Monday, February 6, 2023

[Luv2shoot]

Hi All.
Sorry about that I have not been around lately.
We have guests with us here in Anna Maria Island and is it not polite to sit on a computer processing photos or checking on websites.
I have not been taking many photos either so far on this vacation.  
It is not because of the weather, that has been great, superb actually.  I just feel the need to find new sources and subjects and have not found that yet.

Here is one from the other day.
I tried to imitate a photographer I found on line but know that I still have a long way to go to before I come close to their expertise.  

Have a good start to your week.
LORELL
I

[dewarp]

Hi Lorell

Great shot. If one enters a nature competition, one is normally not allowed to seriously edit your images. But for everyday use, I'd fix this guy's eye at least.

I tried to send you a PM, but couldn't work out how to add images. So I post the result here - I hope you don't mind.

I use this image to work on eyes:

Well, that doesn't work due to the file being too large. It's a piece of packaging stuff with lots of shiny bits to choose from. So, I cut out just one of them and attach it here:

   

Using two instances of this image, I worked on his eye. I cannot attach the PSD file - it's too big. But here is the resultant JPG.

   

Hope you don't object.

regards - Pete

[Luv2shoot]

Thanks, Peter.
I was pleased with this images except for the eye and I even lighted it up a bit a darker the creases around the eye. Your process, using the bubble wrap, is so clever. I might not have made the pupils so bold and bright, since now it might be a bit distracting from the feathers, ombré transitions, curves that I think were important too. Maybe it is the color, gold, that steals the show. Their color is a dull bluish green, I feel.

I am glad you played with the photo. Thanks for sharing you technique and results. This is a learning community and you and others are welcomed any time to critique, offer suggestions and make attempts to improve my work.

PS. When I stand back, your photo is more “eye catching than mine “, no pun intended.

[Dave]

Lorell, you must either have an excellent long lens or you were very close to the bird to get that fine shot.

Peter, your adjustment made a good photo even better.

Yesterday I also thought of lightening the eye, but I would never have hit on Peter's clever technique. I would have made two adjustment layers: 1) either Brightness and Contrast or Levels to brighten the entire image until the eye looked as good as possible, the fill this layer's Layer Mask with black to hide the adjustment, and then paint on the layer mask with white or a light gray over the eye area to reveal the brightening only where I wanted it; and 2) a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (just in case I thought this would make the eye even better) and increase the saturation by maybe 15% to start. I'd probably then copy the same adjusted layer mask from the first adjustment and apply it to this Hue/Saturation layer. Maybe I'd stay with this layer mask, or maybe I'd tweak it a bit.

I might also lighten the lightest part of the beak a little to see if that makes the image better.

If I get time today (and with your permission, of course) I'll try to find time today to show you at least one version tweaked as described above.

[Luv2shoot]

Go ahead, DAVE, and take a crack at it.  It is too bad that we cannot share larger files.  BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING.
I always had the urge to play around with other people's images and see what I would do to them. 
LORELL
PS. I was very close to the pelican in addition to using a zoom lens.  This was at an outdoor restaurant that is on the Gulf of Mexico and the pelican were gathered wading in the water waiting for the fisherman to come in and toss them remnants of the fish after they have been cleaned.  This particular pelican was on a pier waiting for us to throw him some of the lunch that we were eating.

[Dave]

Lorell, give me 10 or 15 minutes to work on it.

---

This is pretty much as I described above: 1) A Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer, constrained to the eye area by making the adjustment to the entire image, filling the layer mask with black to hide it, and painting with white in the eye area on the layer mask to reveal the adjustment only there. 2) I tried using a Hue/Saturation adjustment to amp up the color of the eye, but because there was little pure color there this didn't work. So I  duplicated the bottom layer (where the image appears) then used a photo filter to apply a strong yellow-orange color, limited to the eye by simply copying the layer mask I used for the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. 3) Finally, another Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer that was constrained to part of the bill by the same method of making the adjustment to the entire image, filling the layer mask with black to hide the brightening, and painting with white on the layer mask over the area of the bill I wanted to lighten.

All this sounds complicated but actually took less than 5 minutes.

   

In looking at this posted image, I realize that I should have sharpened the eye to a moderate degree.

[Luv2shoot]

Thanks, Dave,
Looking good.