>>> challenge 17 - comments and critiques thread <<

Andy · July 13, 2004

right here guys. this is the place to put your images that you are considering entering into dgrin challenge 17, reflections.

remember, you've got to give, to get. so please, provide feedback, comment, and critique to your fellow dgrinners. try to hit 2 or 3 other photos each time you visit. and visit often.

have at it!

Andy · July 13, 2004

gubbs' example for challenge 17
right here

gubbs · July 13, 2004

andy wrote:

right here

sorry andy

Andy · July 13, 2004

gubbs wrote:

sorry andy

oh no worries gubb-ster!

snapapple · July 13, 2004

Andy....?

andy wrote:

right here guys. this is the place to put your images that you are considering entering into dgrin challenge 17, reflections.

remember, you've got to give, to get. so please, provide feedback, comment, and critique to your fellow dgrinners. try to hit 2 or 3 other photos each time you visit. and visit often.

have at it!

One question on the rules. Can we crop?

Andy · July 13, 2004

>> regarding cropping <<

snapapple wrote:

One question on the rules. Can we crop?

sure, go ahead. that's basic, too.

the intent of the "no photoshop" was really to have a go at a challenge without the special hoo-hah that we can do in photoshop (and this is from a guy that's not shy about ps'ing!)...

just back to basics.....

snapapple · July 13, 2004

andy wrote:

sure, go ahead. that's basic, too.

the intent of the "no photoshop" was really to have a go at a challenge without the special hoo-hah that we can do in photoshop (and this is from a guy that's not shy about ps'ing!)...

just back to basics.....

Great! Basics is just about all I know how to do anyway. I don't even have photoshop. Only Elements. Now to find some reflections and start snappin".

Andy · July 13, 2004

snapapple, dude ...

snapapple wrote:

Great! Basics is just about all I know how to do anyway. I don't even have photoshop. Only Elements. Now to find some reflections and start snappin".

photoshop elements is quite powerful. in fact, there's a guy who wrote "the hidden power of photoshop elements"

and here's the book

snapapple · July 13, 2004

andy wrote:

photoshop elements is quite powerful. in fact, there's a guy who wrote "the hidden power of photoshop elements"

and here's the book

Thanks Andy,
I ordered it. Free shipping too.

tmlphoto · July 13, 2004

Time for a picture
OK. Its about time for a picture in this thread. It's been up over 6 hrs. Oh well, here goes.

ISO-400 F/8 1/10s 210mm 7/12/04 @ 8:29pm

Comments encouraged/welcome/appreciated.

"Done Fishin' "

Sandy · July 13, 2004

Nice reflection, looks like there's another boat underwater. It's hard to imagine how the front of the boat got reflected.

tmlphoto wrote:

OK. Its about time for a picture in this thread. It's been up over 6 hrs. Oh well, here goes.

ISO-400 F/8 1/10s 210mm 7/12/04 @ 8:29pm

Comments encouraged/welcome/appreciated.

"Done Fishin' "

Andy · July 13, 2004

tmlphoto wrote:

OK. Its about time for a picture in this thread. It's been up over 6 hrs. Oh well, here goes.

ISO-400 F/8 1/10s 210mm 7/12/04 @ 8:29pm

Comments encouraged/welcome/appreciated.

"Done Fishin' "

give it a bit of punch with "curves" ... i tried that and it really improved the look. also, if you are interested, it looks great as b&w too. i'm not saying which would be better. but definitely give it some curves.

tmlphoto · July 13, 2004

andy wrote:

give it a bit of punch with "curves" ... i tried that and it really improved the look. also, if you are interested, it looks great as b&w too. i'm not saying which would be better. but definitely give it some curves.

Thanks Andy. I'm just starting to venture into the curves arena. Just recently bought PS CS. I'll give it a try.

ginger_55 · July 14, 2004

I caught me some of the god's place........
Uh, Thomas, it is a nice photo, think it needs a bit of contrast. I am too tired to do anything much but post my photos and go to bed. I spent over two hours running all over the marsh. I am still wet from the rain.............

ginger

I don't make trouble, trouble makes me

ginger_55 · July 14, 2004

more from the gods, tonight

I've got more.................
This was not planned, then it was all overcast, but I stuck around. I have not seen a rainbow like that since 1985. Same place. This is the marsh between the mainland and Sullivan's Island. When I first moved to Charleston, I was terribly homesick. The only place I felt safe was driving the causeway across this marsh, home to the island. Tonight I climbed down and got as close as I could to get some of the reflections of the marsh grass.

ginger

I don't make trouble, trouble makes me

ginger_55 · July 14, 2004

To Thomas
I am sorry I was kind of abrupt re your boat photo, it is a nice photo. I read Andy's suggestion which was a good one.

