A bunch of really impressive before and after shots! I've been "saving" some of my shots to work on this winter!
Posting Before & After Shots
- Thread starter Oztours
- Start date
If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).
That turned out outstanding!
Thanks Andrew. I thought so too.
The difference is obvious, well done.To really see the difference, click on each in turn. I guess this would have been a better demo with crops to 100% view
D5 Image Basic LR Processing ISO 10,000 D5 Image LR Processing + Topaz DeNoise ISO 10,000 View attachment 4777 View attachment 4779
Great tip and great instructions Oztours! That's a pretty cool comparison tool for all kinds of compare and contrast kind of discussions.
Sandhill Cranes at the Rowe Audubon Sanctuary, Kearney Nebraska, April 6, 2022.
Nikon D850,Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF; 1/1600 sec. f/5.6, ISO 20,000
Before shot is SOOC no cropping or processing.
After shot is run through DxO PhotoLab 5 including ClearView and Deep Prime noise reduction followed by some polishing, straighten and 1x2 crop in LrC. Final image is 8124x4062 pixels. Not clear enough for a fine paper print, but more than adequate for a nice canvas print of 15x30 or 20x40 inches.
I am working on other shots that may be more interesting. Used this one as a test case.
Nikon D850,Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF; 1/1600 sec. f/5.6, ISO 20,000
Before shot is SOOC no cropping or processing.
After shot is run through DxO PhotoLab 5 including ClearView and Deep Prime noise reduction followed by some polishing, straighten and 1x2 crop in LrC. Final image is 8124x4062 pixels. Not clear enough for a fine paper print, but more than adequate for a nice canvas print of 15x30 or 20x40 inches.
I am working on other shots that may be more interesting. Used this one as a test case.
|
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
Very nice.
No critique from me. I find the image much richer while maintaining the natural colors.
The edited image looks better and still look very natural. Tough to tell at this size, but it doesn't appear to be over sharpened either.
BAL Land
Active member
I’m just looking for critiques on the edit, not the actual photo for this one.
Thanks! Obviously both images had to be downsized.
Thanks! Obviously both images had to be downsized.
|
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
Looks to me like you did a good job with tough lighting. I might try burning down the bright left edge of the perch a bit more or perhaps adding a vignette (edge darkening) to the overall image but to my eyes you did a very good job bringing out detail and managing the dappled lighting.
The bright background blob behind the bird is tough but it looks like you brightened it quite a bit while bringing out shadow detail. You might try an adjustment brush with set to pull up Shadows over the bird as a way to bring up your main subject without so much background brightening.
BAL Land
Active member
I like it. I might try to pull the bird up a bit further which might take both Shadow and Exposure pulls with the selective adjustment. Hard to say if a bit more shadow pull would help or look over the top but I'd probably try it to see if it worked. But very nice job from the starting point.
TFranic
Member
BEFORE |
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
AFTER |
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Just practice in Capture One and Topaz DeNoise with my 15y old photo from Zoo with my Ex-Pentax K20D and 55-300mm. Soon I will have Z9 and some Z glass. Cheers 
Last edited:
BAL Land
Active member
Thoughts appreciated!
Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)
Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)
Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
vulpess
Active member
Nice edit, I like it! Impressive how much sharpness you got out of the image without it looking fake and unnatural
Two minor suggestions if I may: The beak looks slightly too shiny/glossy. I see that this effect is present in the original as well, however, if only seeing the edit, I can see how you would think this looks a bit off.
The other thing is the very tight crop on the left side. I would like to see the tail having a bit more space behind it
What species is it? American widgeon?
BAL Land
Active member
Thank you! About the bill, I’m not sure what went wrong there. I’ll see if I have a chance to play around with that. Regarding the crop, as you can see, the original image didn’t have the best crop, so in order to have the bird looking more into the frame, I had to do that. You got the ID correct, but it’s spelled American Wigeon(without the D! Same thing goes for Pigeons).Nice edit, I like it! Impressive how much sharpness you got out of the image without it looking fake and unnatural
Two minor suggestions if I may: The beak looks slightly too shiny/glossy. I see that this effect is present in the original as well, however, if only seeing the edit, I can see how you would think this looks a bit off.
The other thing is the very tight crop on the left side. I would like to see the tail having a bit more space behind it
What species is it? American widgeon?
Its a very nice image.Thoughts appreciated!
Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)
Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
Out-of-camera JPEG | RAW after Photoshop Elements and NIK ColorEfex4 |
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
|
Nice job lifting the shadows on the bird. Maybe try selectively darkening the branch a bit and drop the black point overall to find true black under the bird's wing/tail. Compositionally maybe try it with the bird a little lower in the frame with its head closer to vertical center and the bottom of the frame almost at the bird's tail.
Nice job brightening the FG w/out blowing out the sky. And you really pulled the detail out in the sky. Dramatic change before and after. Nice job.
I missed these earlier, but are those dust spots on the sensor? On the right hand side at least 4 spots.Thoughts appreciated!
Raw file(screenshot, so not good quality)
Edited image using adobe photoshop express. I sharpened the bird, removed noise, did a couple contrast/brightness adjustments. I did the contrast/brightness adjustments in layers to make it lookbetter(brighter background but not too bright bird). I also did the sharpening and Noise removal in layers.
BAL Land
Active member
Those were actually specks of pollen on the water!