Swan With a Look of Condescension

I think my biggest thrill when I first got the dslr was the end of shutter lag. To finally be able to capture a 'moving target', most notably the youngest member of the family who is 18 months old and a perpetual motion machine, has been one of the happiest consequences of this camera. This swan, who moves considerably slower than the toddler, was taken shortly after I got the camera and I'd been advised to start at "P" and work my way up through the creative modes. Small steps indeed.

In the respect that I was able to get this angle of the swan, I'm pleased. However, there are clearly places on his feathers where the highlights have been lost. He's an affable creature who lives on the farmpond of an apparently equally affable farmer so I'll be able to go back once there's a bit of a thaw and re-try this. Do you have any advice how on to avoid this light-on-white issue?

With thanks,
Holly

Hi Holly
it is a known problem of sensor that cannot capture all the range of light (dynamic range).

On a moving subject, you cannot blend 2 different exposures… and your in camera cell has to choose between dark and light if you are in auto mode…

If you're in manual, you'll have to decide, here for the white, then the water will be completely dark (black).
I get this problem all the time when shooting catamarans (huge white deck) from helicopter, though my 1Ds Mk II does a very good job on this, I have to make compensation, working on the RAW files:

I shoot raw, use lightroom with "light recovery" + "fill light" (almost same value as "light recovery") or another program like C1, underexpose a bit then use curve to enlight the medium light…

hope it helps

Holly,

Here's your swan with a dose of the Shadow Illuminator plugin in PSE3.

If you'd shot RAW and under-exposed the conversion as Nicolas suggests you would preserve the highlight details, and still be able to bring out the shadow details.



Regards,

Stuart

Brightness to shadow conundrum: closing the gap!

Holly,

I decided to provide some of my approaches to capturing subtle shades of dark, mid and bright tones in otherwise impossible natural situations. To get more input, Im starting anotehr thread here.

Maybe post a bunch more for us too look . You can email me with many pictures using http://www.yousendit.com for free and I'l then try to pick pictures from which you well exposed swan can be placed on well exposed water!

Also anyone else have swan pictures to show? Give us time of day and the technic.

Swans are so graceful, the feathers have fine texture, the curves are beautiful and the reflections peaceful. These bring tranquity.

Thanks!

Asher

The male swan? That's another matter entirely!

Holly that's just lovely — it has quite a painterly look to it. Well done.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Oh my goodness...I am quite sincerely taken aback and very appreciative of your generosity of advice and the time it has taken to reply. As the British would say, I am gobsmacked.

Nicolas, I am now less than 24 hours into shooting in RAW and already I've seen the distinct advantage. I'm still experimenting with what I've heard referred to as The Almighty "M" (smiling) and starting to get an idea of how to set apertures and exposures so I have something other than a black screen when I get home and download. ;-) A friend who shoots motorcar and bike racing has been telling me for several weeks I needed to shoot in RAW so I can send him a note and give him the opportunity to say "I told you so."

hope it helps

Click to expand...

Yes Nicolas, it does. I wasn't understanding how the camera sensor was choosing between light and dark.

Stuart, I will find out more about Shadow Illuminator. Is it similar to Colour Curves in PS Elements 5? That is what I presently have as an editing program. I am amazed to see the way the reflection of the swan is so much better in what you've done here. The very thing that makes me hungry to know more!!! AND to use RAW far more frequently now too!

Asher.... how wonderful of you to write this tutorial. It's copied, has just come off the printer as I've been typing this reply and is about to be entered into my growing notebook. In recent weeks I rarely go out to take photos any longer in anything but early morning or late afternoon light. Photos I had taken in the hours in between tended to look so harsh or washed out and it was the photo of the barn with the dark sky that convinced me things were far more interesting in those hours. I had already read that was the case but like most things, I had to prove it for myself! :-D

So now that I've made the step into RAW, the next step is to start bracketing.

That's a fine excercise to do anyway. If you do that, we could have the assembly as a challenge!

Click to expand...

Rather like something from Ikea? :-D

This is very kind of you...and when I try to replicate what you do and get stuck I can send an EditEmergency 911 post. :-D

MF camera with Digital Back!

