Project 52 - 2013

[Brownbear]

Hi Photo Nut,

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this and show me your edit... Yes, I have learned that wildlife should have room to move in photos but I did not realize that one could make a photo larger to add the room... This sounds like a great editing tool to learn.

I have layers in Photoshop Elements, and yes, I am learning how to use these.. I have found increase canvas size under re-size image... How did you know how much canvas to add to the image? For example my images are sized in pixels but the re-size/increase canvas menu is in inches.

And after you increased the canvas size you simply filled the canvas by cloning in the sky... that sounds like a very simple edit. However, why would I need to use layers? Layers do not not seem necessary for editing a photo by increasing canvas size and cloning in more sky?

Thank you.

PS No worries about the nose, these photos are just for me (and hopefully others) to learn from.

[jcuknz]

It really didn't take me much time, hence my careless cloning over the nose ....I guess I normally use layers becuase it is a safe way to work that you are not working on the 'background' layer. Certainly to move birdie layers was a better way to work than to 'paste' becuase I only paste these days as an exercise to prove it could be done that way. You caused me to learn something as I just did it without layers but pasting Though having pasted birdie I was fixed with where I put him but on a layer I can move it 'later on' in the editing process if it was not quite right etc. Just for fun I selected an area of sky and pasted it over where he was originally, so cloning wasn't needed as first suggested.

If your editor only gives you inches I guess one sees what the width of the picture is already and makes a guesstimate of how much more space you need ... the point is that if you ask for a bit too much you can always use the crop tool to get rid of it afterwards.

I guess the truth of the matter is that having got into the habit of using layers I do it that way becuase that is the way I usually do it and normally there are various ways in a good editing programme to reach the desired result.

I 'just love' the 'adjustment layer' tool becuase it enables me to change, and change back at any stage, without 'touching' the original image and one can try different things on different ALs and toggle the ALs on and off to compare which worked best and so on. Not sure how Elements works, only catch up with it when my Son visits me, but there is a variation on layers that you can organise them in 'groups' so that adjustments only apply within the group which can be handy at times. Like you might have a dark area in the shot so you select it and then use the curves tool in an AL to raise it without affecting the whole image .... though then again if you select an area the adjustment tool only works on the selected area.

Every photo is different and what is needed for one could be unneccessary and silly to use for another.

[Brownbear]

Thank you for your detailed and very helpful explanation. I just tackled learning how to make selections, and yes, photoshop elements has adjustment layers, which I am just beginning to learn about. Soon!

[Brownbear]

For this week, I just photographed different things that I normally would not photograph. All feedback is appreciated, especially to let me know if my photos are in focus and sharp enough, since this seems to be what I need to work on.

Vancouver Buildings on a cloudy, gloomy day.

Nikon D80 Aperture Priority F16 iso 320 matrix metering, Exp. +.3, matrix metering

Edits include selecting just the buildings and using LCE contrast, and inverting the selection to try and fix the overexposed sky.. in one shot I managed to get some colour in the sky, and for some reason I could not figure out how to do it again in the rest of the shots, hence the sky is white. I suppose I should buy a ND filter to avoid this problem, easier than selecting around buildings






(I did not straighten the last photo above because it cropped the funky looking building on the left hand side, which I think adds interest to the photo)

I don't know what I think of this one... just LOL (changed to F6, iso 800)



As above but I warmed up the temperature of the photo



All C&C welcome. I really don't know what to think of these because it is a first for me. In fact the statue photos seem a little odd to me? Thank you.

[Brownbear]

And this is my post for next weeks Project 52, simply in advance because I know I will not have time to do this next week. (so my next post for project 53 after this will be March 8th)

Here I am back to my birds and birds in flight, and it was a challenge as always.

Nikon D80 Tamron 200-400 AF lens Aperture priority F8 (as opposed to shutter priority to try and get as much in focus as I could) iso 800, and sometimes iso 1000, exposure comp +.7... Edited by adjusting curves in PSE 9, local contrast enhancement, and that's about it because the noise was too high to try and lighten the birds.

I would appreciate C&C on my focus, and any tips on how I can do this better.

Too dark?



Too soft?



Not too bad? (must of been taken on another day because the sky is blue)



Great capture of action but too dark and too much noise, but I thought they were special just because I captured the moment. My only option was to photograph from above.





And one that I recently entered into a Mini comp that I thought was great but bombed... Good focus, clarity and a nice bokeh are the reasons I like this one, or thought I did.



Thank you. I'm trying to improve so all C&C appreciated.

