Norfolk Pictures

[conor]

We spent last weekend in a place called Lessingham in Norfolk and took a few pictures. Heres the result.

This was a pet of the owner of the pub we stayed at. Apparently he can talk but we didn't hear him!

Thoughts please. Thanks for looking.

 

[SteveEllis]

That crow looks shifty! Like he's about to lift his wing to sell you a watch Crows are awesome, I cant get close enough to get a good shot of one! Nice job

 

[conor]

According to the owner it was a jackdaw.

Oh and it was taken with a Canon 350D and a 30-700 Sigma Zoom Lense.

 

[LaFoto]

"Craw" - "jackdaw" ... those birds are all and always welcome on TPF . Best would be a pic of one of those on a headstone, preferably a cross, though .

Beautiful place you went to.
Have you done anything to your pics after downloading them into the computer?
For if these were mine, I'd definitely work on the levels a bit or tweak the curves just so the colours would come out more and the pics would turn more contrasty. All that is still possible.

When you use your camera, do you shoot in the automatic mode?
I found that all the pics that my 350D produces in the pre-set exposure modes are too light and bright for my liking. I used to run EACH and EVERY SINGLE one through curves adjustment to bring out less flat colours than I would get from the camera. Now I have changed to total manual and almost invariably underexpose my pics by at least 1 stop, if not 1.1/3. Much fewer pics must now go through the above mentioned treatment.

 

[conor]

To be honest I'm still getting to grips with my 350D. I still dont know what half the functions do!!

Feel free (anyone) to show me what can be done to improve these pics.

 

[LaFoto]

So you have given us your "OTE" (okay to edit), I understand?

OK, I worked on three of these, first, third and fouth, and all I did in the first is pulling a bit on the curves to make it a bit darker ... shifting the highlights was too risky, since part of the petals are already almost blown out as they are here. Plus I gave the pic a tiny crop from the right and above to shift the blossom a bit out of the very centre of the photo:

I also played with curves in the jackdaw-pic and darkened it a bit, upping the highlight just a teensie-weensie bit. And I shifted it a tad towards more yellow:

This one was trickier with its very bright spot (blown out, actually) in the background and the comparatively dark banks in the front. I lassoed parts with ... now how do I say that --- it reads 180 px in my bar up there, so that is my "feather"? OK, did that for various parts of the pic to work on those individually. I upped the midtones of the bank but tried to make the bright spot a bit darker, but that no longer works, I think.
Plus again I tried to bring out the greens by upping the yellows just a little, with a sprinkle of red given, too.

now I have told you how far I personally can only go in Photoshop, there are specialists here who can do a lot (!) more than I can, they can work with layers and all that ... that is still far beyond me, though. But you might like what I did, all the same?

 

[conor]

Yes and it is OTE!
Excellent. I have to agree that the lily looks much better off centre.
I really like what you gave done with the others. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I need to learn how to do this!!

 

[ThomThomsk]

Got any more to show us? I lived a few miles from there when I was a kid, at White Horse Common on the Happisburgh road out of North Walsham, where I went to school. Lovely part of the country.

 

[conor]

Got any more to show us? I lived a few miles from there when I was a kid, at White Horse Common on the Happisburgh road out of North Walsham, where I went to school. Lovely part of the country.

Yep I have a few more at home. Have loads from our visit there last year as well. Will get a few on line this evening.