Help with shiny creatures and scaly skin C&C Please.

[Flurry]

Bright lights, reflective skin. Should I have used a CPL or is there something else I can try in PS? The frog and anole are very bright green. I did not adjust the sharpness because the skin already had a slightly posterized look because of the reflection.


I know, I chopped off his tail

[FrankMi]

I know, I chopped off his tail

Hi Ginny. With what you have to work with on this one, I'd be tempted to rotate him 90° CCW and do a landscape crop between the front and rear legs. It might just look like you planned it that way to get a head and shoulders portrait. I can't tell if it is sharp enough but it might be worth a try.

For the frog you might try changing the white balance to a higher kelvin temperature and see how it looks.

[Flurry]

Thanks Frank. I will give that a try!

[Geoff F]

Bright sunlight or using flash on shiny subjects is just one of those impossible situations, Ginny.

I get a lot of 'problems' with insect photos. Often it is just something which has to be accepted.

Exposure for the brightest spots can work on those areas but leaves everything else too dark. Which basically is what I have found with polarising filters. I've never had any success with them in this sort of situation.

The only option is to chose a duller day, or provide some slight shade.

Sometimes, a little careful editing can reduce those hotspots by cloning over them; but it takes a lot of care to produce a natural looking result.

The first example would probably have taken a little less exposure to get the highlights correct then edit up the midtones during processing. The second one is about correct.

For these close shots, I frequently use flash even in bright conditions. Set the exposure and aperture manually to suit the scene but slightly on the under exposed side then use a little fill flash to automatically add the extra. With a little bit of flash compensation as required.

But shiny skin in bright conditions will always cause problems.

And, of course, shooting Raw does give you a little bit of extra leeway in adjusting brightness and white balance problems.

[Flurry]

And, of course, shooting Raw does give you a little bit of extra leeway in adjusting brightness and white balance problems.

I actually did shoot these guys in RAW, but it is my first time doing that and I am so afraid of overdoing the editing. I appreciate the suggestions and will give them a try next time out. I am finding that because of my limited experience, I tend to overexpose my shots, causing me to have to correct more than I should have to in pp. I am trying to not shoot in automatic, but I really don't have a clue what I am doing yet!