Mallards

Hi to all,

Mallards , photographed at Fairburn ings this afternoon , wasn't sure how to crop this for composition , any advice would be appreciated.

Levels , Usm(150,0.5,1 x2) , Brightness , S/Highlight , slight Sat , Cropped for comp.

Canon 40D , 500F4IS , Gitzo1325 , Wimberley v2
1/1250th @ F5.6 iso320

All comments welcome

Regards

Andy...

Andy, looks great to me, reflections work well as a symmetrical crop. I'm a Scot in Colorado, I contribute to the RMNP forum and just realized that the UK forum existed, it's nice that I can post here too!

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the comments , look forward to seeing some of your images.

Regards

Andy...

Andrew,

The crop is fine, and it is a great image of the male and female, they do however give the impression that they are swimming uphill.. also it appears to be a little soft...

Now I hope that the workflow you have listed is not the order you have done things?

Also if you have done a levels adjustment, why use a crude brightness adjust? You should get a better result with less degradation by using the mid tone slider in levels...

HTH

Phil

Hi Andrew a very nice picture and I agree with Phil's comments
John
Aberdeen

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the comments , the original file is very sharp , even when viewed at 100% in PS , I have to agree the web image does look a little soft , and as for the processing , I'm still a bit hit and miss when it comes to Photoshop , a very steep learning curve indeed

Regards

Andy...

Andy,

Take the last point first....

You don't say if you are shooting RAW or jpg.... Where ever possible try to shoot RAW, you can rescue a small amount... OK, now you should try to get the best file into photoshop, it doesn't matter what converter you use, the less work in photoshop, even at 16 bit prophoto the better,

when converting white balance should always be set first as this can and will affect clipping levels.

then set white (often called exposure) and black points, some clipping is acceptable and inevitable, but specular highlights and the deepest of shadows will show as clipping.

In most converters there wil be the equivalent to a mid point slider, or brightness, this should be set on conversion..

Convert to a 16 bit prophoto or aRGB TIFF.... You should then be able to do minimal adjustments in Photoshop, do as much as you can in the conversion as it uses the original data without loss...

Presenting for the web... well I guess that has to be the subject of another post

HTH

Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the pointers , the image was shot in jpg as RAW conversion is still a complete mystery to me so I tend to shy away from shooting in RAW , but saying that I'll set my 40D to RAW and give it a go t'moro , you never know , I might figure it out

Thanks again for the help Phil

Regards

Andy...

Andy,

No problem, if I can help in any way then get in touch.... once you get the hang of it you will never look back... it does take a while but keep at it, you can always go back to files as you learn and improve...

All the best & speak soon

Phil

I agree with Phil. But it's a great shot. In RAW you can get the max out of a shot like this. Try shooting RAW, it will suprise you.

Edwin Kats

Nice picture Andy, but lots more to get out of it as has been mentioned. I think you'll find RAW is easier to cope with than you ever imagined; I put off using it for ages and I must have been mad. Whatever you do in Raw doesn't destroy the original file anyway, so you can just mess about trying what has been suggested without worry. - Enjoy

Hi to all,

Thanks for the comments and advice , I'll give RAW a go and if I encounter any problems I know where to come for some very good advice , cheers gents.

Regards

Andy...