Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
Post-Processing Digital Images
Butterfly
Jun 1, 2018 12:48:01   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
I hope this is the correct forum to address both of my issues.
1. I caught this painted lady yesterday right after I had switched my camera from manual to AV mode and from RAW to jpeg. I like the photo but wonder how it would improve with some expert editing.
2. I started using Lightroom a couple of months ago and would like to clear everything out and start over. How best to go about doing so?
Thanks
Marg


(Download)

Reply
Jun 1, 2018 12:56:42   #
kpmac Loc: Ragley, La
 
Very nice image. Can't help with Lightroom.

Reply
Jun 1, 2018 14:56:41   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Explain more about "clear everything" and start over in LR? Why? Do you want to restart editing for images already imported into LR? Or, to simply remove all the images because you would otherwise delete the image files? You can do these things, but more details on your purpose will help identify the best choice of several options that range between doing nothing to re-installing the software.

Regarding using LR for this image,

1. When creating images for online post, use colorspace = sRGB
2. When creating images for online post, consider resizing as described in topic http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-512745-1.html
3. More detailed edits would need access to the original image, but you could create a Virtual Copy of this version of the image within LR and apply the following additional updates to the virtual copy.



Reply
 
 
Jun 1, 2018 15:43:44   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
Explain more about "clear everything" and start over in LR? Why? Do you want to restart editing for images already imported into LR? Or, to simply remove all the images because you would otherwise delete the image files? You can do these things, but more details on your purpose will help identify the best choice of several options that range between doing nothing to re-installing the software.

1. When creating images for online post, use colorspace = sRGB
2. When creating images for online post, consider resizing as described in topic http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-512745-1.html
3. More detailed edits would need access to the original image, but you could create a Virtual Copy of this version of the image within LR and apply the following additional updates to the virtual copy.
Explain more about "clear everything" an... (show quote)


Paul - Thanks for the edits. I tried them out and they certainly improved the picture.
In answer to your question of why start over - I think I had told you this is my first camera (at age 67) and I jumped into Lightroom without studying first. I don’t really think there is anything worth saving at this point so thought I would take some tutorials and begin anew. I did follow your advice from last week and switched my camera to RAW but didn’t capture anything worth editing so put it back to jpeg for now.
Thanks for all the info on resizing as well. I sure wish I had started this younger! 🤪
Marg

Reply
Jun 1, 2018 15:59:59   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Marg wrote:
Paul - Thanks for the edits. I tried them out and they certainly improved the picture.
In answer to your question of why start over - I think I had told you this is my first camera (at age 67) and I jumped into Lightroom without studying first. I don’t really think there is anything worth saving at this point so thought I would take some tutorials and begin anew. I did follow your advice from last week and switched my camera to RAW but didn’t capture anything worth editing so put it back to jpeg for now.
Thanks for all the info on resizing as well. I sure wish I had started this younger! 🤪
Marg
Paul - Thanks for the edits. I tried them out and ... (show quote)


Marg, you can start / continue your training in LR without needing to remove everything already imported. As you import new images into LR, whatever is there now will not cause any problems. I recommend the 'do nothing' approach as all other actions involve work and the possibility of unintended errors in their execution. If you still desire to remove images from the LR catalog, just go to the All Photographs catalog view, select all images (Ctrl-A). Then, press your backspace key and you'll be prompted to remove or delete from disk. You should only remove from the catalog. Easily enough done, but I consider unnecessary. This butterfly, for example, will be removed too by this procedure.

The suggestion about colorspace and pixel length can be turned into an Export preset. Just google Lightroom Export Preset and you'll find many discussions, if the topic has not yet been covered in your training.

Reply
Jun 2, 2018 05:57:48   #
Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio
 
Great image!! My only comment would be that what ever the butterfly has "it's claws" into seems to be sharper than the butterfly's eyes.

