A widespread belief among the general, non-animal-photographing (and therefore more or less normal) population is that patience is the essential quality of a wildlife photographer. I consider myself primarily a wildlife photographer, and my social bubble is teeming with other such weirdos. So let me give a little insight into how things really are.

German pro Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug readers who appreciate his detailed tutorials for enhancing landscape imagery. Today he’s switching things up by applying his post-processing expertise to wildlife photographs that need some serious help from Lightroom.

Whether your subject is a local bird at a nearby park or an exotic big cat in the wilds of Africa, this 11-minute episode will make a significant improvement in your results. We suggest downloading Mohrle’s demonstration image with the link beneath the video so you can mimic his edit from start to finish as the straightforward steps are explained.

It’s obvious that this unimpressive shot must be completely rehabilitated to keep it out of the trash bin. The bird needs separation from the background, and there are three major areas of concern. The foreground is too bright, and the background is a bit too dark with rather flat light,

And there’s the subject itself which can benefit from more natural colors in the feathers and increased detail overall.

Mohrle initiates the process by heading into Lightroom’s Lens Corrections tab. Here he enables both the Remove Chromatic Aberrations and the Profile Corrections options. Doing so immediately minimizes lens distortions for a better looking image.

Now it’s time for several basic adjustments, and the first step is to completely drop the highlights to dramatically increase detail. Mohrle then opens up the shadows, pushes contrast by bringing up the whites, and modifies the blacks in a way that provides the soft, dreamy effect that he has in mind.

Mohrle wraps up the preliminary adjustments by removing a heavy green cast, boosting Texture, dropping Clarity and Dehaze, and bringing up Vibrance. The foregoing global adjustments were made without much attention to the bird, and this is where the important selective enhancements begin.

This step is the real meat of the tutorial as Mohrle employs masks to enhance his main subject in various ways without biasing surrounding areas of this very simple composition. He also adds a Linear gradient near the top and bottom portions of the shot to make subtle adjustments that accentuate the bird further.

All that’s left to complete this impressive transformation is thoughtful color grading and very careful sharpening. Mohrle’s before/after images illustrate the effectiveness of his technique. Once the video concludes take a look at Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn.

And don’t miss the tutorial we featured recently with another image-editing expert who explains why and how selective post-processing adjustments (not just global enhancements) are necessary for the best possible photographs.

Yesterday we brought you an eye-opening tutorial from a professional wildlife photographer who insists that a camera’s histogram may not be telling you the truth, and thereby compromising the quality of images you shoot. Unfortunately, there’s another harmful camera untruth, as you’ll see in today’s video from the f/64 Academy YouTube channel.

This episode begins with photographer Blake Rudis scolding his camera, and it goes something like this: “For as much as you lie to me I still can’t help but love you, so let’s go take some pictures.” The source of his disdain is unreliable Color Balance settings, and Rudis presents several examples to prove his point.”

Unlike your camera Rudis is a straight shooter, and he describes the dilemma like this: No matter how hard a camera tries it can’t give you perfect Color Balance because it doesn’t perceive color like our eyes do.” In other words, even the best cameras are just not capable of true color accuracy.

There are many variables responsible for this problem, and Rudis begins with a surprising example of his new eyeglasses that have blue-blocker lenses with a yellowish tint to offset the blue light emanating from his computer monitor. While evaluating his images he realized “there’s a lot about White Balance that we just haven’t talked about.”

He illustrates several more common concerns before jumping into Photoshop to demonstrate his methods for assuring that you get accurate colors almost every time. You may be thinking that none this doesn’t apply to you because there’s a color checker in your bag that enables you to capture photos with very precise tones.

Well, don’t fool yourself, because Rudis restates his claim more emphatically: “Your camera cannot, I repeat CANNOT, and never will give you the most accurate representation of color in any given scene—even if you’re using a color checker.”

Rudis provides a comprehensive discussion of the specific effects of light on both color and photographic prints. The then turns to Photoshop and demonstrates a basic White Balance fix, followed by more advanced techniques. He even explains what to do when your scene includes a rainbow that deserves a realistic appearance.

So watch the lesson and don’t get too angry at your camera because, “it’s not lying to you to be mean. It’s more like a child who doesn’t know what it’s doing.” Feel better? Be sure to visit the f/64 Academy YouTube channel where there are many more helpful episodes, though not as provocative, as this one.

Then check out the tutorial mentioned at the onset that demonstrates why your camera’s histogram may not be telling the truth and spoiling the quality of your photographs.

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