) and haven't gotten either PS or elements yet (still in a quandry about which) so I did a quick Gimp download to get me working again.
I agree that it needs to be lighter and thanks for the guidelines, Gus and others. I must say I do like the blur of the branches compared to the sharpness of the bird, personal pref.
I will keep your advice here and work on these steps as a learning experience. Thanks so much for the encouragement.
This was one of those serendipity shots, not one I was setting up to take a lot of photos and hoping birds would come. I just happened to look up and the bird was there---actually, I was in my living room and took the shot through a glass door. So, it was a stroke of quick shot, quick focus luck. I'm assuming your comment about the histogram check is for times when I deliberately go out for shoots and check, recheck things like that and then hope to find something to shoot? Or am I missing something?
female cardinal, the whole bird
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