A few thoughts on Google's Nik Collection

Back in March, Google made the entire Nik Collection photo-editing suite available as a free download. Despite my initial scepticism (and wariness of filters that claim to replicate the "look" of film), I have to admit - now that I've been using it for a few months - it is actually really good and serves as a helpful complement to Photoshop. The Control Point technology is particularly useful for carrying out localised enhancements, saving a lot of time compared to manually creating masks.

Selective sharpening using colour range masking

Of course, no amount of software wizardry can turn a bad photo into a good photo, but with a little care you can get some interesting results, as shown below. (Note: my photo-editing steps are usually a lot more subtle than this. I provide these photos as examples because it's easier to see the difference.)

Move your mouse across the images to see them as they appeared before processing. Most of these results were achieved using Color Efex Pro, but the first image (the helicopter over the house) was enhanced using Silver Efex Pro to create a High Dynamic black-and-white luminosity layer.

Helicopter at North Foreland, April 2016 

Stodmarsh Hobby, May 2016

Bright Wake on a Dark Sea, November 2016

Common Tern, May 2016

Stodmarsh NNR, June 2016

The complete Google Nik Collection suite is available at:
https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
It works best as a Photoshop plugin (under the Filter menu), but you can also run each application as a standalone program if you create short-cuts to the individual .exe files.

Digital Darkroom: Liven up dull photos

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, what you hoped would be a good photo comes out looking a little dull. In my case it's usually because I wasn't able to get enough separation between the bird and the background, and/or it wasn't in direct light. Fortunately there's a four-step technique you can apply in Photoshop that will restore some life to your image without adding extra noise.

1. Duplicate the background layer. (If your image already contains adjustment layers, combine them all into a new layer by pressing N followed by E while holding down the Shift, Ctrl and Alt keys.)
2. Boost the Saturation by +75.
3. Apply Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5 pixels.
4. Change the blending mode of the layer to Screen and reduce the opacity to 10%. (You can control the strength of the effect by changing the opacity, but don't overdo it!)

Here's a before-and-after example for comparison. Move your mouse over the image to toggle the effect.

Eastern Black Redstart, Palm Bay, November 2011

The beauty of this technique is that you can record these steps as an Action in Photoshop and then apply them to any image with just a single click.

...or you could just download the Action I've already prepared for you here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BySUCOFwHc1Celk1SU5md3NSUzQ

To install the file in Photoshop, go to the dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the Actions palette, click on "Load Actions..." and navigate to wherever you saved the file.

Of course, no amount of digital trickery is going to turn a bad image into a good image; nor is this method a substitute for proper adjustment of Levels and Curves etc., but it is a quick and easy way to improve images which require that little extra "punch".

Digital Darkroom: Seamless composites in four easy steps

This is the first in an occasional series in which I share processing tips and tricks.

If you've got two or more photos of a bird against a plain background (usually a blue sky), there's a quick and easy way to turn them into a composite image like this one:

Bittern (composite), Grove Ferry, January 2012

As well as being fast, this method also avoids the unsightly halos often seen in composite photos where the sky colours don't quite match. The steps below apply to Photoshop, but most photo-editing programs will have similar functions.

1) Open one of the images you want to cut from, select the Magic Wand Tool (W) and click anywhere on the background sky. The "marching ants" outline will show you what's been selected.

2) From the menu, choose Select > Inverse. Now only the bird should be selected. If you find that other areas (like bright clouds) are still selected, switch to the Lasso Tool (L), click on "Subtract from Selection" on the Options bar, and simply draw a loop round the offending area to remove it.

3) Choose Select > Modify > Expand (1 pixel). This will ensure a smoother blend into the background sky. 

4) Click on Edit > Copy. You can now paste the selection into another image as a new layer, and position it with the Move Tool (V). Repeat these steps for any other images until you've built up your composite. (To save time, and to ensure consistency, I would leave any Levels or colour adjustments until after you've assembled the composite, rather than performing them on each individual image.)

Note: It's also worth pointing out that if you publish your finished work online, it's good practice to include the word "composite" somewhere in the title, lest anyone should think you really did capture four Alpine Swifts in a single shot...

Alpine Swift (composite), North Foreland, April 2010