#96 Last Minute Shots

sapphire73

Finally got out with my camera and have a few shots that might work for this challenge. Any thoughts on these? All input welcome.

Thanks,
Gretchen

1.


2.


3. Down by the Farm


4.


5.


6.

WhatSheSaw

I really like #3, with the fence line.

PappyRoot

Holly cow! I like them all! I do not know which one to tell you to use. I think if you put my hand to a flame and said pick one I would go with #3. But like I said I like them all. Good luck.

dnie

yep, all great, but #3 sticks out for me too. What a beautiful day you chose!! The sky is beautiful!!

sapphire73

Thank you all for your input on these. The day sort of chose me as the only time available. I originally hoped for strong light from the east to cast some good shadows beside another fence line in the Pennypack watershed area - something along the lines of what I've included below. The sun was partially hidden by clouds whenever I was near a fence, but the skies were beautiful and changed minute by minute. They helped make some shots that would have been ho-hum otherwise.

Any other input on these?

Gretchen

7. (Something close to my original purpose in going to this location)

travelways

They all very nice, but I think #3 is the best for the theme.

sapphire73

I like #3 as well. Wish I had spent a little more time there!

Here is a tone mapped version of #3. The sky was asking to have the drama pictured. I may need to reprocess this, but would welcome input on this version. Thanks!

8a. Down by the Farm

travelways

Very nice!

ghinson

Much better. The sky being blown out was what was bothering me about the earlier ones. My own taste would be to take this one and dial down the saturation just a wee bit and go for it.

sapphire73

ghinson wrote: »

Much better. The sky being blown out was what was bothering me about the earlier ones. My own taste would be to take this one and dial down the saturation just a wee bit and go for it.

Thank you both for your feedback on this!

Ghinson, I especially appreciate your tip re the tone mapping. We'll see if I can get back to it before today's deadline. Btw, I am using photomatix essentials to blend the exposures, etc. first processing the RAW files a bit in LR3. Do take care of sharpening and/or color noise before or after tone-mapping images? I've tried both. For this image, I did used LR3/s noise reduction before blending and sharpened afterwards.

Thanks!
Gretchen

ghinson

My workflow is spot removal in LR, maybe a slight adjustment in exposure up or down equally in each of the bracketed exposures, and then export into Photomatix Pro. When saved, it shows up back in LR, and this is when I adjust White Balance. I will sometimes then use LR for overall noise reduction and sharpening, but more often than not, I then open it in PS and tweak the contrast, sharpen it, and run a useful, useful filter called Noiseware Professional to remove the ample noise that the HDR processing causes. With the image you already have, you might not need to redo it in PS, just try playing with the Saturation and Vibrance sliders in LR. For example, you might get something a little more natural by taking the Saturation slider down a bit, but then pushing up the Vibrance slider a tad.

sapphire73

Thanks for explaining your workflow. With this file, I reimport into LR3 (after blending the exposures) then did a bit more tweaking in PSE9. I saved the psd file so can either tweak it there or do a bit in LR3 as you suggested. Thank you again.

WhatSheSaw

I really like the tone-mapped version and look forward to seeing your tweaks.

Thanks for the workflow tips, Greg! Someday soon, I hope to get Photomatix.

sapphire73

Another edit of #3, dialing back the saturation a bit, downplaying the blue sky a bit, and upping the red just a bit. Does this look better? (The image looks very different on the macbook pro monitor and larger Dell monitor I use for photo editing - especially with the blues and reds.

Thanks,
Gretchen

8b.

WhatSheSaw

Definitely better. Looks great!

tinamarie52

I really like what you have arrived at. Definitely challenge-worthy. Thanks to you and Greg for telling us about your workflow.

Chris

GretaPics

Really like your final version 8b and liked (and need!) the workflow discussion. GP

Jenn

yes... 8b is my favorite, too.

sapphire73

Thank you all for the helpful input! I wasn't sure whether I would hear from anyone this late in the challenge. I just finished entering 8b.

This photo shoot was a great break for me - as was the processing - and I am happy that something worked for the challenge. Sometime, I'll go back and give some of these others shots some TLC.

endurodog

I'm the odd guy out, I really like 1. They are all nice shots.

sapphire73

endurodog wrote: »

I'm the odd guy out, I really like 1. They are all nice shots.

Thanks for your input. I really like this one as well. They must have recently mowed the grass in this preserve, leaving these tracks.