Fixing Another Rick Hunter Photograph

Ric has to learn how to retouch photos. It is essential for someone who snaps a photo in the heat of the moment and finds later that while the composition was somewhat satisfactory, that the shadows cast on the subject distracts.

The edited photo is the result of testing and trying different techniques in eliminating the excessive shadow that is present below the eagle's eye to the right and downward.

Ric, I suggest you become a member of COSTCO -- they have Adobe Photoshop Essentials ver. 8.0 for $90.00. Everything that was accomplished in PSCS5 could have easily been accomplished in Essentials 8.0.

I have many tutorials that are available that will train you, as an able Air Force Officer to be able to depend less on a US Army Officer to fix your photos.

Click on each photo to fill your screen.

Sunset Over The Blue Ridge Mountains

We do not often have spectacular sunsets because our home is below a mountain ridge located due west.

This is a view looking east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We often get grand sunrises -- see my star-bright sunrise posted in March.

Goldfinch On Our Birdbath

This is the real thing -- not a composite image as I did in a previous post using Rick Sammon's urgings to make a picture.

In this image I actually shot through the pickets of our deck railing that are spaced 4.5 inches apart.

The photo was shot with the trusty 18-200mm general purpose lens at 200mm (300 mm on a 35 mm film camera).
Note that the bird has a shadow cast onto the birdbath. While it is easy to create a shadow in Photoshop, I have not done this in this photo.

Be sure to fill the screen by clicking on the thumbnail.

Goldfinch On Our Birdfeeder

I set the camera to four frames per second and shot over 100 images.

Increasing the ISO helped with the shutter speed. I shot in aperture mode at f8 or higher so that I had a decent depth of field.

Don't forget to click on the image to fill your screen. Click again to view a closeup of the bird.

Turks Cap Lily

The number of plants dotting Wildwood Acres has increased considerably this year.

The wildflower blooms July and August in this mountain region.

Capturing the bloom with a butterfly increases the beauty of the photograph.

Be sure to click on the photo to fill your screen.