The magic of digital photography processing...

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Viathelens

Viathelens

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I've been shooting a lot of hummers from my porch, I have anywhere from three to 10 that are hanging around. I like to get the wings with some motion so using slower shutter speeds. I'm also trying for different or unique poses in flight, the Z8 actually makes it too easy! My goal is always to get the shot when the bird is not touching the feeder as I take the feeder out. I love processing and I always think of digital photography as magic to some degree. In this shot, where I liked the in-flight pose, the hummer was a bit too close to the feeder and covered by it so the wing had to be fixed after the feeder was removed, also the coloring needed to be softened to better match in tone. Topaz took care of the noise, LrC took care of the processing and PS took care of the feeder and allowed me to recreate the wing. LrC and PS make things so easy to do and help to create the "magic." Does anyone else love the magic we can do today with digital photography and software?


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Palouse said:
If post processing is your thing, then yes, fix it in post by all means. Different strokes. Me? I'm old-schoolish, boring and happy to keep trying (even in my old age).
Nicely done!
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Actually, I don't "fix" a shot as much as create the shot I want or the shot I saw in my mind when I took it. This is, BTW, posted in the post-processing forum, thus it is about post-processing.... :). My hope is to create art, not take a snapshot or document something, thus I have no rules. I have no problem at all with what anyone else wants to do, I love photography because I consider it a "solo-sport," something I can do my way without team involvement. I have lots of shots that may not motivate me to do this type of thing and I have many shots that do motivate me to do this type of thing...I also do cell phone photography and software, and have been experimenting with creating AI graphics...I love it all and love that I live in a time when I can do all this. I did start out with BW photography in a dark room and I thought it was also magic when I saw the image begin to develop...and the magic continues for me.
 
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I am a Photoshop slut and love editing/processing/messing about with my photos for hours.
I play to my own rules - and I don't worry about other people's sentiments about what I do.
I will replace backgrounds - but my "rule" is to use my own photos and not someone else's or Photoshop's skies.
I watch PS editing videos like other people binge-watch Friends
You did a good job above
 
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Viathelens said:
I've been shooting a lot of hummers from my porch, I have anywhere from three to 10 that are hanging around. I like to get the wings with some motion so using slower shutter speeds. I'm also trying for different or unique poses in flight, the Z8 actually makes it too easy! My goal is always to get the shot when the bird is not touching the feeder as I take the feeder out. I love processing and I always think of digital photography as magic to some degree. In this shot, where I liked the in-flight pose, the hummer was a bit too close to the feeder and covered by it so the wing had to be fixed after the feeder was removed, also the coloring needed to be softened to better match in tone. Topaz took care of the noise, LrC took care of the processing and PS took care of the feeder and allowed me to recreate the wing. LrC and PS make things so easy to do and help to create the "magic." Does anyone else love the magic we can do today with digital photography and software?


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Wow. That's some pretty ambitious cloning. You did a nice job re-creating that wing. Most times when people do things like this there are telltale artifacts but I see none at all here. Really well done.

Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
...I watch PS editing videos like other people binge-watch Friends...
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:oops:
 
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Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
I am a Photoshop slut and love editing/processing/messing about with my photos for hours.
I play to my own rules - and I don't worry about other people's sentiments about what I do.
I will replace backgrounds - but my "rule" is to use my own photos and not someone else's or Photoshop's skies.
I watch PS editing videos like other people binge-watch Friends
You did a good job above
Click to expand...
Thanks, I love the saying, "Photoshop slut"!
 
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NorthernFocus said:
Wow. That's some pretty ambitious cloning. You did a nice job re-creating that wing. Most times when people do things like this there are telltale artifacts but I see none at all here. Really well done.


:oops:
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Thanks, I'm lucky because it comes easy to me to do this kind of thing. I've actually put two shots together of one bird before and did the same with a monkey face...Ha! Ha!
 
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In the film-and-darkroom days we were also able to "post-process". We cropped, adjusted highlight and shadow using burning, dodging and masks, controlled contrast with filters, tilted the easel for perspective control and removed small bright objects with a spotting brush. The purists pilloried us over it. Surrealists like Jerry Uelsmann added and subtracted objects using multiple enlargers driving the Minor White followers stark raving mad. So called post-processing is just one of many aspects of image making; the image is finished when you think it is, with or without.
 
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R_Warshaw said:
In the film-and-darkroom days we were also able to "post-process". We cropped, adjusted highlight and shadow using burning, dodging and masks, controlled contrast with filters, tilted the easel for perspective control and removed small bright objects with a spotting brush. The purists pilloried us over it. Surrealists like Jerry Uelsmann added and subtracted objects using multiple enlargers driving the Minor White followers stark raving mad. So called post-processing is just one of many aspects of image making; the image is finished when you think it is, with or without.
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Thanks, my intent was not to start that ongoing discussion on if one should or should not but rather if one loved processing with digital photography and if they found the process to be somewhat fascinating and magical. The ease with which we can now do so many types of processing and creating artwork is what fascinates me.
 
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I recently did something similar, though perhaps not quite as successfully. I normally try to avoid doing this sort of editing, but in this case I liked the way the bird looked enough that I thought it was worth doing. I leveraged the out of focus nature of the background and the fact that the wing already had a bit of motion blur on the end to try to cover up the edit. I feel like if you can see the original photo then you can see the edit but it's more difficult to notice if you don't know it's there.
 
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SCoombs said:
View attachment 67445View attachment 67446

I recently did something similar, though perhaps not quite as successfully. I normally try to avoid doing this sort of editing, but in this case I liked the way the bird looked enough that I thought it was worth doing. I leveraged the out of focus nature of the background and the fact that the wing already had a bit of motion blur on the end to try to cover up the edit. I feel like if you can see the original photo then you can see the edit but it's more difficult to notice if you don't know it's there.
Click to expand...
A lot of nice things about your edit.
 
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