ginger I really like the colours & textures but I'm not sure about the fence, have you got any other angles/perspectives??
Gubbs, I do have others of the fence, I have some up here. But I assume you mean other close ones. I do there, too. They are all closer.......... I just don't think it is a WOW picture. Weather permitting, I am going back there tomorrow night.
Could you give me a better idea of what you would like to see the fence "do"?
I am not going to be that active in this Challenge after this weekend, I hope. Big family thing the following weekend, and I have to learn to use my Sunpak strobe.
Any hints on curves and things to practice with that on. I hope I can put down the challenge to get ready for the family thing.
However, I do have 6 folders of lines and curves photos, most of which I have culled and put up here. I don't plan on going out today. Tomorrow evening the beach. So be thinking what you would like me to do with the fence. It is not an entirely weathered fence, one problem with the close ups. Would you like me to leave it out and just do the sand?
Would you please look through my photos here and see if there are any you like besides the fence, for the Challenge. Off hand, I am thinking of one called "Alone" and one called "The Round House", also the multicolored sundial. Those come to my mind as possibles. In the round house there are curves all over. In alone, the shoreline is a curve, and the pattern of the wave is a curve.
I will look through my fence/sand shots.
Oh, I like the muted "workup" of the fence at night. It is from a different angle, a wide angle shot, really dark. Not WOW maybe, but I love that shot. I lightened it a bit for detail everywhere. A piece of the fence is still lit by that on camera strobe that I couldn't stop. It is muted, or dark, not dull, IMO. Remember, I finally did, that as it gets dark, the light goes and things actually lose their color. Without light it does become a blk and white world, if you are on the beach, woods, etc. I worked with Lab Curves of the fence last night.
I really need to put this obsession aside after Saturday at the latest. And I am about out of ideas now. To put it another way, I do need to wash my hair. Things like that.
(It is cloudy here now, and rain is expected, the dull kind not a shower with great light.)
This is all so new to me. I think my boyfriend uses Photoshop? He's a wedding photographer. I'll see if he'll show me how to use it. I have some pictures of some kitties.
Hi Faith.. welcome to Dgrin Forum. You'll be able to pick up all sorts of great information here. There are many experts in all fielda who are more than willing to help. I like your shots but they are coming up very dark on my monitor. What are you using for software to process your pictures.. ie Photoshop? or some other?
Only if this contest would have started a few days earlier. I took this shot for a photo challenge at fredmiranda.com. The theme was circles.
Any comments appreciated. I'm always looking to improve.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave,
I was really grabbed by this photo. Insomnia last night found me reading this entire thread ... and I kept returning to look at this photo.
Anyway, several suggested cropping the right hand side shadows for better balance, etc. I cropped it several times in my mind and my left handed, right brained imagination would crop more from the left. It's the strong shadows and beam of sun that I find the most compelling. The photo is clearly an image of the past (unless of course it's normal to have gunpowder barrels lying around!) The visual line from the barrels draws my eye to the shadows, straining, as if to see if something about to reveal itself ... A ghostly image from the past maybe?
For me, if you crop from the left, you simply have a nicely lit picture of barrels. This darkness on the right is very inviting, draws me in ...
Ginger - I love this picture, but I think you can make it even better. I think if you were to crop out some of the sand on the left side, the image would become much stronger.
Gubbs, I do have others of the fence, I have some up here. But I assume you mean other close ones. I do there, too. They are all closer.......... I just don't think it is a WOW picture. Weather permitting, I am going back there tomorrow night.
Could you give me a better idea of what you would like to see the fence "do"?
Would you please look through my photos here and see if there are any you like besides the fence, for the Challenge. Off hand, I am thinking of one called "Alone" and one called "The Round House", also the multicolored sundial. Those come to my mind as possibles. In the round house there are curves all over. In alone, the shoreline is a curve, and the pattern of the wave is a curve.
I really need to put this obsession aside after Saturday at the latest. And I am about out of ideas now. To put it another way, I do need to wash my hair. Things like that.
ginger
Oh no, I've got to explain myself now.
Each of the 2 fence pictures are excellent for different reasons and I supppose I was hoping for a combination of the two (probably impossible but I know how much you enjoy a challenge. Wash your hair first though!)
In this picture I really like the lines and curves that the top of the fence form,
in this one the tones and textures are lovely, particularly the sand.
