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Archive 2022 · Weasel on deck

EverLearning
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Weasel on deck

Nope, not a baseball-playing weasel but a weasel on a deck. Well, OK, a boardwalk. he didn't mind having his picture taken but he also didn't make it easy. They are quick and change direction a lot!!! It's like the land version of a swallow.

I was in a provincial park earlier this year and went for a hike that included a marsh area and a boardwalk when I came across this weasel. I'm not sure, but I believe it is a Long Tailed Weasel, one of the three types found in N. America.

C&C please. Also curious as to which image has stronger appeal to you personally (and why if you can).

Thanks

Don

Canon EOS R5 EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III lens 560mm f/8.0 1/800s 5000 ISO +0.3 EV

Canon EOS R5 EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III lens 560mm f/8.0 1/1600s 6400 ISO 0.0 EV

Nov 04, 2022 at 07:50 PM

AuntiPode

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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Weasel on deck

Levitating weasel!

Nov 04, 2022 at 10:14 PM

grandmas
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Weasel on deck

I like both, they are cute. I didn’t think the man made background, or having most of the weight in the photo on the left side was helping, so I did a fairly big crop and made some color changes. They are still heavy on the left, but not as much. Also darkened the background a bit and lightened the weasel.

Edited on Apr 18, 2023 at 12:15 AM · View previous versions

Nov 04, 2022 at 11:19 PM

RustyBug

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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Weasel on deck

He doesn't look like he's on the deck to me

... #1 for sure.

Might be a kiss magenta.

Nov 05, 2022 at 06:48 AM

sbeme

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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Weasel on deck

I like grandmas second crop with somewhat richer color than OP.
the levitating effect is miraculous.
Hidden trampoline?

Scott

Nov 05, 2022 at 07:17 AM

EverLearning
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Weasel on deck

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

Levitating. Interesting observation. I never thought of it like that but I can see it now. Perhaps a 1/10 of a second sooner and I would have caught him in a more upward trajectory rather than at the zenith of his bounding motion.

I had gone with the crops above for two reasons:

1) I wanted to show him in his environment. That sounds funny given that it is on a boardwalk, but weasels often den around boardwalks, decks, under boathouses, etc. The grasses on the left relay to the viewer that it is in fact a marsh boardwalk rather than a deck (lake, river or otherwise).

2) The images posted were already heavy crops. He was at one end of the boardwalk and I was approaching the center of it. Given how fast he was moving around and changing directions, my initial thought was he might be skittish with my presence. He proved me wrong later and I was able to get closer but that also made it harder to keep him in the viewfinder and keep him sharp! I guess something like a 500mm with a 1.4x tc and maintaining my distance would have been a better scenario.

Interesting about the possible kiss of magenta Kent. I have become more aware and attentive to that in processing my photos and had actually pulled it back a moderate amount already on both. There is some green in the image (grasses) but it isn't dominant so I wouldn't have expected a substantial shift to magenta. I really am starting to wonder about my camera now in this regard.

Kent expressed his preference for #1. I am curious about what the rest of you think. Does the "levitating" weasel add to or detract from the emotional draw to the photo for you? Do you like #1 or #2 better?

Don

Nov 05, 2022 at 09:27 AM

RustyBug

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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Weasel on deck

EverLearning wrote:
There is some green in the image (grasses) but it isn't dominant so I wouldn't have expected a substantial shift to magenta.

Don't take this as "technical gospel", but I think ...

Your point about the "isn't dominant" ... is in reference to the amount (mass) of green, and with it being "not that much", you'd think it wouldn't have a ton of influence.

OTOH, if the camera is programmed to assume that the "brightest" portion is going to be the light source (or most reflecting of the light source), then having the brighter areas being the greenery, the programmed assumption being to shift that.

I wouldn't read too much into it being something of concern that is "wrong" with your camera. I just think it comes with the territory when shooting in the realm of foliage and neutrals. That, and your lighting is probably a bit cool in general.

2nd image is the supersat. 1st image is the threshold at 220, noting the brightest area is the light reflecting off the green grass. Since it is green grass, it cannot reflect full spectrum / neutral. It's bright enough that we don't "see" all the "green", but it still has the bias in the measured value ... so, if that is assumed to be neutral lighting, then the shift to offset the bias incurs.

I wouldn't worry about trying to figure it out in advance ... just shoot your moment, then supersat in post to get your clue(s).

After which you can adjust, tweak, correct (or not) to your desire for rendering the natural colors in play or whatever your preference is.

Nov 05, 2022 at 11:04 AM

EverLearning
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Weasel on deck

Thanks for the elaboration on previous discussions about this issue Kent. It makes sense (even to me,

).

