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05-27-2010, 08:46 PM   #1
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Snowy Owl ... how could this be better?
Lens: DA*300/4 Camera: K7 ISO: 200 Shutter Speed: 1/4000s Aperture: F6.7 

I have this photo here which was taken in a backlit condition. The bird is fairly sharp, however, can someone help to make it better because I sure would like to enlarge it.
Thanks!!
JP
P.S.: I also used a Pentax A-FA 1.7X adapter.


Last edited by jpzk; 08-30-2015 at 06:48 PM.
05-27-2010, 10:23 PM   #2
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Too bad you weren't able to get a shot of the front of the Owl, and I'd recommend that you add a bit of contrast to this shot to enhance it. That turned out pretty well considering you were using a TC, though, and I know that snow is hard to expose correctly!

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05-28-2010, 05:22 AM   #3
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As Adam said, turning up contrast I think . I would also increase the sharpness, and selectively highlight the bird, using dodge, curves, shadows/highlights control.
05-28-2010, 05:47 AM   #4
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Very nice capture. A bit of sharpening, contrast, shadow and highlight, saturation and denoise on a part of the background in cs4, 15%lab color and grayscale


Last edited by ivoire; 12-30-2010 at 06:56 AM.
05-28-2010, 07:39 AM   #5
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Yeah, I guess, guys are just right with the contrast, that makes the pic look shrper right away.
BUT: Don't you want to try out BW? I find it just great picture for that. Plus - having it in BW allows you to go yet a bit farther with contrast. That might still make it a bit more briliant.


Cheers. Nice image!
05-28-2010, 03:23 PM   #6
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That's a great shot JP
I'm not too good at PP though I tried a little "clarify" in Paint shop pro just so you can see the effect. I think it works a little, but works pretty good when the bird is against a sky.
To me any good real wildlife shot such as yours is worth 100 zoo or wildlife park shots.
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05-28-2010, 05:01 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Adam Quote
Too bad you weren't able to get a shot of the front of the Owl, and I'd recommend that you add a bit of contrast to this shot to enhance it. That turned out pretty well considering you were using a TC, though, and I know that snow is hard to expose correctly!
Thanks Adam.
I'll give it a go a increasing the contrast, thanks for the hint.
Yeah, the owl didn't really care of I was placed facing the sunny side!
And that TC made the shot rather trying, to say the least. Mind you, I had that one single shot before it swerved left and away from me.
JP

05-28-2010, 05:07 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by D4rknezz Quote
As Adam said, turning up contrast I think . I would also increase the sharpness, and selectively highlight the bird, using dodge, curves, shadows/highlights control.
Everyone agrees on increasing the contrast and that would seem just right. Along with the other suggestions, I think I may have a better result.
Thanks!
JP
05-28-2010, 05:09 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by ivoire Quote
Very nice capture. A bit of sharpening, contrast, shadow and highlight, saturation and denoise on a part of the background in cs4, 15%lab color and grayscale
Ivoire, thanks.
That sure looks better already.
I've written down all of the suggested ways to improve the shot. I am confident this will be one great pic to hang in my house!
JP
05-28-2010, 05:10 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by jezeks Quote
Yeah, I guess, guys are just right with the contrast, that makes the pic look shrper right away.
BUT: Don't you want to try out BW? I find it just great picture for that. Plus - having it in BW allows you to go yet a bit farther with contrast. That might still make it a bit more briliant.


Cheers. Nice image!
Thank you, Jezeks.
I never thought about B&W! What a great idea too!
Well, one more great way to test the results and maybe I will end up keeping both the "color" and B&W ones.
JP
05-28-2010, 05:14 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by borno Quote
That's a great shot JP
I'm not too good at PP though I tried a little "clarify" in Paint shop pro just so you can see the effect. I think it works a little, but works pretty good when the bird is against a sky.
To me any good real wildlife shot such as yours is worth 100 zoo or wildlife park shots.
Thank you Borno.
Appreciate the comments.
Is there a similar way to "clarify" in CS4 vs. Paint Shop Pro? To me, it might mean, in CS4, that I would have to use "Brightness/Contrast" or "Shadows/Highlights".
I'll give that a go, keeping the other suggestions as well.
It won't hurt to make a few different PP jobs and compare them.
JP
05-28-2010, 05:16 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by ivoire Quote
Very nice capture. A bit of sharpening, contrast, shadow and highlight, saturation and denoise on a part of the background in cs4, 15%lab color and grayscale
That version is much better! Perhaps some cropping would further enhance it, too.

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05-28-2010, 06:02 PM   #13
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I did some of the changes as suggested and also "made" one copie in B&W, which I am not sure worked efficiently.
I did a little cropping too.
It doesn't look as good as Ivoire's version but it seems to get better.
Here are the revised versions:

Last edited by jpzk; 08-30-2015 at 06:48 PM.
05-28-2010, 06:14 PM   #14
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Hi JP.
I think the first thing I would do is crop the dark earth out of the foreground.I find it distracting but that's just me. Heck I'd just be happy to see a snowy owl let alone get get a great shot like this.
James
05-28-2010, 07:29 PM   #15
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JP... Those are looking quite good. pp in cs4 takes a bit of experimenting. you are on the right track for bringing out the detail in the owl. blurring the background with surface blur makes the bird pop out more. if you have photoshop, make a duplicate layer and blur the entire duplicate until you have the background the way you want it. then paste the original image over the dup, create a layer mask and paint in the background. its an effective way to create dof effects. also, if you want to blow up an image, in cs4, go to image size and select Bicubic Sharper (best for reduction), then add an inch or 2 to your size and click ok. it seems illogical, but it works well.

Last edited by ivoire; 12-30-2010 at 06:56 AM.
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