DSS #28 My Struggles

DsrtVW

I am throwing up on the wall to see what sticks. C&C needed

Bodie trip this last weekend that had Circles or squares

1 Church with seagull


2Arrested Decay


3 High Mileage


4 flowers


5 Shapes work in progress

Katmitchell

What do you mean what sticks??????

These are awesome.. I am looking.. Will post in a minute..

Kat

dnie

ok, while Kat looks.... I love these! The colors are fabulous!

I am having hard time picking between the old car and the Morning Glories. (Which reminded me I havn't seen mine that are that color yet) I think the morning Glories fit the theme well... oh man... they are all so good....
yep, flowers for me.

Katmitchell

Ok.. Here is my take on them...


#1 - simply gorgeous photography work there.. but not as strong on theme as some of the others..although it does work for the theme, just not as strong..


#2 - Is a very strong entry, but I feel like it is leaning in on me... no likey..

#3- More commendable photography work, but not as strong on theme as others..

#4 - Love it and it is strong on theme, very creative look at nature's circles.
not to mention it is beautiful and makes an impact..

#5 - Really love it... I can see that you are working on it, and it is my hope that you are in the process of getting rid of the grey vignette because that filled in and around it will make it look too digital artsy, and I think the pavement surrounding them looks super, and it is a much better choice.

There's my best take on them....rofl

Nice Work...

Katmitchell

dnie wrote:

ok, while Kat looks.... I love these! The colors are fabulous!

Your always making me laugh.. Miss Smarty Pants..rofl

DsrtVW

The last one I was tring to get rid of the parking lot background junk, but i need more time to work on it. Not a strong photo shop type
I am going to look at the flowers again in the morning and shoot them with my 200mm f2. I just have not had much time in this challenge. Thanks for the feedback. Good night.

Katmitchell

oh yeah I forgot to mention.. I love that grass around that car,, you did an awesome job on post process here Chris... If ya don't end up using this one for this contest, I would definitely enter it over there in the "Mini", the theme is Loss, and I think this would make a great entry as "Loss of Glory" or something like that anyways.. I love it.

Kat

Katmitchell

DsrtVW wrote:

The last one I was tring to get rid of the parking lot background junk, but i need more time to work on it. Not a strong photo shop type
I am going to look at the flowers again in the morning and shoot them with my 200mm f2. I just have not had much time in this challenge. Thanks for the feedback. Good night.

Well if ya send me the link to the original, perhaps I can make some Photoshop suggestions? I would have to see what you are working with...:D

Kat

richtersl

All these shots are excellent, but the ones that come closest to fitting the theme are 3, 4, & 5.

#3 would be a perfect candidate for some HDR work to bring out the texture of the rust. But that's just an option. The composition is centered but I think it works well in this case because the round headlights are more or less right in your face.

The colors in #4 are dazzling! And those morning glories definitely fit the theme.

#5 is your strongest candidate. I'm not totally sold on the gradient in the upper right corner of it. I think you need to either make the delineation more gradual or eliminate it entirely and use the tiles as a background. I see that it's a work in progress and I can't wait to see the end result.

---

BTW --#2 and #3 are prime candidates for this vintage action:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1045138

I've used it to create the following images:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/gallery/5501803_hJZsF#431901052_v5Whm

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/gallery/5668802_S98iD#349034295_LTtPg (applied action, then added an aged paper layer to it)

It takes a long time to run but the results are SUPER!

DsrtVW

I do not have photoshop, I do have Corel X3 Graphics suite but most of my work with that is graphics. It is close to PS. I use NX2 Capture for most of my editing. I will work on it more time permitting I might try and reshoot at a higher angle to see if that will work better too


Here is what I was trying to get rid of

MarkR

DsrtVW wrote:

I do not have photoshop, I do have Corel X3 Graphics suite but most of my work with that is graphics. It is close to PS. I use NX2 Capture for most of my editing. I will work on it more time permitting I might try and reshoot at a higher angle to see if that will work better too


Here is what I was trying to get rid of

You just need a really big stepladder ... or a bucket truck!

dnie

I gotta ask... is it Target? The balls in front of ours are red.

I can see where it is hard to clean up the background. Maybe if you kept the color a little grayer, more like the tiles?

DsrtVW

I actually have ladders on my work truck but they were at my jobsite. I am going back to use them. Or cut and paste background.
These orbs are in front of an office building. I was getting strange looks from the inhabitants while I was taking shots. Could not understand why I would choose that subject.
I did not try to explain my affliction of smugmugitis or would it be Dgrinexplexia, only known cure is to keep pressing a camera shutter.
I find if you just mumble a lot or break out with camera induced touretts fits they leave you alone.

travelways

I like the flowers best - the colors and composition are really nice
and the photo responds very well to the theme, in my opinion

NikonsandVstroms

DsrtVW wrote:

I actually have ladders on my work truck but they were at my jobsite. I am going back to use them. Or cut and paste background.
These orbs are in front of an office building. I was getting strange looks from the inhabitants while I was taking shots. Could not understand why I would choose that subject.
I did not try to explain my affliction of smugmugitis or would it be Dgrinexplexia, only known cure is to keep pressing a camera shutter.
I find if you just mumble a lot or break out with camera induced touretts fits they leave you alone.

In addition to going up and making a form with these orbs I would also try going closer to the ground and see how that looks, you will have the individual orb or orbs in the frame seem much more imposing which could work as well.

As for post processing try the GIMP, it is free has basically all the tools I use in photoshop.

Katmitchell

DsrtVW wrote:

I do not have photoshop, I do have Corel X3 Graphics suite but most of my work with that is graphics. It is close to PS. I use NX2 Capture for most of my editing. I will work on it more time permitting I might try and reshoot at a higher angle to see if that will work better too


Here is what I was trying to get rid of

Chris,, I look forward to the reshoot.. however, if you don't reshoot OR those do not turn out like you want them, then this can be fixed with layers and masks.. by cropping down to the white car and bringing in a duplicated layer of the pic and masking in the blacktop to fill it in.. At least that is what I would do if I had to fix it..


When ya reshoot how about towards the building? Up above them sounds great too.. I look forward to those shots..


Believe me, I get the same weird looks from folks..The other day, when I was shooting those gas pumps, I had a group of strangers come right up behind me and stand shoulder to shoulder with me and stare.. I said "hello can I help you?" and they said "we were just wondering if ya needed some people to pose for you in your shot"... full grown adult tourists following me around joining in the fun.. ha..

dnie

Katmitchell wrote:

Believe me, I get the same weird looks from folks..The other day, when I was shooting those gas pumps, I had a group of strangers come right up behind me and stand shoulder to shoulder with me and stare.. I said "hello can I help you?" and they said "we were just wondering if ya needed some people to pose for you in your shot"... full grown adult tourists following me around joining in the fun.. ha..

Must be nice... models just offering themselves!!! geez. I just get the looks. Do I care? nope.

whiterice

#5 has LOTS of potential, though I like the rusted car as well.

DsrtVW

I was going to try a low perspective but the cement was blazing hot we will try it again before the challenge is up. I can bring it into photopaint X3 or Painter 10 and really play with it but I find it better to go and reshoot if possible. I do not mind spending time behind the camera. But I find photo manipulation tedious sometime especially when I have a lot on my plate.
Have some T Shirt orders I have to get done after work tonight.
The flowers were not as pretty this morning I will look at them tomorrow. Morning glorys give you something different everyday. Back to work.

dlplumer

Irrespective of the challenge, I love #4