Reply
Jun 2, 2018 10:06:11   #
Pixelpixie88 Loc: Northern Minnesota
 
As I learned Lightroom over the years, I would look back at some of my older photos and see that I could process them much better than I did in the beginning. Also, there might be just a "part" of the photo that is worth to keep even if the whole photo does not look very good. Hang on to your "possibles", as you learn LR, you just might have a photo worth keeping and you'll be glad you still have it.
Good luck with LR and your photos.
Marsha

Reply
 
 
Jun 2, 2018 10:31:16   #
abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois
 
Here is my take on this photo. It is a valuable learning experience. Here are a few things for you to consider. Your camera, a Canon Rebel, is a good choice. The lens is good but the wrong one for this painted lady. After taking many, many awful shots because I thought you had to be close up, I now shoot using a long lens (anything greater than 150 mm) and a tripod. Why do I do this? Because being further away gives me more depth of field, more steadiness when held by hand, less motion blur of the subject, and less distracting background. Next point: always shoot raw. They give you so much more latitude in LR. Add jpg's to the shooting only if need to send results out before you can get into LR.

You might notice that the lady is underexposed and the background is overexposed. The metadata indicate you shot at the maximum f/stop of 5.6 for the lens, 18-55, so that your depth of field was minimal. You used shutter priority at 1/400. For butterflies at rest, you can go down to 1/200 if your hand is steady. You might try image stabilization for shots held by hand. You probably could have boosted your ISO from 320 to 800 without increasing your noise too much. I cannot tell what focusing mode you used but I would go to spot and put it right on the head, if possible. In this case, the wing and not the face is in focus. As for the exposure mode, I think you used evaluative or average. Here again, I would go to spot. This would expose the lady properly while overexposing the background. You can fix this in LR.

Hope this helps. Good luck, keep shooting and learn LR.

PS Keep all those old pictures until are good at LR. You might be surprised what hidden gems you may have.

PPS My shot was with a Canon 80D, Sigma 18-300 at 300, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 400. Shady days work better for me than sunny ones.


(Download)


(Download)

Reply
Jun 2, 2018 14:39:20   #
jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ
 
Marg wrote:
I hope this is the correct forum to address both of my issues.
1. I caught this painted lady yesterday right after I had switched my camera from manual to AV mode and from RAW to jpeg. I like the photo but wonder how it would improve with some expert editing.
2. I started using Lightroom a couple of months ago and would like to clear everything out and start over. How best to go about doing so?
Thanks
Marg


I'll address your #2 concern first. Simply create a new catalog and import the images into it again. Before you import them, make the necessary changes you have in mind that you think need to be addressed. You don't say what you would want to do differently, but most people start off on the wrong foot by not organizing their photos into folders which give the photos a little description or what they are or where they were taken and the date. I usually put the date and brief description in each folder of pictures. i.e.

2018 05 02 Catalina
2018 05 03 Brians wedding
2018 06 01 My Corvette

As far as improving the photo of the butterfly goes, it has to start with a photo you really like before you waste any time on it. You say you like this photo, but what about this photo don't you like? I usually crop the photo first, then in LR I click on the Auto button to see where that puts it. Then I adjust a few of the standard sliders and when just about done, I adjust the slider toward the bottom where you can add clarity, dehaze, saturation etc. Then I sharpen, if I have a lens profile I do that, and then if I am going to share in on FB or some other media I Export and make sure sRGB is selected and that I have gone through all my choices on the right hand panel for size, naming, where to put it, metadata, watermark etc. then export it.

Reply
Jun 2, 2018 20:10:21   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
Revet wrote:
Great image!! My only comment would be that what ever the butterfly has "it's claws" into seems to be sharper than the butterfly's eyes.


Thanks Revet! I think I was so excited to come upon her that I didnt take the time to focus properly. Next time maybe.
Marg

Reply
Jun 2, 2018 20:13:45   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
Pixelpixie88 wrote:
As I learned Lightroom over the years, I would look back at some of my older photos and see that I could process them much better than I did in the beginning. Also, there might be just a "part" of the photo that is worth to keep even if the whole photo does not look very good. Hang on to your "possibles", as you learn LR, you just might have a photo worth keeping and you'll be glad you still have it.
Good luck with LR and your photos.
Marsha


Thanks for the encouragement, Marsha. I’m impatient to get better.
Marg

Reply
 
 
Jun 3, 2018 13:31:08   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
jeep_daddy wrote:
I'll address your #2 concern first. Simply create a new catalog and import the images into it again. Before you import them, make the necessary changes you have in mind that you think need to be addressed. You don't say what you would want to do differently, but most people start off on the wrong foot by not organizing their photos into folders which give the photos a little description or what they are or where they were taken and the date. I usually put the date and brief description in each folder of pictures. i.e.

