My camera was either in the blind with me or set up behind me on a
tripod so the 18 – 105mm and 12-24mm lenses got the work for this season. The
camera was always in RAW format and aperture priority mode with adjustments to
exposure compensation and flash output if needed. The Hahnel wireless remote
control allowed me to sit in my blind and capture the birds coming into the
decoys while still being able to handle my shotgun.
Throughout the season, I uploaded the files off my camera onto my
computer and into ViewNX to post process them. If needed, I adjusted the main
settings that I do on all my RAW files: exposure compensation, white balance,
picture control & highlight/shadow slider. The white balance was set to either
shade, direct sunlight or cloudy while the picture control was set to custom
settings of sport, nature-landscape and monochr. The sliders for highlight and
shadows were changed to save highlights or lighten the images.
To finalize the images, I used my new software, Photoshop Elements 11
to do the final adjustments on these images. I used levels along with a layer
masks, clone brush tool and straighten/crop to put the final touches on the
waterfowl images. I also created multiply exposed files in ViewNX and then
merged them together in EasyHDR to create HDR images.
It is hard to believe another season is in the books but once again, it
was a great time spent with family and friends along with being behind the
camera. I look forward to getting some rest the next month and getting ready
for snow goose season.
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