I was fortunate to be able to go on safari in Tanzania in 2 years ago this month. As Junko and I are working through the PS course, this morning, I returned to those photos to practice using selection tools and adjustment layers. The tricky lighting this time was the very bright sky versus the birds which were rather dark in the RAW version. PS allowed me to select the birds, adjust their lighting in one layer, then inverse it in a second layer and focus only on the sky. The composition could include more of the sky and the fluffy white clouds.
Instant fave! Fabulous capture! I'm so glad you're working w/PS and it allowed you to bring these beauties to their full glory. All the work it took makes it even more fabulous a shot. Great work.
Wow I can just imagine their slow graceful progress through the skies. What a sight!
I feel for your country Taffy....it’s bleeding but all will be well in the end...you will recover! Prayers for you all. 🥰
Nice effort with the masking. I commend you for constantly trying to learn and up your skill. What if you just popped the highlights a little in Levels to brighten the sky?
Nice capture of these big giants! Wish we had these birds in California! In PS, to enhance your subject extractions play with the Refine Edge Tool brush while in the Select and Mask mode. Also search on the internet for using the the mask brush in Overlay (not Normal) mode either in white or black to help is sharpening edges of the extracted subject. Have fun and let's hope 2021 straightens itself out and is much better than 2020!
@mikegifford Thanks Mike! VERY helpful as one of many things I've wondered about to make it realistic is how to handle the sharp edges. I know about overlay layers and use them but hadn't thought about how they could help with edging. I really appreciate this help. And sharing your wishes for a more sane 2021. It has had a rocky start, but this morning at least brought an end to the legal side of the election process. Whew. Yesterday still seems like a really bad dream (or unrealistic TV pilot!).
@mikegifford and @taffy...are you saying the refine edge brush should be in overlay mode?Or the layer? I can see some halving around the birds but what a difficult choice to play with!
your ps journey is fascinating, taffy, and very impressive. i know bits and bobs of what you're talking about but would love to have a more in-depth understanding - i tend to bodge around. i find the quick selection tool pretty frustrating to use, not to mention the refine edge tool in select & mask. i watch tutorials and it works a treat for them, but rarely for me. undoubtedly operator error! love this image :)
@jgpittenger@taffy Jane, when you're in the masking clean-up mode and you can select between the Refine Edge Brush Tool R or the Brush Tool B stay in the Normal brush mode. But if your in the regular layer mode and select the layer your masking and select the layer mask, you can set the brush mode to Overlay either in black or white depending on what you're trying to achieve/mask out/in, and this will help in creating very nice edges and lines for your extractions. Its a pretty advanced trick and you can even adjust the opacity of the brush to "nudge" pixels one direction or another to help in difficult extractions. The parts of the top layer where the base layer is light become lighter, the parts where the base layer is dark become darker. Areas where the top layer are mid grey are unaffected. So when masking you can "push" the mask one way or the other.
Beautiful photo of these gorgeous birds! Thank you for providing a link to the shot before your most recent edits. I have to say thank you for sharing your journey through your Photoshop lessons. It is fascinating and very inspiring!
January 11th, 2021
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I feel for your country Taffy....it’s bleeding but all will be well in the end...you will recover! Prayers for you all. 🥰