Anahuac -- Mass Confusion

[mjdmike]

Hello Group, Merry Christmas,

The mass confusion was just to get your attention...

Here's a few from Anahuac, mostly the same stuff -- just trying to learn. I can see some of my mistakes and what I need to work on while shooting, but where I'm really struggling is post processing. I'm still unsure what to do sometimes.

For instance, the hawk shot was taken early morning with a flash, and the cool front that came through the other day was just passing right at sunrise, so made for a strange background. I did nothing more than bump exposure one stop. Any more and it almost looked fake because of the obvious flash. I like the shot because the colors are different, but when I played with it, it ended up looking pretty bad. Thoughts?

If you're game, any C&C is welcome, especially regarding post processing.

(And what is that hanging out of the TCH's mouth?)

Mike

[GonzoBernelli]

For all white birds or partially white birds, spot meter on the brightest white part of the bird (and then subtract maybe 1/3 EV in case you miss the hottest part.) You can easily bring back the background in PSCS2 using Image/Adjustments/Shadow&Highlights

[billbunton]

Mike, I like the GBH and I really like the hawk, it's a good composition.

The major problem I see through most of the photos is, as Nick noted above, that you're blowing out all the whites. My preference is to make sure I've got the highlights exposed properly and deal with additional noise that may result from opening up the shadows in post.

[Tim T]

Nice shots Mike. You may want to try partial metering if your camera has it to keep from blowing out the whites. Also in photoshop, when you open the raw file try to adjust the exposure by holding down the ALT key while moving the Exposure slider. This will highlight the over exposed areas.

[mjdmike]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try that.

Mike

[Patti Edens]

Mike, I love the colors in the grebe shot and agree that the hawk and GBH shots are really good ones. You're doing great!

Patti

[mjdmike]

Thanks Patti, I truly appreciate the kind words and support.

Mike