Post your best bird shots!

[Joel Eade]

.


Joel.....to be honest Joel, I've run out of superlatives for your BYBs. I'm going to have invest in a Thesaurus before I can con't commenting on your pix.


Bill

Thanks Bill that's a very nice compliment, I appreciate it.

[Joel Eade]

Thanks for the compliments and advice! I haven't had any time to learn a thing in CS5 since I got it

Denise .... you really need to dive in on CS5. You have really been making some nice images and I would love to see them processed a little more.


Here is the basic shadow/highlight adjustment.....


1. Once CS5 is open up on the top left click on 'File > Open' then find your image on your computer and open it


2. Now, at the top again, click on 'Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights and a window will appear


3. Here are the basic starting points to set inside that window


Shadows Amount 0 Tonal Range 15% Radius 30


Highlights Amount 0 Tonal Range 16% Radius 30


Color correction +3


Midtone contrast 0


4. Now click on save as defaults inside the window


5. Now, for your goose image, adjust the shadow amount and tonal range to see if you can see some detail start to emerge in the black areas. Feel free to move the sliders to extremes to see what happens (some ugliness will occur when you go too far)


6. If the detail comes out but the image looks "washed out" just bump the midtone contrast up a little


7. Now click on OK....That's all there is to it......you can tone down highlights the same way by tweaking the amount and tonal range

[ddt0725]

Thanks VERY MUCH, Joel!! Over lunch today, I actually even got a chance to look at one of the books I had bought and was reading how to do something similar to what you have above.


Hopefully, I will get a chance to try your instructions when I get home from work tonight!


Thanks again!


Denise

[Kayaker72]

Opinions wanted; I'm trying the black border around my bright background shots that are posted onto white backgrounds.....is this an improvement for the pic or does it matter one way or the other?


Thanks for looking and expressing your opinions.


Bill

Hi Bill,


I think in terms of presentation, the black frame adds a little, but overall, I prefer the unframed image for the very simple reason that I like to see as much detail of the image/subject as possible and adding the black frame causes you to use less than 800 pixels for the image/subject. I just did a rough scaling on my screen, and I would estimate that you used ~10% of the image width for the frame. I like theslightlylarger Merganser. []


Brant

[ddt0725]

@ Joel, Bob & Bill - does this look any better? I worked on the shadow around the eye and the highlights some on the chest ...




Thanks for the advice and the "how-to" tutorial!

Denise

[Joel Eade]

@ Joel, Bob & Bill - does this look any better? I worked on the shadow around the eye and the highlights some on the chest ...


Thanks for the advice and the "how-to" tutorial!

Denise

I do think it is better, I can see some detail now, good job.

[Joel Eade]

Female Eastern Towhee


1D3


420mm


580 EXII + better beamer at -2 2/3 stops


ISO 1000


f/4.0


1/500


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[Bill W]

Yes D.....now I can see the eye....the details aren't muddied, a big improvement.


Also Denise....I have a book; Photoshop CS3 for Nature Photographers by Ellen Anon & Tim Grey. I find it to be very informative and, though I haven't looked, I'm sure they must have a CS5 version.

[ddt0725]

Thanks, guys! And Bill, the book is on its way!


Joel - Beautiful photo of the towhee! Now if I can ever get anything that perfectly exposed and sharp, I will then consider myself a great photographer!

[bob williams]

@ Joel, Bob & Bill - does this look any better? I worked on the shadow around the eye and the highlights some on the chest ...

Denise, Nice job with your PS work---Made a marked improvement.





Bob