Kirislin Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 the 2 full body are uncropped, the head shot is cropped. any helpful opinions are welcome :) redtailed black by kirislin, on Flickr redtailed black 2 by kirislin, on Flickr redtailed Black Cockatoo by kirislin, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 no idea of C&C.. but I do love the one front on, preening :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 thanks Persephone. :) I liked that one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Ok, I'll give some tips on what I see. Black animals are hard to get right, did you spot meter off the bird and under expose? Do you know about the rule of under exposing for black and over exposing for white? No. 1 - back ground seems a bit busy for me with this shot. You are dealing with a shot where it has to be spot on to make up for not seeing the bird's eye. I know you can do arty shots that show body parts etc but the shot has to be great to pull it off. I'd clone out the distracting tree bits ion the bottom and darken up the large trunk on the top. No.2 background way too bright, looks like you over exposed to get detail on the bird. Do you shoot RAW? If you can do so, then you can under expose the subject, fixing back ground problems and then bring back detail in the bird if you lose a bit too much. No. 3 is the best, but you need to dial down exposure on the bird, he's blown out in parts on edges and clone out the white distracting bits in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Ok, I'll give some tips on what I see. Black animals are hard to get right, did you spot meter off the bird and under expose? Do you know about the rule of under exposing for black and over exposing for white? No. 1 - back ground seems a bit busy for me with this shot. You are dealing with a shot where it has to be spot on to make up for not seeing the bird's eye. I know you can do arty shots that show body parts etc but the shot has to be great to pull it off. I'd clone out the distracting tree bits ion the bottom and darken up the large trunk on the top. No.2 background way too bright, looks like you over exposed to get detail on the bird. Do you shoot RAW? If you can do so, then you can under expose the subject, fixing back ground problems and then bring back detail in the bird if you lose a bit too much. No. 3 is the best, but you need to dial down exposure on the bird, he's blown out in parts on edges and clone out the white distracting bits in the background. The first one I think needs to be a more simple background for it to look its best. It would have been ideal if you could have moved a bit to the left just so the tree trunk/branch behind the bird's head was separate from the bird and could have been cloned out, so that you just had the blurred green of the trees behind the bird and then the bird and the branch it's sitting on would stand out more. I also think the colour is a bit flat. It's a gorgeous bird and lovely capture though. :) The second one looks a bit overexposed to me but I love the composition and the way the background is uncluttered. The last one is my favourite. I love the composition, detail in the feathers and the tone of the bokeh. The bird itself looks overexposed though. Maybe try darkening the bird without adjusting the background and bring back some of the gorgeous blue black colour of the feathers. That bit surprises me, I thought if white was overexposed it would be too too white and bright. I was using partial metering, but the good thing is, I can go back anytime I want to have another go. It can be hard there because there's people everywhere and I was restricted a bit with that trying to keep people out of the shots, plus the sun was glaring. I might post the last one with less editing, I'd actually put it through the HDR program, (even though I only had the one image you can still alter it in HDR) I like the effect I got with it, but I'll post a more accurate image of what I actually got so you can see. thanks girls. :D Edited June 21, 2012 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I know it sounds counter intuitive but remember your meter wants things to be 18% grey. I'll put up some cloud pictures a bit later showing the same shot with no exposure compensation and showing + 1 and +2, you'll see what I mean. The best thing to do is pick some black and some white subjects and do some bracketed shots so you can compare them side by side. It's like driving though, once you get used to it you'll go to shoot a black or white subject and you'll automatically go up or down in exposure compensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I checked my cloud shots and they aren't going to show you what I mean, but look at the link below on how to shoot white birds. You basically do the opposite for black subjects. Don't forget to check your histograms when shooting. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/bp/white_birds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) Hi Kirislin, just wanted to add, did you sharpen up the third one? If you are sharpening a subject in PS, it's best to make a copy (Ctrl J) and apply the sharpening to the subject only using a layer mask with a soft brush. It's really quite simple to do. You can also adjust the sharpening effect for different parts of the bird. That way the background does not become noisy from the sharpening which I think has been the case here. What ISO were you at? Also, I'm not a fan of centred subjects and IMO it looks better if the bird has space to look into. Here is another link which is very informative from the wonderful Arthur Morris' site which is all about bird photography. http://www.birdphotographers.net/ezine/mar08_01.aspx Edited June 22, 2012 by Ripley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 No comments on CC (does that stand for constructive criticism or have I got that wrong?) Just wanted to say they all look fantastic!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frodo's mum Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I don't have any constructive comments either just wanted to say i really like them the second one reminds me of those little cards..think you use to get them in Bushell's tea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 IMG_1470dppt by kirislin, on Flickr redtailed Black Cockatoo by kirislin, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Much better. Only thing left is to get rid of the big white blobs in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Much better. Only thing left is to get rid of the big white blobs in the background. that one is basically unedited. My editing program cant remove the blobs. It's so dam hard to get everything right. give me a racing whippet anytime. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 What software are you using? If you had something that can clone that's what I'd use. I've got CS5, but I'm guessing lightroom can clone? Watch your processing, if you've got things mostly right in camera you should only need basic tweaks in PP. Are you shooting in RAW? You've done some really nice whippet photos so it's just a matter of learning how to deal with more difficult subjects and knowing when you have to override the camera's decisions. If that was unedited then for this shot your camera did a good job of handling the black. Did you spot meter or evaluative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Content aware fill in PS would work perfectly on the blobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 What software are you using? If you had something that can clone that's what I'd use. I've got CS5, but I'm guessing lightroom can clone? Watch your processing, if you've got things mostly right in camera you should only need basic tweaks in PP. Are you shooting in RAW? You've done some really nice whippet photos so it's just a matter of learning how to deal with more difficult subjects and knowing when you have to override the camera's decisions. If that was unedited then for this shot your camera did a good job of handling the black. Did you spot meter or evaluative? I think it was partial metering in this case. I do shoot in RAW and YES!!! I can clone!! hadn't thought of that. Watch this space! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Content aware is the shiz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Content aware is the shiz! Nup, not that flash, just DPP the Canon program and I've been trying but I'm struggling to make it not stand out like a sore thumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Hmmm, I have no idea about the Canon software. Does anyone know if Elements can clone? You could use that if it does. Do you want CS5? It does take a bit to learn but well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Jo do you use content aware fill much? I have never used it but watched a couple of tutorials and it looks amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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