Here is the light situation: 8:00 AM, hazy, and I am shooting into a shallow barrow pit due West. The water is brightly reflective. I am in my SUV, braced in the window. Here are the specs:
Image Quality: Lossless Compressed RAW (12-bit)
Camera Info: Nikon D300S
Lens: VR 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6D
Focal Length: 400mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: ON
Aperture: F/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/640s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.3EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 800
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
About 53% of full frame
PP in LR3 and CS5
My focal point is just forward of the shoulder, on the neck of the bird.
The image appears muddy to me, and lacking in detail.I have encountered this before under similar circumstances. How can I improve on this?
This image doesn't appear 'muddy' to me at all.
However, it does 'pop' a bit more when using a local contrast enhancement (aka 'image polish').
Open your Unsharp Mask dialog and set the following:
Amount-20
Radius-50
Threshold-0
This won't sharpen the image at all, but instead acts as a 'haze remover'.
Use it on a separate layer because this technique can cause areas that are close to being overexposed to actually becoming overexposed. Using a layer mask to erase the effects where you want will fix that problem.
Posted by Brian Gatlin on July 7, 2011 at 10:28 PM
I agree with John that a little bit of a boost in contrast would be worth trying. My standard method is with a curves layer. (basically put points on the "curve" (it starts as a 45 degree line until you curve it) at about 20% of the way in from both left and right. drop the left one a couple points and boost the right one a couple and see if it helps. let me know if this doesn't make sense.
Posted by Lance Warley on July 8, 2011 at 10:16 AM
A couple of other things you could try before hitting it with 20 50 are, after masking it:
- Selective color to try to bring out the natural iridescence in the neck. This may not work without any sunlight hitting the GH.
- Slightly brightening the bird
Thanks, guys. Post processing has always been my strong suit, but what I would hope to do more and more, is get something like this right in the camera.
Discussion
4 repliesImage Quality: Lossless Compressed RAW (12-bit)
Camera Info: Nikon D300S
Lens: VR 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6D
Focal Length: 400mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: ON
Aperture: F/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/640s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.3EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 800
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
About 53% of full frame
PP in LR3 and CS5
My focal point is just forward of the shoulder, on the neck of the bird.
The image appears muddy to me, and lacking in detail.I have encountered this before under similar circumstances. How can I improve on this?
However, it does 'pop' a bit more when using a local contrast enhancement (aka 'image polish').
Open your Unsharp Mask dialog and set the following:
Amount-20
Radius-50
Threshold-0
This won't sharpen the image at all, but instead acts as a 'haze remover'.
Use it on a separate layer because this technique can cause areas that are close to being overexposed to actually becoming overexposed. Using a layer mask to erase the effects where you want will fix that problem.
- Selective color to try to bring out the natural iridescence in the neck. This may not work without any sunlight hitting the GH.
- Slightly brightening the bird