Sharpening Critique request
This image of an American Goldfinch was shot through a double-pane window, which I think accounts for the light vertical band next to the mesh feeder. What I would like opinions on is the sharpening that I've applied, which was all done in Lightroom 2.2.
Other critques welcome as well.
Canon 30D, EF100-400mm L IS @400mm, handheld
f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO 400.
Yes, the vertical band is due to the window, the amount of sharpening looks good on my monitor.
Hi Kevin, I have never really been able to figure out what the correct amount of sharpening is. It seems somewhat subjective. This photo looks fine to me, the eye looks good as does the bill/beak. The feathers are where i seem to fall apart. This looks like a good job considering it was taken through some panes of glass.
Dave
I think the sharpening looks good Kevin. I would even go a wee bit more on the eye. But that is just my personal taste.
Last edited by Jackie Schuknecht; 01-03-2009 at 07:23 PM.
Hi Kevin,
I like the composition, I like the peek-a-boo pose. Your head angle and eye contact are off. I like the details on your bird, color rendition is good...you can get ride of the vertical band of reflection from the window next to the feeder...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
Gus,
Any tips on how to get rid of the band of reflection? In the areas where its just background, it probably easy enough to do using a quick mask. But over the bird a quick mask seems problematic.
This shot was really just a snapshot...no real intention to work it to get the perfect shot. But I appreciate the suggestions in any case.
There was no color correction done...it was just an experiment with Lightroom sharpening.
Thanks,
If you photograph through a window, make sure that you don't aim the lens toward the edge of the glass to avoid this effect. Flash can also cause problems in this situation.Originally Posted by kklasman
Gave it little workout in CS4 . . . Not perfect . . . What do you think?
Uncle Gus
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 01-04-2009 at 12:58 AM.
Big improvement Gus. Did you just do it with quick masks or is there another technique? (There is always another technique in PS).
Thanks!
Hi Kevin: Will sorta describe what I did from memory .......
First I saved Finch as PSD & opened in CS4.
Then I pressed Q (quick mask)>pressed B (brush tool)>sized it by pressing left bracket key (smaller) and right bracket key (larger) until it was the width of the stripe going down the right edge of finch>then I painted stripe top to bottom>then pressed Q>then pressed ctrl/shift + I (invert)>then pressed Ctrl+J to add another layer. Now with stripe selected as seperate layer, I used Curves preset Lighten, and played with up arrow to lighten and down arrow to darken until parts of it blended in>Still in stripe layer, I played with Vibrance, hues/saturation till more parts were close> pressed Ctrl+E to flatten image.>clicked Clone tool, and using various sizes of opacity I blended in breast and top wing along with background>Saved it>press B, and with different sizes and opacity I blended in backgrounds using eye dropper to select colors adjacent to where I wanted to blend> final opacity was 15, and with a delicate touch I blended in BG (With a bit more time I could of made it near perfect>Saved again>then I opened>Image>Adjustment>Curves>used preset Linear Contrast>fine tuned it by adjusting slightly dark (down arrow) and light (up arrow> OK>tickled ii by opening Image>adjustment>Vibrance> and played with Vibrance mostly to the right and Saturation both ways till I saw what I liked>OK then using Quick Mask I selected Finch, gave it a touch of Linear Contrast in curves>then a slight bit of sharpening>Filter>Sharpen>USM 30/1/0 >OK>Ctrl+E to flatten>Opened USM, and gave complete photo the same touch as before 30/1/0>OK When doing sharpening those numbers are starters and I adjust numbers slightly.
The above proceedure is very windy, however, for me it was not a straight proceedure, but playing it by the seat of my pants as I went along . . . .
Uncle Gus
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 01-04-2009 at 12:50 PM. Reason: Spelling
Gus,
Thanks for the very detailed reply...I'll give it a shot. I figured it would be quite an involved task...but was wondering if the was some magic that might accomplish it easily.
Kevin
Posting Permissions