2018 05 02 Catalina
2018 05 03 Brians wedding
2018 06 01 My Corvette

As far as improving the photo of the butterfly goes, it has to start with a photo you really like before you waste any time on it. You say you like this photo, but what about this photo don't you like? I usually crop the photo first, then in LR I click on the Auto button to see where that puts it. Then I adjust a few of the standard sliders and when just about done, I adjust the slider toward the bottom where you can add clarity, dehaze, saturation etc. Then I sharpen, if I have a lens profile I do that, and then if I am going to share in on FB or some other media I Export and make sure sRGB is selected and that I have gone through all my choices on the right hand panel for size, naming, where to put it, metadata, watermark etc. then export it.
I'll address your #2 concern first. Simply create... (show quote)


Thanks, jeep_daddy! I made exactly the mistake you mentioned - did not really organize properly. Also as a newbie most of the photos are just practice. However, I will take other people’s advice and keep them just in case. The edits you have described are pretty similar to what I have been playing with.
Thanks for your help!
Marg

Reply
Jun 3, 2018 15:20:59   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
Revet wrote:
Great image!! My only comment would be that what ever the butterfly has "it's claws" into seems to be sharper than the butterfly's eyes.


By the way - the claws are into a piece of watermelon sitting on top of the bird feeder.

Reply
Jun 3, 2018 15:35:00   #
Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama
 
abc1234 wrote:
Here is my take on this photo. It is a valuable learning experience. Here are a few things for you to consider. Your camera, a Canon Rebel, is a good choice. The lens is good but the wrong one for this painted lady. After taking many, many awful shots because I thought you had to be close up, I now shoot using a long lens (anything greater than 150 mm) and a tripod. Why do I do this? Because being further away gives me more depth of field, more steadiness when held by hand, less motion blur of the subject, and less distracting background. Next point: always shoot raw. They give you so much more latitude in LR. Add jpg's to the shooting only if need to send results out before you can get into LR.

You might notice that the lady is underexposed and the background is overexposed. The metadata indicate you shot at the maximum f/stop of 5.6 for the lens, 18-55, so that your depth of field was minimal. You used shutter priority at 1/400. For butterflies at rest, you can go down to 1/200 if your hand is steady. You might try image stabilization for shots held by hand. You probably could have boosted your ISO from 320 to 800 without increasing your noise too much. I cannot tell what focusing mode you used but I would go to spot and put it right on the head, if possible. In this case, the wing and not the face is in focus. As for the exposure mode, I think you used evaluative or average. Here again, I would go to spot. This would expose the lady properly while overexposing the background. You can fix this in LR.

Hope this helps. Good luck, keep shooting and learn LR.

PS Keep all those old pictures until are good at LR. You might be surprised what hidden gems you may have.

PPS My shot was with a Canon 80D, Sigma 18-300 at 300, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 400. Shady days work better for me than sunny ones.
Here is my take on this photo. It is a valuable l... (show quote)


Thanks for the lessons, abc1234! I have 3 lenses, 18-55 and 75-300 kit lenses and a 50 mm. I have so far found that the 75-300 is my favourite of the three and the one most often used. I have changed to RAW following chg_canon’s advice. I’ve followed your settings suggestions, boosted the ISO, and changed to spot metering. I was already using spot focus but my excitement got the better of me and I guess I focused more on the watermelon than on her eye. Currently my camera is outside, on the tripod, settings adjusted, watermelon freshened and just waiting for my lady to make an appearance.
Your butterfly shot is amazing!!
Thanks for taking the time to advise.
Marg

Reply
Jun 3, 2018 15:57:34   #
abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois
 
Marg wrote:
Thanks for the lessons, abc1234! I have 3 lenses, 18-55 and 75-300 kit lenses and a 50 mm. I have so far found that the 75-300 is my favourite of the three and the one most often used. I have changed to RAW following chg_canon’s advice. I’ve followed your settings suggestions, boosted the ISO, and changed to spot metering. I was already using spot focus but my excitement got the better of me and I guess I focused more on the watermelon than on her eye. Currently my camera is outside, on the tripod, settings adjusted, watermelon freshened and just waiting for my lady to make an appearance.
Your butterfly shot is amazing!!
Thanks for taking the time to advise.
Marg
Thanks for the lessons, abc1234! I have 3 lenses,... (show quote)


Glad the recommendations are working. Keep experimenting. Thanks for the compliment.

Reply
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Post-Processing Digital Images
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.