Monkey Business

Parago · Dec 27, 2006

Ok, obviously, my problem here was that the little baby Orangutan enjoyed his snack in the shade, while behind him the sun was blinding the crap out of me and my camera. I tried my best. Still.. it looks 'wrong'. What could I have done to avoid such a harsh contrast? I think I took this one in complete Auto mode, so no idea about settings of aperture etc.

Is there anything in Photoshop I could do now to kind of adjust it some?

Any advice appreciated. Edit away!

The_Traveler · Dec 27, 2006

You can't use the Auto mode in this situation because the camera will be fooled by the very strong backlight - unless you have a spotmeter setting.

This is a tough situation because if the Orangutan is correctly exposed the background will be burnt out. Some situations just don't allow for good photographs.

You can use the shadow/highlight tool now but the color in the Orangutan gets really noisy.

Digital Matt · Dec 27, 2006

In situations like this, where the contrast range of the scene is too high for your medium, you have to level it out, which can be tricky. You can use a split neutral density filter in some situations. That wouldn't really work here. This might be a case for fill flash, or a reflector. Chances are, you can't use a flash here, and certainly can't get a reflector in close enough to do any good. As traveller said, some situations don't lend themselves to good photos. That being said, I think you (or your camera) made a pretty admirable compromise here. There is plenty of detail in the orangutang, and the background isn't completely blown. It's clear that an average meter reading was used.

Parago · Dec 28, 2006

Thank you so much guys.. I guess I already kinda knew. Some situations just don't allow for good shots. I'm just too stubborn sometimes to just accept the fact. The luittle guy was so adorable and I just couldn't NOT take a picture of him. :sexywink:

I'll play around in PS some and see if I can do anything else to improve it. Thanks again!

TheCatch22 · Dec 28, 2006

you did good , you did good .....

MauraBanar · Dec 29, 2006

Hi,
I'm new here, but not new to wildlife photography and I had similar problems when I started. If you can, your easiest line of defense is to shoot raw and simply adjust the shot setting in Adobe RAW to auto once the photo is loaded. If you want to continue to use jpeg, then I suggest playing with the gamma and channel mixer in photoshop to remove some of the excess coloration. Keep in mind that that greenish cast may not be removed by lowering green in the channel mixer, but may instead an overabundance of blue, etc.. A little goes a long way with the channel and gamma adjusting, so a slight slider adjustment may completely remove a color abberation. By the way, did you take the photo through glass by any chance? Hope this helps!

Parago said:
Ok, obviously, my problem here was that the little baby Orangutan enjoyed his snack in the shade, while behind him the sun was blinding the crap out of me and my camera. I tried my best. Still.. it looks 'wrong'. What could I have done to avoid such a harsh contrast? I think I took this one in complete Auto mode, so no idea about settings of aperture etc.

Is there anything in Photoshop I could do now to kind of adjust it some?

Any advice appreciated. Edit away!

Parago · Dec 29, 2006

MauraBanar said:
Hi,
I'm new here, but not new to wildlife photography and I had similar problems when I started. If you can, your easiest line of defense is to shoot raw and simply adjust the shot setting in Adobe RAW to auto once the photo is loaded. If you want to continue to use jpeg, then I suggest playing with the gamma and channel mixer in photoshop to remove some of the excess coloration. Keep in mind that that greenish cast may not be removed by lowering green in the channel mixer, but may instead an overabundance of blue, etc.. A little goes a long way with the channel and gamma adjusting, so a slight slider adjustment may completely remove a color abberation. By the way, did you take the photo through glass by any chance? Hope this helps!

Hey, thanks so much, your input was very helpful for the future, since I am now able to shoot in RAW (got a D50 for Christmas). This picture was taken with my old Fujifilm Finepix S5000, so RAW was not an option..

No, it wasn't taken through glass, I was simply standing behind a rail in the shade. I've taken awesome pictures through glass with the S5000 (see my avatar), I guess I have to practice to shoot in weird light/shadow situations.. Thanks again!

(Oh and if you're into 'wildlife', check out my 'Misc. Color' album via the link in my signature.. enjoy!)

MauraBanar · Jan 2, 2007

I took a look at your albums and LOVE your work, great shots! Taking pictures through glass sometimes puts that greenish cast on them, and yes, it definitely took me a long time to get the hang of taking shots through glass. Worth it though, I got some fantastic shots through my car window at a safari in Ontario last year! Love the B&W dog shot you have on your front page!

Parago said:
Hey, thanks so much, your input was very helpful for the future, since I am now able to shoot in RAW (got a D50 for Christmas). This picture was taken with my old Fujifilm Finepix S5000, so RAW was not an option..

No, it wasn't taken through glass, I was simply standing behind a rail in the shade. I've taken awesome pictures through glass with the S5000 (see my avatar), I guess I have to practice to shoot in weird light/shadow situations.. Thanks again!

(Oh and if you're into 'wildlife', check out my 'Misc. Color' album via the link in my signature.. enjoy!)

Parago · Jan 2, 2007

MauraBanar said:
I took a look at your albums and LOVE your work, great shots! Taking pictures through glass sometimes puts that greenish cast on them, and yes, it definitely took me a long time to get the hang of taking shots through glass. Worth it though, I got some fantastic shots through my car window at a safari in Ontario last year! Love the B&W dog shot you have on your front page!

Thank you so much! Can I see the Safari pictures anywhere? I love wildlife and nature shots, too. Right now, my daughter is my favorite model tho.. :lovey:

MauraBanar · Jan 2, 2007

Hey, I don't blame you for taking tons of shots, shes beautiful! You did an awesome job capturing high key images, wow! I am in the midst of sorting through and posting my images, including the safari ones and they will be up on my site soon!

Parago said:
Thank you so much! Can I see the Safari pictures anywhere? I love wildlife and nature shots, too. Right now, my daughter is my favorite model tho..