Critique White Wagtail. Processing Critique please.

[Orangecroc]

Here are the before and after of processing. This is my first attempt using light room.
I would also like to know what functionality remains once the trial is finished on LR.

whitewagoriginal by Ben Gray, on Flickr

whitewagprocessed by Ben Gray, on Flickr

 

[nickEnackEnoo]

I think it was a Pied Wagtail, before you shot it
I've no idea what limitations you have with a bridge camera, but I think you may want to practice getting settings right before tinkering in Lightroom.

 

[Orangecroc]

I think it was a Pied Wagtail, before you shot it
I've no idea what limitations you have with a bridge camera, but I think you may want to practice getting settings right before tinkering in Lightroom.

I completely bungled the shot and did my best to recover it. Any tips for better recovery would be appreciated.
(I'm not a bird person, so identifying them is reliant on the internet, so I am often wrong.)

 

[nickEnackEnoo]

Any tips for better recovery would be appreciated.

I just noticed another thread of yours where advice is offered. Just keep practising

 

[regen]

The first rule of digital photography- GET IT RIGHT IN THE CAMERA.

Post processing,however good, cannot recover whats not there in the first place.

Regen

 

[Kodiak Qc]

Post processing,however good, cannot recover whats not there in the first place.

+1 zillion

 

[Orangecroc]

The first rule of digital photography- GET IT RIGHT IN THE CAMERA.

Post processing,however good, cannot recover whats not there in the first place.

Regen

I know this, but unfortunately a cloud moved from in front of the sun as I pressed the shutter and I didn't get a second chance here. Just wanted to save what I had.

 

[regen]

Ben I think most of us have been there. We save record shots! However record shots of this quality are simply not suitable for critique they are what they are -simply record shots. Bird photography is not about excuses. It requires knowledge of both the subject and the camera, patience, experiance and a modicum of luck.

One of the good things about digital is that it costs little or nothing to press the shutter and this allows people to really push the boundaries. It does not mean that every shot is suitable for publication. It is also a bad thing and anybody who has done medium format film photography will tell you that it cost 50 pence every time the shutter was pressed so you soon learned that the subject,lighting and camera had to be right or the result was not useable.

Learn your fieldcraft on larger and easier subjects than a wagtail- try the local park for ducks and geese. Join a camera club where they will take thro both the camera and post processing techniques. But most of all don't expect to run before you can walk you are, after all, trying to master several disciplines at once.

Good luck

Regen

 

[Orangecroc]

Ben I think most of us have been there. We save record shots! However record shots of this quality are simply not suitable for critique they are what they are -simply record shots. Bird photography is not about excuses. It requires knowledge of both the subject and the camera, patience, experiance and a modicum of luck.

One of the good things about digital is that it costs little or nothing to press the shutter and this allows people to really push the boundaries. It does not mean that every shot is suitable for publication. It is also a bad thing and anybody who has done medium format film photography will tell you that it cost 50 pence every time the shutter was pressed so you soon learned that the subject,lighting and camera had to be right or the result was not useable.

Learn your fieldcraft on larger and easier subjects than a wagtail- try the local park for ducks and geese. Join a camera club where they will take thro both the camera and post processing techniques. But most of all don't expect to run before you can walk you are, after all, trying to master several disciplines at once.

Good luck

Regen

I totally understand the points you're making, maybe I sought advice rather than critique. Maybe it would have been more suited to the processing section of the forum, I was more interested in judgement on my recovery of the poor image.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

maybe I sought advice rather than critique.

•

Yep, this is where the shoe hurts!

For me, and here I mean ME very personally,
It is like a 7 year old kid asking for tips on how
to improve his snooker game. My best answer
would be… try when you will have grown up a
bit more… because I (very personally) don't see
how to improve the game if one can't reach over
the table!

In my work, I have to use the best gear through-
out the entire workflow: from capture to rendition.
It takes some careful commitment to stay on top
of everything.

But you, Ben, want to improve using equipments
that will not support, I'm afraid, your desire.

To learn, one needs proper learning tools.

 

[Orangecroc]

"A poor craftsman blames his tools."
I will endeavour to improve in spite of mine.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

"A poor craftsman blames his tools."

Yes absolutely… did, is and always will!

But not the apprentice as he doesn't know!

I will endeavour to improve in spite of mine.

I admire you courage.

In this frustrating craft, at times, I don't know if
I could demonstrate such tenacity. Good luck!

 

[Orangecroc]

Yes absolutely… did, is and always will!

But not the apprentice as he doesn't know!


I admire you courage.

In this frustrating craft, at times, I don't know if
I could demonstrate such tenacity. Good luck!

It doesn't feel like tenacity, because I enjoy being out just seeing things. I enjoy learning my own shortfalls also, because each time I go out I come away with something better than before.
I have already made important improvements, many from your advice. My oversaturated and blown greens are long gone!

 

[Kodiak Qc]

… each time I go out I come away with something better than before. I have already made important improvements, many from your advice