Editing Practice, Black Squirrels and Friends

[PixelRabbit]

I've been working on my editing and I needed some new pictures to work on. It was too freakin cold out there to go far so I shot our resident critters. Last year we only had one black squirrel, this year we have two! These guys are good candidates for practice because black animals aren't the easiest to get right. After cursing a different goldfinch picture and having some pieces fall into place I had to try this guy. Chickadees are always a pain with their black cap. I suppose all three subjects offer up a tricky bit to deal with.

My goals in these were to have them crisp, clean, and not muddied up by my heavy hand.
Would love to hear your thoughts, especially on the processing, thanks for taking a look!

1. This gorgeous critter is pure black and looks incredibly like our cat Bear lol










2. His partner in crime has a bit of brown hidden beneath! Shooting error here, wish I had a larger DOF and it was a bit sharper/cleaner.











3. Goldfinch peeking. I feel like we are reaching dangerous territory and almost verging on muddy on the right side of his face close to his beak, was a heavy cloud and sun was on the left, would have been better if sun was on his right. Not sure if I can get around that any better with the editing? Perhaps a local adjustment?









4. My little chickadee Lost some detail in his cap but like the overall feel of the image. Background looks like it could use some noise reduction here.

 

[bigtwinky]

In terms of editing, the last one is probably my fave of the set, also because it is a much cleaner and nicer photo.
The first one requires the most work as the squirrels face is very dark and you can barely differentiate it from the rest of his body. Try working the shadows a bit lighter to see if you can get more definition in there

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Pierre, I can agree with his face being a bit lost in the first one, I will revisit

 

[shefjr]

I can't really say too much about your editing because I'm still learning myself. That said, they all seem a little underexposed to me. I think if you were to bring up the exposure a little it might bring out a little more detail. Then your only problem would be the noise you might also bring out. Again I'm not at any level yet for a good critique so take it for what it's worth.
i do wonder why you choose to crop so much in the first one.
i like 1&2 I don't have any black ones in my neighborhood.

 

[Rick58]

Hell pix, they're all fun. I just happen to like squirrels and I love the expression on the second one. That yellow bird looks a little p*ssed off
Nice set, sorry it may not be the best critque of the evening. Come to think of it, maybe it is.

 

[WesternGuy]

PixelRabbit, not bad. I like the second squirrel picture, but I would suggest the next time you are in this situation - dark subject on very light background, you might want to add +1, or even a bit more, exposure compensation. The very high contrast between your subject and the white snow in the background can often fool your camera's meter for a proper setting of the required exposure. I do like the chickadee. I would be tempted to dodge the darker head area a bit to see if you could bring out a bit more detail in the feathers.

WesternGuy

 

[Derrel]

I like the chickadee picture, due to the strong graphic shape, and then the tiny, splindly bird legs and feet, grasping to hold position!!! Cute pic!

The squirrels....ehhh...good squirrel pictures are fairly common these days, and neither really rise to the level of good squirrel pictures. The framing and cropping on squirrel `1 is kind of "meh"....squirrel #2 is so-so...bird with rope is...so-so...kind of unsettled...none of the first three feel like truly complete "pictures"; they just do not come full circle...there is something lacking in each of the first three that just makes me not care about them. I like the last shot the most due to the shape, and the delicate rim lighting, and the plain, bokeh-filled background that is very simple. Yes, I can see some noise, and a wee bit more detail in the chickadee's eye region and cap might be nice. Still, this photo has the most lovely lighting of all the images, by a mile. Processing-wise, #4 is the best, #3 the worst, and the squirrels look decent, tonally.

 

[PixelRabbit]

I can't really say too much about your editing because I'm still learning myself. That said, they all seem a little underexposed to me. I think if you were to bring up the exposure a little it might bring out a little more detail. Then your only problem would be the noise you might also bring out. Again I'm not at any level yet for a good critique so take it for what it's worth.
i do wonder why you choose to crop so much in the first one.
i like 1&2 I don't have any black ones in my neighborhood.

