post processing critique

[exeter_uk]

Hi everyone, i was hoping to get a bit of critique on how i have post processed this image.

Sorry its not a very interesting subject! but they are easy to get close to, and one of the few birds that visit my garden (read patch of gravel)

The first image (called female sparrow) is the edited one.

I have cropped, reduced noise (in photoshop noise filter), darkened using the shadows and highlights tool, sharpened, resized and then sharpened again.

Thanks for any tips :smile:

James

[DDolan1075]

Do you mind an opinion from a total newbie? If you do, skip this response because I am pretty much somebody who does not have an artistic bone in my body. So I follow the same path pretty much on every picture. That being said, I think that you were probably correct in choosing a portrait view, I would have been stuck in my landscape view and have to include part of the plant on the left side. I do think that you have too bright of an area on the chest. (I will have to post this so I can look at the picture again) Looking back at it I probably would have kept it landscape so that everything wasn't centered( they talk about the rule of thirds and I guess the eyes are at the 1/3 mark). I may have also tweaked the colors a bit so that the green plants jumped a little more. I don't have much more that I can say.

It is a nice picture. I will watch to see what others say.

[exeter_uk]

The opinion of a newbie is fine :smile:

I agree about the light area on the chest, the picture was quite over exposed here, as you can see from the original, and i didn't want to darken the levels much more then i already have, although perhaps it would look better if i did. I tend to stay away from manipulating the colours, purley because im not very good at it, and tend to make the image look fake, but i agree it would be nice if the leave "jumped of the page" a little.

Thanks for the advice, i will wait to see if i get any more before i have another crack at it, and maybe post a revised version.

James

[Colin Key]

James,

There are two basic problems with the original image:

1. It was shot as a JPEG rather than RAW format and the file size is very small (hence very little digital info to work with).

2. The subject (female House Sparrow) is probably one of the world's drabbest birds yet you have shot it in a rather "busy" setting and the bird is overpowered by the green foliage.

I have adjusted "levels" (shadows & highlights), increased colour saturation (with more time and using a TIFF converted from RAW I would have de-saturated the green leaves using the "selection" tool), increased brightness and contrast a little and then sharpened with "unsharp mask". Unfortunately, because there is no featureless area in your shot to create an auto-profile using Neat Image, and I do not have a loadable profile for your particular camera, I was unable to make any satisfactory noise reduction (which the image needs).

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/Sparrow.jpg

My advice, if you want to practice your processing skills, is to go out and shoot some gulls, ducks and pigeons, and preferably use RAW format, convert to TIFF for processing and save as maximum quality JPEG at around 800 pixels maximum dimension.

Colin

Edit: Just realised, looking at the file sizes of your two images, that what I took to be the original is actually smaller than your processed version?:err:

[Colin Key]

So,

I had another bash at tweaking your processed image:

http://s118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/Femalesparrow.jpg

But without the original it difficult to improve on what you have already done.

Colin

[exeter_uk]

Hi Colin,

The image i posted as an "original" has been reduced to 800X600 so that i could upload it onto the thread. It was only really there for comparison to the altered one.

I definitley see what you mean about the shot being busy, the leaves do draw the eyes away from the bird (which is admittedly rather dull)

I am shooting in raw now, but cannot do so when i use the auto setting on my camera, so when i am being lazy i can only shoot jpegs.

I have some shots of a duck that i took recently, so i will have a go at that!

Thanks for the tips,

James

[Colin Key]

Hello James,

You have my email address so you can send me large original files if you wish. To be honest, shooting in RAW format is the only way to go (as I think I have stated before).

Always happy to help.

Regards,

Colin