Photo Editing Criticism and Feedback

[Charlie Spencer]

I've forgotten what we called this on the old site. It's intended for requests for comments on editing results - 'before and after', etc.

How would you crop this? I can forward the .JPG if requested Thanks!

[Kevin]

I don't crop, so I wouldn't

[Kevin]

Helpful right

[Lonestranger]

I've forgotten what we called this on the old site. It's intended for requests for comments on editing results - 'before and after', etc.

How would you crop this? I can forward the .JPG if requested Thanks!

Unlike Kevin, I would crop the image so the eagle is more to the right, unsure if I'd go upper right or lower right though. Send me the original sized photo and I'll share my crop ideas, once I figure out what they are.

[Braxton L]

Agree with @lonestranger, crop it and add contrast

[Michael Long]

I’d crop it so that the eagle is on the right side of the photo, and the leaves are acting as a frame on the top.

[Lonestranger]

I played around with tighter/looser crops, but I think this is the crop I would go with. I also ran Auto Tone in my photo editor(Lightroom) and then slid the Contrast slider from -25 to +10 while leaving the Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks at the Auto Tone levels, I then added +10 Sharpness. This was cropped from 5472x3648 to 2391x1594 pixels and then resized to 1200x800 before uploading.

DSD05424-2-resized.jpg (776.43 KiB) Viewed 244 times

This looser crop was a real close second, but didn't get the same Auto Tone adjustments or Sharpening the tight crop did. Cropped from 5472x3648 to 3232x2155 pixels and then resized to 1200x800 before uploading.

DSD05424-3-resized2.jpg (793.46 KiB) Viewed 244 times

[Lonestranger]

Using the 'Place Inline" option in the Attachment box after Adding files seems to get rid of the Attachment border that surrounds some of the attached photos. Just place/click the cursor where you want the image to appear before clicking the Place Inline button. Slowly stumbling my way through the new site's subtleties so forgive me if I mention observations that may seem obvious to others.

[Charlie Spencer]

Ha! Your first one looks within a few pixels of my first effort (2000x1500). I don't know about going out further; I don't want to lose the eye details.

Thanks!

[Lonestranger]

Ha! Your first one looks within a few pixels of my first effort (2000x1500). I don't know about going out further; I don't want to lose the eye details.

Thanks!

You know what they say, Great minds think like fools, or something like that.

Not wanting to ruin the flow of our relationship, but it has to be said, I really like that photo and how you cropped/processed it.

[Charlie Spencer]

I really like that photo and how you cropped/processed it.

Thanks!

Regarding the cropping, I crop everything to a 4:3 ratio, starting at 2000x1500 pixels (as in this case), then adjust in 400x300 increments if the first try was too close or far. That's why I started this discussion; I'm trying to get beyond that self-imposed restriction. The only place my cropped images get used are as eBird attachments / Macaulay. That use makes identifiability my primary consideration, but I'm trying to be a bit more creative than just centering on the bird and cropping close.

I didn't process this photo beyond cropping, and I rarely do. My big stumbling block is I don't know what I'm aiming for, what my goal is. With no artistic background, I try to reach a definitive objective 'right', which obviously doesn't exist in a subjective art form. I don't know what adjustments to make, when I've done enough or too much of any individual adjustment, or when to quit with the image as a whole. So cropping is all I do to all except in extreme cases where I'm trying to salvage a rarity or lifer.

[Lonestranger]

I really like that photo and how you cropped/processed it.

Thanks!

Regarding the cropping, I crop everything to a 4:3 ratio, starting at 2000x1500 pixels (as in this case), then adjust in 400x300 increments if the first try was too close or far. That's why I started this discussion; I'm trying to get beyond that self-imposed restriction. The only place my cropped images get used are as eBird attachments / Macaulay. That use makes identifiability my primary consideration, but I'm trying to be a bit more creative than just centering on the bird and cropping close.

