Help With Editing Please

[lourensb]

Hi Guys, I had a wonderfull experience with some eliphants in the Pilansberg National Park.

I took lots of Shots, with the 400d... However I am strugeling soo much with this cam.

Please can you have a look at the following 4 photos, and tell me, If this could be edited in photoshop, to get the picture a bit Clearer ?

These Elephants Where wet, and full of mud, witch made them very dark...

But Too dark IMO ?

Can I ask for some Expert Advise, I have taken about 200 Shots... But on most of them, the Elephants are this Dark... ?

I Just Resized... Did not change anything Else ?

1.


2.


3.


4.

[Stephen]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Lou, the reason for the problem is that you are shooting into the light and therefore there is too much contrast and shadow.

You could try centre weighted or spot metering,though this would perhaps mean the surrounding area getting burnt out. Or you could use the shadow highlight tool or similar in Photoshop. Its possible that if you only have an early version of PS it won't have such a tool but there are third party options. It is possible to use Curves also though this takes a little more experience. Essentialy though it is possible to lift dark shadow areas in the software

[Ian]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Hi Guys, I had a wonderfull experience with some eliphants in the Pilansberg National Park.

I took lots of Shots, with the 400d... However I am strugeling soo much with this cam.

Please can you have a look at the following 4 photos, and tell me, If this could be edited in photoshop, to get the picture a bit Clearer ?

These Elephants Where wet, and full of mud, witch made them very dark...

But Too dark IMO ?

Can I ask for some Expert Advise, I have taken about 200 Shots... But on most of them, the Elephants are this Dark... ?

I Just Resized... Did not change anything Else ?

1.


2.


3.


4.

I'm so envious that you've been there and seen such scenes as this

One day I'll have a go - assuming there is anything left to see of course

A worthwhile tip is to deliberately under-expose, maybe by as much as -0.7 EV, or if you camera will take it, -1 EV, so that the highlight areas are not too badly burned out.

Then afterwards, as Stephen suggests, use a photo editor to lift the shadows (variously called shadows & highlights, or fill lighting tools), without altering the brighter areas of the picture.

I'm not sure if the Canon S2 IS has the dynamic range to deal with situations like this, but if you'd like to email me the original camera images, I'd be happy to have a go at lifting the shadows for you.

Which photo software package do you have at your disposal?

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Lou, here is just one of your shots I've adjusted using a third party piece of software just for this sort of thing.

[Stephen]

Re: Help With Editing Please

BTW I see you have used your 400D which generally speaking has enough dynamic range in its images to do this sort of work easily.

[Ian]

Re: Help With Editing Please

BTW I see you have used your 400D which generally speaking has enough dynamic range in its images to do this sort of work easily.

Stephen has done a good job there and as you have the original files, there should be more recoverable detail in those files.

Ian

[lourensb]

Re: Help With Editing Please

I'm so envious that you've been there and seen such scenes as this

I'm not sure if the Canon S2 IS has the dynamic range to deal with situations like this, but if you'd like to email me the original camera images, I'd be happy to have a go at lifting the shadows for you.

Which photo software package do you have at your disposal?

Ian

Hi Ian, I used the 400d to shoot with, it was a trip, to test out the camera.

However, I don't know much about it, so I mainly shot in p mode...
not even Sure where to Under or Over Expose...

However, I'm taking a course on the Camera Shortly, witch will give a me a good Starting point...


Software... Ok, I have Adobe Photoshop 7, And Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.1

However, I have not Used lightroom ever.. Got a Copy from a friend...

don't Have a clue how it works.

Or even what to start looking for ?

Thus the main reason for the Post..

Thanks

L

[lourensb]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Lou, here is just one of your shots I've adjusted using a third party piece of software just for this sort of thing.

Stephen, Would you mind Giving me the name of This Software, You can PM me, If it's not allowed to "Advertise" Something..

Thanks...

[coupekid]

Re: Help With Editing Please

love the splashing one!

Here is my take on how I would have finished it.

I avoided the use of shadow/highlight, so everything done here can be done in PS7.

Steps taken:

Adjusted levels
Slight burn on the 'highlighted' areas
added a slight vignette
sharpened
added border

its always difficult to work on a 'reduced quality/size' image, but i am sure with a bit of time, you could make the picture look super! this took around 15mins max.

[Ian]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Stephen, Would you mind Giving me the name of This Software, You can PM me, If it's not allowed to "Advertise" Something..

Thanks...

Please don't worry about naming the software you use. If you find some good features, they should be rewarded with some publicity and it will help others benefit from your find. It's only advertising when a company, or agent of that company, publicises the software

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Stephen, Would you mind Giving me the name of This Software, You can PM me, If it's not allowed to "Advertise" Something..

Thanks...

Sent you a PM

[spl]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Nice pics Lou but as Stephen says its best to try and get the sun shining onto subjects like these or at least side on.

[lourensb]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Nice pics Lou but as Stephen says its best to try and get the sun shining onto subjects like these or at least side on.

This was just not piossible at all, As I waited in a Bird Hide, Next moment the Elephants Shows up, And "Bath" 10 Min later, Show's over, and No Trace of an Elephant..

This also is the 1st time I shot with a DSLR, as I'm used to a Compact Digital...

Thus I wanted To know if any of these Shots, can be made into something..

As Mentioned, I took over 200 Shots.. But First, would like to get some information on Editing, then Try them, and Post my Results..

Thanks For All the Help.

[spl]

Re: Help With Editing Please

Yeah I know what you mean and accept that in this particular instance you choose to compromise but having grown up with a bird photographer I know that they choose the times they go into hides in the first place depending on where the sun is at a particular time of day otherwise they use their own mobile hides which they can position optimally - of course you can edit but the results will never be as good as getting the sun to do the work for you at the time of the shooting. Nature photography is quite a strategising pastime!!

[joefoto]

In my experience, the 4th photo is closest to the "normal" color of an elephant when it is dry. The combination of water and mud greatly darkens the appearance, which combined with the back lighting, came close to giving you a silhouette shot. Ian's advice about center-weighted or spot meter setting would save the details in the elephants, but tend to blow out the highlights and sun reflections on the back of wet skin. I'll post an elephant photo in my gallery (when I get it figured out again) and ship it to you.

Also, I'd suggest using center weighted for most of your shots in Africa because of the extreme contrast between darker animals (like cape buffalo, sable antelope, ...) and the light color of the dry dirt.

Enjoy your safari,

Joe