linnet

Logged on to a photoshop tutorial this morning being offered by my camera club. It was about curves. After about 40 minutes, I started to get brain dead, and having already recognised that my old version of photoshop was once again failing to deliver the tools being demonstrated, I also started to loose interest. After an hour, with the last 20 minutes having been spent on the complexities of completely changing the colour of a car, I decided to bow out with apologies as I was devoid of any level of understanding.

Never the less, I decided to go back and take a second look at my editing of the image above, which I had already prepared but wasn't enamoured with. I adopted a proper approach to using adjustment layers - as opposed to destroying my original image which has hitherto been my technique. Tried to make use of the spot healing tool - in a manner more akin to the workshop that I engaged with earlier on in the week than my usual random technique, and then made use of curves to inject a slightly different tone to the blue in the sky with the help of a mask layer.

In the end analysis, not much has changed. Most of the damage from my first attempt had been inflicted within adobe bridge and necessitated my creating a new .dng file from the raw image.

but atleast I have tried to embrace some of the things I sort of learned, in the hope that I can build on this knowledge rather than have it disappear in a puff of memory loss.

[carol white]

A lovely capture

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Good for you- at least you tried. I have a similar problem in that most workshops are offered on Light Room and Photo Shop neither of which I have. My program has similar features to both but sometimes translating what the teacher is saying into my photo program is beyond my capability. I too bow out early sometimes! But I do think you learned something and put it to work so don't give up. In the end the processing should work for you and not against you so even the smallest application is a step in the right direction. Very nice!

[Ann Williams]

Well done for not giving in. All a learning curve.

[Esther Rosenberg]

👊🏻, nice job! Good luck with the classes. Something that’s on my list to do. :)

[Taffy]

Well, it really paid off as this is a lovely scene, with the bird showing well in context.

[Maggiemae]

I do like what you say - its inspiring. Well worth reading on a cold evening in June. The bird shot is amazing too - such good focus!

[Clare Gadsby]

oh your phrase 'puff of memory loss' did make me smile. i have far too many of those puffs. i have to write down any new technique i learn - even then i sometimes go back and can't understand what i put :( it's pretty tricky if you have an older version of whatever program you're watching the tutorial about - but hey, it sounds as though you learned some things, and that's all to the good! meanwhile i like your sweet little linnet - always thought that was a lovely name for a bird

[Maggiemae]

@olivetreeann I appreciate your comments - Encouraging!

[Steve Jacob]

I use Lightroom and the spot removal is probably the most used process due to the amount of dirt I have on the inside of my lens.
My own preference is, the less you process, the better the result, but that's just me.

[Helen Jane]

@stevejacob getting it right in the first instance is by far the preferable option in so many ways. Here, I got the exposure too dark - kind of deliberate because light conditions were low. my camera has poor results on a high ISO and I didn't want to catch any movement, then because of the different light levels between the two halves of the image needed to bring a bit of the colour back into the sky. I also chose to highlight a few of the leaves on the brambles just to give it a bit more definition. Then there was the matter of an ugly dead leaf sticking up in line with the bird which was rather distracting, so I removed the most obtrusive part. Perhaps my next investment should be lightroom …. or updated photoshop …. or a better computer ….. or a camera upgrade ….. and so it goes on. (Apologies Steve for the long ramble).

[~*~ Jo ~*~]

Lovely capture

[Hazel]

The composition shows off the linnet well and I also like the bokeh greenery in the background. I do not have photoshop and am not a fan of much processing, I have to admit.

[David]

Ah! The joys of photoshop! I have settled for what little I have already learned and given up on all the rest (that is almost all of it!). It was threatening the longevity of my laptop! Good to see a linnet... never seen one in these parts. If you had managed to change it's colour to yellow you might have made a canary, but who wants to play God? :-)