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Hi 1x critique crew,
I am working on some bird photos before I submit them for curation. I have some specific questions. Also any feedback is appreciated. This is one of them:
1) What category to select? I can't find a "nature" category. I think flowers and plants belong there. Some birds too if it's not a "wildlife" documentary type. It's also hard to draw the line between landscape and wildlife.
2) Is the above better or is it better to crop it down to a 4x3 vertical?
3) Any other suggestions?
The photo was taken in the fall in Munich, Germany. Swams were swimming in the pond by the Nymphenburg Palace. The reflection of the autumn leaves colored the water golden orange. The movement of the swan formed beautiful patterns in the water. The swan turned its head in a graceful way and looked at the camera. It's a Mute Swan, common in Europe. The type common in North America is Trumpeter Swan, without the black bump above the nose. Anyway, all swans are graceful.
thank you!
-Amy
This is the cropped:
Another photo for the same set of questions that can be considered/answered together:
Hi Amy thank you for sharing your fine images - You know the ropes so I will jump right in - See attached - Category Nature would be fine - I'm gone for the full frame image complete with ripples in the water - Back in Photoshop / Camera raw - Clarity +8 dehaze +30 I also closed down the white quite a bit I think is waS - 61 - I finished off with the burn tool and darken the feathers a little more - then NIk Tools Tonal Contrast to add punch and texture.. Some may say the golden water may be a little strong it could be toned down a little the chice is your.
Hello Amy,
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your beautiful bird photos with us. As for the category, I think you should choose between animals and wildlife. Daniel has already offered you an excellent edit for your first photo, and I agree with him that this fuller version is preferable to the cropped one because of the light on the water being right at the edge of the crop. I have worked on your third photo a little, increasing light overall and definition on the head and beak. I also cropped the top edge and right side slightly. I'm not a bird expert, but to me these are beautiful photos.
Good light, Elizabeth
Thank you Johanes. The closeup crops really show the birds' expressions. What did you mean by "test run"? Is it still going?
Hello Amy,
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your beautiful bird photos with us. As for the category, I think you should choose between animals and wildlife. Daniel has already offered you an excellent edit for your first photo, and I agree with him that this fuller version is preferable to the cropped one because of the light on the water being right at the edge of the crop. I have worked on your third photo a little, increasing light overall and definition on the head and beak. I also cropped the top edge and right side slightly. I'm not a bird expert, but to me these are beautiful photos.
Good light, Elizabeth
Thank you Elizabeth. The editing really showed the details of the bird and its feathers.
Hi Amy thank you for sharing your fine images - You know the ropes so I will jump right in - See attached - Category Nature would be fine - I'm gone for the full frame image complete with ripples in the water - Back in Photoshop / Camera raw - Clarity +8 dehaze +30 I also closed down the white quite a bit I think is waS - 61 - I finished off with the burn tool and darken the feathers a little more - then NIk Tools Tonal Contrast to add punch and texture.. Some may say the golden water may be a little strong it could be toned down a little the chice is your.
Thank you Daniel. The new edit has more punch and I will play with the golden water a little more to see what level is best to show off the bird and have a consistent photo as a whole.
Amy,
You got a lot of feedback for these photos! I only wanted to make one suggestion, and it is about the colour of the swan. It is cool blue/cyan rather than white. Perhaps you edited that way deliberately, and if so that's OK, and you could stop reading here.
If you want to make the subject's colour less cyan, but leave the rest of the image as it is, Photoshop has tools for that. First select the subject with 'Select>Subject'. You have to wait a few seconds for that. Once selected, the changes you make will only affect the selected area, so the background tones will remain the same. In 'Image>Adjustments>Selective Color', choose 'Cyan' from the 'Colors' dropdown list, and move the 'Cyan' slider to the left. This correction can also be made in 'Color Mixer' section of 'Filter>Camera Raw Filter', but Cyan isn't offered there - only Blue, Green, and Aqua. Maybe Aqua is close to Cyan, I don't know.
As others have mentioned, the bird is very bright and some texture and detail have disappeared. Lowering the highlights and adding some Texture and Clarity with the sliders in 'Filter>Camera Raw Filter>Basic' may help to restore some of that.
Swans are beautiful - so elegant and graceful. Your photo is lovely. Thank you for sharing with us here in Critique. We appreciate your comments on other members photos too. We learn together by exchanging ideas and opinions.
. . . . Steven, senior critic
PS: You asked about category. I think 'Wildlife' or 'Animals'. I believe 'Nature' is no longer an option since the changes a couple of years ago.
Amy,
You got a lot of feedback for these photos! I only wanted to make one suggestion, and it is about the colour of the swan. It is cool blue/cyan rather than white. Perhaps you edited that way deliberately, and if so that's OK, and you could stop reading here.
