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Thread: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

  1. #1
    Brownbear's Avatar
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    Christina

    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    I was happy to catch the action of this Cormorant but first off I'm not sure if the focus is sharp enough to warrant working on this photo, and if yes, the colour and exposure of the bird is puzzling me. I read that they have a green sheen on their bodies so I edited lightly... I would appreciate advice on photographing editing this type of bird even if the shot is not worth working on, for future reference.

    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed



    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    Thank you.

  2. #2

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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    Christina I don't see any problem in these images. They seem fine to work on. You can sharpen it a tad. (Colin's method)
    Were you shooting the D7100 in "Nature' mode?

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    Brownbear's Avatar
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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    Thank you Andre... I still would like to hear some feedback on the water (especially on the birds back) and colour of the bird.

    I have not checked out any of the modes on my new camera simply because I have been so busy working on photographing birds... Manual F8, SS 2500 Auto WB Spot metering, Exp Bias +.67

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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    I agree with Andre Christina. I prefer the first to the second but only because the highlight at the top of the frame in the second is a little distracting. Neither is unsharp. They are just not crisp and this sort of image responds well to a touch of sharpening as Andre says. I took the liberty of running the first image through the NIK output sharpener and through Unsharp Mask and both just make that final difference. As to colour, who knows. Difference lighting conditions can have as much effect as anything and both images look OK to me.

  5. #5
    Brownbear's Avatar
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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    Thank you John,

    Yes, the water is a bit overexposed with funny highlights... I took some more photos of the bird today (albeit without a fish in it's mouth) so I will check out the colour and compare.

    I did sharpen these before posting, so if you have your edit handy to post would be nice to see... I sharpened just the bird in LR 25% and .5 radius and then after downsizing I sharpened with a mask in Elements with a .3 radius and about 50% to the best of my recollection.

  6. #6

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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    This is what I arrived at Christina. It's been sharpened using the NIK Output Sharpener but Unsharp Mask works as well. I then darkened the corners to emphasize the bird. Finally, I stretched the tonal range using Unsharp Mask in reverse. Sounds strange but basically all you do is reverse the position of the top two sliders so that the "Amount" is set at about 15 and the "Radius" is set at about 80. Sounds mad but it sometimes adds a bit of punch. Hope that's helpful.

    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

  7. #7
    Brownbear's Avatar
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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    Thank you John,

    You made the bird and the fish stand out very well indeed, the colours look better and you also made the water look nicer. all from a small jpeg... Yes, very helpful because it provides me with a visual guideline. I will try that with the un-sharp mask.


    Truly appreciated.


    Quote Originally Posted by John 2 View Post
    This is what I arrived at Christina. It's been sharpened using the NIK Output Sharpener but Unsharp Mask works as well. I then darkened the corners to emphasize the bird. Finally, I stretched the tonal range using Unsharp Mask in reverse. Sounds strange but basically all you do is reverse the position of the top two sliders so that the "Amount" is set at about 15 and the "Radius" is set at about 80. Sounds mad but it sometimes adds a bit of punch. Hope that's helpful.

    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

  8. #8
    Brownbear's Avatar
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    Re: Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

    A few more cormorant shots... I'm capturing the action but not the quality I want, so I'll keep trying. I think if I buy a polarizing filter it will help with these types of shots... (Cloudy mornings are too dark)


    I tried sharpening use Local Contrast Enhancement but it was clipping the reds so I went back to my usual unsharp mask.

    It is a very cute bird and a great swimmer with a seemingly amazing lung capacity. It typically disappears underwater for several minutes before surfacing.

    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed


    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed


    Cormorant Shot - Advice Needed

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