GSW in bright light - advice?

[Tobyh]

Was lucky to see this guy today but it was very sunny and he was sat in part shade. Any advice for how best to deal with this type of shot please? Whites are blown in areas but head is dark...happy I got a chance for the photo though




Thanks in advance


TobyH

[glsammy]

There's nothing much at all wrong with these.You could lighten and brighten the images slightly better, but the exposure looks spot on to me.
You've got to do exactly what you did, make sure the whites aren't blown. Blown highlights are lost forever, whilst the blacks can always be dealt with with the burn tool if necessary.

Good shots, well done!

[Bub-les]

agree they're good photos. Good sighting.
Barbara

[eeyore]

theres not a lot you can do about the potential for blown highlights except turn blinky highlights and histogram on and bracket your exposures.

and/or shoot raw so you can play with your exposures later

that said these are good shots anyway and i dont think the blown white detracts from the shot that much certainly not unless you were planning to sell them or print at large scale.

[Ukwildlifeo]

I personally think the light in the 1st photo improves it somewhat - especially the eye

[DaiTheDragon]

Birds that are predominantly black and white are always difficult so these are very good considering.

Dai

[GerryNick2]

Nice Photo's, as Graham has already suggested a little brightening in software will make all the difference.

Gerry

[BruceP]

1. In Photoshop I duplicated the image (dragged background layer onto the create new layer icon) and put it into screen blending mode.

2. I added a layer mask to the new layer

3. Taking a small brush I painted black into the layer mask where the highlights were burnt out.

took about 30 seconds.

Nice picture by the way.

[Tobyh]

Thanks very much for the replies.

I am shooting RAW and do have highlights shown, I think I just need a bit more practice when processing.

I have a feeling that masks are something that Elements doesn't do?

I'll have another play around and see what i can do

[Kayleigh]

Hi Toby, I know nothing about photography, but I love these pics I really like the colours..