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Archive 2015 · The Kiss - Added new edit -

  
 
georgetd
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


The recent edit does look better. I'm seeing a darkening of the background, rather than a desaturation of it. The darkening works, I suspect desaturation would also work.


Aug 08, 2015 at 08:38 PM
beanpkk
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


I think it's a wonderful shot and I didn't notice the noise until I looked for it and even then better a slightly noisy shot than a blurry one! Anyway, I'd like to know where you went to photograph deer AND bears! I'd like to go there!!!

Thanks for posting...
keith



Aug 09, 2015 at 09:44 AM
lighthound
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


AuntiPode wrote:
Good. Most recent, better.


Thanks Karen! I know you're not feeling well but when you feel better I very much would like to hear what kind of improvements you think I could make. This one is definitely going to be printed and I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Dave


georgetd wrote:
The recent edit does look better. I'm seeing a darkening of the background, rather than a desaturation of it. The darkening works, I suspect desaturation would also work.


Thanks George. I did both to the edit version to help keep the viewers eyes on the main subjects. I went gentle on the desaturation as I can't really see what I'm doing and didn't want to mess it up.

Dave

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beanpkk wrote:
I think it's a wonderful shot and I didn't notice the noise until I looked for it and even then better a slightly noisy shot than a blurry one! Anyway, I'd like to know where you went to photograph deer AND bears! I'd like to go there!!!

Thanks for posting...
keith


Thank you Keith! Good to hear another vote for little noise. These were taken up to Cades Cove in TN. It's the most magical wildlife place I've ever seen this side of Yellowstone. It's just outside my reach for an "easy" day trip (3.5 - 4 hrs) so I don't get a chance to get up there as much as I like. I suspect if/when I get a better lens I'll be up there a lot.


Posting a few other shots up here shortly!


Dave




Aug 09, 2015 at 10:40 AM
beanpkk
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


Dave, you're very lucky to get deer shots like the ones you've posted in Cades Cove. Did you have to wade through knee-high grass to approach the deer or were they mostly available from the road?

Your deer are spectacular!

keith



Aug 09, 2015 at 06:50 PM
AuntiPode
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


Possible adjustments for your consideration:












Aug 09, 2015 at 07:56 PM
AuntiPode
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


For the "kiss", perhaps a crop, a bit of sharpening, a slight vignette, selective negative space noise reduction, slight exposure bump, and some retouching?

Quite a nice moment, BTW.







Aug 09, 2015 at 08:29 PM
lighthound
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


beanpkk wrote:
Dave, you're very lucky to get deer shots like the ones you've posted in Cades Cove. Did you have to wade through knee-high grass to approach the deer or were they mostly available from the road?

Your deer are spectacular!

keith



Keith, If you've never been to the Cove then I very strongly suggest you plan a visit. Soon if possible because the Cherries should be about ripe and the bear will be in them gorging themselves. This makes it a lot easier and safer to find and see them. I had to back off a few times from some bear because I couldn't see more than 30 yards in front of me in the tall weeds and grasses in the fields. For the most part all you need to do is drive around the loop (11 miles) and keep your eyes peeled at all times in every direction including up in the trees. We only saw 16 bear on this last trip and most of those were fleeting 3 second encounters.

Both the deer and bear are extremely accustomed to humans and will let you get within 50 yards or so as long as you don't make sudden movements or spook them. A few years ago, I knelt down while shooting some monster bucks in a field and they bolted instantly because they thought I was a bear even though they clearly saw me there before I knelt down. This never dawned on me until it happened. Keep in mind that the park rangers will bust you if they catch you closer than 50 yards of any bear. You have to give them plenty of room when they come near or cross the road.

Make sure you fill your tank before you drive back in there if you plan on camping there and making several trips around the loop. And plan on stopped traffic if there is a bear sighting near the road. There will be plenty in the early morning and evenings. The lines of cars can go on for a mile or more at times. I found this out the hard way when I asked the wife to take the truck while I booked up the road knowing there was a bear up ahead. Turned out to be close to a mile and by the time I got there the bear was long gone. I have since given up on driving the loop and have opted to head into the woods looking for them. You usually will see many deer and bear from the road but not always.

Also, keep in mind that they close the loop down to vehicle traffic every Saturday and Wednesday morning from 7 am to 10 am for the Spandex Warriors (bicyclist). Don't even get me started about this.


Dave
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AuntiPode wrote:
Possible adjustments for your consideration:



Thank you Karen! I like the extra pop you pulled out on her. I'll give those adjustment a try and I think I'll tone down some of those highlight areas while I'm at it. I wish LR had a gamma adjustment tool. I don't think it does though. If it's there I've never found it yet.

I'm not up to speed on curve adjustments so I'm not certain I understand what you did on the colors. Is it correct that you dropped the blue highlight down and pushed the blue shadow up and then puled the highlight green down? I'm assuming you did this by eye until it looked right to you?

Not knowing how PS layers work or saves adjustments, why does it look like you adjusted the gamma and exposure 2 separate times and amounts? Was this just to dial it it further after you made other adjustments or is there a step process that works better?

Thank you for sharing the screen dumps of the adjustments Karen. This helps me understand the what and whys better!


Dave
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AuntiPode wrote:
For the "kiss", perhaps a crop, a bit of sharpening, a slight vignette, selective negative space noise reduction, slight exposure bump, and some retouching?

Quite a nice moment, BTW.


Thanks again Karen! The funny thing is, everything you had done I had already done but apparently not enough. I like your clean-up work as well. I had a few other things I had made go away but I wasn't sure on the FG grass. It does look better without that in there. I'm going to hit the BG highlights and saturation again as I didn't hit it hard enough on my edit like you have shown. I don't know why but I have noticed that I always seem to process my images to the underexposed dark side. I need to stop doing that me thinks.

If I could figure out what is happening to my JPEG exports you would see that the noise you are seeing/correcting in my edits isn't really there but is being introduced somehow when I export the JPEG files. I have got to get this figured out.


Dave



Aug 10, 2015 at 09:55 AM
AuntiPode
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


lighthound wrote:
I'm not up to speed on curve adjustments so I'm not certain I understand what you did on the colors. Is it correct that you dropped the blue highlight down and pushed the blue shadow up and then puled the highlight green down? I'm assuming you did this by eye until it looked right to you?
[/quote

Yes.


Not knowing how PS layers work or saves adjustments, why does it look like you adjusted the gamma and exposure 2 separate times and amounts? Was this just to dial it it further after you made other adjustments ...?


Yes. No harm in revisiting an adjustment after making other adjustments.


... I have noticed that I always seem to process my images to the underexposed dark side. I need to stop doing that me thinks.


Perhaps you have your display a little too bright? That would result in processing a little dark.




Aug 10, 2015 at 02:43 PM
lighthound
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · The Kiss - Added new edit -


Actually, I have my brightness turned all the way down on my calibrated my monitor.
I think my problem is between my ears.

For some reason I find myself always processing my images dark even though I can clearly see that they are dark. Maybe I have a subconscious fear of introducing grain or noise in my images or something. I almost never mess with the exposure in my pp work as I trust my camera and histogram more than my eyes. I think this is something I just have to train myself/eyes not to do anymore.

I might even be causing it by constantly adding vignette to every image I work on. Although I think I'm getting that down to a science because rarely does anyone nail me about it and yet it looks good to me.

Thanks again for all the help Karen! Hope you are feeling better.

Dave



Aug 10, 2015 at 03:42 PM
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