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James Babbitt

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Messages
205
Location
So Cal
Pine Siskin_2-29-2024­_Rudyard Loop_3666.jpg

Although not a spectacular bird, this Pine Siskin is perched on a branch that is perfect. Pine Siskin on a pine in the winter in the UP of Michagan. About -10 F but the sun was out. Talk about plenty of light. Little processing other than cropping about 50% all around.
 
A really appealing image, lovely lighting and colours and the bird on a perfect perch, clear background - couldn't ask for more!
 
162997-Pine-Siskin-2-29-2024-Rudyard-Loop-3666-Edit.jpg

Hi James, nice Siskin, we also have them here, across the pond.

Having the cone I feel adds to using the Pine branch, but personally I would go tighter as it just looks like a branch suspended, if that makes sense? I also like having the foot on the cone, with the jaunty head angle looking down. Personally it looks a bit flat, plus try to play with the light to create a bit of depth, adding some additional Mid tone, remember you are shooting in 2D, but want to convey a 3D look. The attached is just to illustrate my thinking James.

I would shoot Neutral, remember all the Picture styles only come into play if you use DPP, along with all the other bits and bobs with Canon, then you start with a clean sheet for your PP.

Good to see you also adding comments too, rather than just posting an image and waiting, we do recommend 3-5 replies to threads to one posting, hopefully others will chime in on other threads.

TFS
Steve
 
View attachment 231360
Hi James, nice Siskin, we also have them here, across the pond.

Having the cone I feel adds to using the Pine branch, but personally I would go tighter as it just looks like a branch suspended, if that makes sense? I also like having the foot on the cone, with the jaunty head angle looking down. Personally it looks a bit flat, plus try to play with the light to create a bit of depth, adding some additional Mid tone, remember you are shooting in 2D, but want to convey a 3D look. The attached is just to illustrate my thinking James.

I would shoot Neutral, remember all the Picture styles only come into play if you use DPP, along with all the other bits and bobs with Canon, then you start with a clean sheet for your PP.

Good to see you also adding comments too, rather than just posting an image and waiting, we do recommend 3-5 replies to threads to one posting, hopefully others will chime in on other threads.

TFS
Steve
See your point about the crop. Probably cropping is one of my primary frustrations when editing (and shooting).
I appreciate your comment about posting/commenting. It is sometimes difficult for me as I feel that many of the photographers that post here are much more skilled/talented that I am and have a higher "fuss factor". What do I have to offer to them? Will keep trying though.
 
Hi James .. a nice shot of the Siskin within a " different " setting , I do like kit a lot . Better than the typical BOAS shots ...
The pose is super .
I am not too excited about your chosen crop and your chosen WB .... but this is down to personal pref . For me the image is lacking color differences ... so to speak .

TFS Andreas
 
See your point about the crop. Probably cropping is one of my primary frustrations when editing (and shooting).
I appreciate your comment about posting/commenting. It is sometimes difficult for me as I feel that many of the photographers that post here are much more skilled/talented that I am and have a higher "fuss factor". What do I have to offer to them? Will keep trying though.

James, firstly think of it as some of us are just further down the road than perhaps than you are currently, however we ALL have been where you are, so I can fully understand a bit of frustration.

Cropping/Framing your subject is that old 'chestnut' that constantly rears its head, and sadly IMHO its not something you can really teach as this is 'subjective' but also comes with time, you get a feel for what is right & wrong, but.... there are a few elements you can put in place to help yourself.

Now this is my take, some will disagree as is their will, but unless they say something else...

Firstly, look at the scene, is it a Landcape shot or a Portrait shot, you can easily tell when viewing in the EVF what works. Perhaps enabling the 3x3 grid in camera may also help and get things vertical/horizontal too. once you have decided on the format crop in camera, but allow 10-15% all round for finally options in PP for presentation. Once you get your shot, fly the format and take another series of frames, you never know until you are back home, sometimes the shot you poo pooed, turns out to be the winning capture. Fixed lens are great, what you see is what you get, but zooms are more versatile and generate more options. Give your subject in frame, space to breath, think about negative space if landscape left or right, don't sit it too tight to the foot of the frame so it looks as if its about to disappear, or its just too central.

Look at Wildlife magazines or on line at other photographers, see what you like and then as why in terms of cropping, then try and implement that in your thinking. Is the subject small in frame with lots of habitat, is it tight in, a 'detail' image of say a talon, or gorgeous iridescent plumage...

Also checkout Rule of Thirds in Educational resources and or there may be other threads related to this issue.

James keep going, as I said, unlike PP it's something that comes in time.
 
Hi James .. a nice shot of the Siskin within a " different " setting , I do like kit a lot . Better than the typical BOAS shots ...
The pose is super .
I am not too excited about your chosen crop and your chosen WB .... but this is down to personal pref . For me the image is lacking color differences ... so to speak .

TFS Andreas
Thanks. Aah, White Balance and White and Black points. Another of my nemesis decisions when processing. I always shoot RAW and set my in camera WB at 5200 K. Then in ACR, adjust WB to the setting of the scene, ie, Daylight, Cloudy, etc. I will occasionally tweek from there, but generally I trust PS more than I trust my eye. I then move the White slider as needed to a point just before my highlight warning comes on; same with the Black. I then adjust Highlights and Shadows, but rarely move the Exposure slider. If I need to, I mask the Subject and BG separately and adjust; usally I will cool and darken the BG and warm and brighten the subject.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Do you crop in ACR (or LR) before you adjust White and Black points? In some shots that does make a difference.
 
