I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80 Shutter 200, Fstop 7.1. ISO 200
I am unable to edit it to bring out the detail.
Ideas?
Yes the statute faces east, so I had to shoot into the sun. Would there have been a different setting for the camera. Or do any of you have a solution if the shot has to be taken because you may never get back there again?
Would a flash have helped--it will probably be a long time before I have a chance to go back and try again.
After posting this, the "golden hour" in the afternoon will have to be the "golden hour" in the morning the next time?
Thanks
Mark Kaiser
mlkddk wrote:
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80 Shutter 200, Fstop 7.1. ISO 200
I am unable to edit it to bring out the detail.
Ideas?
Yes, the statute faces east, so I had to shoot into the sun. Would there have been a different setting for the camera? Or do any of you have a solution if the shot has to be taken because you may never get back there again?
Would a flash have helped--it will probably be a long time before I have a chance to go back and try again.
After posting this, the "golden hour" in the afternoon will have to be the "golden hour" in the morning the next time?
Thanks
Mark Kaiser
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80... (
show quote)
Got Lightroom? A radial filter over the main body of the Moose and open shadows will reveal the detail that I think you want to bring out. A smaller RF over the rear leg and another along the base with the same shadow treatment will also work out.
In this situation, using an attached strobe for fill flash would have achieved the same results.
It would help us if you used 'Save Original' so we could try some PP on it. Looks like the highlights on the back are blown. Some fill flash would have helped.
If you do go back, try shifting your position around to the left to eliminate the road and cars in the background and the tree shadow in the foreground.
Besides the great advice above, if you go back to re-shoot, try getting down low to attempt to obscure the cars in the background. With this picture you can try to get the same effect by digitally removing the road and the cars with the cloning tool (rubber stamp tool) + the healing tool (band-aid) in your picture editing program (most such programs have those tools).
If you don't have lightroom (I don't), you can try to bring up the shadow detail with the curves tool or the dodging tool in your picture editing program. Be careful with these, and remember where your 'Undo' button is.
Another thing to do in post is to crop the picture a bit so the subject takes up more space. Crop more of the rear (to the right) and not much at all if any to the front (to the left), so the front of the moose is closer to the center of the picture. You will probably want to crop out some of the top and bottom too to maintain a rectangular frame of view.
Or possibly use hdr techniques if shooting it again.
A couple of things
1. Download the aurora hdr free trial. Run a single pic hdr. That might do the trick
2. If 1 doesnt produce acceptable results, re shoot using exposure braketing and do an hdr with that.
3. Take the pic earlier in the day
Use a Sony camera with in camera muli-exposure hdr OR reshoot and use the lowest possible ISO and raw if possible and expose for the highlights and open the shadows in post.
.
mlkddk wrote:
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80 Shutter 200, Fstop 7.1. ISO 200
I am unable to edit it to bring out the detail.
Ideas?
Yes the statute faces east, so I had to shoot into the sun. Would there have been a different setting for the camera. Or do any of you have a solution if the shot has to be taken because you may never get back there again?
Would a flash have helped--it will probably be a long time before I have a chance to go back and try again.
After posting this, the "golden hour" in the afternoon will have to be the "golden hour" in the morning the next time?
Thanks
Mark Kaiser
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80... (
show quote)
Attached was the best I could do with PS shadows and highlights adjustments. Problem is the shadow on the right side of the animal's face is too dark to bring out any meaningful detail. The heavy shadow obscures half of the face.
Already been given good advice on what you "should" have done but while I am waiting for a video to compile just grabbed a screen snap and did two clicks in PaintShop Pro 2019 - Photo Fix and Shadows. If my photo would bring more detail out on back and probably clone out the 3 vehicles. Back to my work.
Shooting raw would have allowed more adjustment. The Shadows slider in Lightroom would have been perfect for that. I used Prt Screen and LR to make some changes.
turp77
Loc: Connecticut, Plainfield
Yes a flash would have helped with the harsh evening sun to bring out the details in the shadows and use the fastest shutter speed and start with F11 and adjust till most or all blowouts are gone. Might have to also adjust your distance. Tough lighting. Morning sun and a lower aspect would be best
As already stated single pic HDR might do the trick. It's got me out of trouble before using Nic HDR Efex Pro ll
Gene51
Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
mlkddk wrote:
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80 Shutter 200, Fstop 7.1. ISO 200
I am unable to edit it to bring out the detail.
Ideas?
Yes the statute faces east, so I had to shoot into the sun. Would there have been a different setting for the camera. Or do any of you have a solution if the shot has to be taken because you may never get back there again?
Would a flash have helped--it will probably be a long time before I have a chance to go back and try again.
After posting this, the "golden hour" in the afternoon will have to be the "golden hour" in the morning the next time?
Thanks
Mark Kaiser
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80... (
show quote)
Using a the Adobe Camera Raw filter in Photoshop CC, I used the Adjustment Brush, Range Mask ticked on, to only paint over the darkest shadows. The adjustments that I used in this tool included exposure, contrast, shadows, blacks, and a little clarity. It took all of 20 secs. Had you shot it in raw you would not have had any issues, and would have ended up with a better result.
If you had exposed for the shadow side, everything else would have been much brighter.
The best solution, as you suspect, would be to pick a better time, either when you have an overcast sky, or earlier in the AM or later in the PM when the sun is less intense and illuminating the shadow side. You could also use a large reflector, which would allow you to put some diffused soft light on the dark side even in contrasty, harsh lighting conditions like your image. The last solution would be to use a flash, since even if you fill, it might still be harsh.
Positioning the camera to emphasize the statue and minimize the background with the cars and the road, as well as using a larger aperture, may add to the image by having on the statue and it's plaque in focus, and everything that would be distracting either not in the image or nice and soft.
mlkddk wrote:
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80 Shutter 200, Fstop 7.1. ISO 200
I am unable to edit it to bring out the detail.
Ideas?
Yes the statute faces east, so I had to shoot into the sun. Would there have been a different setting for the camera. Or do any of you have a solution if the shot has to be taken because you may never get back there again?
Would a flash have helped--it will probably be a long time before I have a chance to go back and try again.
After posting this, the "golden hour" in the afternoon will have to be the "golden hour" in the morning the next time?
Thanks
Mark Kaiser
I shot this picture yesterday at 401 PM, Nikon D80... (
show quote)
Any better?
I could have made the dark area's lighter, however that would be inconsistent with the shadow's on the grass.
Like others, only using a different program, I painted the dark areas and adjusted the exposure.
In the 1st place - it's someone else's art work & if entered in competition, it's bound to be rejected - unless
you just want to have the pic because you know the artist who made it.
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