I'm not sure which of your pictures to choose. It's a dilemna for me too. People have so many different opinions, that I think you have to choose the shot yourself and then look for guidance on how to get the best out of it. I do sometimes wish we could know when we've made the wrong choice though.
Hi, I'm Faith and I'm new to the site. My boyfriend got me a Sony 838 (?) and I like it. He doesn't like my photos though Do you like them? I really need feedback.
Faith,
Do me a favor and smack your boyfriend in the head. I really like both of your images. You've got a good eye, and the ability to creative with the camera.
If these were my pictures there are very few things I would change:
In my opinion the focus is a tiny bit soft in both images, but in the second image, soft focus was probably the way to go. However, if I had the chance, I would re-shoot the first image and try to get the focus a little sharper. If a re-shoot wasn't an option I would either not worry about it, or try to play with it in Photoshop.
I think the exposure is perfect in the second image, and the exposure in the first image is pretty good. If anything the first image just needs a little bump up in contrast and it would be spot on.
Composition wise, I would want to see what the second image looked like with some of the space at the bottom cropped out. I don't know if I would like it more or less, I would just want to see what it looked like.
This young man stopped here to put on his jacket and arrange some papers in his brief case. I assumed he was preparing for a conference inside as he was standing outside the Convention Center.
I love this and I think I understand why B&W make sense for it. It has sort of a Kennedy era feel. The composition is very fine. The B&W conversion lacks snap, though. Perhaps you should review the digital darkroom assignment on the topic here. Andy has also posted some ideas on the topic here and especially here. If you really want to learn more about this, maybe more than you ever wanted to know, you should buy Dan Margulis' book Professional Photoshop and read the chapter: "Friend and Foe in Black and White".
Ginger, you are a force to be recokened with. This is my favorite of your most recent batch, perhaps because it is a portrait and the theme is abstract. Composition, exposure, color are perfect or close. There is a nice litle mystery about what exactly he is doing. Selecting fishing tackle?
On the other hand this migh just be a distraction without a clever title that is a clue to the mystery. What about cropping out the lower 1/4th to have head and shoulders only? I don't know, just a suggestion.
Lines and curves on my brain coral. My first challenge entry, so be gentle with me.
mitch
Mitch...
WoW.... Your brain coral is absolutely beautiful! Excellent first submission!
I like the color, and the texture of the coral... Good example of lines and curves. I might mess around a bit with cropping just to see if it would work.
ginette
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
I love this and I think I understand why B&W make sense for it. It has sort of a Kennedy era feel. The composition is very fine. The B&W conversion lacks snap, though. Perhaps you should review the digital darkroom assignment on the topic here. Andy has also posted some ideas on the topic here and especially here. If you really want to learn more about this, maybe more than you ever wanted to know, you should buy Dan Margulis' book Professional Photoshop and read the chapter: "Friend and Foe in Black and White".
Though not addressed to me, I have all these "blue" night shots to convert to black and white, as some of them appeal to me that way. Armed with five books on PS, I was going to depart to the living room. I appreciate knowing where to zero in, so to speak.
Oh I didn't see this one. I like it better than the hat picture and better than the more abstract ones which seem sterile by comparison.
Yes, I do like this one. I did not expect it to be noticed. I swear that boy makes a curve all by himself, and the reflections, of course, are lines. I was photographing the boy with the hat, lost him, turned around and grabbed this photo, glad to hear a comment on it.
Ginger, you are a force to be recokened with. This is my favorite of your most recent batch, perhaps because it is a portrait and the theme is abstract. Composition, exposure, color are perfect or close. There is a nice litle mystery about what exactly he is doing. Selecting fishing tackle?
On the other hand this migh just be a distraction without a clever title that is a clue to the mystery. What about cropping out the lower 1/4th to have head and shoulders only? I don't know, just a suggestion.
HeHe, Rutt. Remember your baseball playing boy? I took a lesson from Andy's comment on that, and I did lighten the face of this child, though his eyes are not seen.
I certainly thought of you while doing this. (I think his face is a distraction, I certainly did not lighten it to be a center of focus or anything)
The other shots don't have the potential to be contest winners, but I think this does. It needs work, though. LAB steepening in the A channel is always good for frass and vegatation in general. Together with wihte/black threshold correction, you could increase the contrast of the boots on the grass. Sharpen in L, maybe a lot to make the grass and boot texture more realistic. I was also thinking about a radical crop. The people are interesting, but the composition would be more dramatic without them. I made a quick stab at all these suggestions and got this:
which is still not quite what you want, but perhaps it will inspire you a little.
