Painting, an ageless hobby 11/05/2005

ginger_55

Finally, for now, below: The Painting In An English Garden Painting...........




Ginger

Any comments, you all know I have the bird watchers as an entry, but these were also planned as possibilities.

Dee

I love this first one

ginger_55 wrote:

Mainly because of everyone's expression on their faces! Really good timing on your part!

Annabella

I like the third one. The way the tree in the painting mirrors the real tree, and comparing the buildings, this is an excellent composition, beautiful!

SnapHappy

I like them all Ginger, but for me the entry possibilities are from the 1st & the 2nd shots. I like the 2nd shot due to the angle of the grass leading your eye to the subject, she's looking off picture whilst the artist concentrates on his subject, you can see the painting and his stance fills the frame well too. The first is good, like Dee stated the expressions carry the picture well, you get a good feel for the atmosphere with this shot.

edit: forgot to say I also like what you have done with the bird watching shot in the challenge thread too. Decisions decisions .

ginger_55

Thanks, Darren, Dee and Annabella.

I think it would be between the first two for the challenge, too. They convey their message faster than the darker one with the tree, though I like it, too. I just wish he had worn a less distracting, more arty, type shirt. Shallow as I am.

The exif on the Red Umbrella shot is F 16, 200 ISO, 17mm, 1/25 sec, EV 0

The exif on the second shot (man painting girl) is F 16, 200 ISO, 25mm, 1/30 sec and EV 0.

Thanks again for commenting. I would probably go with the first one because of the child being in it. I am going to have to fight myself to take down my birders. And I do love the second shot here, too. I like them all, but those are my big three right now (thank you for helping on that): the birders, the red umbrella and the man painting the young woman.

ginger

snapapple

Ginger,
I just love the little girl and the red umbrella. I think the composition is a little cluttered. The women on the left are cut off. I would consider cropping them out. Maybe an 8x10 crop that cuts off the painters white shirt a bit at her back would put more focus on the little girl.

The photo could use a little more punch. I think you could try some LAB curves. It looks like you may have dodged the little girl. It looks a bit dull and gray around her coat and shoes. You can lighten her up by selecting her and lightening her rather than dodging. Or using selective color adjustments. Then you could use "Smart Sharpen" to sharpen it without getting the whites too sharp.

I think the lighting was better in the shot of the man painting the woman and the composition is good there too. But, I do like the little girl and the red umbrella. I would try to work that one up a bit more.

These are some great shots here. You seem to have gotten right in there "close up" and personal. Great "street shooting".

ginger_55

Snappy, I can "curve" it, but that is about all.

I don't do LAB, though. And I was tired last night, I am tired now, was going to quit an hour or more ago. But I don't dodge much of anything.

I do use shadow/highlights. Then Curves, I increase the saturation by 15, but that is about all. Then I will go to selective colors. After that I do use LAB for the sharpening, with the blur in layers.

I have done it twice more, from the beginning. I don't think it is getting anything but worse. By now I would probably use the top one which is the last one I did.

At the beginning, I did crop out a woman on the right, she was "minding" that little girl and didn't add anything. The other women I think add to the photo, I don't want to crop them out, not even the one with the hair cut off, or whatever.

I would put it on the "kick me", or whatever, thread, but it is not for photoshop, so I don't know what they could tell me. And I wouldn't trust their judgement any more than I trust mine unless they were one of the top guns...............and I am not sure they could say anything since this is for the challenge.

I feel kind of trapped here. I don't know how to do the PS the way you suggest, and I don't want to crop it more............

But I did ask for advice. So I feel as though I should take the advice if I am going to ask for it. I did try, though, to fix it a bit.

I will say that I hate doing black kids. Most blacks in general. I asked Damon how he did it and never got a response. This whole place probably figures it is a racist thing every time I ask that question, but it is a problem for me...not a racist thing. When I do blacks, I do very little as I would rather not mess them up.........so my emphasis was on doing the whites in that photo. And I had to make sure that the painter kept her facial tones, that was my prime concern. That and not losing the child entirely.