I didn't process this photo beyond cropping, and I rarely do. My big stumbling block is I don't know what I'm aiming for, what my goal is. With no artistic background, I try to reach a definitive objective 'right', which obviously doesn't exist in a subjective art form. I don't know what adjustments to make, when I've done enough or too much of any individual adjustment, or when to quit with the image as a whole. So cropping is all I do to all except in extreme cases where I'm trying to salvage a rarity or lifer.

I ignore my pixel count until I am done cropping the image, I can always achieve the desired finished size without limiting myself before I start. In other words, if my desired crop/framing comes out at 3000x2000 pixels, I can then resize it to 1500x1000 afterwards IF necessary. Since more pixels typically means better quality, the larger file is preferred, especially for uploading to websites like Flickr and/or Macaulay where larger files are allowed and often preferred for the better detail they provide. I typically constrain my crops to the same aspect ratio as the camera's 3:2 ratio and very seldom try different aspect ratios. I wouldn't even call the aspect ratio a personal preference, it's more of a it is what it is attitude.

As for post processing, I usually try the Auto Tone adjustment first and see what the program suggests and then try adjusting a few sliders only if the Auto Tone adjustment didn't quite get it right. Like you, I often don't know what adjustments to make so I often use the Auto Tone as a starting point and try making adjustments from there. I work mostly in JPG now and find myself doing less and less post processing though, hopefully because I am get better at getting it right in the camera.

[Charlie Spencer]

I ignore my pixel count until I am done cropping the image, I can always achieve the desired finished size without limiting myself before I start.

I'll give that a try. My concern is that without a pre-defined box, I'll get even more wrapped around decisions. Bad enough having to decide what to capture within the box; you want me to determine the horizontal and vertical boundaries on the fly too? Being able to set a default box size is one of the reasons I stick with this particular app (paint.net).

As for post processing, I usually try the Auto Tone adjustment first and see what the program suggests and then try adjusting a few sliders only if the Auto Tone adjustment didn't quite get it right.

I don't think I like the effects of paint.net's 'Auto-Level' tool. The first is how it looked that foggy morning.

Before.png (203.57 KiB) Viewed 176 times

The second doesn't capture the experience. I also makes me want to get an 55-gallon drum of Visine. But if I liked the second one, I don't know what adjustments it made, which tools to use to reverse them, or where I would draw the line between the two.

Damn, that's awfully whiney. Let's rephrase that. If I wanted to undo some of the automatic adjustments, how would I determine what was done and which tools to reverse them?

After.png (285.37 KiB) Viewed 176 times

[Charlie Spencer]

If I wanted to undo some of the automatic adjustments, how would I determine what was done and which tools to reverse them?

Well, I could read the manual...

[Lonestranger]

If I wanted to undo some of the automatic adjustments, how would I determine what was done and which tools to reverse them?

Different software may make any explanations irrelevant. Paint.net isn't available for Mac so I can't refresh my memory on how it works, so I can't speak specifically to your editor.

First off, when I open an image in the Develop tab of Lightroom, I have a totally different view of the adjustments than I when I am viewing the same image in the Library tab. The Library tab has many Auto adjustments, but I can't see what's going on when they're used. In the Develop tab, there is a "Tone" section, among others, to the side of the image with sliders for Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. By clicking the Auto button within the Tone section, the sliders in that section get moved + or - with a visible +/- # at the end of each slider showing how much it was moved from the centre/starting point. If the image looks totally different, I'll usually start with the most adjusted slider and see if moving it towards the other end makes things better or worse. Sometimes adjusting one slider is enough to satisfy my objective, other times I play around with all the sliders, and other times I end up hitting the reset button and go with the out of camera exposure adjustments.

I usually don't like the initial Auto Tone adjustment, I find the Exposure slider is often moved too far to the right, often exposing the photo for the entire scene based on a dark background, while overexposing the bird in the process. I almost always take the sliders back towards the centre/starting point and very rarely take any slider past 3/4 of the way to the outer limits.

I'm probably not the best person to offer editing advise since I don't really know what I'm doing, and know even less about what you're doing.