Hagerman Wildlife Refuge, Texas

[terrib]

I spent a good part of Tuesday at the Hargerman National Wildlife Refuge in north Texas. The day started out foggy but by 10:00am I was putting on the polarizing filter. Although I did take my tripod with my new gimbal head, I rarely used it as I could get more shots from the car. Getting out of the car just spooked everything and getting out and waiting around for them to return didn't yield much. These are shots of a female Northern Shoveler. C&C always welcome.

#1 I like the pose of this one and the soft light created by the foggy morning. Canon 7D at 400mm handheld, 1/1250, F8, ISO 800



#2 I like the soft light and although some of you may find it distracting, I like the reeds in the top left as I think it provides some balance in the photo. Also handheld. 1/1000, F8, ISO 800

[Mike Buckley]

Glad to see that you're out there shooting! The second one is my favorite. I like that the color of the reeds matches the color of the duck's beak.

If you're able to allow just a little more extra space at the bottom so the reflection isn't camped, that would make it even better for me. If you apply Local Contrast Enhancement to the duck and its reflection, you'll bring out a lot more of that luscious detail that you captured.

[jamn4ex]

That is a sweet duck shot. I too really like the reeds in this image, they seem to authenticate it. Very nice Terri.

[terrib]

Sorry to take so long to reply. We've had an ice storm causing much tree damage, one which fell across my power service line so been without electricity for 2 days. Lucky I have propane heat!

Anyway, thanks Mike for your response and suggestions. Here's a rework. I did apply local contrast and also clarity. I'm not sure how much more I can get. I think maybe the fog has some affect on that.

[terrib]

Thanks to you too James for your response. I've got a deer pic that I'm going to post. Thought of you when I took it.

[Mike Buckley]

Try adding so much local contrast enhancement that it's too much. Then back off. The reason I suggest it is that I got a lot more detail out the duck.

I don't remember if you're aware of local contrast enhancement, especially considering that you called it local contrast, which to most people would be something different. Local contrast enhancement is a form of sharpening and I think it's explained in the CiC tutorials.

[jprzybyla]

Hi Terri, nice ducks and images. I think the Northern Shoveler is great duck to photograph. I am hoping to capture a few this winter at the refuges in Florida.

[terrib]

Thanks for pointing out the difference, Mike. I looked at the tutorial but I'm not sure I can figure out how to accomplish that in Lightroom which is where I do all my post these days. Maybe someone familiar with Lightroom can enlighten me.

[terrib]

Thank you Joe. I like them too. I hope to go back and try getting some good shots of the males. If I can get there when it's not so foggy in early morning.

[Mike Buckley]

Terri,

Just to make sure we're referring to the same tutorial, review this . Then in Lightroom (I'm referring to version 5), select the Adjustment brush, apply it to the duck and its reflection, open the Detail panel and adjust the sharpening parameters according to whatever the tutorial explains as a starting point.

Knowing that you like photographing animals, this is a "must" technique to master. It works great on feathers, fur, hair and landscape details. (I only use Lightroom for a couple other situations not including this one, but it seems obvious to me that it will work just fine.)

[Downrigger]

First: nice Shovelers, Terri!

This thread interested me because of Mike's suggestions. In LR 5 it seems to me I cannot use the detail panel for the brushed areas selectively - detail is not in the brush panel options (right?). But I found reference to using the clarity slider in the brush panel for the same task here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/fo...=33472.20;wap2

Does this make sense Mike? Or anyone? I've fooled with it and it seems helpful. Or am I off track here?

[jprzybyla]

Yes the Clarity Slider does the same thing that Local Contrast Enhancement does. It increases the contrast on the mid-tones. I use the clarity on almost every bird I post process. If the background is clean I turn Auto Mask off, I turn on Show Selected Mask Overlay. I paint over the bird with the Adjustment Bruch making sure to cover the entire bird. Then holding the Alt Key (Windows) with Auto Mask box checked I clean up the overlap around the bird. I normally use between +10 to +30 using the off and on switch to check the effect, changing the setting until I have what I want.

[Mike Buckley]

In LR 5 it seems to me I cannot use the detail panel for the brushed areas selectively - detail is not in the brush panel options (right?).

Try it again, because it can be done: Select the Adjustment Brush. Apply it to an area of the image. In the Detail panel, change the Sharpening "Amount." (Until that parameter is changed, none of the other sharpening parameters can be changed.) I don't know how Lightroom's parameters of Amount, Radius, Detail and Masking relate to Amount, Radius and Threshold as explained in the CiC tutorial but I'm confident that others can explain that.

[Mike Buckley]

Yes the Clarity Slider does the same thing that Local Contrast Enhancement does. It increases the contrast on the mid-tones.

I don't know what the Clarity slider does but Local Contrast Enhancement is more than about only increasing contrast in the mid tones, as explained in the CiC tutorial.

[Downrigger]

Try it again, because it can be done:

You are right... I was wrong. In LR, in the brush, you have sharpness, noise, Moire, defringe (no "radius" no "detail" and no "masking" in the brush panel though these are present in the main detail panel in LR). All four in the LR brush panel are centered on zero and range from minus 100 to plus 100.

As a second issue, locally applied contrast, (and clarity for midtones) can appear to increase local sharpness I think, and wonder if that's a real or perceived effect on accutance.

Thanks for the help, Mike

[Mike Buckley]

As a second issue, locally applied contrast, (and clarity for midtones) can appear to increase local sharpness I think, and wonder if that's a real or perceived effect on accutance.

I don't know whether it increases sharpness (I actually don't think it does but don't know for sure). Regardless, when a particular characteristic is perceived, that's all that matters to me; I never care whether the underlying technology is making it happen.

[Wavelength]

Very nice

[terrib]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I almost always use the Lightroom brush control to select and then clean up the subject as Joe describes. Then depending on what is needed on that subject, I adjust the sliders necessary. It is my understanding that the sliders on the brush adjust + or - what is already set in the details panel. So, if you are talking about sharpening or clarity or whatever, you'd first set those items as you want them to be for the entire photo and then you go to the brush to add more or take away sharpness, clarity, etc to what you have selected.

So, Mike, if you are saying that using the brush is where you create LCE then I suppose I've been doing that. I just didn't correlate it to the tutorial as the masking described in the tutorial is somewhat different than the selection mask in Lightroom. However, in the detail panel in Lightroom there is a masking control that seems similar. It is not on the brush panel but I think that it is part of the overall sharpening effect that you are increasing or decreasing in that brush panel.

Like Joe, a lot of my images have added clarity and sharpness on the subject along with a decrease in noise control. That way I can crank up the noise control on things like sky and water and take it away again with the brush in the area that I want to be sharpened.

[jprzybyla]

Hi again Terri, you are correct that if you added global clarity then any local clarity added with the adjustment brush would be on top of that. Most times I am only adding local clarity to only the bird. With large areas of solid tone, blue skies or heavy overcast skies, smooth water or smooth running water and out of focus backgrounds sharpening or clarity should not be applied. It will enhance any noise and could make them look gritty and crunchy. Those areas can be protected by using the adjustment brush for adding clarity to only the subject and sharpening in Lightroom using the masking slider to protect the areas that should not be sharpened... anything black will not be sharpened.

[Mike Buckley]

I completely agree with Joe that applying clarity or Local Contrast Enhancement when treating a photo of an animal should generally (there are always exceptions) be applied only to the subject. That's true regardless of the application being used to apply it.