The reason I don't want to crop it anymore, is that I think the other women kind of "frame" the scene and since they are looking towards the kid they keep us in the picture, then we look at the kid and back to the painter. That is why I want to keep them in.

ginger (sorry for this long explanation, but I don't know what else to do...??)
g

Thanks, though. And even worse, now that I have looked again, I like the original version best. I usually don't like as much contrast (punch) as other people do......that is an ongoing thing.

ginger_55

The last one, tonight anyway
I took the first from tonight, I made another layer and I added 2.0 Gaussein Blur to that and blended it with soft light at about 45. Maybe this has more pop w/o changing the colors.???

ginger

PossumCorner

Nice problem to have.
Ginger I don't think I've agonised over this as you have, but close, and no nearer to knowing "this is the one I'd use". The birders are great, the painters also, I think Red Umbrella, the brighter 'middle one' of the three has it on points. And the crop left as-is for the reasons you say. I like the smile on the artist even though her face is not towards camera, and the smile on the child, it is a moment being enjoyed and shared, sharing a hobby. (Whereas the birders are central to their own hobby: nothing and no-one else exists in their moment).

I am facing choice problems too with what will be my first entry, but my problem is to find one "good enough" at all. Look forward to having a problem like yours at about Challenge 65.

ginger_55

Thanks, Possum! I just popped in for a sec after a short nap and a TV show.

Usually in my life, and yours I am sure, the painters would get together the week before, usually the day before, the challenge starts. I lucked out, if one wants to think of it that way with the date of their get together in the park.

Thanks for stopping, commenting and sharing "my" problem with me.

ginger

snapapple

Ginger,
I like this last one better. The little girl's coat looks darker. I understand your reasons for not cropping. That's such a personal choice. Go with it the way you feel is right. I think you have to make your photo the way you like it.

I downloaded it and played with the curves and found, by nudging that curve just a tiny bit this way and that, I could get the light around the little girl to go light and dark. I didn't bother with any blur. I don't think it's necessary. I only tried to darken the greens.

When you put it in LAB mode and adjust the "A" curve you can tweak the red a bit and the "B" curve tweaks the yellows and makes the umbrella a little lighter and the girls skin can go light and dark with the yellows and reds. Anyway, it's just a matter of playing with it until it looks good without causing the darks to fade. One of those other ones has the girls coat kind of faded out. I know it's hard to get the darks distinct without going too dark on her skin. We need Rutt's help here. He's the expert.

I do like this last one. I don't like half people, but that's just me. Like you say, they have great expressions and may add to the mood of the whole thing. Nice choice to have as said above.

ginger_55

OK, I used lab..my problem w lab is that I always introduce a color shift, I get rid

ginger_55

I posted this, if there is anything further to do, please let me know.


photography by ginger

ginger_55

Is it too yellow?

What I did was take the photo I had done the least to, I grabbed the girl and umbrella with the ants, then I inversed that. I worked the rest the photo with RGB curves. Then I went back to the little girl and did curves on her seperately.

I checked all the edges.

That is all I did. I liked it better as I could get the other people "dark" enough without hurting the child.

Now I am wondering if it is too yellow??? Whatcha think?

ginger (I could easily go take some yellow out? Maybe I should?/could.)

ginger_55

I took out a bit of yellow, and I lightened it a tee tiny tad. g mon morning quarterbacking.........hehe

snapapple

ginger_55 wrote:

I took out a bit of yellow, and I lightened it a tee tiny tad. g mon morning quarterbacking.........hehe

I like the first one of these. OK, if you say so, it may be a tiny bit too yellow - in the greens? I like it less yellow but not lighter. I like the red to be more saturated. I like the way the red was in the one before you lightened it. Gosh, I know it gets hard to see things after you've been staring at it for so long.

Sheesh, don't listen to me. What do I know?

snapapple

ginger_55 wrote:

This one - where you say, "OK, I used LAB...