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Magpies-how best to photograph & PP (1 Viewer)

David Smith

Warrington Lancs
I decided to experiment with this Magpie. Obviously not the easiest subject due to massive contrast. This one was in & out of the bushes & shadows so I tried various shots and to be fair this is one of the worst of the results but am showing this to get maximum feedback.
For the 2nd thumbnail.....all I did was was crop and play with image/highlights.

Without using RAW...............
1. How would you improve original shot i.e. with camera settings etc?
2. What PS3 tools would you use?
 

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In photoshop i`d use the shadow/highlight tool for overexposed whites,however its not a tool that can perform miracles if the whites are too far blown then theirs nothing you can do to bring back lost detail.

Steve.
 
I have not shot in jpeg for yonks but this is what I would do as a converted RAW > Tiff. I guess it would work on a jpeg just the same.

I would expose for the white, keeping as far to the right as I dare. This would probably mean that the blacks could need a bit of lifting in processing. There are several ways to do this but an easy one is to:

Duplicate the layer
Open highlights/shadows
adjust the shadows until the blacks look right
Apply a layer mask and paint over the areas that you want the adjustments to apply to
Finally flatten the image
 
I think the best pic of a Magpie I have is the following. I also suspect that this does not really answer your question but may help you out ?
 

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There are several ways to do this but an easy one is to:

Duplicate the layer
Open highlights/shadows
adjust the shadows until the blacks look right
Apply a layer mask and paint over the areas that you want the adjustments to apply to
Finally flatten the image

Right-thanks Roy:-C
I have a c.d. on 'layers' and it's on my 'to do' list (learning layers etc.)
 
I used the following settings David. The pic was taken in April, 2006.
The speed was 1/2000 sec.
The ISO was 800.
The aperture was f6.3
And the mode was Av
Probably why it looks a touch noisy ?
 
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