bird shot ~


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sagiluck

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Sep 4, 2007
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West Singapore
birdiq3.jpg


Been interested with macro and nightshots for quite awhile. Went to Jurong Birdpark for a day of newbie photography.
I hope to get more experience in adjusting focus... as i see many ppls can take nice focused subject with blurred front/background.
C&C welcome as i just started learning. also
 

just 1 more and u have viewsonic!

this is critique corner
even i, night86mare, the kopitiam maharajah do not come in and try to turn this into kopitiam hor

"nice focused subject with blurred background" - to do this you have many ways to throw the background out of focus

1) open up aperture, i.e. use a smaller f-stop number this is the most straightforward way
2) increase distance of subject from background - probably not possible in this case, as you would have to transplant the birds' perch to somewhere further away from the foilage in the background
3) use a longer focal length - but this will also change perspective, and might be harder to execute depending on environment, since you will have to stand further back to get roughly same composition

an alternative is post-processing, but this must be done properly to ensure that the photo looks convincing, and not "photoshopped"; yes you can overphotoshop

based on exif data, you have used 14mm, but i seriously doubt this info, because quite sure this is not in 35mm film terms, since you are using a fujifilm 8000fd, doubt it has 14mm wide angle range or i would have heard of it, no doubt

can't really tell what focal length you used, does anyone know?

but educational ranting aside,

i must say i like this photo, though you should take whatever i say with a pinch of salt, since i have had no experience shooting birds, nor do i have any photographs of birds

it would possibly benefit from the background being more blurred but not sure if will seem unnatural then, i'll try using ps 2 later to pp and then post the picture up

but otherwise, the composition is good , the subject grabs attention but is not placed smack in the centre, a common mistake made by many

it is a good moment, the right bird has closed eyes and the left bird is "grooming" it, i like the feel and theme of "friendship amongst animals" here

focus also seems fine to me, most importantly you have grabbed focus on the eyes, which is good. if anything almost any shot of a living thing which is an animal or insect, focus on eyes is first and foremost

but one thing i would like better would be to see the legs of the right bird - you have chopped it off quite abruptly, so gives a very uncomfortable feeling

but i would also consider this comment slightly on the nitpicking side

good job! =)
 

yea. cant agree more on it will be much better if i shoot slighly lower with the legs in.

thx for de tips!~
 

Can the background be changed to a different colour, say the sky or something. Think the birds will stand out more that way
 

yea. cant agree more on it will be much better if i shoot slighly lower with the legs in.

thx for de tips!~

welcome

if you want me to take it down, please let me know
currently have a monotone fetish
so:

1396661337_f0ccdcddd3_o.jpg

also blurred outhe the background, resulting in your signature being blurred out too, apologies
steps to blur out bg are in detail below
i think it is a very different feel though - used channel mixer and then a blue filter to add toning in ps2 somehow the lack of colour changes the mood

1396661221_a880aac206_o.jpg

my attempt at blurring out the background
which i think, is not very perfectly done
but just an example of how to do it
you can just duplicate layer, apply gaussian blur and then use eraser to erase
if you have the time and patience, it will look something like this but much more convincing
cheers
 

Can the background be changed to a different colour, say the sky or something. Think the birds will stand out more that way

blue foilage?

think over photoshopped, i think, i tried playing with the bg since i was using layers, somehow when you desaturate it even, which would be the most natural way it still looks unnatural :dunno:
 

currently have a monotone fetish
so:

1396661337_f0ccdcddd3_o.jpg


also blurred outhe the background, resulting in your signature being blurred out too, apologies
steps to blur out bg are in detail below
i think it is a very different feel though - used channel mixer and then a blue filter to add toning in ps2 somehow the lack of colour changes the mood

but i think it lost the color vibrancy

1396661221_a880aac206_o.jpg

my attempt at blurring out the background
which i think, is not very perfectly done
but just an example of how to do it
you can just duplicate layer, apply gaussian blur and then use eraser to erase
if you have the time and patience, it will look something like this but much more convincing
cheers

personally i like this 1 .. hehe

erm how to actually select the bg? "magic wand" ?
 

but i think it lost the color vibrancy

personally i like this 1 .. hehe

erm how to actually select the bg? "magic wand" ?

