Mockingbird in C8 /  by Todd Henson

Mockingbird in C8

Today we look at a single photograph of a northern mockingbird, an extremely common bird in Virginia, and yet one I find endlessly fascinating. They are extremely talented musicians, able to perform a much wider range of material than most other birds. I enjoy just sitting and listening, closing my eyes and imagining I’m surrounded by a flurry of dozens of different species instead of just the one bird, so easy to do with their vocal skills.

Photographed in mid-afternoon, the sun still fairly high in the sky with clouds in the background makes for a fairly high-key image. I was pleased the mockingbird chose this perch and posed just so, allowing for this simple composition.

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Color Fringing Fungus: An Example of Chromatic Aberration /  by Todd Henson

Side by side example of chromatic aberration

Today I wanted to tackle the topic of chromatic aberration, what it is, and how to attempt to correct it. Please click on all the photos in this post to see larger versions.

What is Chromatic Aberration?

This topic has the potential to get very technical as chromatic aberration, also called color fringing, is something caused by the optical physics of lenses. But I don’t want to get too technical, so a simple description is that chromatic aberration is unwanted bands of color, most often along the edges of objects in the photo and often when there is strong contrast between light and dark areas. It’s best to start with an example, so look at the closeup photo below of some fungus where I’ve circled the areas showing chromatic aberration.

A closeup showing chromatic aberration in regions where light and dark meet

See how the top section has a band of magenta color along the lower edge of the light band on the fungus, right where it transitions from light fungus to dark background? In the middle and lower sections the fringing is in the form of bands of green color. Neither the magenta nor the green are a natural part of this scene. They are distortions caused by imperfections and limitations in the lens.

Chromatic aberration is generally more likely to occur when using wider apertures, so you can reduce or eliminate it by stopping down to a smaller aperture. But sometimes this won’t create the photo you’re trying for and you need to use a wider aperture. In those cases you may end up with some color fringing. Thankfully, today’s software provides methods to correct this.

Auto Correcting Chromatic Aberration

I used Adobe Lightroom for these examples. This is from an older version so it’s possible the options may look different on the version you have but the concept is the same.

Shows I’ve checked Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections under the Profile section of Lens Corrections in Lightroom.

Lightroom provides a means of automatically correcting chromatic aberration, and in this case it was done by checking a checkbox labelled Remove Chromatic Aberration within the Profile section of Lens Corrections. I also check Enable Profile Corrections to correct other sorts of lens distortions. Sometimes Lightroom does a great job and this is all I need to do. But as we’ll see, sometimes it doesn’t correct as much of the color fringing as I’d like.

Below are examples showing the uncorrected closeup followed by an attempt at Lightroom’s autocorrection of chromatic aberration with specific sections circled in red to show the color fringing. Notice, even after the correction there still is a fair bit of color fringing.

Shows the uncorrected sections with chromatic aberration

Shows the autocorrected sections. Note, there is still noticeable color fringing.

Below is a slideshow of the above two images. Click on the photo to cycle between uncorrected and autocorrected.

Manually Correcting Chromatic Aberration

I wanted to remove more of the color fringing than Lightroom did when I checked the Remove Chromatic Aberration box. So I clicked on Manual and used the dropper tool to specifically select the areas of the photo that were showing the strongest color fringing. I did this multiple times, over both the magenta and the green fringing. This told Lightroom the specific color fringing it should attempt to correct.

Shows the default settings for the Manual section of Lens Corrections in Lightroom.

Shows the settings after manually using the dropper tool to select regions with strong color fringing.

Below are examples showing the uncorrected closeup followed by my attempt at manually correcting the chromatic aberrations. By using the manual dropper I was able to do a much better job at removing the specific color fringing present in this photo.

Shows the uncorrected sections with chromatic aberration

Shows the manually corrected sections. Most color fringing is now gone, or at least reduced.

Below is a slideshow of the above two images. Click on the photo to cycle between uncorrected and manually corrected.

Conclusion

Chromatic aberration won’t be a problem in all photos. In fact, I’d say it’s not a problem in most of my photos. And in many cases when it is present Lightroom does a great job automatically correcting the color fringing. But in special situations, often when I’m doing macro work with wide apertures and subjects with strong regions of contrast between light and dark, chromatic aberration will become a problem and I’ll put a little more effort into manually correcting for it.

Below is the final photo after manually correcting for chromatic aberration.

The final photo after manually correcting for chromatic aberration.

Bonus: Hidden Flying Insect

Did you happen to notice the tiny little insect hiding in the photo and closeups above? I’d not even seen it until I zoomed way in using Lightroom. Below is another of the closeup images where I’ve circled the little creature in red.

Check out the tiny flying insect on the fungus.

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Before & After: Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek /  by Todd Henson

Before & After: Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek

It’s been far too long since I wrote a before & after post where I compare how an image looks straight out of the camera with the final post-processed image and talk about how I got there. So for today I chose the photo, Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek, first posted in mid-January of 2024.

Straight Out of the Camera

Before making any adjustments

First off, I absolutely loved the scene that morning and was so pleased to capture a bald eagle as it flew by. But as you can see I ended up underexposing the scene so the image straight out of the camera is a little on the dark side. I try to get better exposures in camera as that gives you more data to work with in post due to how digital sensors work. But sometimes I don’t quite get it exactly as desired and rely on the dynamic range of today’s sensors to capture enough detail in those darker shadows. You’ll see below how I adjust the exposure in Adobe Lightroom to create what I believe is a more pleasing version of the scene.