I have another set thing I do, like tonight, when I wanted to get things out kind of fast, and it seems to really work. I asked someone else how he or she, don't remember, did something. This is the drill, and it might be more comfortable for you. You could try the curves and this.

Go to levels first, click on automatic or whatever it is called, see what comes up. If you like it, keep it, if not cancel. You can also move the little things in from each end, one makes the photo darker and one makes it lighter, and there is one in the center for "punch". Probably middle tones, but moving it a bit to the right will sometimes give a picture punch, it also makes it darker so if it looks good, fine, if not put it back in the middle. (I have been doing it on PS 7, I have Elements, I know that levels is a bit different on Elements, but I really don't have time until tomorrow to check it out.). You can try it, anything you don't like just put back.

Next go to hue/saturation, try increasing the saturation. See what that does.

Then go to contrast/brightness, and try increasing the contrast.

I usually do all three. I eyeball it to get what I want.

So it is Levels, then hue/saturation, then brightness/contrast.

You are looking to work levels, increase the saturation, then increase the contrast. If anything doesn't look good, just put it back.

In this business, nothing is set in stone. Don't forget to copy your photo before you start working on it. Also I rename every photo, so I always have the original. I sometimes just add a number like 2 on the end. That is a new name as far as photoshop is concerned. I keep numbering for every photo I want to keep, or every step I think might be the final step, but I want to check something. I am paranoid about losing a good photo. Smile

ginger

Don't let trouble find you, it finds you, it makes you.........

gypsy77360 · July 14, 2004

Ginger
Did the "skeeters" getcha ?

Seriously , have been too busy with life's small diversions to devote any quality photo time.....will try to capture some reflections...

gubbs · July 14, 2004

tmlphoto wrote:

OK. Its about time for a picture in this thread. It's been up over 6 hrs. Oh well, here goes.

ISO-400 F/8 1/10s 210mm 7/12/04 @ 8:29pm

Comments encouraged/welcome/appreciated.

"Done Fishin' "

Lovely reflection, wondered what it would look like cropped down to just above the stern of the actual boat

gubbs · July 14, 2004

ginger_55 wrote:

MIP on smugmug so I hope this is the rainbow reflection????

I think this is lovely ginger!

tmlphoto · July 14, 2004

Many thanks for the feedback. I'll try and do some work on it tonight. I like your #1 Ginger. What do you think about a verticle crop?

ginger_55 · July 14, 2004

Vertical crop, and composition, and is it enough reflection, to just have a rainbow

tmlphoto wrote:

Many thanks for the feedback. I'll try and do some work on it tonight. I like your #1 Ginger. What do you think about a verticle crop?

_____________________________

Hi Thomas, your picture is much improved, good going. Good photo.

No, I don't want a vertical crop as I want to show the context of the event, however I do have some vertical crops will put one or two up. I think I do anyway. Also re a vertical crop on that particular photo, I actually got two different shades of light in the sky, and in the reflection from the bow and sky. It is lighter on the right side, I thought that was a more dramatic effect than just the rainbow, so that is why I picked that particular one to work on.

ginger

That photo was so hard to get, I couldn't see out of my glasses, so that made things worse, they were wet from the rain.......... I had to wait and beg the rainbow to make a reflection, I mean the rainbow itself was a joy for me, but I knew for the Challenge I needed a reflection and then I had to expose it correctly. I am so tired right now. I did not make many vertical crops using the sky because the reflection was the main event, I did not want to emphasize the sky that much.

I guess everything is in my subject line. My worries re the photo. I am concerned about the rainbow ending in the center, but I did not want to reduce the picture at all by cropping.

ginger

Sandy · July 14, 2004

Beautiful marsh photo Ginger, so calm and peaceful, especially with the rainbow. My only suggestion is to deepen the colors a bit with curves.

lynnesite · July 14, 2004

Ginger, it seems you have an abundance of inspirational vistas, of which I'm envious! Your entered shot is quite a contender, great stuff!