yes, the colour is very impt here, i agree

i don't like magic wand, everyone has their own way of doing things

my way is to (step by step)
1) open picture
2) layer --> duplicate layer - speaking of which, you do understand how layers work in ps, right, if not please mention it, i'll do a short explanation
3) apply gaussian blur of about 4 pixels using filter --> blur --> gaussian blur (i suppose for this size only)
4) slowly use erase tool to erase to reveal areas you want sharp underneath
5) can click on eye on layer to remove layer, double clicking it shows you whether you are doing it properly

please do it slowly, and not all at one go, because if you don't release your mouse button it will count as one step

one mistake means you have to start all over again
whereas if you keep releasing you will have a few "safe points" to backtrack to using crtl + alt+ z

painful work, i suppose, but it depends on whether you want to do it, i guess

like i said i have not done a proper job, did it pretty quickly, so left bird's left wing got problem at the wing tip area, right bird's right side is a horror, erased too much but too lazy to start again. a more proper job was done in the monotone version
 

ya. i noe photoshop functions.

oh ya ... nv tot of duplicating layer =P

will try later at home.

again thx for sharing =)
 

ya. i noe photoshop functions.

oh ya ... nv tot of duplicating layer =P

will try later at home.

again thx for sharing =)

duplicating layer is impt, keeps ur background photo safe from any 'damaging' pp that otherwise might not be reversible even with history tool.
 

ya. i noe photoshop functions.

oh ya ... nv tot of duplicating layer =P

will try later at home.

again thx for sharing =)


Hi there, I'm not sure if it's off-topic but anyway I think it's important but not too important to your enthusiasm in Photography. It's about Photoshop or rather Image Manipulation work.

To use artificial treatment to images like the gaussian effect to blur off backgrounds, you got the first few steps right. To duplicate and always do that. To do the blurring as the matter, another way is to use masking. Why? Here's why, because masking is afterall an alpha to put it simply as it says "mask" so your duplicated image is "covered" and not removed by erasing. From the masking layer, use your brushes and play with brush sizes and intensity from 1 to 100% brush strength to work on the masking layer. Especially when you work on subjects with depth-of-field, this method is very useful and effective. With patience as aforementioned, you can go into details of the birds' feathers and use a 50% or lower brush intensity to make your image as natural as it will appear to your audience.

Note: Don't ever use magic wand! It's destructive! Colour range doesn't work effectively with this image. Use masking. It pays with a little patience on a piece of photograph you regard a magnum opus. Like the way we polish our beloved cars, whatever you get my drift ;)

Sorry, I think my articulating is very bad but I hope it helps.
 

Hi, I would like to dedicate my first post to the encouragement of using masking instead of the eraser. Add a layer mask to your gaussian-ed layer and paint the mask in black or white depending oh which parts you want to reveal and which parts you want to hide.

It's like using the eraser, but you have an infinite number of undo points! :)


The background is revealed through the foreground depending on which parts of the mask are painted black.
 

Hi, I would like to dedicate my first post to the encouragement of using masking instead of the eraser. Add a layer mask to your gaussian-ed layer and paint the mask in black or white depending oh which parts you want to reveal and which parts you want to hide.

It's like using the eraser, but you have an infinite number of undo points! :)


The background is revealed through the foreground depending on which parts of the mask are painted black.

It is not infinite number of undo points but to use mask as u have elucidated is the work of painting black or white which in this case on an alpha mask. so whatever u painted to cover, u can use the reverse alpha to paint it back visible again.
 

It is not infinite number of undo points but to use mask as u have elucidated is the work of painting black or white which in this case on an alpha mask. so whatever u painted to cover, u can use the reverse alpha to paint it back visible again.

Erm... yes i meant that... ie you can simply "undo" any errors by painting the mask with white again - regardless of how long ago those errors were made.

Figure of speech la bro. :embrass:
 

Erm... yes i meant that... ie you can simply "undo" any errors by painting the mask with white again - regardless of how long ago those errors were made.

Figure of speech la bro. :embrass:

I'm sorry, it wasn't intended to correct you rather I thought others might think of the "history" thingie. Think I'm going off topic in this thread. That's about it :)
 

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