2019 P52 - 2nd Qtr - Sandy(Skitterbug)

[skitterbug]

The fox definitely looks more natural in this image. The softness is still there and that is due to the technical issues associated with the capture and subsequent post-processing (i.e. the crop). Keep the image small and you can get away with it; enlarge it and the softness will become a distracting issue.

Nicely done.

I appreciate your thoughts and instructions! Thank you!

[skitterbug]

Week 22

This fellow was busy eating birdseed, etc. in our back yard. Considering we are completely surrounded by farm fields, it is interesting why he chose to come to our place. He stayed for the day and then left for parts unknown. The nearest wooded area is probably a mile away.

He looks a bit beat up. Can't imagine what happened to its forehead area. I cropped this one hard.... 1x1 Not sure what I think about the hard crop but I like the close up of the squirrel's eyes.

Comments welcome!

Camera settings: f/10 - Auto ISO 2468 - 1/640ss

Before edit:



After edit:

[Shadowman]

Probably returns because of familiarity and ease of consumption, we have park squirrels that exhibit tamelike behavior, however citizens have been warned about feeding wildlife and erratic, aggressive behavior. Capture and edit wonderfully processed.

[Wavelength]

Excellent image of a cute little thing

[Manfred M]

Sorry your edit of the Week 22 image is not working that well for me. The edit looks oversharpened.

Sharpening is definitely not the easiest skill too master. Too little and the image does not come out looking right and too much, the same problem. Go a bit easier and I think you will get a stronger image; the squirrel's fur needs to look like fur so a very delicate touch is needed.

[Rufus]

I agree that less sharpening would benefit the image. I am wondering whether you sharpened on a global basis, Sandy.

As the DOF is trailing off where the tail is, it could be worth sharpening only the head, feet and main body.

I would be tempted try a blur effect (a gaussian blur in Photoshop, but I believe you use another package) and apply that to the background i.e. the top half of the image since the crop seems to be having an adverse effect there.

[Manfred M]

+1 to David's comments.

Most people look at sharpening as a three-stage operation:

1. Input sharpening - this takes away the slight loss of sharpening associated with the camera's anti-aliasing filter and the de-mosaicing process that converts raw data into image data. I generally stick with the default values in my raw convertor unless there is something quite strange in the image; for instance an extremely hazy scene or one that has a lot of very high frequency texture.

2. In-process sharpening (which is what I assume you have done here) - this is highly localized and applied where it is needed. In portraiture I often do this on eye lashes, lips, eyebrows and the irises of the eyes. No sharpening is applied to the rest of the image.

3 - Output sharpening - this occurs when we tweak the sharpness of the image when it has been resized to final output size. This is especially important in printing and helps compensate for softening resulting from upsizing the image. Again, I tend to do this locally and do not generally sharpen the sky or water as they look strange when sharpened. The same goes for skin and fur where we have to find the right balance of not enough texture versus too much texture. This is highly dependent on the output device (printer and paper being used) as matte papers tend to soften the image and have a bit more ink bleed.

[skitterbug]

Thanks for the variety of opinions and suggestions!

Affinity Photo updated so I'm working in a somewhat newer platform. I use "High Pass" and generally only sharpen the features that I want to bring out. For some reason which I am going to have to research, I could not do what I normally do when I use this layer. It was a global change as David said rather than specific areas.

So the crop size is okay? DOF left the tail a bit out of focus but I wasn't especially concerned about that. I was more interested in the squirrel's eyes.

A bit more work to do on this one then.

As a side note, I haven't seen him since he munched up his seeds. This is probably a good thing. I don't need squirrels in my attic! LOL

[Manfred M]

I use "High Pass" and generally only sharpen the features that I want to bring out

The High Pass filter is one that needs a lot of caution when you use it. It normally brings out edge detail very well BUT it can get away from the user very quickly. It can be effective if applied gently, so try dialing the impact way down (i.e. cut the opacity).

[Geoff F]

I don't see any need to crop quite so close, Sandy. Your foreground is sharply focused and without any areas which require hiding, so I would give him just a little more space to 'move around' without appearing overly cramped.

[skitterbug]

Hi Manfred - I finally found the video tutorial that I needed to jog my memory about selective sharpening. Before the update, and probably two years ago, I created a macro to use when I wanted the high pass mask. So I'd forgotten all the steps it took to get where I needed. Anyway, to shorten my narrative, I think I am back on track with what I was used to doing.

I've reworked my squirrel and hope that this is a better image. Also thanks for the tips and instructions! I'm all "ears" as they say! <grin>

[skitterbug]

I don't see any need to crop quite so close, Sandy. Your foreground is sharply focused and without any areas which require hiding, so I would give him just a little more space to 'move around' without appearing overly cramped.

Hi Geoff - I've given it another go and have also added just a bit more space around him. See post #111. Thank you for responding with ideas for improvement!

[Rufus]

The latest version is a great improvement, Sandy, a much more furry feel while being sharper than the original.

[skitterbug]

+1 to David's comments.

Most people look at sharpening as a three-stage operation:

1. Input sharpening - this takes away the slight loss of sharpening associated with the camera's anti-aliasing filter and the de-mosaicing process that converts raw data into image data. I generally stick with the default values in my raw convertor unless there is something quite strange in the image; for instance an extremely hazy scene or one that has a lot of very high frequency texture.

2. In-process sharpening (which is what I assume you have done here) - this is highly localized and applied where it is needed. In portraiture I often do this on eye lashes, lips, eyebrows and the irises of the eyes. No sharpening is applied to the rest of the image.