Step 1: Initial Global Exposure Adjustments

Initial global exposure adjustments

Instead of raising the exposure right off the bat I decided to raise the shadows and see if there was any detail worth revealing. While doing that I also dropped the whites and blacks a bit and added a little vibrance.

Step 2: Linear Gradient Over the Clouds

Linear gradient over the clouds

Next I decided to try bringing out a little more drama in the clouds so I created a linear gradient over the upper clouds. The areas affected by these changes are highlighted in red. In that gradient I increased the whites a fair bit to brighten them up and I dropped the blacks to darken them just a little. This begins to create a little more contrast.

Step 3: Brush Mask Over Lighter Clouds Above Horizon

Brush mask over lighter clouds above horizon

I decided to try doing something similar in the lighter area near the horizon so I used a brush to create a mask over that area which you can see highlighted in pink/red. I lowered both the shadows and the blacks which darkened those sections.

Step 4: Global Exposure Adjustment to Brighten Image

Global exposure adjustment to brighten image

Finally I got around to raising the exposure to brighten the entire image a bit.

Step 5: Additional Linear Gradient to Sky

Additional linear gradient to sky

I wanted a darker gradient in the sky so I created another linear gradient over top of the existing one and I dropped the exposure in that area, darkening it a bit.

Step 6: Linear Gradient in the Water

Linear gradient in the water

Now it was time to look at the water. I’d created linear gradients in the sky, darkening from top to center. So it seemed to make sense to do something similar in the water below as it should reflect what’s in the sky. So I created a linear gradient from bottom towards top and lowered the exposure a bit to darken that section.

Step 7: Object Mask over Bald Eagle

Object mask over bald eagle

I didn’t want the flying bald eagle to get completely lost in the darkness of the sky so I used the Object masking feature to select the bald eagle, seen in red, and I raised the overall exposure just a smidge, increased the shadows a bit to lighten them, and raised the whites quite a bit to try to make the white on the eagle pop.

Step 8: Brush Mask to Lighten Land Near Horizon

Brush mask to lighten land near horizon

I wanted more detail in the land along the horizon so I used a brush mask on that area. I increased the overall exposure in that area, as well as raising the shadows to brighten them even more. I also raised the whites to lighten some of those areas even more, and I dropped the blacks a bit to keep the darkest areas dark.

Step 9: Brush Mask Over Lighter Areas in Clouds

Brush mask over lighter areas in clouds

I decided I wanted more whites in the clouds so I used a brush to create a mask over the lighter areas and I raised the whites to make them pop a little more.

Step 10: Sharpening and Noise Reduction

Sharpening and noise reduction

At this point I’d originally thought I was just about done so I did the steps I usually save for last. I added sharpening using the masking feature to only sharpen the areas with the most detail. And I used Lightroom’s Denoise feature to reduce the noise in the image. I used an ISO of 500, which in itself isn’t all that high. But I did underexpose the image in the camera and increased exposure in post which tends to bring out any noise in the image. The new Denoise feature usually does a very good job of reducing this digital noise.

Step 11: More Global Exposure Adjustments to Lighten Scene

More global exposure adjustments to lighten scene

At some point I came back to the photo and decided it wasn’t quite there yet. So I made some global adjustments to raise the exposure more, brightening the overall image.

Step 12: Brush Mask to Brighten Near Horizon

Brush mask to brighten near horizon

I decided I wanted a brighter area near the horizon so I used a brush to create a mask and increased exposure within that region.

Step 13: Brush Mask To Lighten Sections of Clouds

Brush mask to lighten sections of clouds

As often happens, I go back and forth with things and I’ll often return to the same areas. Sometimes I’ll adjust existing masks, which I also did in this image, and other times I’ll create new masks. Here I used a brush to create a mask in sections of the sky and increased the exposure to brighten them.

Step 14: Global Exposure Updates to Further Lighten Scene

Global exposure updates to further lighten scene

Once again I decided to increase the global exposure, brightening the image even more. I also updated settings in several of the masks, further tweaking exposure in local areas.

Step 15: Post-Crop Vignette and Various Mask Updates

Post-crop vignette and various mask updates

I often add a post-crop vignette to darken the corners and edges of an image to help bring the eyes of the viewer into the scene, and I did that here, though it was a very small amount of vignetting. I also further tweaked a number of the masks, once again fine tuning local exposure adjustments.

Step 16: Chromatic Aberration and Profile Corrections

Chromatic aberration and profile corrections

Next I applied corrections for chromatic aberrations and lens profile corrections. Chromatic aberrations are strange color fringing that can happen with some lenses and in some scenes, especially in areas where light and dark meet. For profile corrections Adobe has created profiles of many lenses, measuring how they distort a scene and applying adjustments to correct these distortions. Given I was using my macro lens there likely weren’t many adjustments made but I still applied them.

Steps 1-16 Slide Show

Click on the arrows on each side of the image below to cycle through each of the steps. Though the masks do obscure the section of the photo being modified you can generally see the effects of that in the following photo. I’m hopeful this will help show some of the effects of each step in sequence.

 

Final Image

Overcast Blues on Aquia Creek: Final Image

And there you have it. After all those adjustments, all those back and forth changes and further refinements, we end up with the image above. I loved the scene when there. I was slightly concerned when I got home and realized I’d underexposed more than I’d thought. But at the end of the day I’m happy with where I was able to take this image.

Click on the image below to cycle back and forth between the before and after images.

What do you think of the process? Is there anything you’d have done differently?

Photography Prints by Todd Henson

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