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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

Buller's Albatross

Photographed by

Ian Williams on Sat 5th Jun, 2021 and uploaded on Sun 6th Jun, 2021 .

Resolution

1800x1200

Viewed

743

46582

Comment

Advice on post processing please. I've only use Apple's Photo editing
Sharpen 0.43, dropped highlights to -1.00 and shadows to 0.49

Equipment

Canon 70D EF100-400mm at 182mm
ISO 1000, f 5.6 @1/8000 RAW
Spot metering

Location

Kaikoura, NZ

Keywords

in flight, adult

This image is not available for download.

Glenn Pure	2021-06-10 09:41:25	Ian, welcome to BLP! First, I should indicate that I don't know anything about Apple Photo editing software but assume the adjustments for sharpening, highlights and shadows are similar to those in more common products such as the Adobe offerings. Before getting into comments on editing, I do personally like this shot. The setting is great and I especially like the mountainous shoreline and warm light - I'm guessing it was taken early or late in the day? It's great getting the bird on a trajectory that is angled towards you rather than flying away. The banked wing position is also nice as though the bird is executing a turn. I might be inclined to try different crops so the bird was somewhat more to the left but this is a trial and error process. A widely used approach is to allow more space in the direction of movement so it has some 'virtual' space to fly into. As for adjustments, I'm not sure if you used the apple software to edit the RAW file or you somehow got a jpg which you could import into the software. Either way, I find the photo a little on the dull side tonally. On a positive, there are no obvious clipped shadows or highlights and detail and texture are visible across the bird. I suspect this shot could benefit from an overall increase in brightness/exposure during processing of the RAW prior to any adjustment for shadows and highlights. Making a careful selection of the bird and making adjustments to make it 'pop' more from the background could also help this shot as the background may be fine as it stands. Adjustments could include brightening the bird a little and increasing the midtone contrast, if you have this option available as a slider (or via a tone curve adjustment). As for sharpening, I'm not sure when you applied this but the most critical time is after the photo is downsized for submission to our site. Downsizing introduces blur and this needs to be 'reversed' before uploading to counter the blur and sharpen up the detail. Modest use is recommended so that there are no halos or other sharpening artefacts. Overall, I think this shot has quite a bit of potential and would benefit from some adjustments along the lines I've suggested. You haven't asked for software suggestions but if you haven't already tried it, you could download Canon Digitial Photo Professional software for your camera from the Canon site (look up your camera then go to the downloads section). It's free and will run on Mac. I've recorded a video on how to use it available under the Resources page on our website.
Ian Williams	2021-06-16 19:46:40	Glenn Many thanks for taking the time to comment on my photo and the warm welcome to the organisation. I’m amazed at the quality of all the presentations and information available to members. It’s exactly what I need to take my photography further. I am now looking to put more emphasis into creative photography and it is abundantly clear there is a lot to learn. I will work on the photos and others and am very grateful to you for your considered comments. Firstly I need to create some more space on my lap top as it is struggling with a lack of memory space. I have downloaded the Canon DPP as you suggested. Many thanks again Kind regards Ian Williams

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	209/283 in Critique Gallery
	20/31 of Buller's Albatross
	286/378 of Albatrosses
	22236/34429 Overall
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