Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
Main Photography Discussion
Busy background: Would you "photoshop" this image?
Page <<first <prev 5 of 5
May 14, 2016 23:17:21   #
john901 Loc: Lancaster, PA
 
Rob, You did a very good job of editing the photo in my opinion

\John S.

Reply
May 15, 2016 04:16:40   #
robsphotography Loc: New Zealand
 
john901 wrote:
Rob, You did a very good job of editing the photo in my opinion

\John S.


Hi John, thanks very much for looking at my edited photo. I haven't previously attempted to remove such a lot of a "busy background" so I was pleased to get plenty of good advice from photographers who posted to this thread. It took me quite a long time to complete the edit, but with this experience I can only get faster in the future!

Best Wishes
Rob

Reply
May 15, 2016 09:00:39   #
aellman Loc: Boston MA
 
robsphotography wrote:
I think this is a very good point. I have just checked out the "conditions of entry" to the current Otago Wildlife Photography Competition and the following conditions are included:

"17) Images that are obviously heavily photoshopped will not be accepted as entries to the competition. Videos may be edited, but captions are not allowed.

18) Entrants may be required to provide the original source of their photo for enlargement and display purposes. Please note, images may be cropped for display purposes in the competition exhibition or marketing collateral."

http://otagomuseum.nz/owpc-2016-tscs/

I am not sure how Condition 17 would be applied to the example we have been discussing in this thread? It could be argued that, if the ducks are removed together with their shadows, then this doesn't actually affect the picture of the Pukeko bird itself, it only alters the environment in which the Pukeko was photographed. If the judges looked at the original photo they would be able to see this for themselves.

If you were a judge in this competition, would you accept the image of the Pukeko bird without the ducks and their shadows?

Regards
Rob
I think this is a very good point. I have just che... (show quote)


Re: Condition 17, I think the words "obviously heavily" make it quite clear what would be acceptable. >Alan

Reply
 
 
May 15, 2016 22:34:43   #
robsphotography Loc: New Zealand
 
aellman wrote:
Re: Condition 17, I think the words "obviously heavily" make it quite clear what would be acceptable. >Alan


Although I don't intend submitting my edited Pukeko bird image into a photo contest, I was just interested in how the following competition condition would be interpreted in practice:

"17) Images that are obviously heavily photoshopped will not be accepted as entries to the competition. Videos may be edited, but captions are not allowed."

It's certainly clear once you see my original UNEDITED image and compare it with my edited image, that the ducks in the original image have been removed by "heavy photoshopping", but the Pukeko bird itself hasn't been photoshopped as shown here:

http://www.robsphotography.co.nz/A7R2-Pukeko.html

So, even though it could be argued that the principal subject of my edited image (the Pukeko bird) has not been "obviously heavily photoshopped", the judges would probably be within their rights to NOT accept the edited Pukeko bird image on the grounds that the original UNEDITED image has since had several ducks and shadows removed!

There is an interesting article on this topic about an image entered into a National Geographic competition:

http://harryfisch.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/national-geographic-how-i-won-and-lost.html

But in this case the rules were much clearer because they specifically prohibited the digital removal of anything from the original image, or the digital addition of anything to the original image:

https://www.slrlounge.com/how-photoshopping-disqualified-a-winning-entry-in-national-geographic-contest/

These articles show just how careful entrants to photographic competitions need to be with regard to the way in which images are edited and whether such editing is within the competition rules, which in the National Geographic case, were strictly applied!

Regards
Rob

Reply
May 16, 2016 09:05:12   #
BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
You did good Rob. This is a basic edit in Photoshop. The pic looks much better without the extra ducks. You could have asked the extra ducks to move to better positions, or crossed your fingers hoping they did it on their own, but imo, PS is much easier unless you are a duck whisperer and it has predictable results. Editing is at least as much fun as taking the picture once you learn your editor. PS is excellent because it does everything, and the learning curve is awesome fun with few limitations. IMO, photo editing is a required part of photography and the skills needed are just as much fun learning as photography itself.

As far as contests go, some might ban PS altogether. Some might ban bird photos, some might require the picture taken within the last 3 days. Some might require using the best PS techniques to win. It all would depend on the contest, right? Find and enter the contests that suit your interests, ignore those that don't.

Reply
May 17, 2016 04:22:40   #
robsphotography Loc: New Zealand
 
BigDaddy wrote:
You did good Rob. This is a basic edit in Photoshop. The pic looks much better without the extra ducks. You could have asked the extra ducks to move to better positions, or crossed your fingers hoping they did it on their own, but imo, PS is much easier unless you are a duck whisperer and it has predictable results. Editing is at least as much fun as taking the picture once you learn your editor. PS is excellent because it does everything, and the learning curve is awesome fun with few limitations. IMO, photo editing is a required part of photography and the skills needed are just as much fun learning as photography itself.

As far as contests go, some might ban PS altogether. Some might ban bird photos, some might require the picture taken within the last 3 days. Some might require using the best PS techniques to win. It all would depend on the contest, right? Find and enter the contests that suit your interests, ignore those that don't.
You did good Rob. This is a basic edit in Photosh... (show quote)


Thanks for your interesting post. Yes it's a pity the ducks weren't listening to me when I asked them politely to move out of the way, and even when I returned to the same spot yesterday, I didn't manage to get a better picture of a Pukeko as the ducks were still all around! I agree with your comments about using Photoshop and it's quite a challenge learning all the different options that are available to a "creative" photographer.

Yes, it seems that every photo contest has its own rules and it certainly pays to be very familiar with these conditions before submitting an entry. It does seem, however, that most contests do at least allow you to crop a picture even if "heavy" post processing isn't permitted. But, sometimes, it's only when you compare the edited image with the unedited one that you can see the extent of the post processing that has taken place.

I also intend to try blurring the background as suggested here as this seems a good alternative to removing the ducks altogether (and it might be a lot quicker to achieve)?

Regards
Rob

Reply
May 17, 2016 10:54:09   #
BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
robsphotography wrote:

I also intend to try blurring the background as suggested here as this seems a good alternative to removing the ducks altogether (and it might be a lot quicker to achieve)?

Rob

One tip to make this type of edit when using the stamp tool, use the Polygon Lasso "L" tool, or other selection tools (magic wand) to out line the part you do/don't want to edit. You can then switch between editing inside and outside the lasso area (cntrl/Shift/I) with the stamp "S" tool. Also, I usually turn on proximity match and sample all layers in the Stamp tool. Then I create an empty layer above the one being edited, and use the stamp tool in that layer rather than messing with the original layer. Optionally of course you can just duplicate the layer "Ctrl J" and do the edit in that layer. Judging from the good job you did, you probably don't need any help.

Reply
 
 
May 17, 2016 12:58:00   #
Jim Bob
 
aellman wrote:
As in any art form, an individual's judgment of quality is 100% subjective. In this case, "weird and ugly" is in the eye of the beholder, don't you think? >Alan


Nope.

Reply
Page <<first <prev 5 of 5
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Main Photography Discussion
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.