Don

Nov 05, 2022 at 11:08 AM

RustyBug

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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Weasel on deck

EverLearning wrote:
Thanks for the elaboration on previous discussions about this issue Kent. It makes sense (even to me,

).

Don

Good to know it makes a little sense.

BTW, if you look at the two bright blades of grass (folded over) in the supersat, you'll see the cyanic reflection is just a kiss different from the upright grasses, reflecting the skylight off the green. Pull back on the sat, and we aren't able to detect those subtle diff's in many instances ... yet, they exist and impact other areas of the global adjustment.

Nov 05, 2022 at 11:31 AM

grandmas
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Weasel on deck

Here is the supersat of the rework by Rusty, seems like it is still magenta or blue to me. We know the deck in real life is not blue.

Edited on Apr 18, 2023 at 12:26 AM · View previous versions

Nov 05, 2022 at 02:06 PM

RustyBug

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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Weasel on deck

grandmas wrote:
Here is the supersat of the rework by Rusty, seems like it is still magenta or blue to me. We know the deck in real life is not blue.

Yes, there is still some in there in the supersat. In the posted, the saturation of those had been pulled back some form the orignal. Repushing the supersat does bring them above the threshold.

Here's a further shift ... note the variety of color in the deck as it is picking up reflective color from multiple areas. The supersat brings out / amplifies them (clue to where the light is coming from). Color shits alone for multicolored light sources (reflection, multiple sources, etc.) can never fully neutralize everything across a gradient of color falloff / interaction.

From that point, it must take on either reduction to bring things to a desired threshold or selective works. In this version, I went outside the saturation hue shift, into the color balance and tweaked a bit more for shadows / mids.

Here's a bit further adjustment, but again ... note the multicolor in the decking, which still includes certain cyans / blues as part of AI=AR from the light source. Other reworks have the AI=AR in the red / magenta range, which may be too far ... to taste, of course.

Obviously, how much shift one want to leave in / take out is subjective. The first rework took out some. The second rework took out more.

The main point being that the use of the supersat can be a clue to seeing what is in play, that we don't normally see. From that ... we have decisions to make about where we want to land things. And yup, we don't always land things where we want them on the first pass.

As always ... S&P to taste.

Nov 05, 2022 at 02:51 PM

Camperjim
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Weasel on deck

The first image doesn't look real. It almost looks like a bad job of photoshopping. Maybe that is the appeal, but I prefer the second.

I don't have any issue with the color hue, but the image could use a bit more "pop" with increased saturation and contrast.

Nov 05, 2022 at 03:06 PM

grandmas
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Weasel on deck

RustyBug wrote:
Yes, there is still some in there in the supersat. In the posted, the saturation of those had been pulled back some form the orignal. Repushing the supersat does bring them above the threshold.

Here's a further shift ... note the variety of color in the deck as it is picking up reflective color from multiple areas. The supersat brings out / amplifies them (clue to where the light is coming from). Color shits alone for multicolored light sources (reflection, multiple sources, etc.) can never fully neutralize everything across a gradient of color falloff / interaction.

From that point, it...Show more →

I was kind of pointing out the fact that we all have a different view when it comes to fine tuning an image. I am way less tolerant of the blue than most folks. I don’t need a supersat to see it, it kind of jumps out at me. Most others do not seem to mind the blue. The blue kind of gives a cleaner feel, but I obviously prefer more warm.

Nov 05, 2022 at 03:26 PM

EverLearning
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Weasel on deck

Camperjim wrote:
The first image doesn't look real. It almost looks like a bad job of photoshopping. Maybe that is the appeal, but I prefer the second.

I don't have any issue with the color hue, but the image could use a bit more "pop" with increased saturation and contrast.

You got me Jim! I was working on my "bad photoshopping" skills. I seem to have perfected them,

.

It's funny, when I saw the picture on the back of my camera I was really excited and just hoping it was sharp. That jitterbug was hard to get good shots of. The first comment in this thread about it levitating caught me of guard but the more I looked at it the more I channeled my inner Maxwell Smart: "Missed it by that much!"

It was a cool experience to see this guy. I saw a young one too. Actually pretty funny. He/she came up a dead branch lying in the water right next to me on the boardwalk. Had a rodent of some sort in its mouth. Not sure who was more startled, although I will say it dropped the rodent and I didn't drop my camera so I guess I won. It was a thrill to capture some good images of what I experienced that day but I guess the emotional thrill of capturing an "in flight" shot of the weasel blinded me to the flaw of that in flight shot. If only I was a 1/10 second or so faster so that he was in the upward part of the bounding motion.

Thanks for posting Jim.

Don

Nov 05, 2022 at 08:12 PM


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