How To Make this Picture More Appealing

[K9Kirk]

I would like some critique on this picture. Does it appear to be over exposed or anything else? Thanks for your time!

130cv-studio25 by Kirk Behymer, on Flickr

 

[paddler4]

Nice capture. However, the white balance looks considerably off to me. It looks to me like a yellowish color cast. I'd start by cooling it. You might have to adjust tint as well as temperature. If there is anything around the beak area that should be white, you could try setting that to white and then adjust from that if necessary. In photoshop, I moved temperature down 23 (toward blue) and tint up 5 (toward magenta) as a quick and dirty, and that looked like a much better starting point.

The histogram confirms that exposure is fine. I think you clipped a tiny bit of white near the beak, but not enough to matter.

 

[Joedlh]

The absence of shadows suggests that this shot was taken with the sun low in the sky. In other words, in the golden hour. That could explain the yellow cast Paddler4 noted. Whether the cast should be eliminated or not is up to you in my opinion.

 

[paddler4]

Doesn't the length of shadows increase as the sun goes down? You get zero shadow when the sun is directly overhead. But in any case, yes, it's a matter of taste.

 

[K9Kirk]

The absence of shadows suggests that this shot was taken with the sun low in the sky. In other words, in the golden hour. That could explain the yellow cast Paddler4 noted. Whether the cast should be eliminated or not is up to you in my opinion.

You are right. I took the picture about 15 minutes before sunset when the sun was almost level on the horizon and the light is bright and yellowish. I even lowered the temp. a little because I thought that people may think I had increased the temp too much and not like it. Personally, I liked the cast just fine, knowing it was due to natural golden hour light. Maybe I shouldn't have increased the exposure. I see now that it makes everything seem a little off.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice capture. However, the white balance looks considerably off to me. It looks to me like a yellowish color cast. I'd start by cooling it. You might have to adjust tint as well as temperature. If there is anything around the beak area that should be white, you could try setting that to white and then adjust from that if necessary. In photoshop, I moved temperature down 23 (toward blue) and tint up 5 (toward magenta) as a quick and dirty, and that looked like a much better starting point.

The histogram confirms that exposure is fine. I think you clipped a tiny bit of white near the beak, but not enough to matter.

Thanks! I agree with you about clipping the white on the beak. I wanted it to have a little pop but maybe it's a tad too much. The yellowish tint is due to natural golden hour light, it's natural and was very intense that time of day, so I didn't try getting rid of it. I did try reducing the temp a little from the original, though.

 

[K9Kirk]

Doesn't the length of shadows increase as the sun goes down? You get zero shadow when the sun is directly overhead. But in any case, yes, it's a matter of taste.

Yes, the shadow was long so it was far away and out of the picture. I agree, I go with my taste anymore. I was mostly just wondering what other people thought or if they saw something I didn't. I think a lot of people think I used too much temperature on it, which WOULD give it the yellowish cast. I guess I should mention "golden hour light" for pictures with it in future posts ... and think twice about increasing the exposure. maybe it appears too bright for some.

 

[K9Kirk]

Here's the original, taken just minutes before a very intense, yellowish sunset. I think the problem is I increased the exposure when I should've left it alone. It made it appear more yellowish and a bit washed in appearance. The histogram for the original pic says it was spot on. Live and learn, aye! Thanks to everyone for all the input, I appreciate it!

 

[ShipleyNW]

For as bright as it is, all of the light is kind of the same intensity across the frame with very few shadows. It looks like the sun was right behind your left ear. That makes the image a little flat. Nothing jumps out at you.

I would mask out the bird and its reflection and then make the water either significantly darker, or significantly lighter. This would make the bird pop against the background. In a quick and dirty effort, I chose to darken up the background just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Also, while I had the water masked, I cooled off the color of the water to also give more separation from the bird.