Lynne

Shakey · July 14, 2004

lynnesite wrote:

Ginger, it seems you have an abundance of inspirational vistas, of which I'm envious! Your entered shot is quite a contender, great stuff!

Lynne

I second that ,nice shot Ginger!

Nit Pick Warning!
Although not part of the picture the framing is nice. However where you put "Photography by ginger" ,it is to big and over runs the matting to the frame. Such a fine photo needs only that correction to more enhance its exquisiteness.

Tim

SeeMoon · July 14, 2004

I would like to know what you think of this one; it's the airport building in Kuala Lumpur. That girl in the middle in the funny outfit is me..

wxwax · July 14, 2004

Seemoon, that's a very interesting shot. Tons of detail, very informative reflection. You might want to correct the horizon, it looks like it's slightly off. For some reason, that I'm still trying to articulate, the shot doesn't get me. I want it to, because it captures a big and revealing reflection, and is technically very good.

SeeMoon · July 14, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Seemoon, that's a very interesting shot. Tons of detail, very informative reflection. You might want to correct the horizon, it looks like it's slightly off. For some reason, that I'm still trying to articulate, the shot doesn't get me. I want it to, because it captures a big and revealing reflection, and is technically very good.

I'm so happy i put it in this thread, because i had the same feeling, but don't know why.. Maybe it's because there's TOO much to see, so you don't know where to look and just keep searching? Maybe cropping will help? I'm going there tomorrow again and will make a new one; i hope that there will be a plane taking off or something.. thanks for your comment!

wxwax · July 14, 2004

SeeMoon wrote:

I'm so happy i put it in this thread, because i had the same feeling, but don't know why.. Maybe it's because there's TOO much to see, so you don't know where to look and just keep searching? Maybe cropping will help? I'm going there tomorrow again and will make a new one; i hope that there will be a plane taking off or something.. thanks for your comment!

Excellent! I'm glad you had the same feeling. If I can figure out what would enhance it, I'll be sure to post it. You may be right - it may simply be that there's no single part of the photo that draws the viewer's attention. In terms of composition, it's probably the guy pushing the carts, but he's actually the least interesting visual in the shot. I guess there are pure panoramas that don't have a single point of focus, but perhaps they have a wider expanse than this shot?

I love going back and trying to improve on a shot. It will be very interesting to see where your creativity takes you.

Are you on vacation there? Or is there a Kuala Lumpur in Holland that I never knew about?

tmlphoto · July 14, 2004

Beginning to love curves.

andy wrote:

give it a bit of punch with "curves" ... i tried that and it really improved the look. also, if you are interested, it looks great as b&w too. i'm not saying which would be better. but definitely give it some curves.

I'm beginning to understand the power of curves. Hope this is what you were talking about. I like the B&W also as alluded to. I don't know if all of this trouble was worth it for the shot, but it certainly has been a learning experience. I was able to correct a color cast with lab curves and increase contrast & saturation with the RGB curves. Very powerful stuff.

Also, Gubbs, how do you like the crop?
I think its time for me to move on to another shot. Thanks for the help.

tmlphoto · July 14, 2004

SeeMoon wrote:

I would like to know what you think of this one; it's the airport building in Kuala Lumpur. That girl in the middle in the funny outfit is me..

Simone,
How do you like this crop. It gets rid of the distracting part and plays up the refection/ symmetry card.

SeeMoon · July 14, 2004

wxwax wrote:

Excellent! I'm glad you had the same feeling. If I can figure out what would enhance it, I'll be sure to post it. You may be right - it may simply be that there's no single part of the photo that draws the viewer's attention. In terms of composition, it's probably the guy pushing the carts, but he's actually the least interesting visual in the shot. I guess there are pure panoramas that don't have a single point of focus, but perhaps they have a wider expanse than this shot?

I love going back and trying to improve on a shot. It will be very interesting to see where your creativity takes you.

Are you on vacation there? Or is there a Kuala Lumpur in Holland that I never knew about?

You can call it a vacation, but i'm actually a cabin attendant for KLM airlines..

Thanks for thinking with me on this one! I might just go back to the escalators i made pics of earlier..lots of reflections there. Tomorrow..