swan preening itself

[Nathaniel]

Saw this fellow cleaning/preening itself. Let me know what you think. Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire

[X-ray-spex]

Re: swan preening itself

Sorry Nathaniel .......... there's too much clutter in the background ...it's a bit dark .... needs a bit of sharpening .... not the best viewpoint really ........ IMHO ....OK as a record shot ............ apologies for harsh, but not one one your best ................

[Nathaniel]

Re: swan preening itself

Sorry Nathaniel .......... there's too much clutter in the background ...it's a bit dark .... needs a bit of sharpening .... not the best viewpoint really ........ IMHO ....OK as a record shot ............ apologies for harsh, but not one one your best ................

NO need for apologies. I made a mistake with this shot as I belatedly realised that I had my camera on AI focus. I tried to sharpen it on the computer but as it was shot in Jpeg I couldn't do much. Perhaps you have to tell me how I get about doing things in Photoshop. Should I buy this software? I am not very computer literate otherthan just being a user with spreadsheets,word etc.

[briansquibb]

Re: swan preening itself

Nathaniel

Shoot in RAW and use DPP which is free. Photoshop is overkill for your/our philosophy of shooting photos

I use Photoshop Elelments 8 to make finer adjustment than DPP. Even so I am not using only a small percentage of its capability

Brian

PS Henri Cartier-Bresson is quoted as saying that the photo should be composed in the viewfinder not the darkroom - which I am trying to get to.

[Rover]

Re: swan preening itself

PS Henri Cartier-Bresson is quoted as saying that the photo should be composed in the viewfinder not the darkroom

Indeed, but where did he develop them?


Nathaniel, my twopennorth, for what it's worth.

The surrounding area doesn't lend itself to producing an image of a swan in a good setting and there isn't an appealing pose, the kind that makes you think, "Aww, sweet." Add to that poor light and you're struggling. Those kind of shots will have to be for another time and place.

What you really have is an action shot of the swan taking care of itself. For me that is a close up and personal type of thing, so that's how you need to compose it. Get rid of a lot of the background and you will have less messy surroundings and more detail to focus the viewer's eye.

For inspiration you need look no further than colin C's fantastic recent swan and cygnet shots. The composition of each one has nothing included that doesn't need to be there but includes everything necessary to tell the story. Also bear in mind he is very good at getting the technical details right, but even so he still develops each image so it looks its best.

If you want some easy to use free software to have a go at honing your development skills have a look at Picasa 3 from Google and Faststone Image Viewer (just Google them for links). On the other hand, if you must have some Adobe software have a look at Lightroom, now out as version 3. It's not cheap, over two hundred pounds, but less expensive than Photoshop CS and is designed specifically for photographers. I find it easier to use than CS or even Elements.

[Muscat]

Re: swan preening itself

I can also recommend Faststone I have a copy loaded on my travel laptop as it reads the Canon RAW files and allows crops, edits, printing etc. and as stated it is free. It also has a very small footprint

[briansquibb]

Re: swan preening itself

Indeed, but where did he develop them?


.

He had them developed and printed for him - just as they came from the camera

[briansquibb]

Re: swan preening itself

PS Elements 8 - £32 from here

I have a copy from here and now moved from PSP to PSE without issue.

[Nathaniel]

Re: swan preening itself

Hi! Rover,

I know that Colin C is a master photographer and I am keeping notes of his "secrets" so that one day I will "beat" him to it.

With hindsight I agree that the background is cluttered and will note this in future shots. Anyway, I am going away on hols in 10days time-Germany and Italy (quite contrasting countries) & I intend taking a few shots in both Jpeg & Raw, without getting too much out of my COMFORT zone & falling foul of SWMBO. I will use DPP as suggested by Brian as well as photoshop 8- just to see the difference. So watch out for better postings after my hols.

Many thanks for taking the trouble to point out my deficiencies. I am flexible enough to learn from my mistakes.

[Nathaniel]

Re: swan preening itself

PS Elements 8 - £32 from here

I have a copy from here and now moved from PSP to PSE without issue.

Thanks Brian. I have bought it.

[Muscat]

Re: swan preening itself

Have a great holiday we look forward to seeing some photos when you get back