Need help improving this photo.
Mar 23, 2016 10:51:21 #
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
Mar 23, 2016 10:55:57 #
Bill, if you upload this image to the Post Processing Digital Images forum, a number of folks will apply their editing skills to making this a better image.
Mar 23, 2016 10:57:46 #
Bill MN wrote:
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
you do not give much info, such as ISO setting, on a tripod, mirror up, etc. that said, it looks like the ISO was set too high. try to lower the ISO and open up the aperture. a tripod is not always an option, but you may try a monopod to steady the camera when shooting birds. maybe increase your shutter speed to reduce blur.
Mar 23, 2016 10:58:19 #
Improving after the fact or are you asking what you should have done this time?
The picture looks fine but about a stop and a half underexposed is all.
The picture looks fine but about a stop and a half underexposed is all.
Mar 23, 2016 10:59:40 #
Bob Yankle wrote:
Bill, if you upload this image to the Post Processing Digital Images forum, a number of folks will apply their editing skills to making this a better image.
Thank you Bob.
Mar 23, 2016 11:13:12 #
rpavich wrote:
Improving after the fact or are you asking what you should have done this time?
The picture looks fine but about a stop and a half underexposed is all.
The picture looks fine but about a stop and a half underexposed is all.
Agreed, perhaps framing could have been better as well. Are you asking for the next time, or did you want to adjust this photo?
Mar 23, 2016 11:16:38 #
Bill MN wrote:
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
and just in case you wanted this one edited
Mar 23, 2016 11:18:33 #
Bill MN wrote:
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
If you work with RAW files, you should do so with this image. You can make dramatic improvements just in the first RAW screen...making adjustments for exposure, contrast, whites, blacks and sharpness. The image has a lot of noise also; you can also reduce that using the tools in RAW. You can then do some local adjustments in the bird when you open in Photoshop. I don't know if this is a help, but I did just what I suggest by opening your download in RAW, making those adjustments, then a curves adjustment in Photoshop on just the bird and isolating and darkening the background to give better separation with the bird. I'm not a bird person, but to me, this looks better...more contrast, better sharpness, still noise, but to me, nicer because it's darker, and better separation of the bird from its surrounds.
Mar 23, 2016 11:31:04 #
Bill MN wrote:
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
It isn't really very complicated...
The image is actually exposed properly, but it needs gamma correction because most of the tones are too dark. If the brightness is increased it works, but that will cause some (unimportant) values to blow out and clip. Better is to use a "curves tool" and adjust the upper part of the curve to be above the straight line, and then go to the bottom of the curve and move that down a little. Essentially you want a S curve, with the upper right more exaggerated than the lower left side.
At that point you might want to use layers, or masking, or simply making different selections and apply a bit of sharpen to the bird and some blur to other areas. The background above the bird needs a lot of blur, the horizontal plank behind the bird needs very little, and the dirt in the foreground needs just a bit more.
Incidentally, others should be aware that the stored original has all the Exif data. A Nikon D7100, using ISO 6400, f/9 at 1/1250 shutter speed. The lens is a Nikkor 28-300mm set to 300mm. The image was shot in RAW mode.
Mar 23, 2016 13:01:33 #
Bill MN wrote:
This is a rare albino redpoll. Nikon D7100 camera was on manual and set wrong for low light but I did get a few pictures. I do have a raw photo but too large to upload.
Problems beside exposure is the noise due to high ISO (6400) There is nothing that justifies that. 1/1250 does not help either.
This is not 'salvageable' in my opinion. Yes you can find colors back but overall this is a total miss.
Mar 23, 2016 13:03:24 #
Apaflo wrote:
It isn't really very complicated.../...
For you it obviously is since you results are...
:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
Mar 23, 2016 13:23:23 #
Rongnongno wrote:
For you it obviously is since you results are...
:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
For an edited JPEG that isn't bad, considering you have blown it up to nearly 200%!
You are being just plain silly.
Mar 23, 2016 15:37:10 #
Mar 23, 2016 18:12:07 #
Rongnongno wrote:
100% the other do not offer your... crappy edit.
200 percent is just plain silly.
Mar 23, 2016 20:26:17 #
Thanks to all who understood I was asking for help to improve this photo, nothing else. For the rest of you I know what to do and how to set a camera. I would rather get a poor picture of a very rare bird than none at all. When I did try to reset the camera the bird flew away. My small movement scared it away. I don't have a camera for every window and lighting condition but I do know birds and to get a few shots fast. I only print 4x6 bird pictures so I'm staying with jpeg it's faster in burst mode. This was the first time I had the camera set to raw.
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