Trying a tip from Steve’s video today - did I go too far?

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K

KP Birder

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I have been spending the miserable weather days going through old SD cards and photos. Then today I watched Steve’s “3 Secrets to Wildlife Photos with Depth and Dimension”. I was intrigued with the Lightroom tips at the end. Although I am using Photoshop Elements, I decided to try to selectively darken the background of a photo. Just wondering if I went too far? I am thinking I should lighten the log. (Original photo taken with Nikon D90 12 years ago and cropped greatly, then sharpened and adjusted today.)
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I cant offer any advice as to whether or not you`ve gone to far with the Post processing so I will leave that to the more experienced guys , however what I can say is, its greatly improved from what was otherwise a very ordinary image , you can certainly see a huge difference and the Tortoice/Turtle really stands out against the background its way more defined and much much better in my opinion ..


Harry.G
 
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Harry.G said:
I cant offer any advice as to whether or not you`ve gone to far with the Post processing so I will leave that to the more experienced guys , however what I can say is, its greatly improved from what was otherwise a very ordinary image , you can certainly see a huge difference and the Tortoice/Turtle really stands out against the background its way more defined and much much better in my opinion ..


Harry.G
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Thank you, Harry!
 
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Nope…excellent adjustment to improve the shot. I've been doing that BG exposure down a bit ever since LR added the auto mask thing but the other tips in the video are also good to know tips…especially doing the radial filter and then subtract subject to keep it from being affected but sort fade in the effect on the BG.
 
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Anjin San said:
Nope…excellent adjustment to improve the shot. I've been doing that BG exposure down a bit ever since LR added the auto mask thing but the other tips in the video are also good to know tips…especially doing the radial filter and then subtract subject to keep it from being affected but sort fade in the effect on the BG.
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Thank you! I would like to try that radial filter adjustment, but not sure if it is possible in my Photoshop Elements app. I haven’t quite figured out the masking capabilities of it yet.
 
I like the second way. I think the log would be illuminated by the same light as the subject.
 
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The second try looks pretty good. The challenge with this one is all the reflection on the water, it makes it tough to have a lot of depth. Still, IMO, your adjustments made it stand out far better than it did in the original. Nicely done :)
 
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Steve said:
The second try looks pretty good. The challenge with this one is all the reflection on the water, it makes it tough to have a lot of depth. Still, IMO, your adjustments made it stand out far better than it did in the original. Nicely done :)
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Gee, thanks Steve! It was watching your latest video that gave me the idea to try it on this photo, just for the experience. Now I may have the confidence to try it on a better photo!
 
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