A Short Discussion about Post Processing

I am a believer in post-processing.  In fact, over the last few years both light room and Photoshop with each induration have gotten better and post-processing.  What also helps is the number of different plug-ins that are available, including those from Topaz, NIK, OnOne and others.  Along with a good number of free information that is available on the web.

I am going to show you two sets of pictures that was taken just after sunset, utilizing a Nikon D7100, Nikkor 500 mm f/4 plus a 1.7 X converter on a tripod.  The settings were 1/100 second,f/5.6 and ISO 3200.  As you look at the pictures before the post-processing you will see that there is a large amount of noise and the pictures.  After post-processing, utilizing both light room and Photoshop, Topaz Clarity and Detail .  I then selected out the backgrounds into a separate layer and utilized DeNoise to decrease the noise.  Then I used a technique from Denise Ippolito and Artie Morris using surface blur to finish up the picture.

In the next blog.  I will take you step-wise in the process that I use.

 Barn Owl (Tyto alba) 

Original

Post-Processed

Original

Post-Processed

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Topaz Clarity Workflow

One of my readers asked a question about Topaz Clarity plug-in. First I am an affiliate of Topaz, but I wouldn't recommend it if I wasn't using it and love it.

What I decided to do in this blog is to show you my workflow and post-processing a photo that I took the other day. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me, I will answer them as soon as possible, however, I am leaving for Canada on Tuesday and will not be back until the following Monday morning. I will be up photographing Snowy, Northern Hawk, and Great Gray Owls in Alberta Canada.

The original

The original with Lightroom adjustments

The screen to open Topaz photoFXlab.exe. I have Lightroom configured to use the shortcut > control + shift + E

Inside photoFXlab click plug-ins

Here is the list of plug-ins

Click Clarity

First pick the collection then pick the preset

Steps to use in clarity

An additional steps in clarity if you have to adjust hue-saturation-luminance. You also can mask these changes to areas that they are not needed in. Then you click OK to close clarity

 Now I picked the Plug-in Detail to increase the detail

You follow the same steps as you did in clarity with detail except detail will allow you to apply your settings and then add additional settings in a different portion of detail.

In the main Topaz photoFXlab window you can do further adjustments to the picture if needed then click okay which will bring the picture back into Lightroom

In Lightroom, I first adjusted the highlights because there were a few blinkies present and then I cropped the picture

Final image

An animated GIF showing original and final image

This was a long blog to prepare and I hope it is useful for you. BTW you can do the same steps in Photoshop with the Topaz Suite.

642

Barn owl in flight

You will ask what is 642. 642 is the total number of life birds that I have seen in the wild. Wednesday, January 15, 2014 I added number 642 to my list, a Barn Owl. Now I have seen barn owls in the past but they have been captive birds and do not count on a life list. A couple of years ago, there was a barn owl reported at Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown Rhode Island, however I was leaving on a trip and could not get down to photograph it and when I returned from my trip it was not being seen anymore. Recently, a barn owl again as been reported at Sachuest. My grandson and I went down in the afternoon and joined the large number of birders photographers and just ordinary people who would down to see not only the barn owl but the snowy owls. The parking lot at the refuge was fuller than I have ever seen it in the late afternoon on a weekday.

After we parked and set up our cameras and lenses, we joined the group and said hello to people that we knew. In front of us in the field in a tree was a snowy owl and behind us on the observation platform was another snowy owl. I obtained some pictures of the snowy owl in the tree, but I was turned around talking to someone and missed it taking off and flying to the roof of the maintenance building. I went over and took some pictures of it there. After a while and then flew down to a light post then finally down to near the reservoir. Talking with people, this seems to be a regular route that the owl takes.

Snowy owl in tree

Snowy owl on roof  of maintenance shed

Snowy owl on light post with St. George's school in the background

Snowy owl on observation platform, in a resting mode, despite the number of people that went to see it

As it was getting to later in the afternoon and darker, we needed to push our ISO up and we continue to wait for the barn owl to appear. It also follows a regular route. Finally, there it was flying in and churning over the field, hunting, resting in trees and flying off to continue to hunt. I took a large number of pictures, most of them were blurry due to the fact even with a high ISO, my shutter speed was low. But, happily I did get a couple of good photograph's.

Barn owl flying in field between two people

Barn owl in tree

Just prior to us leaving a spectacular sunset finished off a great afternoon.

Sunset at Sachuest

Sunset at Sachuest

Because of the high ISO's that I used I did all my post-processing in Lightroom and Topaz plug-ins: DeNoise, Clarity and Detail

New England Owls

Eastern Screech Owl photographed at Mount Auburn Cemetery

New England has had a total of 12 different species of owls reported.  Of those twelve,  I have photographed six  of the species and have heard one other in New England.  Of the very rarest owl reported - Burrowing Owl, I photographed the burrowing owl in Florida and in California.  I am hoping to observe and photograph the remaining species.


Great Horned Owl  (Bubo virginianus)

Great-horned Owl photograph that Mount Auburn Cemetery

Great-horned Owl, juvenile, photographed at Great Neck Audubon Sanctuary

Barred Owl  (Strix varia)

Barred Owl photographed at the Boston Public Gardens

Eastern Screech Owl  (Megascops asio)

Eastern Screech Owl photographed at an owl prowl at the Stone Barn, Allens Pond Audubon Sanctuary

Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Snowy Owl photographed at Duxbury Beach

Snowy Owl photographed at Duxbury Beach

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)

Short-eared Owl photographed at Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge

Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)

Northern Hawk Owl photographed at Palmyra Maine

Northern Hawk Owl photographed at Palmyra Maine

I have only heard the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) during a bird-a-thon

For the remaining owls: Barn Owl (I have photographed a captive Barn Owl), Long-eared Owl, Boreal Owl, Great Gray Owl; I keep looking at the e- bird news for any information on these owls, so I could plan a trip to try to observe and photograph them.

By the way, here is a photograph of a Burrowing Owl, which I photographed in California and really don't expect to photograph here in New England

Burrowing Owl