Yep! Another Downy

Another Downy, shot on another cloudy, overcast day. There suppose to be some sun and warmer temps tomorrow!

This is a shot from December and with the ol' 70-300. Hopefully with the sun tomorrow I'll get a chance to really try out my new 300L f/4!!

Pretty shot!!

Very nice.

I hope you don't mind David but I tinkered with this one in CS3 (and you have image editing OK turned on under your name) a little bit as it seemed the blacks were blocked...I used the shadow/highlights tool then ran a surface blur of 10/3 on the BG and sharpened the image using the unsharp mask at .2/500%....I introduced some noise on the perch though.

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Dave, this is a wonderful shot....they're such sweet little birds and the downy has always been my favorite woodpecker.

Exceptional shot Dave, such a pretty bird the Downy... never tire of seeing them... I have always enjoyed the natural detail of your images... nice work.

db

hTr wrote in post #9401550
Pretty shot!!

Thank you for the kind comment.

sparker1 wrote in post #9401568
Very nice.

Thansk

Duane N wrote in post #9401770
I hope you don't mind David but I tinkered with this one in CS3 (and you have image editing OK turned on under your name) a little bit as it seemed the blacks were blocked...I used the shadow/highlights tool then ran a surface blur of 10/3 on the BG and sharpened the image using the unsharp mask at .2/500%....I introduced some noise on the perch though.

If this was shot in RAW (and you use ACR) the fill light slider will bring out some detail in the blacks or the shadows/darks slider will do the same thing.

I hate messing with other photographers images but I think we've been discussing images like this and getting the exposure correct. On a white and black bird something is going to suffer (usually the darks if you expose for the whites) and this is why I shoot in RAW 100% of the time.

Thanks Duane. No problem. The only way to improve is to get helpful comments. I did expose for the whites in this shot. But the light has been pretty bad here for some time. I'm not using that as an excuse, but rather as an opportunity to try different PP techniques and learn something.

I always shot in RAW and see the benefits. I have been trying DPP and ACR for some of the RAW adjustments you mentioned before doing final PP in PhotoShop Elements. I am also starting to wonder if some of the tools in PhotoShop Elements may not offer the same capabilities as the full PhotoShop versions.

Shar824 wrote in post #9402099
Dave, this is a wonderful shot....they're such sweet little birds and the downy has always been my favorite woodpecker.

Downys' are plentiful around here. They are quite interesting to watch. Thanks Sharon.

dbriz wrote in post #9402174
Exceptional shot Dave, such a pretty bird the Downy... never tire of seeing them... I have always enjoyed the natural detail of your images... nice work.

db

Thank you. I like shots that show the natural habit and surroundings. I know that's a personal thing, so I'm glad you enjoy that too.

Dascro wrote in post #9401479
Another Downy, shot on another cloudy, overcast day. There suppose to be some sun and warmer temps tomorrow!

This is a shot from December and with the ol' 70-300. Hopefully with the sun tomorrow I'll get a chance to really try out my new 300L f/4!!

Very nice sharp shot of a very cute little bird.

Duane N wrote in post #9401770
I hope you don't mind David but I tinkered with this one in CS3 (and you have image editing OK turned on under your name) a little bit as it seemed the blacks were blocked...I used the shadow/highlights tool then ran a surface blur of 10/3 on the BG and sharpened the image using the unsharp mask at .2/500%....I introduced some noise on the perch though.

If this was shot in RAW (and you use ACR) the fill light slider will bring out some detail in the blacks or the shadows/darks slider will do the same thing.

I hate messing with other photographers images but I think we've been discussing images like this and getting the exposure correct. On a white and black bird something is going to suffer (usually the darks if you expose for the whites) and this is why I shoot in RAW 100% of the time.

Duane, I think that how blacks and whites display is something that is very dependent upon the monitor being used and how it is set up. I suspect that on my previous monitor, the blacks would not have shown any detail, but on my current monitor, I am actually able to see quite a bit of detail in the blacks, but that also means that the edit that you did made to blacks appear to be somewhat faded out looking on my monitor. I suppose that this is somewhat of a dilemma that does not have a satisfactory solution for all monitors. However, I do try to keep in mind that not everyone has a wide gamut monitor that has a wide dynamic range.

Great capture.

An excellent image Dave!

Bill Boehme wrote in post #9402617
Very nice sharp shot of a very cute little bird.


Duane, I think that how blacks and whites display is something that is very dependent upon the monitor being used and how it is set up. I suspect that on my previous monitor, the blacks would not have shown any detail, but on my current monitor, I am actually able to see quite a bit of detail in the blacks, but that also means that the edit that you did made to blacks appear to be somewhat faded out looking on my monitor. I suppose that this is somewhat of a dilemma that does not have a satisfactory solution for all monitors. However, I do try to keep in mind that not everyone has a wide gamut monitor that has a wide dynamic range.

I guess the final judgement would be how the print looks and if it looks washed out or there's detail. I always question what other people see on their montiors and if they're calibrated. I know what I see on my monitor reflects my prints...but I do have a brightness issue from time to time and it may be the light in the room I'm working in.

Nice shot