 

[paddler4]

I finally got a chance to look at these on a calibrated monitor. To my taste, the original is the best. Look at the water. It's a natural color in the original, cyan in the OP, and teal in Ken's. To my eye, both of those look unnatural and aren't pleasing.

I have had to deal with this problem a lot because I do night photography. Night photographers argue about how much the color cast, e.g., blue hour, should be kept. Some use a daylight WB and keep it all. Others neutralize it. The first often looks exaggerated to me, while the latter loses the character. My take is that the best is often in between, but it varies from image to image. The point IMHO is to create a pleasing and interesting image.

The golden hour cast in the original shot looks nice to me. I played a bit in Lightroom Classic, doing a quick and dirty edit but not changing the WB at all to keep the golden tone. As Ken suggested, I separated the bird from the background (using the new landscape features function, which makes it trivially easy to do). Among other things, I added texture and a tiny bit of saturation to the bird, as well as a bit of midtone contrast with a curve. I darkened the water overall, and then I used the color mixer tool to further darken the water and increase the saturation of that blue. I fiddled with overall exposure, increasing it but pulling down the whites. Just a crude quick and dirty, but it shows directions that I would go.

 

[K9Kirk]

For as bright as it is, all of the light is kind of the same intensity across the frame with very few shadows. It looks like the sun was right behind your left ear. That makes the image a little flat. Nothing jumps out at you.

I would mask out the bird and its reflection and then make the water either significantly darker, or significantly lighter. This would make the bird pop against the background. In a quick and dirty effort, I chose to darken up the background just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Also, while I had the water masked, I cooled off the color of the water to also give more separation from the bird.

View attachment 196673

I always question whether I should make the pic look natural or make it look better. i like what you did here but the darkness/saturation of the blue seems a bit much for my taste. I took your queues and I re-edited and brought the temperature down but not quite a much because I wanted to retain some of the brightness, to keep it more natural in appearance. It's just my personal taste. Thanks for your help, it opened my eyes to a few things..

 

[K9Kirk]

I finally got a chance to look at these on a calibrated monitor. To my taste, the original is the best. Look at the water. It's a natural color in the original, cyan in the OP, and teal in Ken's. To my eye, both of those look unnatural and aren't pleasing.

I have had to deal with this problem a lot because I do night photography. Night photographers argue about how much the color cast, e.g., blue hour, should be kept. Some use a daylight WB and keep it all. Others neutralize it. The first often looks exaggerated to me, while the latter loses the character. My take is that the best is often in between, but it varies from image to image. The point IMHO is to create a pleasing and interesting image.

The golden hour cast in the original shot looks nice to me. I played a bit in Lightroom Classic, doing a quick and dirty edit but not changing the WB at all to keep the golden tone. As Ken suggested, I separated the bird from the background (using the new landscape features function, which makes it trivially easy to do). Among other things, I added texture and a tiny bit of saturation to the bird, as well as a bit of midtone contrast with a curve. I darkened the water overall, and then I used the color mixer tool to further darken the water and increase the saturation of that blue. I fiddled with overall exposure, increasing it but pulling down the whites. Just a crude quick and dirty, but it shows directions that I would go.

I like this, it's closer to what I had in mind, closer to my original I think. I don't have LR like you do so I can't do the things you did but I realize now I should've just left the picture alone for the most part, the camera produced a more natural picture than I could. I just botched it up trying to make it look better I think. For now on I'm just going to embrace the golden hour light and not mess with it. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

 

[ShipleyNW]

I always question whether I should make the pic look natural or make it look better. i like what you did here but the darkness/saturation of the blue seems a bit much for my taste. I took your queues and I re-edited and brought the temperature down but not quite a much because I wanted to retain some of the brightness, to keep it more natural in appearance. It's just my personal taste. Thanks for your help, it opened my eyes to a few things..

My commentary is always given as more of a plan of attack rather than a recipe; this is what I'd try to achieve and why. The image is yours so season it to your taste. I would expect no less.