is this shot salvageable?

System

hi, i'm new to this forum and this is my first post... with a terribly under-exposed image.



i was busy getting some shots for a pano at a pond when i heard these ducks coming my way... i barely had time to pan the camera and dial in a faster shutter - above is the best of three images. is this shot salvageable? i'm a rookie - both at photography and in post. i've tried getting the most out of this one and have sought the help of someone else too, hehe... he suggested i check with you guys. :wave

anyone wanna take a swing at this one? above is a resized version, the original 8mp jpeg can be found at
http://alptraum.us/misc/flight.jpg

i'd even be happy with a more "artistic" approach, just trying to save these ducks from the recycle bin, lol. or is it even worth an attempt?

thanks!
sash

Andy

welcome, sascha!


hey everybody, this is sascha, and he kicks butt in the photography deptartment. you'll love his shots of the american west!

sascha, here's my take. not very good, unfortunately, as the methods to bring up the exposure really introduce a lot of noise



here's the logfile showing what i tried:

2004-10-14 18:57:09 File sascha.jpg opened
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C:\Documents and Settings\Andy\Desktop\sascha.jpg
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As: JPEG
Quality: 9
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In: C:\Documents and Settings\Andy\Desktop\
2004-10-14 19:06:19 File sascha.jpg closed
Close

wxwax

I gave it a try. First step was a duplicate layer, then change blending to Linear Dodge. Make a mask and darken the top part of the sky a wee bit. That seemed to highlight where the birds are. Flatten. Then use the Cletus Method to lighten the foreground, with special emphasis on where the lovely golden light is. Much more could be drawn out of the foreground, but I thought it might be too much, so I left it relatively dark. Running it through Noise Ninja or similar should help.

Pic is link to Original.

wxwax

The Cletus Method

Andy

sid!

System

thanks again, andy... and thanks sid! i appreciate the time and effort - both of your attempts are well beyond my abilities in post and i think the results are a very good compromise given the nature of the original

thanks for the link to the cletus method too - something i'll have to mess around with. man, i wish we didn't have to waste so many hours a day sleeping, lol.

sascha

wxwax

sash wrote:

thanks again, andy... and thanks sid! i appreciate the time and effort - both of your attempts are well beyond my abilities in post and i think the results are a very good compromise given the nature of the original

thanks for the link to the cletus method too - something i'll have to mess around with. man, i wish we didn't have to waste so many hours a day sleeping, lol.

sascha

It was fun, Sash, and I only had a few minutes to spend on it this morning before going to work. If I have time, I'll try some more this weekend. I believe the rule of thumb is that dark is OK, there's usually still detail in the dark images. But overexposure is death - all of the detail is burned out and gone for good.

wxwax

Sasha, here's another crude pass.

System

lol @ "crude"... whoa, great job! it's nice to see some color back in the sky too, well done i was already satisfied with previous rendition - this one's even better. thanks!

i noticed you didn't link to a larger version, lol... sure, if you want to mess around with it some more you're more than welcome to - i'd just hate to take up so much of your time!

cheers,
sash

Aaron Wilson

photoshop
What is a good book or so to learn photoshop?

wxwax

sash wrote:

lol @ "crude"... whoa, great job! it's nice to see some color back in the sky too, well done i was already satisfied with previous rendition - this one's even better. thanks!

i noticed you didn't link to a larger version, lol... sure, if you want to mess around with it some more you're more than welcome to - i'd just hate to take up so much of your time!

cheers,
sash

Oops, sorry about that Sash.

Here's a link to the original.

wxwax

Aaron Wilson wrote:

What is a good book or so to learn photoshop?

I posted an answer in your thread, Aaron. Scott Kelby.

System

oh heck, no sorries! i just assumed you didn't link to it as it was a crude take... but all things considered - i think it turned out great thanks again, sid!

i've heard a lot about scott kelby's books and may have to look into those as well

sash

System

Enhanced "flight"
http://trishbrown.smugmug.com/gallery/259907

I gave it a stab, what do you think?

~Trish~

cletus

TrishBrown wrote:

http://trishbrown.smugmug.com/gallery/259907

I gave it a stab, what do you think?

~Trish~

Looks good

photocat

Good book

Aaron Wilson wrote:

What is a good book or so to learn photoshop?

I like Scott Kelby A LOT...
Martin Evening is also great.
Deke Mc Clellan

I would start with Scott Kelby...