[oneill]

I am interested in critical reactions to this image. This photograph was taken with a K10D and an FA*300/F4.5 in the Great bear Rainforest which is in the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. I am using a Greta MacBeth generated colour profile for this camera in Adobe RAW (Photoshop CS3) for the RAW conversion to eliminate colour cast and doing a graduated blur on the background behind the bear. Some contrast increase and sharpening were also applied.

Attached Images

 

[Workingdog]

Please take my comments with a grain of salt as I'm more qualified to be critiqued rather than to do the critiquing. So here goes. Good move to blur the background as it would be too distracting. I might start the blur a little lower with the light colored log above the one in the water. I'm not sure about the color as the whole thing has sort of a sepia-like tone (is it just me?). Only you know what the colors looked like "live". Also, a pink salmon in spawning dress would have some bright red going on. I think some color replacing would make for a stunning photo; the bright red in the salmon against the shades of brown that are the rest of the photo.
I like the composition, subject, and timing.

[AndrewShirley]

I love the pic but the PP doesn't do it justice. There's definately a lot of potential there.

As "workingdog" pointed out, the blur is rather abrupt and actually draws your eye away from the bear.

I would LOVE to see this pic given the PP it deserves!

- Andrew

[Heinrich Lohmann]

It is a really nice photo but somehow the color is not right and I have to agree with workingdog and Andrew as to the blurring.

For workingdog: Pink Salmon (Humpback) don't turn bright red, you are thinking of Sockeye Salmon.

Heinrich

[oneill]

Please take my comments with a grain of salt as I'm more qualified to be critiqued rather than to do the critiquing. So here goes. Good move to blur the background as it would be too distracting. I might start the blur a little lower with the light colored log above the one in the water. I'm not sure about the color as the whole thing has sort of a sepia-like tone (is it just me?). Only you know what the colors looked like "live". Also, a pink salmon in spawning dress would have some bright red going on. I think some color replacing would make for a stunning photo; the bright red in the salmon against the shades of brown that are the rest of the photo.
I like the composition, subject, and timing.

Thank's for your comments. You are quite right on the blur it is far to abrupt, and should extend further down with more subtle graduation. In fact I may have uploaded the wrong version of the image. Pink salmon are silver grey on the upper body when they come out of salt water into fresh and then they turn a browny-green with mottled purple sploches as they near the end of spawning. Sockeye are the ones that turn bright red in spawning colours. As they say every senic image needs a "red canoe" and I would love to have the same shot with a bright red sockeye.

[oneill]

I love the pic but the PP doesn't do it justice. There's definately a lot of potential there.

As "workingdog" pointed out, the blur is rather abrupt and actually draws your eye away from the bear.

I would LOVE to see this pic given the PP it deserves!

- Andrew

Thank's for the complement Andrew, am am assuming that by "PP" you mean "Post-Processing", although some people use it as an abbreviation for Photoshop, but I guess both meanings could apply. It was an overcast day as you are probably aware with the lack of black shadows, which is why I punched up the contrast, but the colours are quite accurate to the scene, monocromatic, with I slight lean to sepia, but even adding 10 to 15 points of saturation in Photoshop really does not do much for it. Coastal bears are a pretty boring brown without the grizzled highlights of interior Grizzlies. If you have a suggestion for PP I would love to hear it.

[oneill]

It is a really nice photo but somehow the color is not right and I have to agree with workingdog and Andrew as to the blurring.

For workingdog: Pink Salmon (Humpback) don't turn bright red, you are thinking of Sockeye Salmon.

Heinrich

Thank you Heinrich, you are right on the blur and on the fish. I enjoyed your gallery, and isnt it a small world category I lived in Cochrane, Alberta until three years ago.

[AndrewShirley]

Here's a quick and dirty stab at it. The bear is probably a touch over-sharpened.

I hope you don't mind this mod, if so I'll take it down immediately.



I selectively sharpened and adjusted contrast of the bear and fish, adjusted saturation of the vegetation, blured the background slightly to give just a touch of seperation. I'm really not the expert here on PP ( post processing ) so if anyone else has something better, I'm all eyes - and as long as the OP doesn' t mind...

- Andrew

[Mallee Boy]

Hi oneill: Its an exciting shot, a great capture and of course you want to do the best with it, totally understood.

One suggestion would be to post the original (plaster your name all over it or watermark it). It is easier to make a comment on the original than one where changes have already been made.

I'm no expert at post processing and have learnt that what appeals to one person will dis-please the next....but I would go easy on the blur and trickery, its a great image in its own right, that, to my mind, only needs subtle highlighting to get the best out of it (but thats only my opinion).

Good luck, and really looking forward to seeing the finished image.

Cheers
Grant

[oneill]

Here's a quick and dirty stab at it. The bear is probably a touch over-sharpened.

I hope you don't mind this mod, if so I'll take it down immediately.



I selectively sharpened and adjusted contrast of the bear and fish, adjusted saturation of the vegetation, blured the background slightly to give just a touch of seperation. I'm really not the expert here on PP ( post processing ) so if anyone else has something better, I'm all eyes - and as long as the OP doesn' t mind...

- Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I don't mind at all. It is an image that is a little difficult to achieve markedly different treatments on. Thank's for your time.

Have a good one!

Murray

[Workingdog]

You guys are, of course, correct about the pink salmon vs. sockeye. I don't know why but my eyes were reading "pink" and my brain was thinking "sockeye". Mind over matter I guess. I was just expecting/hoping to see that splash of red that would have made this picture so cool with everything else being muted shades of brown. Oh well, as I've said before you have to play the cards you're dealt. Hmmm, but then again why not take some artistic license. Select the salmon and play around with some of the different methods to adjust/change the color and see if it works to your liking. I wouldn't mind seeing the result.

[Peter Zack]

I agree with the earlier comments about the background blur and with some time and careful work you should be able to make that more subtle. It's a great photo and the bear's look is fantastic. I see why you want to add some extra colour to enhance it. I took a shot at the colour and contrast just using levels, curves and colour balance. Can't do anything with the blur in the posted image but here's the result. There's quite a bit of colour there It just needs a boost.

[Workingdog]

I like what Peter has done with this . I can now actually see some purple in the salmon's head!! I would definitely re-postprocess along these lines, play with the blur a bit and it will be a great photo.

[Peter Zack]

I see this image is now in the PPG and it looks great. I sorta feel silly advising such an accomplished photographer. But the end result was worth it.

PENTAX Photo Gallery

[oneill]

I see this image is now in the PPG and it looks great. I sorta feel silly advising such an accomplished photographer. But the end result was worth it.

PENTAX Photo Gallery

Hi Peter,

Don't feel silly, I was not trying to "suck you in" so to speak, I was genuinely interested in how this image would be viewed.

Murray