Snapshot Serengeti Talk

photo enhancement

  • diedelinde by diedelinde

    Hi, sometimes I get the impression that other viewers (especially the moderators 😃) see much more detail in the pictures than I do, e.g. spots on legs, colour variations, ... which makes me wonder if there are several ways to enhance the pictures. I know how to zoom in, but more often than not this only shows me even fainter images. Any tips?

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  • tillydad by tillydad moderator in response to diedelinde's comment.

    I generally use just the zoom to get a clearer view of an image, but have occasionally also used some other enhancements that are available in photo editing software .
    Experience plays a large part in determining what we are seeing in an image . There are several things that can help to deduce the ID - such as general size and shape, the habitat, the time of day etc. . It does, sometimes, just come down to instinct and experience and you will already have noticed that you are becoming more adept at IDs as you classify more images . Don't worry about making incorrect IDs as we all do so occasionally .
    In some of these "extra" images that we are currently classifying the quality is very poor and we are, therefore, seeing more problem images than we would normally encounter - but this just makes it more interesting and more of a challenge ! )

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  • maricksu by maricksu moderator

    I have used the zoom, with ctrl +/- on my computer and also this very good tip to lighten some photos

    https://talk.snapshotserengeti.org/?_ga=1.172955427.1014146594.1449503413#/boards/BSG0000002/discussions/DSG0001jkd

    I think in many photos, maybe more important in identifying is interpreting cues than seeing clearly and to get experience in that, classifying lots of photos is the key.

    The more we classify, the better we get in many ways and mistakes are part of learning. Studying ID-cues for species in ID-list is of course important help to know what cues are typical for different species.
    The more we see photos, the more we learn how animals can look like (their shape, colours, detail-cues, horns etc.) in different postures, ages and in different lights, backgrounds and we learn to remember what cues to look for in different species.

    Looking at many photos also teaches the eyes. Eyes will learn shapes and to pick up details and also adapt to e.g. photo quality, darkness, even (at least to some degree) to overexposure. In some overexposured photos dark marks, horns are almost all we see. With those e.g. impala and thomsons-gazelle can be though identified.

    Current Extended Survey season is challenging and also very rewarding and interesting.
    In this season we get different angle of view, because cameras are at higher level. In some photos even big animals seen from above. What a great chance to learn, what ID-cues can be seen from this different angle.
    Also e.g. great images of horns, differences of species become more familiar.
    Black and white photos this season are very good to study many ID-cues. E.g. black marks, patches and different tones of "colours" on body get very highlighted in those. 😃

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  • diedelinde by diedelinde

    thank you both!

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  • tillydad by tillydad moderator in response to diedelinde's comment.

    My pleasure 😃

    Posted