Christina

[Shadowman]

And this is my post for next weeks Project 52, simply in advance because I know I will not have time to do this next week. (so my next post for project 53 after this will be March 8th)

Here I am back to my birds and birds in flight, and it was a challenge as always.

Nikon D80 Tamron 200-400 AF lens Aperture priority F8 (as opposed to shutter priority to try and get as much in focus as I could) iso 800, and sometimes iso 1000, exposure comp +.7... Edited by adjusting curves in PSE 9, local contrast enhancement, and that's about it because the noise was too high to try and lighten the birds.

I would appreciate C&C on my focus, and any tips on how I can do this better.

Too dark?



Too soft?



Not too bad? (must of been taken on another day because the sky is blue)



Great capture of action but too dark and too much noise, but I thought they were special just because I captured the moment. My only option was to photograph from above.





And one that I recently entered into a Mini comp that I thought was great but bombed... Good focus, clarity and a nice bokeh are the reasons I like this one, or thought I did.



Thank you. I'm trying to improve so all C&C appreciated.

Christina

Hi Christina,

Your bird photos are getting better and better. The shots with movement are always the hardest.

Now about those buildings and statues.......good to see you getting out of your comfort zone. I like the statues most, the first shot of the buildings it seems you missed a few good opportunities with this scene like using the reflection of the water. I think this would add more interest to the image as your angle of view is too rigid. The second buildings shot has a lot of interesting shapes and movement. Good stuff.

[Brownbear]

Thank you John.. I will try more building shots one day and take more time with them.

[Geoff F]

I noticed some of these images in the Mini Competitions, Christina, and you were up against strong competition.

In most of these shots your shutter speed was on the low side which has resulted in motion blur. During the poor winter light, bird photography can be tricky; and often impossible with larger lenses.

#3 could have worked if you had been closer. But at the moment, without further cropping, it is neither a close enough shot of a bird nor a sky/cloud image. I would reduce the amount of background sky by at least 50% to get anything decent from this one.

And don't have the bird exactly centrally placed (left to right).

The fighting ducks could have been a great photograph, but this sort of action requires really fast shutter speeds. I would like at least 1/2000 here.

The last one (duck portrait) is potentially good but needs better cropping for best results. I would remove around half of the space between the top of the duck's head and top of the current photo edge. And a similar amount from the right side.

There are a few similar alternatives.

Your first buildings and water shot is OK for a dull day winter scene.

The statues will always be difficult to get looking good because of the distracting background. Zooming in closer is a good idea; although I would have left just a fraction more space around the edges.

Would looking up from a low angle be an idea? But I suspect a bit of background cloning will be necessary whatever you do.

[Brownbear]

Hi Geoff,

As always thank you so much for your comments and feedback... Truly appreciated. See my comments in bold below.

I noticed some of these images in the Mini Competitions, Christina, and you were up against strong competition.

In most of these shots your shutter speed was on the low side which has resulted in motion blur. During the poor winter light, bird photography can be tricky; and often impossible with larger lenses.

Yes, indeed but whenever I try and up the shutter speed the exposure is way too low, and then I have to up the iso and my action bird shots, especially these dark birds have too much noise already... I was using manual before, and although I missed a few shots, it did let me adjust accordingly.. Right now I am trying to use A or S priority, and using S priority my photos are almost black (400 or 500 in low light) But I will keep trying to figure it out.. I went back this morning and found the ducks and tried some more shots which I think turned out better, because I upped the exp comp to 1.3, used F 5.6 (as wide open as I can go).. I also tried Shutter priority at 640 but the shots were black.

#3 could have worked if you had been closer. But at the moment, without further cropping, it is neither a close enough shot of a bird nor a sky/cloud image. I would reduce the amount of background sky by at least 50% to get anything decent from this one. Thank you

And don't have the bird exactly centrally placed (left to right).

Here are the cropped fighting (I thought they were mating)... I did not crop before because it makes the noise so noticeable, and I find it very challenging to shoot BIF and with a unique, non centered composition. Sometimes I do manage, sometimes not.



The fighting ducks could have been a great photograph, but this sort of action requires really fast shutter speeds. I would like at least 1/2000 here. I can't go that fast with my camera, but thank you

The last one (duck portrait) is potentially good but needs better cropping for best results. I would remove around half of the space between the top of the duck's head and top of the current photo edge. And a similar amount from the right side.

Why would you crop it? I think if fits the rule of thirds fairly closely... Why would it improve the photo?

There are a few similar alternatives.

