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Author Topic: Help needed with Bird PP workflow  (Read 1812 times)

Neil Williams

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Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« on: January 08, 2016, 01:06:00 am »

Guys I shot this Blue Tail Bee Eater this morning at these settings
Nikon D810
ISO 1400
f8
1/1000
600mm f4
My question is while trying not to loose father detail by adding noise reduction I managed to get this look with still quite a bit of detail in the fathers just buy adding a wee bitty of sharping and one pass in ColorEfex Pro......I used Gaussian blur to fix the noisy background.

On print it looks great but I am wondering if anyone wants to share another workflow that they use or one an I can look at online (Paid or Free) to maybe help me bring out more detail in the bird.
I am using CS6
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Robert Ardill

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2016, 11:11:31 am »

Hi Neil,

Nice photo!  It looks good at this size on screen, but it's hard to tell without seeing the original.  If you could give access to it I would be interested to see if it's possible to apply some noise reduction before sharpening (although there probably isn't much noise at ISO 1400?).

Robert
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana

Neil Williams

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2016, 11:36:17 am »

Hi Neil,

Nice photo!  It looks good at this size on screen, but it's hard to tell without seeing the original.  If you could give access to it I would be interested to see if it's possible to apply some noise reduction before sharpening (although there probably isn't much noise at ISO 1400?).

Robert
Here you go mate
https://www.dropbox.com/s/15brqv12vu9jqus/Neil%27s_Photography_January%2008%2C%202016__NUK1536.NEF?dl=0
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rdonson

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2016, 12:02:02 pm »

Hello Neil, congrats on the capture of the bird.

When I looked at the image that you provided for download it just took me a couple of minutes in Lightroom to produce this with the basic adjustment and the Radial Filter and Adjustment Brush.  Blurring the background by decreasing sharpness and clarity seemed to be a good look and I found no noise worth worrying about.

Hope this helps,

 
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Regards,
Ron

Peano

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2016, 04:51:38 pm »

I would replace the background, because I think the brightness detracts from the subject. I used curves and Topaz Clarity to bring out the colors and details a little more.

rdonson

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2016, 05:24:22 pm »

I would replace the background, because I think the brightness detracts from the subject. I used curves and Topaz Clarity to bring out the colors and details a little more.

Getting rid of the background makes great artistic sense.  I'm not sure how that will sit with a birder though.
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Regards,
Ron

Neil Williams

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2016, 05:41:18 pm »

I would replace the background, because I think the brightness detracts from the subject. I used curves and Topaz Clarity to bring out the colors and details a little more.
That looks a lot better....do you mind sharing how you did that in a step by step 1234 kind of way?
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Peano

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2016, 06:01:41 pm »

Getting rid of the background makes great artistic sense.  I'm not sure how that will sit with a birder though.

I agree. Serious birders tend to be purists about that sort of thing. You don't mess with Mother Nature.

Neil Williams

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2016, 06:03:43 pm »

I agree. Serious birders tend to be purists about that sort of thing. You don't mess with Mother Nature.
I know but you did and I would like to know how you did that..........if you know what I mean :) :) :)
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Peano

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Re: Help needed with Bird PP workflow
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2016, 06:11:13 pm »

That looks a lot better....do you mind sharing how you did that in a step by step 1234 kind of way?

That would take a lot of numbers! But the key to the whole thing is building a mask that separates the bird/branch from the background (see attachment). From there its a matter of putting in the background you want, adjusting color, brightness, etc. I just used a picture of some trees and blurred it a lot, then clipped a hue/sat adjustment layer to that to turn it a dull gold. (All of this is in Photoshop, by the way.)

Masking is the hardest part, and I can't really explain step by step how to do that because there so many variables. In this case it calls for some painstaking painting around the edges after a rough mask is made with the quick select tool. There are lots of tutorials on masking you can find by searching.


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