The original of this shot is awful- the sky was white behind the bird and because I'm not yet brave enough to play with all the settings, I took the shot on auto. Discovered when I was editing it was the exposure I needed to sort out....but how do I know when to do this?
I don't know why I worry about fiddling, it's not as though the camera will blow up on me but I have always had issues doing without knowing. I also worry a bit because some shots can never be repeated and if I screw it up, that may well have been the only chance I get at that particular subject.
Someone posted a link a couple of months back to a slr simulator, it allows you to play with the settings and see how they change the image you produce.
I'm posting this from my phone so can't copy the link but if you type "simulator" into the search box at the top it should appear in the discussion results
@voodoochild The biggest issue with this shot is the chromatic aberration, which is the pink/purple highlights appearing on the edge of the branches and the bird. This usually happens when you over expose a shot to pure white, and the whiteness infringes on objects that are not white (e.g., the branches and the bird). This could be fixed in software like Photoshop, Aperture, and Lightroom, but to an arguably successful extent.
One option is to manually adjust your camera settings to expose the sky correctly, however this is likely to make the bird very dark and ugly, and this could not be fixed with post editing. The other option is to adjust your camera settings to expose the sky correctly, and apply a flash to the bird/foreground so it also exposes correctly, but that brings us into a whole new topic -- outdoor flash photography.
I'm not very familiar with Pentax cameras, so I can't really offer more specific advice. If you want to chat about outdoor flash just let me know, and I'll try to explain light ratios and exposure. I'm a chatterbox, and a Socksbox, and a cat lady, and I love talking about the technical aspect of photography (in relation to mythical creatures).
the sky was awful and if it wasn't for the fact that the last time I saw these birds was 7 months ago ( I say saw, I didn't, I heard them, that's all) I wouldn't have even attempted it.
I fiddled around on the mac's iphoto and did what I could.... I'd love to know more but don't know which bit I made the pixies work too hard at. In truth, I stuck it on auto and hoped the pixies would know what to do.
@voodoochild Yeah, because the background is practically white already, there's not much you can do here. You have some options with varying levels of complexity, and probably low levels of success. None are as ideal as reshooting when the sky is better, but obviously that requires you have the opportunity.
I'd have just used a flash. If I was you I'd go on photoshop with the original and mess with the curves (on the layers menu) and then perhaps look at the contrasts. Good luck.
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http://365project.org/discuss/general/8799/i-have-a-stupid-question
I'm posting this from my phone so can't copy the link but if you type "simulator" into the search box at the top it should appear in the discussion results
One option is to manually adjust your camera settings to expose the sky correctly, however this is likely to make the bird very dark and ugly, and this could not be fixed with post editing. The other option is to adjust your camera settings to expose the sky correctly, and apply a flash to the bird/foreground so it also exposes correctly, but that brings us into a whole new topic -- outdoor flash photography.
I'm not very familiar with Pentax cameras, so I can't really offer more specific advice. If you want to chat about outdoor flash just let me know, and I'll try to explain light ratios and exposure. I'm a chatterbox, and a Socksbox, and a cat lady, and I love talking about the technical aspect of photography (in relation to mythical creatures).
Hope this helps!
the sky was awful and if it wasn't for the fact that the last time I saw these birds was 7 months ago ( I say saw, I didn't, I heard them, that's all) I wouldn't have even attempted it.
I fiddled around on the mac's iphoto and did what I could.... I'd love to know more but don't know which bit I made the pixies work too hard at. In truth, I stuck it on auto and hoped the pixies would know what to do.
So... Keep an eye out for them! :)