Posted by Carol Nichols on February 27, 2011 at 10:04 AM
I really like this image except for the shadow line going across the egret's head. I have PS CS5 and some experience with it, but I'm not sure how I should go about trying to diminish this shadow line. Do you have any ideas? Thanks for your help.
Posted by John Mumaw on February 27, 2011 at 11:26 AM
Are you referring to the nearly horizontal shadow line that separates the bird's head from the body?
What would you like to achieve here? FWIW, I feel that if you have to have a shadow/light boundary, then this one is positioned nearly perfectly. It doesn't bother me one bit...in fact, because the placement is so perfect, I wouldn't have even noticed had you not mentioned it.
This is a real fine image, especially with a chick at its feet!
I (and hopefully others) will still try and help here if you still desire it.
Posted by Carol Nichols on February 27, 2011 at 11:37 AM
John - Thanks for your response. I read your comments all the time and greatly value your input. Yes, that is the shadow line I was talking about. I really thought the line was a big negative to this image, but if it did not bother you at all it is probably a case where I am seeing a problem that is not really there. It really helps to have a fresh set of eyes look at something I have looked at too many times. Thanks again.
I agree with John. It really is a nice shot and the shadow line doesn't bother me. You likely could deal with it via careful dodging using a soft brush on a layer, but the result might look out of balance.
--P
Posted by Nick Lazazzera on February 27, 2011 at 1:20 PM
Carol,
The shadow line at the head taken together with the shadow down the birds back, makes it obvious that the sun is coming from the upper right hand corner. Therefore, we would expect a shadow. If you were to eliminate the head shadow, it would make the scene feel unnatural. I agree with the others. Leave it.
My only other comment is that to make the bird stand out a bit more, I would decrease the brightness of the foliage on the left side.
Carol, a program like Viveza wouyld both dampen the bright area on the back and lighten up the shadows, if you wished to do that.- or lighten and darken (and blend in perfectly) any area you wanted to lighten or darken.
Free trial , if you want to play with it, or watch the video to see what it can do:
http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php
Sandy
Posted by John Tobias on February 27, 2011 at 2:12 PM
Carol, IMHO it is a fine image as it is. I would not change it unless you just want to see what you can do with it in PS.
I can see where your coming from Carol. Although a natural shadow, the line is harsh and very distracting. Take your dodge tool and lighten along the shadow edge as well as the shadow under the bill. Pretty much lighten all the way down to the wing base slightly. Then using the dropper tool, pick up color over to the right (darker color) set opacity to 53 to blend out the noticeable line at the base of the neck where it connects to the ruffled back feathers.Although this doesn't completely remove the shadow it will be acceptable and look normal. Nice image. Only my opinion and weak editing skills offered.
Posted by Jim Bullard on February 27, 2011 at 3:28 PM
As I see it the real problem is that the near side of the bird is too dark. If you use a curves layer to brighten the shadow side a bit the bird will stand out more from the background and the contrast along the shadow line will be reduced. Lock the highlight areas by putting an anchor point where they fall on the curve, then find the point where the shadow falls on the curve and pull it up a bit to brighten the shadows. Fill the curves layer mask with grey after you adjust the bird tones and then use white to paint your curves adjustment back in on only the bird. You don't really want to brighten the background. You might also want to sharpen the bird to retain tonal separation in the details and use a layer mask to limit the sharpening to the bird. The adjustments I tried are shown above. A really nice photo BTW.
Posted by Carol Nichols on February 27, 2011 at 11:49 PM
Thanks everyone for your responses.
Sandy - I've heard so many good things about the Viveza products that I'm going to have to give them a try.
Jackie - The way you have softened the shadow line is exactly what I wanted. I'll give that a try.
Jim - I agree that the the near side of the bird is too dark. One of these years I'll learn how to use a flash. Thanks so much for your detailed instructions. I will be trying them as well to see what method turns out the best image.
Thanks so much I've learned a lot from your responses.
Discussion
10 repliesWhat would you like to achieve here? FWIW, I feel that if you have to have a shadow/light boundary, then this one is positioned nearly perfectly. It doesn't bother me one bit...in fact, because the placement is so perfect, I wouldn't have even noticed had you not mentioned it.
This is a real fine image, especially with a chick at its feet!
I (and hopefully others) will still try and help here if you still desire it.
I agree with John. It really is a nice shot and the shadow line doesn't bother me. You likely could deal with it via careful dodging using a soft brush on a layer, but the result might look out of balance.
--P
The shadow line at the head taken together with the shadow down the birds back, makes it obvious that the sun is coming from the upper right hand corner. Therefore, we would expect a shadow. If you were to eliminate the head shadow, it would make the scene feel unnatural. I agree with the others. Leave it.
My only other comment is that to make the bird stand out a bit more, I would decrease the brightness of the foliage on the left side.
Nice shot!!
Free trial , if you want to play with it, or watch the video to see what it can do:
http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php
Sandy
Sandy - I've heard so many good things about the Viveza products that I'm going to have to give them a try.
Jackie - The way you have softened the shadow line is exactly what I wanted. I'll give that a try.
Jim - I agree that the the near side of the bird is too dark. One of these years I'll learn how to use a flash. Thanks so much for your detailed instructions. I will be trying them as well to see what method turns out the best image.
Thanks so much