I've seen them 40ft above ground on the nest or on a branch but not almost asleep on a post at eye level. Backlit harsh light and too much glass. So all wrong but far too good to miss in my book I believe it's a male it appears smaller than the female. He has a most impressive set of tallons and I understand they are fearless.
My PP is still at the bottom of the learning curve although I have aquired a couple of tutorial CD's so here's hoping. Keep me occupied on the flight home tomorrow.
Canon 1D3 Sigma 120mm 300mm handheld through car window. 1/2000sec f/4 ISO400 300mm. Full Frame RAW to lightroom just resized to post.
No idea how to handle the PP at this stage.
Hi Barry, I'm far from an expert, but would say re comp that the Owl should be placed more to the right rather than the left, probably crop to portrait, and try to use the back light to your advantage rather than try to compentate for it.
As for PP, what I've learned is that rather than try to rescue a shot with processing, get it as right as possible in camera first of all.
From what I can see, the Owl looks sharp enough and those talons do look pretty impressive !
Hello Barry,
a great chance encounter. I disagree with Grahams comment about composition as from what can be seen of the owls face it appears to be looking either toward camera or to the right of the image. As such the comp is what I would have chosen. The lighting is obviously very much against you and I would have increased the exposure using the compensation dial. To improve it now I would try the shadow/highlight tool in Photoshop. (Image-adjustments-shadow/highlight). Andy Astbury had a very good tutorial on this tool on his website. Hope that helps.
It can be rescued I had a very quick 30 second go at it and it looks good
Posted by Mark Davies on July 14, 2010 at 10:33 AM
as stated better to get it right in camera .But ....
if it can be rescued in the raw so much the better try parametric curves and point adjustment in tone curves of PS raw .
In jpeg as posted in PS 3 and below (this shortcut wont work in PS4 for some unknown reason) :-
press control , alt, shift and tild ( thats the ~ sign ) altogether and let go
Select > inverse
Control J to copy and paste this layer.
change blend mode to screen and reduce opacity to 75%
Layer > flatten image
Image > adjustments > shadow and highlight adjusted to :-
shadow amount 36,Tonal width to 50, radius to 36
Highlights all 0
mid contrast up 6
USM to 30, 3 and 1
Thats about it .
Andy A's tutorials will put you on the right path .Pm him he wont bite .Often.LOL
Thank you one and all for the comments and advice differing views and opinions also highlight my predicament in knowing which way to go. I'm also asking myself if my eyes or rather my vision is as good as it should be age starts catching up. Although having just flown for twenty-hours is not the best time to ask the question.
Mark thanks for the example I think the basis is there.
Discussion
5 repliesMy PP is still at the bottom of the learning curve although I have aquired a couple of tutorial CD's so here's hoping. Keep me occupied on the flight home tomorrow.
Canon 1D3 Sigma 120mm 300mm handheld through car window. 1/2000sec f/4 ISO400 300mm. Full Frame RAW to lightroom just resized to post.
No idea how to handle the PP at this stage.
Critique, Advice, Comments most welcome
Thanks for looking.
As for PP, what I've learned is that rather than try to rescue a shot with processing, get it as right as possible in camera first of all.
From what I can see, the Owl looks sharp enough and those talons do look pretty impressive !
a great chance encounter. I disagree with Grahams comment about composition as from what can be seen of the owls face it appears to be looking either toward camera or to the right of the image. As such the comp is what I would have chosen. The lighting is obviously very much against you and I would have increased the exposure using the compensation dial. To improve it now I would try the shadow/highlight tool in Photoshop. (Image-adjustments-shadow/highlight). Andy Astbury had a very good tutorial on this tool on his website. Hope that helps.
lovely shot nits covered
It can be rescued I had a very quick 30 second go at it and it looks good
if it can be rescued in the raw so much the better try parametric curves and point adjustment in tone curves of PS raw .
In jpeg as posted in PS 3 and below (this shortcut wont work in PS4 for some unknown reason) :-
press control , alt, shift and tild ( thats the ~ sign ) altogether and let go
Select > inverse
Control J to copy and paste this layer.
change blend mode to screen and reduce opacity to 75%
Layer > flatten image
Image > adjustments > shadow and highlight adjusted to :-
shadow amount 36,Tonal width to 50, radius to 36
Highlights all 0
mid contrast up 6
USM to 30, 3 and 1
Thats about it .
Andy A's tutorials will put you on the right path .Pm him he wont bite .Often.LOL
Mark thanks for the example I think the basis is there.