SOC - Full frame - PP Practice

[Lance Peters]

Straight form the camera - full frame as shot.

Something to practice your PP on - nothing done to this - just a raw->JPG Conversion.

D3S
Sigmonster @ 800mm
1/100th
F11
1600 ISO
Matrix Metering
SB900 With better Beamer
Manual Flash @ 128th
Tripod

FULL FRAME - so dialed the flash power right down - just wanted a hint of flash. I WAS CLOSE.

so how would you PP this? Give it a go.........

and report your findings!!!!

[Dave Leroy]

It took me a bit to realize there was a bit of a red cast. I used Artie's/Robert's blur average method to get rid of that, fooled with whiter whites to cool them off, did a couple exposure adjustments layers to gte a bit more exposure especially around the eye, cropped and sharpened.

I knew I liked the habitat and high key so need to do a lot with the bg just cloned out a couple stray stems.

Now that i have posted and compared to original I may have over sharpened, bg is a bit blue and I prefer nice warm straw colour of grass.

[Roy Priest]

Here's my try. Changed white balance in LR along with exposure and recovery, a slight crop, corrections in selective colour, Lightened the eye and Nik output sharpener. Oh, used patch too to remove some out of focus reeds.

[Tom Graham]

I played with changing the BG to pure white and also light/soft yellow, wasn't bad.
Tom

[PeterCollins]

here is my effort, any good?

im not so hot on PP as everyone else

[arash_hazeghi]

I would go just a tad tighter than the original, the reposts are over sharpened and show halos.

[Dave Leroy]

Oh yes, I see the halo around mine and some mess up in rc. Too much mucking around.
I like a tad tighter but think more is required to get away from a potential pretty flat photo. No pop.
I'm looking forward to see what Lance's finished product is.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Late to the party. I actually thought it had a bit of a blue cast so I took some cyans out of the white. Cropped and slight sharpening. Added a bit more catchlight to the eye.

[David Thomasson]

The pose is spot-on, Lance, and the perch is a big plus. Thanks for posting!



Edit: a sketchy rendition ...

[Desmond Chan]

David's repost - not the sketchy version - is what I had in mind. But it's way beyond my skill level to remove all those messy stuff to try it myself :D:D

BTW, Lance, not really sure you meant by "I WAS CLOSE". If it was about the distance from the bird, it seems to me the bird is too small in the frame if you were really close. :confused:

[Lance Peters]

David's repost - not the sketchy version - is what I had in mind. But it's way beyond my skill level to remove all those messy stuff to try it myself :D:D

BTW, Lance, not really sure you meant by "I WAS CLOSE". If it was about the distance from the bird, it seems to me the bird is too small in the frame if you were really close. :confused:

Close for these guys at this location - the branches are actually in the water - was as close physically as I could get - not much flash power needed with BB at that distance.

[Lance Peters]

Davids repost is spot on - removing the lower reeds is optional for me.
Take that out of the equation and what are you left with - KISS!!

David cold you explain what you did to get there!!

[David Thomasson]

Davids repost is spot on - removing the lower reeds is optional for me.
Take that out of the equation and what are you left with - KISS!!

David cold you explain what you did to get there!!

Surely. Before taking out the lower reeds:

1. Curves for white and black points.
2. S/H to open shadow details around the eye.
3. Blank layer to touch up the catchlight.
4. Topaz Detail to sharpen the small stuff.

To tint the background, I used a hue/sat layer with the colorize option.

[Lance Peters]

Thanks DAVID - Exactly!!
So my point being - IF you get everything AS CLOSE as you can in camera when it comes to PP makes life a whole bunch easier!! And HUGE adjustments aren't required.

Keep it simple - Black and white point is always my first workflow step! Sharpening is always done a separate layer - LAST!
I rarely remove anything with PS these days.

[David Thomasson]

Thanks DAVID - Exactly!!
So my point being - IF you get everything AS CLOSE as you can in camera when it comes to PP makes life a whole bunch easier!! And HUGE adjustments aren't required.

Precisely. With the curves adjustment, the post-processing work was 90 percent done.

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks Lance and David. It is a good thread. I need to follow up on white and black points.

[Roy Priest]

Precisely. With the curves adjustment, the post-processing work was 90 percent done.

Is there any advantage to using curves for black and white point rather than Threshold and levels?

[David Thomasson]

Is there any advantage to using curves for black and white point rather than Threshold and levels?

I don't know of any advantage. Levels should do as well. If you hold the Alt (Opt) key, you can use Levels (or Curves) to find
the brightest highlights and darkest shadows, so there's no need for Threshold.

[Roy Priest]

David, thanks for the tip.