Your first buildings and water shot is OK for a dull day winter scene. yes

The statues will always be difficult to get looking good because of the distracting background. Zooming in closer is a good idea; although I would have left just a fraction more space around the edges. yes, thank you

Would looking up from a low angle be an idea? But I suspect a bit of background cloning will be necessary whatever you do.

yes, thank you

[Brownbear]

Ducks in Action Continued...

Determination I have, so I returned this morning to find the ducks (yippee they were still there but not quite as feisty as the other day)

This time I shot A 5.6, iso 640 and exposure comp 1.3, which seemed to help the noise a bit, but I still have a lot of motion blur in the photos. (Shutter priority did not work)

I used lightroom 4.1 to edit, and you will see that in some of the photos the water appears greenish (WB as shot) and in others it is more blue (auto WB) I'm not sure which is right

Also I just noticed that if I hit the auto tone in lightroom, it decreases the exposure which I am always upping to try and shoot to the right of the histogram. So I should probably stop hitting the auto button? I noticed also that the auto button increases the whites and decreases my blacks... Why is this? How can I improve my camera settings so there is no need to do this? When editing these, I increased the whites and decreased the blacks a little bit, keeping the histogram as I thought it should be. I also increased clarity a bit to sharpen, and sometimes vibrancy.

Auto WB




WB as Shot












Auto WB



Some fast movements I tried to catch, but I still have a lot of blur













Auto Tone





C&C most welcome...

I do realize that I can crop these so they are not so centered, but I think I would lose some of the nice ripples on the water, and right now I want to learn to focus faster in low light conditions to achieve sharper shots. As you can see from my pics, all the fast action shots are duds.

I would also like to know about the white and black sliders in Lightroom and if hitting auto tone is a good idea as an editing start point. And also which WB looks better, as shot, or auto.


Thank you

[Shadowman]

Ducks in Action Continued...

Determination I have, so I returned this morning to find the ducks (yippee they were still there but not quite as feisty as the other day)

This time I shot A 5.6, iso 640 and exposure comp 1.3, which seemed to help the noise a bit, but I still have a lot of motion blur in the photos. (Shutter priority did not work)

I used lightroom 4.1 to edit, and you will see that in some of the photos the water appears greenish (WB as shot) and in others it is more blue (auto WB) I'm not sure which is right

Also I just noticed that if I hit the auto tone in lightroom, it decreases the exposure which I am always upping to try and shoot to the right of the histogram. So I should probably stop hitting the auto button? I noticed also that the auto button increases the whites and decreases my blacks... Why is this? How can I improve my camera settings so there is no need to do this? When editing these, I increased the whites and decreased the blacks a little bit, keeping the histogram as I thought it should be. I also increased clarity a bit to sharpen, and sometimes vibrancy.

Auto WB




WB as Shot












Auto WB



Some fast movements I tried to catch, but I still have a lot of blur













Auto Tone





C&C most welcome...

I do realize that I can crop these so they are not so centered, but I think I would lose some of the nice ripples on the water, and right now I want to learn to focus faster in low light conditions to achieve sharper shots. As you can see from my pics, all the fast action shots are duds.

I would also like to know about the white and black sliders in Lightroom and if hitting auto tone is a good idea as an editing start point. And also which WB looks better, as shot, or auto.


Thank you

Christina,

I know what you mean about trying to get the correct balance of shutter, aperture, and ISO to achieve a good exposure. You nailed the exposure in most of these. With a 200mm lens your shutter speed has to be 1/250s to faster when handholding. You were at 1/160s second on most of these. I keep a reference list of advisable shutter speeds that I'll review just before a shoot. Usually, I expect to shoot at least 1/250s regardless of the focal length I am using, for any shot requiring sharp image of a moving subject.
Sliders
http://lightroomkillertips.com/2012/...ks-and-whites/

[Brownbear]

Thank you John. I will try your strategy next time around. The link on the sliders is great. Thank you

[pasusan]

Hi Christina - I learned that slider tip for whites and blacks in a tutorial I went through and use that to spread out my histogram a bit. You are having the same problems I have regarding overcast skies. My camera has only seen a few blue skies in its entire life!

I agree with you about Auto Tone - I think it is too general most of the time. I have some favorite presets that I use a lot. And I feel for you with the color of the water - if the sky is overcast it's hard to get the water right. I try to remember in my mind what it was like IRL and try to duplicate that as closely as possible.

Oh - about the goose head and the cropping... In the light box you can grab the image and move it up and to the right to see what it would look like cropped as Geoff suggested - and you can see that it does get more pleasing to the eye.

Keep up the good work - I love to see your progress (someday I'll get the nerve to try a similar thing).

