Black Bear & a Whiskey Jack

I have no LR...I only have photoshop and no time much at all apart from going to CiC and keeping my presence short. I heard LR is good so when I have a bit more time, I might use Bridge or something...for file management...

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Thank you Rita, Izzie and Irene.

Izzie

Yes, it was a special experience to view and I will always remember it, fondly.

I must admit that my file folders for my pics are very disorganized, but I do manage to find most images because I put key words like bear in LR. That said I don't have too many bear pics, whereas I have way too many pelican pics. ie; I will find the bear but finding a specific pelican is a bit of a challenge.

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Thank you for advising. I find it amazing that you know just how much I'm able to raise my black point with specific numbers that work (I tried both). I decided to tackle this today.

Here are the histograms as large as I can get them, cropped in... And my edit with the raised black point, slight S curve, curves to lighten the shadows on the bear a wee bit (perhaps not necessary), black vignette, and a little warmer. I had to start from scratch because I reset my raw file to get the original histogram to display here.

Unprocessed Histogram


http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...M.jpg~original

Processed histogram

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...M.png~original

New Edit

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...7.jpg~original

Thank you Mike!

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

Keep in mind that I'm starting with your processed image. I am able to raise the black point to a value of 10 on that one with without incurring any lost detail in the bear. I can also slightly increase the mid-tone contrast afterward by manipulating the curve without incurring any lost detail.

If you don't like the look of the bear when doing that, select everything but the bear. When I did that, I raised the black point to 26 and slightly increased the mid-tone contrast afterward.

Hopefully you can display the histogram larger than shown in the screenshot. If the histogram is just barely touching the left side, that is theoretically when you get the highest black point that doesn't clip any shadows. Both of your histograms appear to be away from the left side, though at this size it's tough to tell. The histogram of your processed image displayed in my software is definitely away from the left side.

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Thank you Dan. Truly appreciated.

Yes, I hope I am able to take one of those bear trips next year. Up close but safe on a boat. Camp robbers. Indeed the bird didn't seem shy like most birds.

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Originally Posted by NorthernFocus

Excellent set, Christina. I really like the bears walking the log. And the detail in the bear in the bush is really nice. The slightly blurred wing tips on the bird are fine. Everything else is sharp. Up here they call those camp robbers. You'll really enjoy taking that brown bear trip :)

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Very nice shooting. I like the first one best. You made the most of a good photo op. :cool:

Christina, I really love all of these, however #2 is my favorite, followed by the cub in the tree! The bear in #2 has an expression like he is in wonderland! :) As a child my favorite book was "Cubby in Wonderland" about a cub in Yellowstone Park!

The bird image is really great, also!

Well done, indeed!

They are nice but the first one with colourful surroundings looks especially nice Christina :)

You got rid of the gauze, Christina! Well done!

From now on, make sure you always do the same by setting your black and white points and then by adjusting the curve to address mid-tone contrast. Always keep an eye on the histogram and once you set the black point, make sure that it doesn't change throughout your post-processing unless you have a very specific reason to change it.

The first image is such a nice composition, but it has always bothered me that there is a strong magenta color cast. So, I changed it and liked it so much I continued to work with it as shown below.

1. Adjusted the color cast by adding some green and yellow
2. The above step took the histogram away from the left side a bit, so I raised the black point slightly to return the histogram to the left side.
3. Selected the bears and applied a reserve S-Curve to increase the detail
4. Applied Local Contrast Enhancement only to the bears to increase the detail some more
5. Selected the brownish foliage and darkened it
6. Selected the bright, dead tree the bears are walking on and darkened the bright tones.
7. Added a slight vignette (I bet you don't even see it, which is ideal.)

http://i57.tinypic.com/vzu1z8.jpg

Thank you Steve, Binnur and Carol. Truly appreciated.

Carol... Berry Wonderland.

A very special thank you to Mike!

I will follow your PP guidelines from now on. I didn't see the magenta cast and I wish I could see such things. The only colour adjustments I made were to warm up the WB +200 and increase vibrance +20. Nor did I see the mist. I thought it was just noise (ISO 3200)

I adore your post processing of this image and I will give it a try, later today. Thank you!

I have seldom seen such a dearly pretty image of a bird like this...my heart goes to that again and again.... :)

I loved it Mike :) May I ask if you used 'colour balance ' function to add green and yellow to remove the color cast or you used the temperature and tint sliders for it?

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

The first image is such a nice composition, but it has always bothered me that there is a strong magenta color cast. So, I changed it and liked it so much I continued to work with it as shown below.

1. Adjusted the color cast by adding some green and yellow
2. The above step took the histogram away from the left side a bit, so I raised the black point slightly to return the histogram to the left side.
3. Selected the bears and applied a reserve S-Curve to increase the detail
4. Applied Local Contrast Enhancement only to the bears to increase the detail some more
5. Selected the brownish foliage and darkened it
6. Selected the bright, dead tree the bears are walking on and darkened the bright tones.
7. Added a slight vignette (I bet you don't even see it, which is ideal.)

http://i57.tinypic.com/vzu1z8.jpg

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I used the color balance function because fine tuning the color is easier done using that part of my software than adjusting the white balance. However, the same results probably could have been accomplished adjusting the white balance whether using temperature and tint sliders or using a neutral color picker. One reason I got used to using the color balance capability is that, unlike white balance adjustments, it can be applied selectively to part of an image.

The magenta color cast could have also been eliminated using the neutral color picker built into my Levels & Curve tool. I didn't try doing that because I knew it would be relatively easy to use the color balance sliders.

Lots of ways to accomplish the same results!

Thank you Nandakumar. That is a truly special, and poetic compliment. Truly appreciated.

Careful with the compliments as I have about 7 more shots of this pretty little bird. :)

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Originally Posted by Wavelength

I have seldom seen such a dearly pretty image of a bird like this...my heart goes to that again and again.... :)

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Hi Mike,

Here is my edit. Now that I've processed the image again, I can see the colour cast. Thank you for making me aware of this.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...6.jpg~original

Not as lovely as your edit but I think it is improved. Let me know if you can see the vignette. I can't see yours.

The color cast is gone. Good job! I like everything else that you did but the color cast was the most important issue. I don't detect the vignette, which is to my taste.

Thank you Mike. As always your help and advise is truly appreciated.

Hopefully I will get better at seeing colour casts. It is very encouraging to hear that I did a good job of PP. :)

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

The color cast is gone. Good job! I like everything else that you did but the color cast was the most important issue. I don't detect the vignette, which is to my taste.

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