I have been predominantly a lurker, having only posted once before. I know I have to get better at posting so I can get c.c. and use it as a means to get better. Partly, I've been really busy, but also maybe a bit intimidated by the fantastic photos people post here. I have a tendency to think my photos are really good one day and really cr*p the next. Go figure.

Anyway, here are some raccoon shots I took on Newcastle Island (just off Nanaimo on the east side of V. Island) and a few bald eagle shots I took near Uclulet along the Pacific Rim National Park trail on the west side of the island. I hope you enjoy them and I look forward to any suggestions there may be for how I can make them even better or how I could shoot better if I get such an opportunity again.

Peak-abo
Breakfast!
Vicious raccoon?
Bald Eagle eating
Bald Eagle glaring

Thanks

This might help you

I like your handle - - that's what we should all be doing - - well at least I.

Lil
P.S. Welcome out of lurking....

Your eagle shots are very nice!!!

Hello and Welcome Don

Stick with us here, we are pretty good helpers IMO. OK, here I go, this one will be a bit brief I am not known for that though

You can have great composition and poor image IQ or vice versa. Looks to me that you are doing well on both. In camera settings and processing will yield your final outcome to the web, the shots look a bit contrasty to me, sometimes backing away the contrast will bring in more details in the brights and darks.

Looks as you got down to a lower angle for the shots on the raccoon, that is a good thing Eagle shots look as if you were pretty close, they are very nice. There are always many ways to alter or improve a shot, let us know what you are doubting about your work and where you would like to most improve, PP, comps, etc.

Meanwhile, keep shooting and posting and if you want to PM me you are most welcome, as I will share what I know and am learning myself.

Karl

Look forward to seeing more of your work. Ed

Hey Don welcome aboard. Nice shots, great area to shoot in.
Karl has a great suggestion about lowering the overall contrast, maybe give it a try.

Rob

Interesting comments about the contrast. I think in Bridge and PS there seems to be a thousand (million?) ways to do anything. I have been struggling to find the right/best way for me to process pictures. I seem to have settled on two general approaches; one for 'bulk' processing of vacation pictures for digital albums and one for select, special pictures.

Both use the same basic approach, but the special pictures get a bit more customizing or tweaking. One thing I tend to do is use the Bridge Auto feature as a starting point and then work back from there, then bring it into PS. Occasionally Auto is way off and I do everything manually right from the start.

What normally ends up happening is I get contrast of 10 to 25 out of Bridge and then apply curve in PS. The vast majority of the time I use a custom curve that is much less than the built-in 'linear' one. Occasionally something will seem too flat and I will use linear.

I am curious what others do. do you set contrast to zero in Bridge no matter what and do custom curves in PS or do you apply contrast in both Bridge and PS?

Karl, the reason I posted and looked for c.c. is that I get very nice reaction from non-photographers to my landscape and especially my wildlife shots. That type of reaction is appreciated but doesn't help me continue to improve as a photographer. I look at things as there is what we know, we also know what we don't know and of course there are things that we don't know that we don't know. It is the last one that others (in this case, photographers) can help me the most with. This is sometimes where the 'Aaaah' realizations come from!

Hi, Don. Greetings from Nanoose Bay.

Are you shooting RAW? I don't know why you do any adjusting in Bridge, when you can open your images directly into Photoshop. For decreasing contrast, I will usually use Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight. For increasing contrast, in the latest versions of Photoshop, Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast works quite well.

Sometimes I will apply Gaussian Blur or Noise Reduction to the background to smooth out grainy-looking background and make the subject stand out better.

Sort of like this:

Very nice treatment Imagemaster! The blur is subtle yet does increase the depth of the picture. I notice that it also makes it easier (although clearly still tricky) to clone in some more green to reduce the bright spots that draw the eye away from the eagle. I also noticed you brought more detail out in the chest of the bird. Did you do something from a contrast perspective or did you create a second curves layer (no curve), screen, invert and brush to liking? And for the blur, do you just create a duplicate layer and then brush the eagle and foreground branches to bring their sharpness through?

I also like the framing you put around the picture. I have tried fooling around with the image and canvas trying to do something like that but haven't really got it. What technique do you use?

Re do I shoot RAW, yes, nothing but. I used to process directly in PS but some local photographers convinced me to try doing some of the initial work (white balance, fill, recovery, etc.) in Bridge. I have found it has improved my work flow. I also keep my 40D very neutral on the settings so I can control everything in PP. So I usually set saturation to 20 in Bridge and only occasionally tinker with it further in PS.

As an aside, these same local fellows have been encouraging me to take a good look at Lightroom 2. They love what it does for them compared to Bridge. I guess that's something I'll have to give some consideration to as well.

When I do work in PS I do everything in layers until I have finished the image and then flatten. That includes curves. I just seem to have developed a bias to possibly contrasty pictures. I've seen pictures with much more contrast (and saturation); especially landscapes. Then there are others who prefer a much more subdued approach. I guess I am still trying to decide what 'look' I want to present.

I like the look in #5. Blood on his face(?)...staring at you. Was he tapping those talons while he gave you that look ? :P

kiran