The other shots don't have the potential to be contest winners, but I think this does. It needs work, though. LAB steepening in the A channel is always good for frass and vegatation in general. Together with wihte/black threshold correction, you could increase the contrast of the boots on the grass. Sharpen in L, maybe a lot to make the grass and boot texture more realistic. I was also thinking about a radical crop. The people are interesting, but the composition would be more dramatic without them. I made a quick stab at all these suggestions and got this:
which is still not quite what you want, but perhaps it will inspire you a little.
Now that I look at these side by side, I don't think my crop is working, but I do think the LAB steepening and sharpening work. I like the long lines of boots in your shot better. Maybe crop just where the people start?
I love this and I think I understand why B&W make sense for it. It has sort of a Kennedy era feel. The composition is very fine. The B&W conversion lacks snap, though. Perhaps you should review the digital darkroom assignment on the topic here. Andy has also posted some ideas on the topic here and especially here. If you really want to learn more about this, maybe more than you ever wanted to know, you should buy Dan Margulis' book Professional Photoshop and read the chapter: "Friend and Foe in Black and White".
I know nothing about B&W. All I can do is convert by sliding the saturation bar to zero or click convert to B&W. Then maybe some lightness or darkness and contrast. The shot had so little color to begin with. Just the green vines. To emphasize the lines, I thought black and white, but I was disappointed too. No pop. I'm so glad someone looked at my shots. Seems I was uploading at the same time as Ginger and our shots got all interspersed. (sorry ginger). I did several in B&W because there was little color anyway and I hoped to emphasize the strong lines. Would you look at the trolly station too? Thanks. And thanks again for all the info on B&W. I'll give it some attention.
I know nothing about B&W. ...QUOTE]I know pretty zero too, but i like this shot. the way i've made some of BW pop more is to use some selective layers and give them more contrast. this is probably a poor way, but try selecting the man and you don't have to be too exact, copy just him onto a new layer. Since he's exposed and detailed pretty well, leave him be in that layer, and then just up the contrast or some other stuff to make the rest of the background stand out more. make any sense.
Ok, so its hard to take a break from these threads, cause when I do, ginger puts in about 18 more pages. A force to be reckoned with indeed... Its hard to give input to so much, but since I want to get back, here goes:
I like all the shots (and wish i had the photo time and dgrin time you do!)
comments:
- the fence is nice, seems like you're on the verge of overdoing it with all the levels and blah blah blah. i'm a simpleton though.
- the boys are both very nice, but i didn't feel lines/curves there. amazing shots, perfect color, exposure, composition... just don't know if as a lines/curves judge those would say anything to me.
Now that I look at these side by side, I don't think my crop is working, but I do think the LAB steepening and sharpening work. I like the long lines of boots in your shot better. Maybe crop just where the people start?
Here is another attempt:
I cropped the top a little and did some really bad cloning to clean what was left up a little. I've oversharpened, but you probably alrady did sharpen. It will all look better when you do it starting with the original RAW image. There is a sharening trick that I think would work particularly well in this shot. Do you have Professional Photoshop? If so look at the treatment of the Morman Tabernacle at the end of "Sharpening with a Stiletto". If not, let me know, and I'll try to explain. (But I won't do as good a job as Dan did.)
This is all so new to me. I think my boyfriend uses Photoshop? He's a wedding photographer. I'll see if he'll show me how to use it. I have some pictures of some kitties.
We'd love to see your kitties Faith.. post away!
Lynn
(rant)
It will be hard for me to get over not making the finalists in the last one and even harder to understand not having Rutt's entry make it. His might well have been the winner. Maybe we need to always have at least 10 or even better 15 entries. Certainly my picks of 10 to vote on would have been different. And I would rather have voted on them all.
(/rant)
Hi Charles.. I think the guy walking up the walkway speaks to me most. I quite like the escalater too. The rows of boots are interesting but to me not as appealing.
