Resting in a palm. B+W

Little leaf notcher (Artipus floridanus)
I really like this photo and already shared it with 2 sites. However, there are a few things that have been bugging me about it. I am not experienced with touching up in post processing and feel a bit strange about doing anything other than cropping, exposure, and contrast tweaking.

are you asking someone to help you remove the bug? sorry if i Misinterpreted your statement.

Sorry about that.

Not the bug, but maybe the shadow on its head or anything that can improve the image overall. Would it look too artificial, or obvious, if I did something like that? When I read about layers, opacity, and other previously unknown things done in PS, I am a bit overwhelmed.
It seemed simple enough until I realized what some people actually could do to make a photo appear better than it was.
If nothing can be done, maybe a comment about what someone thinks of the composition or processing already done?

I think it's a good shot as is. I like high contrast B&W.

Shadow on his nose? Heck, I thought that was part of his markings.

Best way to learn how to manipulate a picture is to simply start trying different steps, watch any of the thousands of tutorials. The great thing is that you really can't screw things up. You make a mistake, just undo it. As long as you don't overwrite the original file you can make all the mistakes you want.

But the picture above.......I don't think it needs much more than it already has. What software are you using?

saea501 wrote in post #16507050
I think it's a good shot as is. I like high contrast B&W.

Shadow on his nose? Heck, I thought that was part of his markings.

Best way to learn how to manipulate a picture is to simply start trying different steps, watch any of the thousands of tutorials. The great thing is that you really can't screw things up. You make a mistake, just undo it. As long as you don't overwrite the original file you can make all the mistakes you want.

But the picture above.......I don't think it needs much more than it already has. What software are you using?

Thank you for the feedback.

I used the Digital Photo Professional that came with my T5i. It was converted from a RAW file.

The photo got a few favorites on Deviantart and Nat Geo Your Shot.

It is funny how something that jumps out and bites one person may not be noticed by another. Once I get bitten, by my own perception or someone else's, it is hard to look at the photo the same.
Basically a critique was what I was trying to get at so I can learn to improve on all my photos and processing of them without going overboard.

bugadrienne wrote in post #16507136
Thank you for the feedback.

I used the Digital Photo Professional that came with my T5i. It was converted from a RAW file.

The photo got a few favorites on Deviantart and Nat Geo Your Shot.

It is funny how something that jumps out and bites one person may not be noticed by another. Once I get bitten, by my own perception or someone else's, it is hard to look at the photo the same.
Basically a critique was what I was trying to get at so I can learn to improve on all my photos and processing of them without going overboard.

Every picture is different with regard to post work. The content and your intent will dictate what and how far the processing should go.

I don't know much about DPP as I have not used it. You may want to look at Photoshop Elements 12. It is very capable, the learning curve is not steep and it's righteously priced.

DPP is not difficult - but it is limited in what it will do, compared to PS Elements, for example. I usually PP in DPP, then migrate to PS and fine touch it.

And, to make a note here - I'm not very tech-smart, actually pretty tech-stupid, but DPP really is fairly easy to learn, at least the fundamental changes to an image.

monkey44 wrote in post #16508929
DPP is not difficult - but it is limited in what it will do, compared to PS Elements, for example. I usually PP in DPP, then migrate to PS and fine touch it.

And, to make a note here - I'm not very tech-smart, actually pretty tech-stupid, but DPP really is fairly easy to learn, at least the fundamental changes to an image.

I have both but I have only used PS to do resizing as it crashes sometimes. I like how easy the DPP is. The trimming tool crashes on that sometimes too.

bugadrienne wrote in post #16509021
I have both but I have only used PS to do resizing as it crashes sometimes. I like how easy the DPP is. The trimming tool crashes on that sometimes too.

Sounds like you have a computer problem. Most photo editing software is pretty demanding.