James it might be easier to drop me a line and perhaps I can then I can help you join up the dots?

BTW Cropping is the last thing you do in the process before saving for web, that way you can always go back and make changes.

When did you last calibrate your monitor, please don't say you work on a laptop? 🤞
 
James, firstly think of it as some of us are just further down the road than perhaps than you are currently, however we ALL have been where you are, so I can fully understand a bit of frustration.

Cropping/Framing your subject is that old 'chestnut' that constantly rears its head, and sadly IMHO its not something you can really teach as this is 'subjective' but also comes with time, you get a feel for what is right & wrong, but.... there are a few elements you can put in place to help yourself.

Now this is my take, some will disagree as is their will, but unless they say something else...

Firstly, look at the scene, is it a Landcape shot or a Portrait shot, you can easily tell when viewing in the EVF what works. Perhaps enabling the 3x3 grid in camera may also help and get things vertical/horizontal too. once you have decided on the format crop in camera, but allow 10-15% all round for finally options in PP for presentation. Once you get your shot, fly the format and take another series of frames, you never know until you are back home, sometimes the shot you poo pooed, turns out to be the winning capture. Fixed lens are great, what you see is what you get, but zooms are more versatile and generate more options. Give your subject in frame, space to breath, think about negative space if landscape left or right, don't sit it too tight to the foot of the frame so it looks as if its about to disappear, or its just too central.

Look at Wildlife magazines or on line at other photographers, see what you like and then as why in terms of cropping, then try and implement that in your thinking. Is the subject small in frame with lots of habitat, is it tight in, a 'detail' image of say a talon, or gorgeous iridescent plumage...

Also checkout Rule of Thirds in Educational resources and or there may be other threads related to this issue.

James keep going, as I said, unlike PP it's something that comes in time.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. Yes, cropping is certainly subjective and I have decided that I just do not have the instinctive eye. My wife will come in while I am processing (especially if it is one of her images) and tell me instantly, "That's wrong-you need to do this". And unfortunately for my ego, she is usually right. I have a tendency to do two things that I think may, at times, limit me. First, I tend to stay with "traditional" crop ratios too much. Second, I may stay with the Rule of Thirds too rigidly.
 
And unfortunately for my ego, she is usually right.

Best accept it gracefully. :)

Rule of Thirds too rigidly.

James, like everything we do, it's a compromise to a degree, never think you have to throw the whole sink in as well.... folk get so hung up about things and their whole Work Flow becomes a straight jacket and then they get frustrated. Crop options are there as a guide, sometimes a square crop works, or a nice 16x9 for a landscape, it's what suits your image and makes it shine! You take time to approach and not spook the subject, you carefully choose your settings to optimise the capture, PP is just the same, now you have to portray that subject as best you can and justify in getting that capture, your subject deserves that.
 
I always shoot RAW and set my in camera WB at 5200 K

James, do me a favour, set your camera to Auto WB and not 5200k. Import into Lr or ACR and select Adobe standard, not that stupid Adobe Color, it's Pants! Now without doing anything else does the colour look/appear better?
 
James it might be easier to drop me a line and perhaps I can then I can help you join up the dots?

BTW Cropping is the last thing you do in the process before saving for web, that way you can always go back and make changes.

When did you last calibrate your monitor, please don't say you work on a laptop? 🤞
Thanks again for the thoughtful response. Yes, I calibrate my monitor regularly; I use Spyder5 Pro. Only time I use a laptop is when I am traveling and then only to cull.
 
James, do me a favour, set your camera to Auto WB and not 5200k. Import into Lr or ACR and select Adobe standard, not that stupid Adobe Color, it's Pants! Now without doing anything else does the colour look/appear better?
I will do that. Going out today to shoot some.
 
Thanks. Aah, White Balance and White and Black points. Another of my nemesis decisions when processing. I always shoot RAW and set my in camera WB at 5200 K. Then in ACR, adjust WB to the setting of the scene, ie, Daylight, Cloudy, etc. I will occasionally tweek from there, but generally I trust PS more than I trust my eye. I then move the White slider as needed to a point just before my highlight warning comes on; same with the Black. I then adjust Highlights and Shadows, but rarely move the Exposure slider. If I need to, I mask the Subject and BG separately and adjust; usally I will cool and darken the BG and warm and brighten the subject.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Do you crop in ACR (or LR) before you adjust White and Black points? In some shots that does make a difference.
Oh well James ... very difficult to give suggestions from far , without knowing your WF . Not to forget we all do work differently and have different skill levels , different software and so forth .
Your WF does sound very simple with not a lot of editing involved , which is basically quite good . But it is also limited at times ... if one has to leave the track of global adjustments , to improve the overall image .
I personally do only crop in PS .... once I have decided the image is done all around . Mainly the last step before resizing to the final output format , whether it is print to web .

Cheers Andreas
 
Pied billed Grebe Whelan Lake 1-24-25 1.jpg

Not sure if I should post here or ? Yes, I did go out to a local lake just before sunset (time stamp wrong). Shot with an R5 ii, 600 f/4 iii + 1.4XT. Shot in AWB; it was really golden light and reflection. Run through DXO PR4, brought into ACR. WB untouched (4700), white and black point set, small amount of clarity and contrast set. Bird selected and warmed up slightly (5400) and BG darkened slightly. Brought into PS, bird selected and brought up about 1/2 stop. Cropped and leveled.
Thank you for taking this much time with me.
 

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