Yes, I do like this one. I did not expect it to be noticed. I swear that boy makes a curve all by himself, and the reflections, of course, are lines. I was photographing the boy with the hat, lost him, turned around and grabbed this photo, glad to hear a comment on it.
ginger
Hi ginger.. I like this one too but my all time favorite is the sand and fence shot. I just love it. Lynn
I cropped the top a little and did some really bad cloning to clean what was left up a little. I've oversharpened, but you probably alrady did sharpen. It will all look better when you do it starting with the original RAW image. There is a sharening trick that I think would work particularly well in this shot. Do you have Professional Photoshop? If so look at the treatment of the Morman Tabernacle at the end of "Sharpening with a Stiletto". If not, let me know, and I'll try to explain. (But I won't do as good a job as Dan did.)
I had tried various crops and decided that none of them worked. I ended up feeling that the shot needs people for an emotional context. Your cloning does work somewhat but I am stongly opposed to cloning shots in the photo-journalism context. I'm thinking to go back out to shoot some pictures for the last day of the DNC. Maybe I'll get another chance to shoot the boots.
Charles Richmond IT & Security Consultant
Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
I had tried various crops and decided that none of them worked. I ended up feeling that the shot needs people for an emotional context. Your cloning does work somewhat but I am stongly opposed to cloning shots in the photo-journalism context. I'm thinking to go back out to shoot some pictures for the last day of the DNC. Maybe I'll get another chance to shoot the boots.
Yeah, I guess I agree. I think the boots are important. If you can, lie on the ground and shoot the horizontal wide angle (as wide as you got). Be sure the camera is very level. I think you want the camera just high enough to see to the end of the lines but low enough to make the lines look very long. And wide enough to see a lot of lines.
And the cloning thing, I argee with you, too. I was just looking to make the composition work.
*** attention everyone ***
reminder to all participants: if you have a specific question for me, please pm me with your question or the direct link to a thread.
Hi ginger.. I like this one too but my all time favorite is the sand and fence shot. I just love it. Lynn
Which one Lynn? Please, I am trying to get a handle here. Do you remember which one, or do you have a number, it is in the right in a corner somewhere.
ginger
Maybe I am putting too many up, but if not, I might miss one that would be received well.
so there I was thinking about lines and curves, when my buddy comes over and asks me to take some shots of his new car. Hmmm, cars have good curves, I've always thought so... now we need some lines... How 'bout a 10ft step ladder and a parking lot???
this is my favorite:
or landscape:
or how bout this, does it make you seasick?
So which one do you like best? And also, any idea on how to make this image pop a little more? I think I have some basics, we'll pick the best composition, but then what...
Comments
Could you give me a better idea of what you would like to see the fence "do"?
I am not going to be that active in this Challenge after this weekend, I hope. Big family thing the following weekend, and I have to learn to use my Sunpak strobe.
Any hints on curves and things to practice with that on. I hope I can put down the challenge to get ready for the family thing.
However, I do have 6 folders of lines and curves photos, most of which I have culled and put up here. I don't plan on going out today. Tomorrow evening the beach. So be thinking what you would like me to do with the fence. It is not an entirely weathered fence, one problem with the close ups. Would you like me to leave it out and just do the sand?
Would you please look through my photos here and see if there are any you like besides the fence, for the Challenge. Off hand, I am thinking of one called "Alone" and one called "The Round House", also the multicolored sundial. Those come to my mind as possibles. In the round house there are curves all over. In alone, the shoreline is a curve, and the pattern of the wave is a curve.
I will look through my fence/sand shots.
Oh, I like the muted "workup" of the fence at night. It is from a different angle, a wide angle shot, really dark. Not WOW maybe, but I love that shot. I lightened it a bit for detail everywhere. A piece of the fence is still lit by that on camera strobe that I couldn't stop. It is muted, or dark, not dull, IMO. Remember, I finally did, that as it gets dark, the light goes and things actually lose their color. Without light it does become a blk and white world, if you are on the beach, woods, etc. I worked with Lab Curves of the fence last night.
I really need to put this obsession aside after Saturday at the latest. And I am about out of ideas now. To put it another way, I do need to wash my hair. Things like that.
(It is cloudy here now, and rain is expected, the dull kind not a shower with great light.)
ginger
I was really grabbed by this photo. Insomnia last night found me reading this entire thread ...
