Dragonfly in HDR

Brachytron

Brachytron

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Mark
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I get really frustrated with Broad-bodied Chasers as their blue abdomen reflects so much UV light that it leads to massive overexposure. This is worse when the insects are perched over dark muddy pond, which fools the camers into further overexposure. To get round this, I saved this picture as -1.5, 0 & +1.5 stops and put them through Photomatix Basic HDR. The result is much better, but is it OTT? Comments gratefully received.

Before

5839579665_4f4da6540c_b.jpg


After

5840117258_1e845f2085_b.jpg
 
I think the second photograph is better and I don't think you have overdone it.
 
Well, to me, the dark areas are a little too dark and I agree the abdomen is still slightly too bright, but on the whole its not too bad at all.

What metering mode do you use? I often use spot or partial metering with dragonflies.

Also, in your post processing, adjusting the shadows and highlights should have resolved your exposure problem. It might be worth just playing with another copy of the photo and simply adjust these and see how it comes out.
 
Hi,

Had a few mins spare so heres my edit. I used the second pic as it had more colour in the tail section.

Edit: Removed as was a crap over saturated example of how not to process the pic...

If you want me to remove it please let me know.

Duplicated the pic
I used curves to drop the colours on top layer
Added a mask (Transparent)
Painted over the tail section area in the mask to bring colour on the tail
Gaussian blurred mask (around 10)
Merged visible
Added a bit of saturation :/ not sure I should have but too late now
Unsharp mask (slight setting)
 
Last edited:
ecniv said:
Hi,
Had a few mins spare so heres my edit. I used the second pic as it had more colour in the tail section.
Click to expand...


I personally dont think this has improved it - the colour is all wrong and looks heavily processed.
 
ecniv - wow that is OTT. Thanks for trying! Tne blue on the after shot is close, but it can vary from a lovely pale bnlue to an almost blank blue-white.

LindaB - I always shoot RAW and evaluative metering, and then adjust exposures in Canon's DPP software. I will try shadows and highliht adjustments as you suggest. My initial attempts made the abdomen look too heavily processed and unnatural.
 
ecniv said:
Having not seen the original insect - can't comment - is it more of a sky blue on the tail then?
Click to expand...

No, it isnt. Out of courtesy to the original post, I wont post the actual photos of mine in this thread but I have posted the links to two for comparison. You will see its quite different and not an easy colour to adjust unless (a) you know the subject and (b) you are very good at post processing to get the colour exactly right.

I would never attempt to edit someone's photo and amend the colouring if I didnt know the subject.

The link to this photo is of an ageing Broad-bodied chaser, taken last year:
http://lindabuckell.zenfolio.com/p60083820/e3293f210

This photo was taken a couple of years ago, but it is a younger specimen:
http://lindabuckell.zenfolio.com/p846156046/e24c128b7
 
Brachytron said:
LindaB - I always shoot RAW and evaluative metering, and then adjust exposures in Canon's DPP software. I will try shadows and highliht adjustments as you suggest. My initial attempts made the abdomen look too heavily processed and unnatural.
Click to expand...

In the past I have had such mixed results when using evaluative metering and found it difficult to get it right in post processing, then started to experiment with spot and partial metering and found these much better.

Trouble is when photographing dragonflies, you often have the problems with bright sun, reflection from water, high contrasts etc, so its not easy to get it right is it, especially with the male BBC's as they really are a contrast challenge lol.

Linda
 
LindaB said:
I would never attempt to edit someone's photo and amend the colouring if I didnt know the subject.
Click to expand...
:confused: I took it that it had a blue reflective body... not a chalky blue

The link to this photo is of an ageing Broad-bodied chaser, taken last year:
http://lindabuckell.zenfolio.com/p60083820/e3293f210
Click to expand...
Bloody nice pictures you have there...! (y)

So more of a brown body with chalky blue tail. That would be difficult to capture ... so congrats to both of you!
 
ecniv said:
:confused: I took it that it had a blue reflective body... not a chalky blue


Bloody nice pictures you have there...! (y)

So more of a brown body with chalky blue tail. That would be difficult to capture ... so congrats to both of you!
Click to expand...


Yes, thats the best colour to describe it - chalky blue - which does fade and get marks on as they age. The newly emerged ones are a stunning blue - unfortunately I havent been able to get any pics of them yet, just one shot of a female.

Many thanks for your nice comment on the pics - glad you liked them :)
 
This might be a daft question, but I'll ask anyway.....

As reflected light seems to be the problem, could a polarising filter help, providing the sun is coming from the right direction? I know it will cost a stop or two, but would it help reduce the reflected light?

Chris
 
Foxbat Flyer said:
This might be a daft question, but I'll ask anyway.....

As reflected light seems to be the problem, could a polarising filter help, providing the sun is coming from the right direction? I know it will cost a stop or two, but would it help reduce the reflected light?

Chris
Click to expand...

To be honest, I dont know lol. I personally wouldnt use one for that kind of photography as it 'might' interfere with the colours.
 
Foxbat Flyer said:
This might be a daft question, but I'll ask anyway.....

As reflected light seems to be the problem, could a polarising filter help, providing the sun is coming from the right direction? I know it will cost a stop or two, but would it help reduce the reflected light?

Chris
Click to expand...

No, the reflection isn't polarised like off water. Interesting idea though.
 
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