My last post didn't seem to work, so will try again! I would grab my laptop, my Sony A7RII full frame camera and definitely my primes in preference to my zooms. And sure mobile phones and hopefully the car also! But firstly I would grab my wife, and if that was all there was time for, I would still be happy!

Cheers
Rob

That's pretty much what I thought when Sony announced the 42.4mp Sony A7RII. Quite a few people who owned the 24mp Sony A99 said that 24mp was more than enough and that an increase to 42mp was just "marketing hype".

However, since purchasing the Sony A7RII, I have found that 42mp gives you really good "cropping power" and fantastic detail as demonstrated with these images:

http://www.robsphotography.co.nz/Sony-Zeiss-FE-55mm-F1.8-lens.html

Because of this "cropping power" you can sometimes do away with the need to carry heavier tele lenses with you. I have found that editing 42mp files is not a problem and you can buy small 4TB portable drives to help with your storage problems.

If Sony were to produce a 75mp full frame camera, I would most certainly buy one, not just for status, but for shots with amazing detail and cropping power!

Cheers
Rob

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

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

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

Hi John, thanks for the reference to "Snapheal". I have now used the latest version of "Photoshop" to remove the ducks from the image and my efforts can be seen here:

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

However, I didn't quite manage to edit this image and remove the ducks in just 2 minutes, in fact it took me a great deal longer than that!

I have included on the above revised web page a link to this forum discussion so that anyone visiting my page can see the opinions of those who posted about this topic.

I am still not sure whether the edited image would be regarded as "heavily photoshopped" and would therefore not be accepted in a wildlife photographic competition!

Regards
Rob

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

Hi, thanks very much for doing an update of the retouched image. Yes, I agree there should be only one shadow remaining after eliminating the ducks from the image and your updated image now shows off the Pukeko really well. Thanks again to all who have contributed to this thread.

Regards
Rob

Hi thanks very much for posting this, it's really helpful to see just what can be done with PS.

I think the bird looks really good without the distraction of the ducks and it's amazing how you have been able to deal with the difficult background that was in the original image.

Regards
Rob

Hi Alan, thanks for your post, yes I will spend some time trying the blurring option, it's a really good alternative to deleting the ducks altogether.

As to individual tastes, I think that we do need to be quite selective and just go for what really interests us. And when a good photographic opportunity arises that is within your interests, I think this thread emphasises that it's a really good idea to take several images in case your first image wasn't all you thought it might be!

For example, when photographing a fast-moving bird, the background changes rapidly, so several shots are a good idea as you don't always have time to compose each shot as you would like.

Regards
Rob

Thanks very much to you all for your very interesting and informative posts, it's always very helpful to get a range of views on a topic like this.

There are some excellent points made in the postings that have been made so far and I have already found that the time I have spent in Photoshop trying out several of the suggestions made here is very worthwhile. I now pay a monthly subscription to Adobe for Lightroom and Photoshop.

Thanks "cjeish" for your version of the Pukeko, I have been wondering whether the dark breast area should be lightened to show its "true" blue colour? Your version does this and has been good food for thought.

Thanks "ncshutterbug" and "captgac" for mentioning that I need to take out stray shadows that belong to the ducks, this is important.

Thanks "tturner" for the tip about kneeling down and holding the camera at a low angle. This is well worth keeping in mind when the ground surface is suitable.

Thanks "aellman" for the idea of blurring / defocussing the ducks, that's a good thought. Also, I tend to agree that when the background is poor it may be better to not take the shot in the first place (or perhaps delete it after a brief look to see whether the image is usable). But I'm glad I have kept this image as I nearly deleted it when I first saw it. My initial reaction was in line with the thought of "anotherview" who said "I'd say the heck with it and move on"!!

Thanks "rook2c4" for your comment that you don't remove or add objects for wildlife photography. I have thought a lot about this point and I suppose it depends to a certain extent on the objectives of taking the photo. If it's to show how the bird fits in with its environment and the other birds around it, then I would leave the ducks in it. But I would take several more shots to try and get one that perhaps better illustrates this point.

Regards
Rob

Hi thanks, yes without the ducks it's quite a nice image and perhaps I should continue with my somewhat slow efforts at retouching it in Photoshop!

Or, I could just do a "portrait" (as shown on my web page above) and this would reduce the Photoshop time considerably.Because it's a 42mp image, the cropped portrait image is still large enough for a sharp A4-sized print.

Cheers
Rob

Wow thanks, that's clever! I have made a start on doing that in Photoshop but it's taking quite a while, so to get a good result in just 5 minutes makes it very worthwhile!

Cheers
Rob

I recently captured an image of a pretty Pukeko bird at a park in New Zealand. This image can be seen here:

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

But, because the bird was moving around a lot amongst several ducks, it was almost impossible to avoid a rather "busy" background.

So I have ben debating whether to simply toss this image out or whether to attempt to "photoshop" out the four ducks in the background.

I suppose it could be argued that the image does at least show the natural environment in which the Pukeko lives and that the ducks are a part of this environment.

So, I would be interested in your views about this image, would you toss it out or would you use an imaging program to get rid of the ducks? If you were to attempt the latter, I would be interested in what imaging program you would use and which tools within that program you think would be the most suitable.

This image was captured using the Sony A7RII 42 mp full frame camera with the excellent FE Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 lens.

Thanks for your views on this.

Regards
Rob