My Big Mistake…. And More « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
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My Big Mistake.... And More

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This image was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative Metering -1/3 stop: 1/500 sec. at f/5.6.

Lens/Camera Body Micro-Adjustment: -4.

I selected the claws with Select/Color Range and ran a 35% Linear Burn on the Layer. I used some small Quick Masks, the Patch Tool, and the Clone Stamp Tool to cover the two small bright white areas. And I used the Spot Healing Brush to clean up some flecks on the bear’s fur. All as described in detail Digital Basics (a PDF sent via e-mail.)

My Big Mistake

In yesterday’s post, I asked “What was my big mistake?” Kevin Klasman, the first to comment, pretty much nailed my thoughts at 10:36am on August 20, 2011 when he typed: “On the bear photo, not getting the entire left rear foot? The right rear foot is partially hidden by foliage and is OK by me.” Others said the same thing or something close but not as accurately and succinctly as Keven. So kudos to Mr. Klasman.

When the bear walked around the tiny island and sat down 21 feet away and faced me I could not believe my good fortune as it is unusual to have such a clear view of the front claws. Those claws on the two front paws were all that I could see so I have no problem putting them right in the center of the frame. And sometimes you only get one chance. I made two frames and checked for blinkies and the bear walked off to listen for salmon…. At that moment, I was happy with the image.

As I said yesterday, when I saw the image on the laptop for the first time I was dismayed. I am fine with the depth of field as is and the exposure was perfect. But oh how I wished that I had re-composed by pointing the camera to my right so as to include the complete hind left paw as Kevin noted. With the right rear paw obstructed by the grasses that was clearly the best move. But I have been so focused on those front claws that I did not see it in the field.

When I optimized the image (see the lead photo above) I cropped a bit off the right side in an attempt to balance the composition. Re-constructing the missing stuff on the right side of the frame would be problematic at best so I did not want to go there. Click here to see the original image. Thanks all for playing and way to go Kevin for getting right inside my head.

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August 21st, 2011 | Category: 2011

2 comments to My Big Mistake…. And More

  • avatar Tom Redd
    August 21, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Thank you for the lesson, Artie. It is still a nice photo.

  • avatar Ifham Raji
    August 21, 2011 at 8:00 pm

    Nice Work!! Did you use Hue/staturation and Vibrance for enhancing color. How far did you go on that??

    I actually did a BreezeBrowser conversion; that does not warm the colors up anywhere near as much as ACR. Then just pulled up the curve and actually did a bit of SH/H, something I rarely do anymore. So the answer is zero color work; just lightening the exposure brings up the color. artie

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