Advice Please

[K9Kirk]

This shot was obviously taken on a bright day, which didn't help with the appearance, and all I've done to the original edit (which seemed over exposed) was to simply lower the exposure. Any advice to make the shot look better? Curve, dehaze, other??? Any advice is appreciated.

010-studio-2 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

 

[jeffnles1]

I think it looks fine.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Lovely bird and a pleasing image.
Obviously I don't know what the bird looks like colorwise - as I don't know what bird it is. Especially the browns in the bird - could be different from what I think it is. And how "white" the light parts in the bird is
There is a HUGE colour cast on the bird. This can be amended by using curves if you use Photoshop
Adjustment, Curves, Auto.
Fine tuning can be done in the Curve Colour sections, separately for the bird and the background
The eye can be slightly lightened
Crop is too tight - especially at the top (for me) although that is not crucial - one can always add space if necessary.
I have applied these changes to the bird (on a screenshot) and I know it works.

 

[bleirer]

You might check the overall white balance and tint.

If the breast area and under the beak is not naturally greenish yellow then that is reflection from the leaves below. You could use spot color in lightroom to bring that back. For the dullness, you can select subject and either use contrast slider or use curves and the curves eyedropper to select a light area in the feathers and bring that just a touch up and select a darker area to bring just a little down.

 

[BarkingBeans Coffee]

Kirk
Here was a try just using the screen shot. Top version has a Vignette and bottom doesn't. As others mentioned, the Color Correction is done with an action using a Grey Mid Point layer. Since I wasn't there these are guesses. Theory is color correct overall, mask subject, mark colors you want to protect and modify curve/contrast of the section in between, background layer usually is a slight exposure decrease and maybe some blur (not here), Eye layer adds pop to the eye, and Vignette is optional. I did not sharpen given it was a screenshot.

Not saying any of this is the right way, but with this you have lots of flexibility.

If you want to use simple color correction, set your Auto options in PS Curves as follows.
Select Find Dark & Light colors and Snap Neutral Midtones. You get to Auto options by holding Alt/Option and selecting Auto. Screenshot below. I did not use it on this image.

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[K9Kirk]

Lovely bird and a pleasing image.
Obviously I don't know what the bird looks like colorwise - as I don't know what bird it is. Especially the browns in the bird - could be different from what I think it is. And how "white" the light parts in the bird is
There is a HUGE colour cast on the bird. This can be amended by using curves if you use Photoshop
Adjustment, Curves, Auto.
Fine tuning can be done in the Curve Colour sections, separately for the bird and the background
The eye can be slightly lightened
Crop is too tight - especially at the top (for me) although that is not crucial - one can always add space if necessary.
I have applied these changes to the bird (on a screenshot) and I know it works.

Thanks, Elsa, I appreciate your input and I'll try my best to incorporate your suggestions with what I have (Topaz 2) and see how it turns out. I understand about the crop, I usually give more room, but I wanted to bring out the detail a little more. I guess it hurt the crop in turn. BTW, I'm pretty positive that it's a mockingbird.

You might check the overall white balance and tint.

If the breast area and under the beak is not naturally greenish yellow then that is reflection from the leaves below. You could use spot color in lightroom to bring that back. For the dullness, you can select subject and either use contrast slider or use curves and the curves eyedropper to select a light area in the feathers and bring that just a touch up and select a darker area to bring just a little down.

Thanks for you suggestions, bleirer. I'll see what I can do.

 

[K9Kirk]

Kirk
Here was a try just using the screen shot. Top version has a Vignette and bottom doesn't. As others mentioned, the Color Correction is done with an action using a Grey Mid Point layer. Since I wasn't there these are guesses. Theory is color correct overall, mask subject, mark colors you want to protect and modify curve/contrast of the section in between, background layer usually is a slight exposure decrease and maybe some blur (not here), Eye layer adds pop to the eye, and Vignette is optional. I did not sharpen given it was a screenshot.

Not saying any of this is the right way, but with this you have lots of flexibility.

If you want to use simple color correction, set your Auto options in PS Curves as follows.
Select Find Dark & Light colors and Snap Neutral Midtones. You get to Auto options by holding Alt/Option and selecting Auto. Screenshot below. I did not use it on this image.

View attachment 78927



View attachment 78928

View attachment 78926



View attachment 78929

Thanks for the input, I'll take a look at some things.

 

[raptor photo]

small Midtones boost, keep the WB from the last edit, and remove the tint in the shadows.

 

[K9Kirk]

small Midtones boost, keep the WB from the last edit, and remove the tint in the shadows.

Thank you very much.

 

[Anjin San]

I think it looks fine too…but I have to admit i always hit the auto button in LR first and the. Set the white and black points to adjust for clipping…then generally try an S tone curve and tweak sliders until I like it…