If you want to make the subject's colour less cyan, but leave the rest of the image as it is, Photoshop has tools for that. First select the subject with 'Select>Subject'. You have to wait a few seconds for that. Once selected, the changes you make will only affect the selected area, so the background tones will remain the same. In 'Image>Adjustments>Selective Color', choose 'Cyan' from the 'Colors' dropdown list, and move the 'Cyan' slider to the left. This correction can also be made in 'Color Mixer' section of 'Filter>Camera Raw Filter', but Cyan isn't offered there - only Blue, Green, and Aqua. Maybe Aqua is close to Cyan, I don't know.
As others have mentioned, the bird is very bright and some texture and detail have disappeared. Lowering the highlights and adding some Texture and Clarity with the sliders in 'Filter>Camera Raw Filter>Basic' may help to restore some of that.
Swans are beautiful - so elegant and graceful. Your photo is lovely. Thank you for sharing with us here in Critique. We appreciate your comments on other members photos too. We learn together by exchanging ideas and opinions.
. . . . Steven, senior critic
PS: You asked about category. I think 'Wildlife' or 'Animals'. I believe 'Nature' is no longer an option since the changes a couple of years ago.
Hi Steven, thank you so much for the tip on the color of the swan. I didn't do anything special. It just ended up cyan because of all the orange in the same photo I guess. I just tried what you described in Photoshop. It worked! I am going to spend a lot more time on the photos based on all of the feedbacks above over the next day or two. It's been really really helpful. Thank you all! I am so glad I found this forum. Thanks for the encouragement too on my participation.
Best,
Amy
Hi everyone who has commented above,
Sorry for late response. Life got in the way. But I finally found the time to study Selective Color. It's such a powerful function! I have been using Lightroom for the most part. The mask functions improved a lot in LR lately but it's still nowhere near what PS can do. I am picking up PS functions one at a time. I have made the following pictures. Will be submitting them to curation soon. Thank you all so much! Really appreciate the feedback and the time!
Best Regards,
Amy
Hi Amy,
IMHO, your image #4 is most wonderful. I see
- your main subject taking major portion of a frame
- it is caught in motion
- it shows the non-trivial shape - a rare and passing sight
- the colors of the water now cooperate with the subject to highlight the bird rather than compete for attention
- the color in water is more variable creating a natural frame for the bird
- I suggest flipping the image left to right and cropping slightly from the back of a bird to strengthen a sense of motion:
Good luck in curation!
Leonid
Hi Amy,
IMHO, your image #4 is most wonderful. I see
- your main subject taking major portion of a frame
- it is caught in motion
- it shows the non-trivial shape - a rare and passing sight
- the colors of the water now cooperate with the subject to highlight the bird rather than compete for attention
- the color in water is more variable creating a natural frame for the bird
- I suggest flipping the image left to right and cropping slightly from the back of a bird to strengthen a sense of motion:
Good luck in curation!
Leonid
Thank you Leonid! I agree with you and I was going to submit #4 first. This was my draft: https://1x.com/photo/2425521
I understand the cropping. Was there a particular reason for the left right flip? Because it's more common to go left to right just like more people are right handed?
Thanks,
Amy
Hi Amy,
the left-to-right rule is related to the natural reading direction in the Western and some other cultures. Subjectively, left-to-right is associated with moving forward. It will be different for people speaking "right-to-left" languages. You may need to consider that when displaying your work in different countries.
Best,
Leonid
Hi Amy,
the left-to-right rule is related to the natural reading direction in the Western and some other cultures. Subjectively, left-to-right is associated with moving forward. It will be different for people speaking "right-to-left" languages. You may need to consider that when displaying your work in different countries.
Best,
Leonid
Makes sense. Thanks!
~Amy
Submitted to curation: https://1x.com/photo/2425952
Thank you Johanes. The closeup crops really show the birds' expressions. What did you mean by "test run"? Is it still going?
Thank you Johanes. The closeup crops really show the birds' expressions. What did you mean by "test run"? Is it still going?
Thank you Johanes. The closeup crops really show the birds' expressions. What did you mean by "test run"? Is it still going?
I see. I thought you meant a trial in curation somehow. Thank you very much for the inputs. I learned a lot in this thread.
The photo that I did submit for curation a few hours ago is sitting at 1% right now. Although I really like it, the artistic style of bird photos probably won't do well here. https://1x.com/photo/2425952
It's at 53% now...
https://1x.com/photo/2425952
It's been published. Thank you all!
Congratulations, Amy!
Another happy "customer" :-)
Congrats, Amy.
