Finches

[RogueDiscus]

OK,
one of my first attempts with the new camera, plus a little LR processing. Got to start somewhere.

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It was all auto focus, but I did adjust the clarity and exposure a bit in LR.

[Ryan925]

Super cool. When I was a kid my dad used to have a huge walk-in finch cage. Brings back good memories...well except that one time with a big hawk...lol

[RogueDiscus]

Here I did a bit of cropping. Tried to move the feeder on the right more to center and loose the pink thing on the bottom.

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[RogueDiscus]

The feeder on the left is slightly farther away and the junco is out of focus. Is this something I could have accounted for if I had manually moved down an f-stop to increase my depth of field? (I've been doing a little homework.)

[Second Hand Pat]

The feeder on the left is slightly farther away and the junco is out of focus. Is this something I could have accounted for if I had manually moved down an f-stop to increase my depth of field? (I've been doing a little homework.)

Maybe Steve, you might want to consider a horizontal crop making your bird feeder on the right the main subject of your photo. The one on the left is not really adding anything to the image.

[rickztahone]

I like the second crop better. However, I would have left a little more space on the left of the bird house and cropped more from the right since the tree trunk in itself is not very interesting.

Very good attempt though.

[brewmaster15]

Cool Steve,
If I can make a suggestion... open a flickr account and post from there for your pics...it will allow us to see the exif data in your picture and we can better suggest improvements. Info like shutter speed, aperture, ISO, lens size are all variables you can play with.


another suggestion on the crop... something like this..

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It removes distractions and puts the focus on the Gold finches..

al

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks guys. So I really needed to choose my subject and change the composition. The crops make sense from that. I do like the feeder being connected to the tree as part of the pic. Al's crop retains that.

I've got a flickr account somewhere. Another thing to figure out how to use. I downloaded from my camera to my computer, and then imported into LR. Will I want to export from LR into flickr?

[Second Hand Pat]

Steve, are you doing Lightroom. If you go with Al's suggestioned crop you might consider playing with the spot removal tool to clone out the branch in the lower left corner.
Pat

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Pat. Yes, I jumped right in. I haven't really read any instructions yet, just poking around in it, so suggestions are welcome. That sounds like a good idea to go play with.

[brewmaster15]

Steve when it comes to post processing software I think the instructions are usually so technical they give you a head or they are non-existent!

I literally sit down with an image and just jump in and play...learn what each tool does. I dont know much about light room...but the dark table software I use is non destructive...which means I can play alls I want without ruining my pics. Theres usually a side panel that shows you all the tools you have applied.

Al

[RogueDiscus]

https://flic.kr/p/R2EoVi

Is this what to do? I posted the link.

Thanks Al. That's what I've started doing.

[Discus-n00b]

Looking good Steve! I'll basically ditto what the others have said. And out of the two original images I like the second better however I prefer the processing in the first. Al's crop may be the ticket though, I've found the same with my longer bird feeders. Love Gold Finches by the way, we are covered with them. I think the left feeder would have been more interesting if it had a different bird on it, something bright like a Cardinal. As it is I'm not sure it adds much to this specific photo. Stopping down would capture the other feeder I would guess, but then you start losing bokeh on everything else behind it too, so unless there is something interesting happening there I'm not sure I would try to include it.

That works Steve! If you want to embed the photo click the small curved arrow in the bottom right under the photo, choose BBCode, then choose a size and copy the link straight to a post here. It will post the photo and a link to your Flickr. I like doing this so everyone can go look at my other photos as well.

[RogueDiscus]

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[brewmaster15]

I like that Steve. Besides the crop, What post processing have you used so far on it?
.

[RogueDiscus]

I bumped the exposure a tiny bit, and raised the clarity setting. I also used the spot removal tool to remove the branch in the lower left corner.

[Second Hand Pat]

Nicely done Steve. :D Please keep it going!!
Pat

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Pat. When you say "it" do you mean do more to this pic, or keep working on others?

[Second Hand Pat]

Yes and yes lol.

[RogueDiscus]

OK, but you'll have to make suggestions. I bumped up the vibrance and saturation a bit.

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[RogueDiscus]

Maybe too much.

[Second Hand Pat]

Place the saturation back to it's default position and play with contrast a bit.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Steve is there a tool for sharpening? If so..try that in small increments.
Al

[RogueDiscus]

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[RogueDiscus]

OK, LR users. After doing all that processing, how do I save what I've done? I can seem to find it. I clicked the wrong thing and lost it all.

[SMB2]

When you process the original image, I like to make a "virtual copy" (command comma on Mac), also in the PHOTO drop down.
That way you have the untouched RAW plus the worked image, and you can make as many virtual images that you want as you try different approaches.

I almost never use the global saturation in the BASIC part of the develop module. You rarely want to saturate everything.
After you have done your routine processing, I would take a brush and add a bit of clarity and sat. to the finches.
I would take a second brush and add denoise and decrease clarity to the BG to make it more soft and blurry.

When done click "done" in the bottom right or just hit the G key to go back to the light table.

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Stan! I'll give it a try. Since I'm new to it all, what would you consider "routine processing?"

[RogueDiscus]

OK, last time for now.

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[SMB2]

Since I'm new to it all, what would you consider "routine processing?"

Anything in the develop module from BASIC to CAMERA CALIBRATION.
Using brushes or plug-ins would be beyond the routine.

The more I have used LR the more selective I have gotten with processing; using brushes to apply changes to specific areas. Certainly a RAW image needs tweaking with the usual sliders but I like to add everything else with brushes. Once you get a routine, it doesn't take that long.