Pelicans skimming water

[Nancy Moran G]

I am getting better at leaving room for bird to fly into. I know these aren't great examples of that, but I am getting the hang of it.
The pelican looks alittle green in 1 shot, but O think that is a reflection of the water under hi, He was very close to the water.
Any thoughts or critique helpful.
thank you,
Nancy

[FlyingSquirrel]

Nancy,

Nice shots, they look sharp, which is good. Is your computer monitor color-calibrated? If not, you should do that before you do anything else (get a calibration device). Calibration will ensure proper colors, and of equal importance, proper brightness. I ask because, on my calibrated monitors, these photos look underexposed by perhaps 3/4 to 1 full stop. That is in my own personal opinion, of course. Exposure can be subjective and depends on your vision for the photo. But nice job, and it's good to see that you are improving.

[Brownbear]

Hi Nancy,

I think these are nice, sharp with beautiful detail. I agree with Matt... ie they look a little dark and the WB seems a little off, maybe a little too warm.

I adore pelicans and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your BIF, especially pelicans.

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you Matt and Christina.
I go to the library with a laptop to post. On that machine, you are right, I angle the screen and get a whole different
'Exposure'!
They looked absolutely fabulous(to me) on the 17" laptop that I could not believe I took that clear, well exposed image!
On my IPad 3, it does look darker. Mm mm, something else to learn, calibrating...

Christina, I am after the 'diving' pelican, and hope you will enjoy it.
Happy birthday to me today
Nancy

[Brownbear]

Great to hear Happy Birthday Nancy!

Thank you Matt and Christina.
I go to the library with a laptop to post. On that machine, you are right, I angle the screen and get a whole different
'Exposure'!
They looked absolutely fabulous(to me) on the 17" laptop that I could not believe I took that clear, well exposed image!
On my IPad 3, it does look darker. Mm mm, something else to learn, calibrating...

Christina, I am after the 'diving' pelican, and hope you will enjoy it.
Happy birthday to me today
Nancy

[FlyingSquirrel]

On my IPad 3, it does look darker. Mm mm, something else to learn, calibrating...

Calibration, in my opinion, is not as complicated of a thing as people make it out to be. There are a lot of different devices and methods out there, but most are simple. You buy a device, attach it to your monitor, and hit calibrate. Boom, you're done. I'm not saying it's always going to be like that for every workstation and every person and situation, but for the most part, that's it. I have this device, which is no longer in production: http://amzn.com/B000JLO31M It was not too expensive. The newer model is here, but there are other options; http://amzn.com/B0055MBQOW

I want to stress how critical it is to calibrate. You will literally be throwing your editing hours away if you are not calibrated, because whatever you think you see and are adjusting for in terms of color, contrast, brightness, will simply be based on whatever random settings your monitor is at. When calibrated, you are viewing something that is a standard, and therefore your adjustments are based off of an accurate and measurable foundation. Seriously, please, calibrate right away!

Last thing, every monitor will be different, so you need to calibrate all monitors and computers that you own. Tablets are an issue. I have a kindle fire hd, and last time i checked, there was not any way to calibrate it, which is a shame. It looks absolutely horrendous and I dare not do any critical viewing on it.

[Donald]

Excellent post, Matt. Hopefully de-mystifies the whole thing about calibrating and profiling, makes it seem less intimidating, at the same time as stressing the importance of it.

It was on here in the early days that I got all upset when an image that I thought was great was responded to with 'Oh, it's far too dark'. 'Can't see detail in the shadows', etc. I thought it was wonderful. Thought I better invest in a Spyder 3 and ...'Oh dear!' Everyone else was right.

So, like you, I believe that every serious photography enthusiast must be operating with a calibrated and profiled monitor.

[Bobobird]

Excellent captures Nancy.

About calibration - on this notebook the pics do look more dark than they should be. But from another angle, they look much better (still bit dark though). The angle of the screen combined with the ambient light will play havoc with your processing.

However a calibrated monitor will go a long way for doing consistent post-processing but there is a big BUT. If the display is in a set position and lighting is always the same it will work just fine. If not it is a re-cal each time.

I probably should but my home monitor is not calibrated. Obviously this notebook is not either. Maybe I really should but not being ever accused of incorrect colours etc I wonder if the extra expense is worth it.

With ever decreasing weight limits on air flights carrying a calibrator around just adds to the weight (small as it may be but everything adds up) and calibrating it will be just another hassle.

That leads to another question - would an IPS enabled monitor/screen excuse the use of a calibration device?

[jprzybyla]

Great captures Nancy. I agree with others regarding appearing a tad dark on my display. I also color profile/calibrate my display about every two weeks. It takes about 10 minutes to do with the Spyder 4 that I use.

You commented that the Pelicans appeared greenish... you are correct that it is a reflection from the water. That will show up especially on the undersides of the wings.

Regarding using a laptop for editing and viewing ( I used one for a long time ), if the screen is set at an angle so that your eyes are reflected in the center of the screen that provides the correct angle for viewing and using it. So whatever position you sit in tilt the screen so that your eyes show as a reflection in the center of the screen.

Regarding Bobo's question about a IPS display, the IPS only allows a wider viewing angle to view an acceptable image. IPS displays still need to be color profiled/calibrated.

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you all for the information. Matt, thank you explaining that it is not a daunting task.
Will post some GBH today from library. I do think they will better exposed!
Nancy

[chauncey]

They looked absolutely fabulous(to me) on the 17" laptop that I could not believe I took that clear, well exposed image! On my IPad 3, it does look darker. Mm mm, something else to learn, calibrating...

I might suggest that you read this, should you be serious about accurate PP Monitors/displays

[Brownbear]

Hi Nancy,

I use a Spyder 4 to calibrate my monitor. Takes about 10 minutes, twice a month and easy to do. I purchased it at a local computer store.

[Dusty]

Even though they are dark they look tack sharp and you have captured them really well with great detail in the feathers.
Dave.

[jcuknz]

I tried to remove this when Tinypix was playing up but once you get into Elements you will find adjusting not quite good photos is fairly easy.

To 'speed' things up I copied the right hand side of the photo and pasted it as a new layer on the left after first increasing the 'canvas size' to make room for it. Unfortunately your camera is vignetting slightly and it gave me a dark line .... probably I should have used a more central area but I pressed on cloning to cover the darker area. With all the copying and cloning I ended up with a soft area in middle of photo so since selective focusing is not a bad thing I used my blurr tool [ brush] to put everything further back a bit out of focus. At this stage I cannot remember all I did but probably sharpenned a bit since I was working from your jpg file.
Hope this encourages you to edit

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you all for the lessons and compliments. I have taken all of the advice ( that I could understand :0 ) of the Forum members and have made great progress.
I will look into the calibrating info given here and plan on doing it.
Nancy

[FlyingSquirrel]

Nancy, great job and glad you're considering calibration.

Since I am one of those people that likes to drill things home as much as possible, I have one last thought for anyone on the fence about getting a calibration device. Compare the following two options:

1. Spend the money to buy a calibration device and do it. The money will cost you X number of hours working at your job.
2. Don't buy one. All hours you spend editing are being thrown away.

You decide.

[jcuknz]

Additional posting to bring it up to the front I hope ....