The next alternative is a great thing to try as a present to yourself once you have excelled with your current camera:

Click to expand...

I love having a goal!!!!

Wide dynamic range Set-Up for Practice:

White lace, embroided blouse, white and silver fabric used for gowns, cushions and heavy drapes and place them into an assembly of dark scarves and a jacket with a branch on top.

This setup will allow you to practice spanning from bright to dark. Now take a shot and look at the histogram. There should be no part of the curve going into each end of the borders or else the scene is over or under-exposed!

Click to expand...

And I love having an assignment! The most difficult thing has been knowing where to start practicing each of the issues that present themselves so this sounds like a wonderful idea.

Nill, what a wonderfully encouraging comment. The very thing I am aiming for.

Thank you...I really am so very grateful for all of this.

Holly

Holly,

The example was intended to show you that there's a lot more information in a digital photo than meets the eye.

Stuart, I will find out more about Shadow Illuminator. Is it similar to Colour Curves in PS Elements 5?

Click to expand...

You can find out more about SI from here

If you're doing this sort of thing it's best to save as a 16-bit tiff from the raw converter, even if you convert to jpeg later. It gives you much more room for manoeuvre before posterisation and noise set in. It's explained in this article by Michael Reichmann.

Regards,

Stuart

Stuart, this is very good of you to post this here. Thank you! I will read the article on the website and give the free trial a try.

I'm beginning to get the big idea about more detail in a picture than is immediately apparent. I've taken several raw photos this weekend and find myself quite amazed when I zoom closely and see what's really there. Quite an eye opener and I've been giving photos in my picture file a much closer examination.

Holly

A few more of the same swan. I do need to give a copy of one to the farmer in the hope that he won't mind if I trespass a little more so I can try again.

Holly



With her lovely tail clipped off in this one ... I think re-taking would be a lot simpler than re-building.

I've been busy lately, but have enjoyed monitoring your progress, and fun as you learn (which is often the best part!).

Capturing the whites, and not blowing them out, can be challenging. One "trick" is to get out and shoot within a couple of hours of dawn and dusk. The light is then much less harsh, 'warmer,' and the dynamic range of the scene is much reduced, and easier to capture in a single image.

A few other pointers to better bird photography (and wildife in general):

1. Get a low shooting angle, so you're at the same level as them, or as close as circumstances will allow you.

2. Having the sun at your back, with the bird facing you, will throw light onto their face, and create a "catch-light" in the eye, which will bring significant life to the images.

3. In many situations, going a little bit wider in focal length, to include more of the bird's natural environment, and placing the bird not centered, but in the "power points" (see the 'rule of thirds'), will also help create a more dynamic and interesting image.


Here are a few mute swan shots I took at Cape May, NJ a year or two ago, not too long after dawn:

BTW,

Of interest is the assymetry which gives the idea that the bird is actually flying somewhere.

We can get context by a title, for sure, but the extra space is really helpful and negative space in these iamges work! We know the birds are going to traverse this space as if we can see them pass before our very eyes.

By contrast, a tightly cropped bird in flight while technically an achievement for sure, is a glimpse that is less demanding.

Thanks Don for sharing.

I do enjoy the illumination and the touch of gold in the last shot especially!

Asher

I've been busy lately, but have enjoyed monitoring your progress, and fun as you learn (which is often the best part!)


Thank you Don. I've been a bit busy lately myself but cramming things in so I can spend enough time taking/making photos. I appreciate the pointers you've posted here and thank you very much for them. I print and keep things like this in a notebook which is beginning to overflow! And yes, the learning is incredible fun. I don't even mind the mistakes when I can figure out what I did wrong. :-D

I got a picture of a sparrow the other day. In focus and filling the frame. You'd think I'd won the lotto. It's all good fun indeed!

Holly :-D

A Trio At Sunrise

Well I thought I'd give swans a try again since the ice has melted. I went down to the lakefront before sunrise this morning, trying to keep in mind what I've been reading here. I actually told these swans out loud that the people at OPF have given advice and wouldn't it be nice if they'd fly or flap but they just wanted to 'swan' about the surface of the water. ;-) Is this an improvement?