Anyway, several suggested cropping the right hand side shadows for better balance, etc. I cropped it several times in my mind and my left handed, right brained imagination would crop more from the left. It's the strong shadows and beam of sun that I find the most compelling. The photo is clearly an image of the past (unless of course it's normal to have gunpowder barrels lying around!) The visual line from the barrels draws my eye to the shadows, straining, as if to see if something about to reveal itself ... A ghostly image from the past maybe?
For me, if you crop from the left, you simply have a nicely lit picture of barrels. This darkness on the right is very inviting, draws me in ...
Just my 2 cents worth (Canadian),
Brad
www.digismile.ca
Sullivan's Island, SC
Photgraphy by ginger
Each of the 2 fence pictures are excellent for different reasons and I supppose I was hoping for a combination of the two
I'm not sure which of your pictures to choose. It's a dilemna for me too. People have so many different opinions, that I think you have to choose the shot yourself and then look for guidance on how to get the best out of it. I do sometimes wish we could know when we've made the wrong choice though.
gubbs.smugmug.com
Do me a favor and smack your boyfriend in the head. I really like both of your images. You've got a good eye, and the ability to creative with the camera.
If these were my pictures there are very few things I would change:
I think the exposure is perfect in the second image, and the exposure in the first image is pretty good. If anything the first image just needs a little bump up in contrast and it would be spot on.
Composition wise, I would want to see what the second image looked like with some of the space at the bottom cropped out. I don't know if I would like it more or less, I would just want to see what it looked like.
I can't keep up, and I agree with cletus
gubbs.smugmug.com
On the other hand this migh just be a distraction without a clever title that is a clue to the mystery. What about cropping out the lower 1/4th to have head and shoulders only? I don't know, just a suggestion.
Mitch...
WoW.... Your brain coral is absolutely beautiful! Excellent first submission!
I like the color, and the texture of the coral... Good example of lines and curves. I might mess around a bit with cropping just to see if it would work.
ginette
Though not addressed to me, I have all these "blue" night shots to convert to black and white, as some of them appeal to me that way. Armed with five books on PS, I was going to depart to the living room. I appreciate knowing where to zero in, so to speak.
Thanks, Gubbs for your comments, and time. Too.
ginger
Yes, I do like this one. I did not expect it to be noticed. I swear that boy makes a curve all by himself, and the reflections, of course, are lines. I was photographing the boy with the hat, lost him, turned around and grabbed this photo, glad to hear a comment on it.
ginger
I certainly thought of you while doing this. (I think his face is a distraction, I certainly did not lighten it to be a center of focus or anything)
ginger
which is still not quite what you want, but perhaps it will inspire you a little.
I know nothing about B&W. All I can do is convert by sliding the saturation bar to zero or click convert to B&W. Then maybe some lightness or darkness and contrast. The shot had so little color to begin with. Just the green vines. To emphasize the lines, I thought black and white, but I was disappointed too. No pop. I'm so glad someone looked at my shots. Seems I was uploading at the same time as Ginger and our shots got all interspersed. (sorry ginger). I did several in B&W because there was little color anyway and I hoped to emphasize the strong lines. Would you look at the trolly station too? Thanks. And thanks again for all the info on B&W. I'll give it some attention.
Susan Appel Photography My Blog
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I like all the shots (and wish i had the photo time and dgrin time you do!)
comments:
- the fence is nice, seems like you're on the verge of overdoing it with all the levels and blah blah blah. i'm a simpleton though.
- the boys are both very nice, but i didn't feel lines/curves there. amazing shots, perfect color, exposure, composition... just don't know if as a lines/curves judge those would say anything to me.
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I cropped the top a little and did some really bad cloning to clean what was left up a little. I've oversharpened, but you probably alrady did sharpen. It will all look better when you do it starting with the original RAW image. There is a sharening trick that I think would work particularly well in this shot. Do you have Professional Photoshop? If so look at the treatment of the Morman Tabernacle at the end of "Sharpening with a Stiletto". If not, let me know, and I'll try to explain. (But I won't do as good a job as Dan did.)
Lynn
Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
And the cloning thing, I argee with you, too. I was just looking to make the composition work.
reminder to all participants: if you have a specific question for me, please pm me with your question or the direct link to a thread.
thanks
andy
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
ginger
Maybe I am putting too many up, but if not, I might miss one that would be received well.
this is my favorite:
or landscape:
or how bout this, does it make you seasick?
So which one do you like best? And also, any idea on how to make this image pop a little more? I think I have some basics, we'll pick the best composition, but then what...
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]