[Brownbear]

Hi Susan,

Yes, I recently moved from a place of blue skies to overcast skies, and I must admit it is quite the adjustment.

Thank you for the tip...

I did not know that one could do that with light box. Thank you for sharing..

Thank you. I am learning a lot.

[Geoff F]

As I said, Christina, big lenses and moving subjects will always be a problem under northern wintry skies.

But for moving subjects you must have at least 1/500 for slow movement and preferably twice that or more for most bird photographs.

Which is why I often meter around a scene - then walk on past!

If the conditions aren't suitable that is that; unless you can get away with flash etc.

Today, I tried some garden birds, yet to download, using my Sigma 150-500 at 500 mm. Which meant an Iso of 800 (but a couple at 400) and this gave me F8 and 1/200 to 1/300. So I only shot static birds, without any movement.

Obviously using a tripod.

I did shoot with Aperture Priority but checked the shutter speed before each shot.

ps. Circular water ripples can affect how a scene is cropped. Something which needs to be considered as part of a composition; but compromise will always be necessary.

[Brownbear]

(:

Thank you Geoff, I will try all your suggestions, including trying to walk on past...

And I'd love to see some of your garden birds.

[Brownbear]

This time around I waited for a sunny day for better conditions for birds in action. I used shutter priority (set at 1000-1500) instead of aperture priority, iso 640-800 and Exposure bias as high as 2.3 (seemed pretty high to me but seemed to be needed to move the histogram towards the right side)

The darker water colours are from hitting autotone in lightroom.



The better shots..











I'm puzzled about the following shot... the first is basically as shot, and the second is the result of hitting the autotone in Lightroom, which made the colours richer and darker, so I think it is a better version but I'm not so sure about this because it makes the pigeon darker (decreased the exposure that I was upping all the time)
I'd sure appreciate feedback on which version is the better of these two.








The frustrating shots... I think the sharpness is better but they all had chromatic aberrations and although I fixed it in light room the fix seems to take away from the photo so I'd like to learn how to minimize this...












And this shot has funny red colours in the water? What causes this?



Is there any way to expose correctly for birds with white patches? ie; the white patch on the wing is over exposed and I tried to edit it by selecting around the patch and decreasing shadows, brightness but the edit made the white patch look worse, so I gave up.



I also shot alot of Canadian Geese in flight (against a blue sky) but every single shot had a bad case of chromatic aberration. I realize that I am challenging my camera and lens but I wonder if I set the tone curve in my camera to low contrast, if it would help minimize the purple fringing by lessening the contrast conditions?

I'm trying to achieve sharper photos of birds in action, to minimize chromatic abbe ration as much as possible, and I'm also trying to learn how to judge whether my edits (or light-rooms auto tone button) are working.

Thank you.

[Shadowman]

Christina,

Could you include some information about your camera settings?

Was the camera set to auto-focus (which mode-AF-A, AF-S, or AF-C)?

Where on these images, especially the one you wanted compared based on editing, was the focus indicator?

Were you panning these shots?

Regarding the two images with differing editing, the second image appears sharper.

[Brownbear]

Hi John,

Yes, the camera was set to AF. I was likely alternating between AF-A and AF-S (sorry, the exif data don't say which). However, I'm pretty sure it was AF-A because I'm trying to improve my focus and my latest strategy is to use AF-A instead of AF-C until I can improve the consistency of my focusing skills.

I also have the focus on my camera set to
Dynamic area
Center AF area - wide as opposed to normal
Af-Assist - On

I believe I had the focus indicator centered but at the far left hand side of the focusing box. However yesterday (different photos) I switched back to placing the focus indicator back in the center)...

Thank you.

Yes, I almost always pan my shots

Thank you.. Do you also prefer the darker colours in the 2nd image?

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

Yes, the camera was set to AF. I was likely alternating between AF-A and AF-S (sorry, the exif data don't say which). However, I'm pretty sure it was AF-A because I'm trying to improve my focus and my latest strategy is to use AF-A instead of AF-C until I can improve the consistency of my focusing skills.

I also have the focus on my camera set to
Dynamic area
Center AF area - wide as opposed to normal
Af-Assist - On

I believe I had the focus indicator centered but at the far left hand side of the focusing box. However yesterday (different photos) I switched back to placing the focus indicator back in the center)...

Thank you.

Yes, I almost always pan my shots

Thank you.. Do you also prefer the darker colours in the 2nd image?

Review the photos and see where the focus indicator is positioned. And yes I prefer the darker colors as it doesn't appear to affect the bird's head.