This is my first post on this forum and I just uploaded this photo to my portfolio. Comments, please?
Posted by Mitch Erwin on March 13, 2008 at 5:54 PM
Louis,
Welcome to the forum. You'll find many helpful Lads and Ladettes here so if you have any questions, then do not hesitate to ask. We've recently had a surge in participation in this forum as well, so you are signing in at a good time.
When posting your photos, it is always a good idea to try and give us some specifics on kit used and settings if you know them, that way, if you are wanting input from people we can comment accordingly and maybe give some suggestions.
Looks like you stumbled upon a small herd of deer here. I'd like to see a closer view if you have the lens to do so. There are a couple of does in there that have good stances if you could get alittle closer.
Keep posting, commenting on others stuff, capture what you like and don't get discouraged.
Welcome to the group, Louis. I'm new around here myself. My comments pretty much echo those of Mitch. Nothing wrong with showing wildlife in its habitat, as you have done here, particularly if you can't get closer or don't have the lens to get a tighter comp. I would prefer that the deer stood out a little more, and the image would be better with better light. I don't know how much you can crop the original without a loss of image quality, but I would definitely crop the top to eliminate the patch of distracting sky in the URC.
Posted by Jack Graham on March 14, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Louis,
Welcome as well. I am an ex-Midwesterner who still follows the great folks here in the forum. You'll love it here, its a great group.
here are my comments on this shot.
(DISCLAIMER); John Shaw starts his seminars by saying " Don't believe anything anyone tells you until you've tried it" He's right. I've listed what I would do to make this a really nice image. These are just my opinions!
As far as composition goes, it's always best get it right in the camera. I cringe when I hear folks say " I can fix it in Photo shop. Unfortunately I hear it a lot.
1) I get what you are trying to do here, but the sky in the upper right hand corner is really distracting. The deer are pretty much ballseed as well. Control your background and foreground. If they don't make your image stronger eliminate them. If you have a longer lens, I would have probably used it here.
2) Your image ( that's posted here) has a resolution of 240DPI. This is a printable image. You should re size the image down to at least 96 DPI or below ( some monitors actually are 96 DPI compatible ) 72 DPI works well too. The longest side should be 720 pixels.
3) The foreground is to me too big and doesn't lend much to the image. I would eliminate most of it. Again a longer focal length lens would have solved this in the first place.
4) Also the deer seem to be looking to the left, ... more reason to crop the image and put them on the right side.
5) I played with layers a bit to bring out some detail in the grasses, trees and the deer.
6) I adjusted the shadows to bring out the tree detail on the left and upped the contrast just a bit.
7) I added a bit of saturation ( mostly a little green)... this is very subjective. I happen to like it with more green in this image, but that's just me.
8) Finally I added just a bit of sharpening ( using unshaped mask). Everyone does this differently, but I use settings of: In the dialog box, I set the AMOUNT to 85%, RADIUS to 1 and THRESHOLD to 4. You can increase or decrease the percentage of sharpness to match the kind of scene you've photographed. Be careful not to over sharpen
I hope this helps a bit. I really like the concept and subject matter. It's really interesting how just some small changes can make a good image a really great image.
Jack, you've really worked this image up great for me! Unfortunatly, the lens I was using (Canon 70 - 300mm AF) was all the way to 300mm. I just couldn't get any closer than I was already. I like the cropping you've done and I'll play with it some more.
I took the picture from inside of my pick-up. I had the window down, but not for long. There was a house on a farm on the other side of the road and they had some big (really big!) dogs that were coming to see why I was parked in the road in front of their house.
Lou Neal
Posted by Jack Graham on March 14, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Lou,
The car bakes a great blind as well. Chances the deer would have run if you stepped outside.
Sounds like you need to hit the lottery and get that big glass! (Don't we all!)
Cheers
Jack
Posted by Toni Lankerd on March 15, 2008 at 9:13 AM
Welcome to the Midwest forum, Louis!
It's always a tough call when animals are this far away and you don't have a 1000mm lens (most of us don't!). I like the inclusion of habitat, but in this case, would more than likely have done what Jack did...crop and bring the deer in closer. If the image is still large enough after a crop like Jack's, in my opinion, this could still make a decent print.
Posted by Bernie Kasper on March 16, 2008 at 3:29 PM
Welcome Louis, this is a great place to cut your teeth on photography, you will get a lot of good advice and people will be honest as well, keep your images coming
Discussion
8 repliesWelcome to the forum. You'll find many helpful Lads and Ladettes here so if you have any questions, then do not hesitate to ask. We've recently had a surge in participation in this forum as well, so you are signing in at a good time.
When posting your photos, it is always a good idea to try and give us some specifics on kit used and settings if you know them, that way, if you are wanting input from people we can comment accordingly and maybe give some suggestions.
Looks like you stumbled upon a small herd of deer here. I'd like to see a closer view if you have the lens to do so. There are a couple of does in there that have good stances if you could get alittle closer.
Keep posting, commenting on others stuff, capture what you like and don't get discouraged.
I'm in Decatur, IL, BTW. Thinking of going to Vienna (IL) over Easter.
Welcome as well. I am an ex-Midwesterner who still follows the great folks here in the forum. You'll love it here, its a great group.
here are my comments on this shot.
(DISCLAIMER); John Shaw starts his seminars by saying " Don't believe anything anyone tells you until you've tried it" He's right. I've listed what I would do to make this a really nice image. These are just my opinions!
As far as composition goes, it's always best get it right in the camera. I cringe when I hear folks say " I can fix it in Photo shop. Unfortunately I hear it a lot.
1) I get what you are trying to do here, but the sky in the upper right hand corner is really distracting. The deer are pretty much ballseed as well. Control your background and foreground. If they don't make your image stronger eliminate them. If you have a longer lens, I would have probably used it here.
2) Your image ( that's posted here) has a resolution of 240DPI. This is a printable image. You should re size the image down to at least 96 DPI or below ( some monitors actually are 96 DPI compatible ) 72 DPI works well too. The longest side should be 720 pixels.
3) The foreground is to me too big and doesn't lend much to the image. I would eliminate most of it. Again a longer focal length lens would have solved this in the first place.
4) Also the deer seem to be looking to the left, ... more reason to crop the image and put them on the right side.
5) I played with layers a bit to bring out some detail in the grasses, trees and the deer.
6) I adjusted the shadows to bring out the tree detail on the left and upped the contrast just a bit.
7) I added a bit of saturation ( mostly a little green)... this is very subjective. I happen to like it with more green in this image, but that's just me.
8) Finally I added just a bit of sharpening ( using unshaped mask). Everyone does this differently, but I use settings of: In the dialog box, I set the AMOUNT to 85%, RADIUS to 1 and THRESHOLD to 4. You can increase or decrease the percentage of sharpness to match the kind of scene you've photographed. Be careful not to over sharpen
I hope this helps a bit. I really like the concept and subject matter. It's really interesting how just some small changes can make a good image a really great image.
Regards,
Jack
I took the picture from inside of my pick-up. I had the window down, but not for long. There was a house on a farm on the other side of the road and they had some big (really big!) dogs that were coming to see why I was parked in the road in front of their house.
Lou Neal
The car bakes a great blind as well. Chances the deer would have run if you stepped outside.
Sounds like you need to hit the lottery and get that big glass! (Don't we all!)
Cheers
Jack
It's always a tough call when animals are this far away and you don't have a 1000mm lens (most of us don't!). I like the inclusion of habitat, but in this case, would more than likely have done what Jack did...crop and bring the deer in closer. If the image is still large enough after a crop like Jack's, in my opinion, this could still make a decent print.