Hey Shefjr, thanks! That "underexposure" you are seeing seems to be a pretty consistent problem for me, I'm getting closer to tackling it, I will conquer it!

As for the close crop, he was very close to me, probably 3 ft away max so I decided to zoom in close on him and try to get his face right (which turned out too dark still but possibly salvageable) I am probably guilty of taking less time and care in composition since I knew they were being taken for a specific purpose (practice).
The black squirrels are just too cool We have a fair number of them in Southern Ontario, I was quite surprised when I found out that most people don't know they even exist! Now there are white ones scattered around THAT I haven't seen yet but someday!

Hell pix, they're all fun. I just happen to like squirrels and I love the expression on the second one. That yellow bird looks a little p*ssed off
Nice set, sorry it may not be the best critque of the evening. Come to think of it, maybe it is.

Thanks Rick, I like squirrels too, I have way too many pictures of them but they are just too darn cute, especially when they are accustomed to people being around, they are fascinating to watch and two black ones are just too cool! Haha yes he kinda does! These guys have make slow deliberate motions when they are opening a seed. This guy would move the seed to his foot then look at me... then nibble it ... then look at me ... he stayed there till the seed was done but he sure had his eye on me the whole time lol

PixelRabbit, not bad. I like the second squirrel picture, but I would suggest the next time you are in this situation - dark subject on very light background, you might want to add +1, or even a bit more, exposure compensation. The very high contrast between your subject and the white snow in the background can often fool your camera's meter for a proper setting of the required exposure. I do like the chickadee. I would be tempted to dodge the darker head area a bit to see if you could bring out a bit more detail in the feathers.

WesternGuy

Thanks WesternGuy good suggestions, being in the snow belt I REALLY need to get this whole snow thing figured out

I like the chickadee picture, due to the strong graphic shape, and then the tiny, splindly bird legs and feet, grasping to hold position!!! Cute pic!

The squirrels....ehhh...good squirrel pictures are fairly common these days, and neither really rise to the level of good squirrel pictures. The framing and cropping on squirrel `1 is kind of "meh"....squirrel #2 is so-so...bird with rope is...so-so...kind of unsettled...none of the first three feel like truly complete "pictures"; they just do not come full circle...there is something lacking in each of the first three that just makes me not care about them. I like the last shot the most due to the shape, and the delicate rim lighting, and the plain, bokeh-filled background that is very simple. Yes, I can see some noise, and a wee bit more detail in the chickadee's eye region and cap might be nice. Still, this photo has the most lovely lighting of all the images, by a mile. Processing-wise, #4 is the best, #3 the worst, and the squirrels look decent, tonally.

Hey Derrel, thanks
Yeah I definitely got lazy with my compositions here, I didn't take them to be "keepers" more trying to catch them with sharp detail for editing practice, perhaps not the best way, putting all the pieces together at once is sooooo important as you are pointing out. I will definitely keep this in mind with future practice shots, it's about the whole picture, not just one part of it.

 

[WesternGuy]

PixelRabbit, if you want a quick overview of shooting in the snow and "winter", I would invite you to check out my recent blog post - Why is my snow gray? « PhotoWestGuy and see if it will help you sort things out. (How's that for self-promotion! :mrgreen There is a lot of stuff on the web about shooting in snow - just google "photography in snow" and you will get more hits than you can probably ever read. For example - Snow Photography Tips - Improve Winter Photography With Snow Photography Tips . Hope this helps.

WesternGuy

 

[PixelRabbit]

PixelRabbit, if you want a quick overview of shooting in the snow and "winter", I would invite you to check out my recent blog post - Why is my snow gray? « PhotoWestGuy and see if it will help you sort things out. (How's that for self-promotion! :mrgreen There is a lot of stuff on the web about shooting in snow - just google "photography in snow" and you will get more hits than you can probably ever read. For example - Snow Photography Tips - Improve Winter Photography With Snow Photography Tips . Hope this helps.

WesternGuy

Thank you!!!