3 - Output sharpening - this occurs when we tweak the sharpness of the image when it has been resized to final output size. This is especially important in printing and helps compensate for softening resulting from upsizing the image. Again, I tend to do this locally and do not generally sharpen the sky or water as they look strange when sharpened. The same goes for skin and fur where we have to find the right balance of not enough texture versus too much texture. This is highly dependent on the output device (printer and paper being used) as matte papers tend to soften the image and have a bit more ink bleed.

Hi Manfred - I've never really thought about sharpening except to "just do what I like to see happen" sort of editing.
#1 - I still really don't have any idea what the camera does to my images when I capture them in RAW form. I don't use JPG in the capture process. I'll unload the RAW files into a specific folder for safe keeping and import a copy from there. AFfinity Photo does allow some editing to the RAW file, if I want but most of the time I don't do anything and go to the next stage which in AF is "develop". If there is haze, AF has a feature that will remove what I feel is necessary.

#2 - If you go back through my P52, I think most of the time you'll see that I've attempted only local specific sharpening. The reason my squirrel took a turn for too much was because I forgot steps that "High Pass" requires. Most importantly to "invert" my selection! <aaarrgghhh> My macro that I lost during the app's update, had been set to run to the point where I could select the area I wanted to adjust, set the size of my brush and how sharp I wanted the results to be and then I could work on those specific areas that I felt needed it.

#3 - Output is an area that I do not really understand yet since I've not printed much of my material. There are many things to be considered in the printing stage apparently - even trying to get an image sized for framing is a challenge for me.

Other issues that I have while trying to learn, is not really understanding what each of the terms really mean or processes that they do, that a photo editing app has included in the line up of tools. People may chuckle, but it took some time for me to even understand the use of "layers" and how to actually make the concept work in the editing process. For people like me coming from simply using "point and shoot" to digging into editing, etc. without any background in photo work, this process can be a heavy load to learn - at least it has been for me.

So yes, I really do appreciate CiC and all the information/comments shared by the group! And I want to thank you for taking time to do so!

[skitterbug]

The latest version is a great improvement, Sandy, a much more furry feel while being sharper than the original.

Thanks David! He looks like fun but I'd never want to try and feel that fur!

[Geoff F]

Yes, the latest edit looks good to me.

[skitterbug]

Yes, the latest edit looks good to me.

Hi Geoff - Thanks for suggestions and comments!

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred - I finally found the video tutorial that I needed to jog my memory about selective sharpening. Before the update, and probably two years ago, I created a macro to use when I wanted the high pass mask. So I'd forgotten all the steps it took to get where I needed. Anyway, to shorten my narrative, I think I am back on track with what I was used to doing.

I've reworked my squirrel and hope that this is a better image. Also thanks for the tips and instructions! I'm all "ears" as they say! <grin>

Definitely a significant improvement over the original. I still find it a touch sharp, but that is just my opinion; you are definitely in the right range. The crop also works a lot better as there is enough space around your subject so the squirrel does not look cramped in the image.

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred - I've never really thought about sharpening except to "just do what I like to see happen" sort of editing.
#1 - I still really don't have any idea what the camera does to my images when I capture them in RAW form. I don't use JPG in the capture process. I'll unload the RAW files into a specific folder for safe keeping and import a copy from there. AFfinity Photo does allow some editing to the RAW file, if I want but most of the time I don't do anything and go to the next stage which in AF is "develop". If there is haze, AF has a feature that will remove what I feel is necessary.

#2 - If you go back through my P52, I think most of the time you'll see that I've attempted only local specific sharpening. The reason my squirrel took a turn for too much was because I forgot steps that "High Pass" requires. Most importantly to "invert" my selection! <aaarrgghhh> My macro that I lost during the app's update, had been set to run to the point where I could select the area I wanted to adjust, set the size of my brush and how sharp I wanted the results to be and then I could work on those specific areas that I felt needed it.

#3 - Output is an area that I do not really understand yet since I've not printed much of my material. There are many things to be considered in the printing stage apparently - even trying to get an image sized for framing is a challenge for me.

Other issues that I have while trying to learn, is not really understanding what each of the terms really mean or processes that they do, that a photo editing app has included in the line up of tools. People may chuckle, but it took some time for me to even understand the use of "layers" and how to actually make the concept work in the editing process. For people like me coming from simply using "point and shoot" to digging into editing, etc. without any background in photo work, this process can be a heavy load to learn - at least it has been for me.

So yes, I really do appreciate CiC and all the information/comments shared by the group! And I want to thank you for taking time to do so!

I'm not a great fan of the High Pass filter approach; I find the unsharp mask does a far better job:

- Duplicate the layer that has your final image and set the blending mode to Luminosity.

Just a couple more comments - you need to sharpen the image when you import from raw; the raw convertors often have a default setting for your camera. Just use that. You also need to add contrast - global and mid-range as required.

Output sharpening is done much the way I described the sharpening steps only you do so after you have resized the image to its final size. In an image posted on the web it may be a mute point, but if you ever print, it is a critical part of the process.
- Select the USM filter and a good starting position is radius = 1, factor = 1 and threshold =0 on the new layer
- Always work with the image zoomed in to 100%
- Vary the opacity of the layer until you get the sharpness that works for you.

Apply an a mask layer, select a brush of appropriate size; set hardness to 0 and flow to 10% to start and paint over the areas that you want to reduce the sharpening effect.

[skitterbug]

Hi Manfred - I'll give your suggestions a try - maybe on one of the bullfrog RAW pics that I haven't done yet and see if I can accomplish better results. It will probably take me a bit to figure out what all your steps entail especially while trying to do it in Affinity Photo.

As for the difference in the web image's appearance versus a printed image, knowing the difficulty involved in the production of the print makes me appreciate other's efforts even more.

Thanks for the additional information! <smiles to you!>