DSS #31 - Amusement Park

MikeK

I went to a local town carnival this weekend, my idea was to get some shots of people on the rides with either their eyes wide open in fear or mouths open screaming. It was a lot harder than I was expecting. Some of the rides were under a canopy and too dark while others (like below) were against the bright sky and tough to meter.

Here's my best offering, working title is: "Wide Open Screams".

I'm not 100% pleased with it, so fire away and tell me what you think.

Katmitchell

Hi Mike

What an exceptionally skillful shot..

wow.. love it..

I see what you mean... it sure would be awesome if that little girl on the bottom was up top or somewhere in the middle..She really pulls the theme together.

I think it works.. You might think on the title some.. "screams" kind of works and kind of does not because of that older people up top smiling..

If you can't come up with a better one, then I say it works just fine..

I see just a tiny bit of haze on the dark blue shirts, that might be my monitor, not sure, so you may want to see what others say about that..

I love it.. It is a gorgeous and FUN capture... It definitely invites us in to look....

Kat

MikeK

Thanks Kat, you're too kind. I had a range of exposures, but they all came out too dark or too light up against the sky like that. I had to mess around quite a bit in RAW to make it look decent. So there may very well be some weirdness in some of the colors.

And you wouldn't believe how many shots you need to take to get a good expression on everyone face! Most of the time half the people look bored or are talking to each other.

Yeah, I agree on the title too. I'm having trouble coming up with something that clicks. But I'm glad you enjoyed the 'fun' factor, that was the primary theme.

I've got another idea for a different shot, if I can get my daughter to pose for me this week I'll see if that works any better.

Thanks!

Katmitchell

Yes... I know.. The sky still gets me to this day.. it can be difficult especially on a bright gorgeous day like this.. Add to that a fast shutter and I understand what you are talking about with the light being too low sometimes too.. I deal with that headache a lot when I shoot martial arts events..

All in all, it is very impressive, a stock type photo..

Great color and a lot of inviting joy..

I had this haze problem with my bar stools entry, and I think it came from adjusting the levels too much in RAW.. Just thought to mention that..

I had to laugh when you mentioned how many shots it took.. too true..

Well good luck getting the daughter to cooperate..

Will keep my eye out on the boards for your updates for sure..

Kat

kds1

Not sure if it is my monitor also (I'm not using my extra monitor I usually use at the moment since I just got home from work and am lazily just using the laptop monitor) but I do notice the haze on the whole image, not just the blues. Hopefully, that won't be too big a fix. Other than that, I like it lots!

Kara

travelways

kds1 wrote:

Not sure if it is my monitor also (I'm not using my extra monitor I usually use at the moment since I just got home from work and am lazily just using the laptop monitor) but I do notice the haze on the whole image, not just the blues. Hopefully, that won't be too big a fix. Other than that, I like it lots!

Kara

Very nice shot and interpretation of the theme. I can see the same haze as Kara sees,
except for the persons on the bottom of the photo.

OhEddie

Have you tried setting a black point?

http://www.ontfin.com/Word/photoshop-tutorial-a-simple-color-correction/

jeffmeyers

kds1 wrote:

Not sure if it is my monitor also (I'm not using my extra monitor I usually use at the moment since I just got home from work and am lazily just using the laptop monitor) but I do notice the haze on the whole image, not just the blues. Hopefully, that won't be too big a fix. Other than that, I like it lots!

Kara

Well, you probably had to apply a bit too much "fill light" or "D-lighting" (depending on what pp program you use) to compensate for the underexposed portion of the image. It has this effect. The contrast suffers and you get this hazy look. Dial that back and it will help.

MikeK

Yep, you guys are right on the money. The people were wahed out in the exposure, I had to use a lot of adjustments in RAW to bring back the colors and contrast. It was an amazing transformation, but it stills looks a bit hazy or washed out to me too. Just wanted to see if it was just me because I knew what I did to it, or if everyone else saw it too. I'll rework it and see if I can do any better.

Thanks!!

richtersl

See if any of these ideas help: http://www.google.com/search?q=remove+haze+in+photoshop&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

MikeK

Cool! Thanks!

MikeK

OK, Here's another shot with some additional de-haze.

1) Original




2) De-hazed, hopefully better.



So how do we like this? Still need more, or does it look OK now?

Possible titles: 'Wide Open Screams', or 'Into the great wide open'. (A Tom Petty sogn BTW, would have worked well2 rounds back)

Thanks!

whiterice

Hi Mike - I think I see an improvement in this newest version - in the foreground mostly.

I like this version a lot - very skillfully shot!

Katmitchell

It is much improved Mike... I think it is fine to enter if you chose this one over your other entry.. A hard choice for sure because they are both strong entries..

Speaking of Tom Petty... == >>> I have to vote for "Free Fallin"

Nice Work

Kat

jeffmeyers

MikeK wrote:

OK, Here's another shot with some additional de-haze.
So how do we like this? Still need more, or does it look OK now?

Possible titles: 'Wide Open Screams', or 'Into the great wide open'. (A Tom Petty sogn BTW, would have worked well2 rounds back)

Thanks!

Yeah, much better nice pp work!