Otters

[SharonH]

There were so many otters out when I was there, they all looked so happy

Playing with his rock



Obviously sharing a secret

[MJ224]

Lovely creatures. and great photos...

[SharonH]

Thank you :-)

[AlfandBen]

Nice shots, particularly number 1. They always make me smile. Apparently we have them living in the wild fairly local to us but never seen them.

[SharonH]

Thank you :-) How lucky, hopefully you will see one soon though.

[Isac]

They are fascinating creatures and so enjoyable to watch them. They do need a bit of lighting adjustment to really show them off.

[SharonH]

Thank you :-)
Is that lighter or darker please?

[Isac]

I would use Adobe Camera Raw to adjust the lighting to brighten the otters. 1st copy the image (CTRL + J) and then right-click it and "Convert to Smart Object". Next Press CTRL + SHIFT + A and it will open in Camera Raw. In the BASIC section, click AUTO and then slide the Shadows to 90 and you'll see a dramatic change which makes the otters really stand out. To keep these adjustments, just click OK. Because it is a Smart Object, you can take it back into Camera Raw and adjust to your liking.

[SharonH]

Thank you, I shot them in Jpeg though :-( I have learnt that I need to shoot in RAW now and will do in the future :-)

[Isac]

JPG is a lot better now than what it used to be, so shooting JPG is fine unless you really need to manipulate the image. It's easy to take the jpg image into Camera Raw from Photoshop anyway (Ctrl + Shift + A) and most adjustments and filters will work anyway. RAW is better for editing of course but the files are much bigger - but storage is very cheap these days, so that's a bonus.

[SharonH]

I managed to get this done :-)

[AlfandBen]

Great shot. What was between you and them?

[Isac]

You did really well with this, I got a very similar result. It does make the subject stand out a lot more.

I found that by using a brightening effect called Dodging, I could lighten just a few sections using the brush tool.

This is how you create and use a Dodge layer:
Select the image in the layers panel and create a new fill layer with: Shift + Ctrl + N and enter the settings shown in the image below:

Name the layer DODGE and change the Mode: to OVERLAY, Opacity: 100%. Click the check box for Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray) and then click OK.
Select the Solid Round brush tool and in the Options panel across the top set the Opacity: 15% and Flow: 15%. Set the foreground colour to White.
Select the DODGE layer in the layers panel and brush on the image where you want to brighten it. You will see the image brighten where you are brushing.

I hope this helps