|
|
Post by Ely Teehankee on Sept 22, 2010 9:28:42 GMT
Having been inspired by Romy's beautiful pictures at the Coastal Lagoon, I made a trip there this morning. The result leaves much to be desired but it was a good learning experience. At our mentors request, I am posting the pictures. Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM. Gitzo GT3530LS Tripod, Wimberley WH200 Head. Manual exposure in available light. White-collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) f/8, ISO 1600, 1/1250 sec.  Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) f/8, ISO 1600, 1/2000 sec  f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/250 sec.  Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) f/8, ISO 1600, 1/1600 sec  f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec.  |
|
|
|
Post by Edu Lorenzo Jr on Sept 22, 2010 13:46:31 GMT
THAT'S IT! The tattler just made to the top 5 of my hitlist!
Looks like the lagoon will suddenly be a hotspot.. specially with the flying terns and egrets and herons and kingfishers that will all be flying.
All are great shots sir and if forced to choose, I would choose the tattler as the best.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ely Teehankee on Sept 22, 2010 21:17:34 GMT
THAT'S IT! The tattler just made to the top 5 of my hitlist! Looks like the lagoon will suddenly be a hotspot.. specially with the flying terns and egrets and herons and kingfishers that will all be flying. All are great shots sir and if forced to choose, I would choose the tattler as the best. Thank you Edu. Is that a Tattler? Looks like I made a wrong ID. |
|
|
|
Post by Romy Ocon on Sept 22, 2010 23:20:50 GMT
So you got the lagoon beauties, nice set Ely!
Fourth photo looks like a Common Sandpiper to me.
BTW, on my monitor I see some bright halo around the kingfishers, similar to that produced by aggressive use of the shadow/highlights tool. If such is the case, try a larger radius than the default 30 in CS5. A radius of 50 to 100 would minimize haloing, just fine tune the amount and tonal width to taste.
A word of caution too about the shadows/highlights tool - aside from haloing, too much use of it can result into funny background colors and advent of noise. To push shadows (or to pull back highlights), it's better to use the curves tool during RAW conversion.
|
|
|
|
Post by William Lim on Sept 23, 2010 12:26:32 GMT
Very good capture and composition, Ely. The halo around the bird is a post processing artifact. I agree with Romy.  |
|
|
|
Post by Ely Teehankee on Sept 24, 2010 0:39:39 GMT
So you got the lagoon beauties, nice set Ely! Fourth photo looks like a Common Sandpiper to me. BTW, on my monitor I see some bright halo around the kingfishers, similar to that produced by aggressive use of the shadow/highlights tool. If such is the case, try a larger radius than the default 30 in CS5. A radius of 50 to 100 would minimize haloing, just fine tune the amount and tonal width to taste. A word of caution too about the shadows/highlights tool - aside from haloing, too much use of it can result into funny background colors and advent of noise. To push shadows (or to pull back highlights), it's better to use the curves tool during RAW conversion. Thank you Romy for pointing out my mistakes. Neon is here and if I get a chance I will ask him to explain it to me. Hope it will improve my post processing of pictures in the future. |
|
|
|
Post by Ely Teehankee on Sept 24, 2010 0:40:51 GMT
Very good capture and composition, Ely. The halo around the bird is a post processing artifact. I agree with Romy. Thank you William. It just shows what an amateur I am in post processing. LOL. |
|
|
|
Post by Romy Ocon on Sept 24, 2010 2:04:47 GMT
Ely, the Shadow/Highlights tool can be a convenient, powerful tool once you've tamed it. Here's a quick sample: As shot exposure  A single pass of S/H tool. File now ready for contrast/levels adjustment and sharpening/NR.  That said, I still prefer to correct local exposures in RAW conversion because I'd be working with the original capture data, hence minimizing noise and maximizing detail. |
|
|
|
Post by Ely Teehankee on Sept 24, 2010 8:17:40 GMT
Thank you for taking the time out to show me how its done. I hope I will be able to make it work next time. I saw your good friend Neon today and he also gave me some lessons. I have the two best teachers guiding me. Mabuhay.
|
|
