Really been struggling with the PS side of things (as well as the camera bit ) and have taken on board all your comments regarding my last upload. Last upload was regarded as flat and more contrast needed without blowing the whites etc.
After reading forums, articles and tutorials, this is my attempt at presenting my image. Using Levels and then curves in CS2.
desparate to know if I am going in the right direction!!
Please view other image for comparison
Regards Graeme
Techs again:
1d2, 500/4 + 2x, ISO 160, 1/200th, F9, RAW, SPot metering, G1325, AS B1, Sidekick
Looks a lot better than the first post, far more life in this one. Whites are still a bit hot and there is a slight loss of detail in the tail end of the duck. This could have been retained as It was there in the original post. Merging parts of the two images could solve that problem. In the tufted I put on the main site I processed twice to retain as much detail as possible in both the dark and highlight areas. Another way is to select the whites with a feather of about 6 pixels and invert the selection work on the rest of the image till it is as required and then invert the selction again and bring the whites in to match the image.
Looking at this on a CRT monitor, I think you can still extract a bit more useful contrast from the image, but if you are looking at this on a TFT screen, then it may be optimized.
One thing I also do when I pull the image into Photoshop is to open a Levels Adjust layer and select the Auto box. This will maximize the contrast in all 3 colour channels. Usually this isn't the result that you want but it will give you some guidance as to what is possible. Often you can get good results by using Levels Adjustment Layer > Auto and using the Opacity slider.
I've also just been looking at the technical details you've posted. You are fortunate to have made a sharp image with a ss = 1/160s. For a swimming duck you usually need a ss = 1/320s or faster. It is also a mistake with digital to think that a lower ISO-equivalent equates to better image quality. The native sensitivity of the Canon image chips is thought to be 200 ISO-equivalent. I think you should consider shooting at a higher ss and higher ISO.
Thanks John and Phil. Really useful stuff. I didn't think to maximise contrast then come back and tailor to suit! Doh! And double processing sounds good as well John. Will try these techniques. Thanks again.
Phil Shaws advice is good, it is important that an adjustment layer is used as you can then fine tune any adjustment even further with a layer mask and a low opacity brush....
One small point, levels and curves do much the same thing only in different ways, I find it best to use one or the other, others may disagree with me here..... and the caveat always stands, use adjustment layers, mask where needed and alter the opacty and blend mode as needed, i.e if you do a levels adjustment and that brings in unwanted colour shifts, change the blend mode to Luminosity...
Discussion
5 repliesReally been struggling with the PS side of things (as well as the camera bit
After reading forums, articles and tutorials, this is my attempt at presenting my image. Using Levels and then curves in CS2.
desparate to know if I am going in the right direction!!
Please view other image for comparison
Regards Graeme
Techs again:
1d2, 500/4 + 2x, ISO 160, 1/200th, F9, RAW, SPot metering, G1325, AS B1, Sidekick
Looks a lot better than the first post, far more life in this one. Whites are still a bit hot and there is a slight loss of detail in the tail end of the duck. This could have been retained as It was there in the original post. Merging parts of the two images could solve that problem. In the tufted I put on the main site I processed twice to retain as much detail as possible in both the dark and highlight areas. Another way is to select the whites with a feather of about 6 pixels and invert the selection work on the rest of the image till it is as required and then invert the selction again and bring the whites in to match the image.
Hope this helps
Regards
John Lee
One thing I also do when I pull the image into Photoshop is to open a Levels Adjust layer and select the Auto box. This will maximize the contrast in all 3 colour channels. Usually this isn't the result that you want but it will give you some guidance as to what is possible. Often you can get good results by using Levels Adjustment Layer > Auto and using the Opacity slider.
Graeme
Phil Shaws advice is good, it is important that an adjustment layer is used as you can then fine tune any adjustment even further with a layer mask and a low opacity brush....
One small point, levels and curves do much the same thing only in different ways, I find it best to use one or the other, others may disagree with me here..... and the caveat always stands, use adjustment layers, mask where needed and alter the opacty and blend mode as needed, i.e if you do a levels adjustment and that brings in unwanted colour shifts, change the blend mode to Luminosity...
HTH
BTW... its getting there.