The squirrel and the fox.

Forbiddenbiker

Forbiddenbiker

The Enforcer
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Name
Adam
Edit My Images
Yes
Shot this last week whilst waiting for a customer to arrive...thankfully he was late.(y)

I could crop deeper than this...
what do you all think?

squirrel.jpg


This is a re-do of a recent shot (posted a few weeks ago). His face was in deep shadow so I faked an overexposed shot using the original in raw shooter, then layered it up (first time for me) in APS and merged the two images together using the mask tool thing...I little better I think, but it now looks blown out and wishy-washy instead.

gardenfox.jpg
 
I like the first one as it is, with the back ground way OOF makes the squirrel really stand out, I also like the pose as it seems to be waiting for something.

Sorry but the fox shot isn't kinda working for me as I feel it's a bit to green, although having said the above. It does have a nice sence of DOF making the fox stand out. Sorry I don't want to seem hard as it's your first go at this type of edit. Good on you for having a go and posting it for all to see.
 
Deja-vu. You got me thinking there! Isn't that the same fox picture as in your cranes thread? ;)

The squirrel crop looks fine to me but he could do with some of Bachs sharpening magic.
 
both could do with a little processing tweaks to bring them out, have a look for matts and bachs processing and sharpening tuts
 
RobertP said:
Deja-vu. You got me thinking there! Isn't that the same fox picture as in your cranes thread? ;)
Click to expand...

Yep, just slightly improved I like to think. I will study Bachs and Matts processing tips thread...although I don't think I can get anymore out of these myself...it is that slightly dodgy Tamron I’m using (mines got a small focus fault)...I think this is a good as it gets at full zoom.

Davey, Rob, Matt thanks for your thoughts.
Davey I don't think she was waiting for anything , more like she was taking a break from breast feeding duties by the look of her. LOL.

PS. Why do some of you have a thing about too much green...what's wrong with green exactly? :shrug: :)
 
Adam I think you're being a bit harsh on that Tamron mate.

squirrel.jpg
 
Dinner was on the table.... soz. :)

All I did Adam was use the sharpen filter in PSP, nowt complicated at all. It's hard to tell whether you just missed the optimum point of focus which I find is the eye and which usually brings the whiskers into focus, or whether he's moved his head at the critical moment - they're such animated little beggars that often happens. I don't honestly see much wrong with the lens when you look at the areas which are sharp.
 
CT said:
Adam I think you're being a bit harsh on that Tamron mate.
Click to expand...

Wow....heck, excuse me for swearing, I spent an age trying to get more detail out of the original, how do you do that! Theirs more detail in the hairs now than their is in the Raw...?

I'm going to go back to basics I think, I can understand how a lot of the usm tools work, I'm just not using them correctly I guess....I haven't quite got to grips with what’s happening to the pixels and how they interact to produce results like yours.

Was it just sharpening techniques you used CT ...anything else?

Thanks for the evidence mate; I’ll never mention the Tamron again....Duly told I be. :D
There will be a few others saying...in a friendly way of course, "I told you so"

Impressed and shocked I am. (y)

:)
 
Don't be so hard on yourself.
Its can be a steep learning curve to get your images to look and feel as good
as the pros.
Thats what we're here for, to help straighten out that curve.

If you get stuck on any of the points in the tutorials, just ask the question and we'll try to help.

Oh, and she's looking good in the enhanced image (the squirrel that is).
I used to have one of these as a pet, great characters.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Was it just sharpening techniques you used CT ...anything else?
Click to expand...

Nope - just sharpened and cropped. I used the straight one shot sharpen filter in PSP. PS has a pretty similar filter. It's a bit unsubtle and can often over- sharpen, so I'd usually prefer to use USM in increments, but your image was so oof that it on this occasion it was just about right. :D

I'd like to see some really crisp images from that Tamron. ;)
 
Adam... you do appreciate that with RAW files, no sharpening is done in camera? It's not unusual for files to look soft when first loaded. You CAN sharpen in RAW processing, but i prefer to adjust for levels etc. (RSE in my case) then save the TIFF to PSP and sharpen there. That works best for me.. others may disagree.
 
Yeah thanks, I knew that bit...just. ;)
I was sharpening in Rawshooter and then going to APS which I don't think helped much.
So now, I save as tiff directly from RS, then I followed Mattys guide for this shot using the USM tool in APS. I used the tool twice actually.

Not what you where expecting...:D Taken with the Tamron today.

Do you think I can take the sharpness further on this shot...?

210mm F8 1/1600 iso200. Cropped in about 50%.

spiderstance.jpg


I may have cropped this in too much....theres loads more space..?
 
The thing with sharpness is it's a personal thing to a degree. There comes a point though where the image starts to look a little 'pitty' for want of a better word (sharpening sharpens any noise present as well) and you start to get halos showing around areas of sharp contrast. For that reason USM applied in small amounts is probably the best way, until you see the signs of over-sharpening and then just go back a step or two.

The sharpening looks about right on my monitor. :)

Taken with that rubbish lens that Tamron are renowned for making..?.... not! ;)
 
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