Gotchya!

Jerry Curtis · April 1, 2005

I have posted this image in a couple of forums already and it has gotten a reaction just a notch or two above a yawn. My daughter, who has done some courses in photography, likes it so much she has it at framed at 12X18 inches in her apartment, and I quite like the image myself.

My question is: what do you like about it (if anything) and what are it's fatal flaws (if any). BTW, though I somewhat planned the shot, it wasn't a set-up. This guy just happened to walk by that reflection and I managed to capture him just at the right moment.

gus · April 1, 2005

I dont really know enough to give you pro critique but as you have asked then i will give you my 2 bobs worth. The photo is ok but does not jump out & grab me. I could be wrong here but it does not show any particularly high degree of difficulty or timing in my book. To me the colour is a bit on the bland side & focus may be a bit out.

Its just a nice shot.

Jerry Curtis · April 2, 2005

Thanks very much for your assessment...
This is exactly what I want... what do others see (or not see) in this image.

John Mueller · April 2, 2005

I would try a b&w conversion.Just my nickels worth

Khaos · April 2, 2005

Jerry Curtis wrote:

This is exactly what I want... what do others see (or not see) in this image.

To me, the sun is too blown out, the man is not very interesting as a silohette, and the rest of the colors seem slightly washed. You need to make the foreground darker against the colors and bring the colors out more. Here's an example using curves to darken the foreground and conrast the colors more and selective color to try to limit the bright exposure of the sun.

Jerry Curtis · April 2, 2005

Original
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, Khaos. I do appreciate it.
The problem (if it is a problem) is that scene really had no more color. Here's the original right out of the cam - just resized. I just tried a black/white point setting to maximize the tonal range and the difference was negligable. The original already has the blacks at RGB values in the high teens and low 20's and the whites pretty well 255's all the way. As you can tell, I had already introduced some color with sat enhancing. IMHO to introduce even more color artificially would mis-represent the scene even more, would it not? Or is my thinking off base on this?

Jerry Curtis · April 2, 2005

I did try B&W on the shot, MHJS...

MHJS wrote:

I would try a b&w conversion.Just my nickels worth

but came back to the sorta monochromatic color. Then, I'm not a great B&W fan, nor very good at the conversion process. I usually just do a greyscale and bump up the contrast a bit.

Thanks much for your suggesiton though... you may be right. If the conversion were done properly, I might like it more.

Khaos · April 2, 2005

IMHO to introduce even more color artificially would mis-represent the scene even more, would it not? Or is my thinking off base on this?

After listening to suggestions and debates on this, my opinion is that you have a shot in mind and then you create that shot. If the colors aren't where you want them, then you get them there. I don't see it as cheating, because I'm not actually adding colors, I'm only emphasizing what is available to me in the photo.

The camera, depending on a myriad of things doesn't always capture exactlly the way you see something, but it does allow you to bring forth or tone back what you captured.

Again, I did not add any colors that weren't already there. I didn't use any filters or PS actions, I only created contrast to give the sillohette (sp?) more emphasis and the sun and lake more depth.

Jerry Curtis · April 2, 2005

What do you think of this one?
Too far? Not far enough? Too much red?

Khaos · April 2, 2005

It's better, I think. The contrast may be a little too high, but still fine. I feel the pic now allows for the setting ray of light to emphazize the walker as well as vice versa.

Jerry Curtis · April 2, 2005

Here y'are...
contrast dropped a tad...

Sam · April 2, 2005

Jerry Curtis wrote:

contrast dropped a tad...

I think I like this version better. Now......here is my take on it. Your daughter likes it. She has it hanging in her appartment. I don't care if she has a PHD in photagraphy, or bareley knows which end of the camera points forward. She likes it! Be happy.

Sam

Jerry Curtis · April 3, 2005

I agree, Sam...
the ultimate test of the success of an image is whether we and the people we do them for like them. It's always good to be reminded of that.

I do get many compliments from family, friends, co-workers and even strangers who have happened across my PBase gallery, but it's also helpful to get feedback from others who are passionate about photography. I enjoy getting the views and constructive criticizm from people on the forums I frequent. Not only does it cause me to view my work in a different light, it also encourages me to develop my post-processing skills. Every time I engage in one of these exercises, I add to my knowledge and skills.

Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated.

www.pbase.com/icicle50

cletus · April 3, 2005

Jerry,

Neat shot! Like some of the others have said, if you like it and your daughter likes it, you should be happy. However you should be commended for looking for ideas on how to make it better. Just keep in mind that it's your shot, and make sure that you are happy with your final version.

I like the last version you posted best. There are a couple things that I still don't like about the shot though. 1) There is a lot of noise in the clouds. The noise isn't as noticable in some of the other versions. There's probably a way to get the color you want in the sky without having it get so noisy. 2) There is some color from the sky spilling into the man's silhouette. If you could find a way to get rid of that I think it would help. It almost looks like the color in the silhouette is a JPEG artifact. Do you see the color on the man before you make a JPEG to post here?

Jerry Curtis · April 3, 2005

Thanks, Cletus...
I did notice both these points. The noise in the last version was due to pushing the colors more and also due to using a less agressive noise filtering. On the last one I used "edge-preserving smooth" in PSP9, rather than the "digital camera noise removal" tool, so as to not soften the detail too much.

The red around the walker seems to be ghosting. As you can see from his stride, he was really "stepping out", and 1/125s wasn't quite enough to freze him completely. This effect is in the original, but becomes more pronounced when I boost the reds.

Anyway, due to your prompting, I did a more agressive noise filtering, and it didn't seem to degrade the image sharpness appreciably; and I also did a magic wand selection on the runner and did a fill with the same color as the darkest area in the original version.

Here's the result of those efforts:

cletus · April 3, 2005

Jerry Curtis wrote:

Anyway, due to your prompting, I did a more agressive noise filtering, and it didn't seem to degrade the image sharpness appreciably; and I also did a magic wand selection on the runner and did a fill with the same color as the darkest area in the original version.

Here's the result of those efforts:

I think it looks a lot better. How do you like it?

Jerry Curtis · April 3, 2005

Thinking as a purist...

cletus wrote:

I think it looks a lot better. How do you like it?

The original more accurately depicts the scene I saw that night; but I quite like the last version too. I would have a difficult time choosing which to frame for myself now

cletus · April 3, 2005

Jerry Curtis wrote:

The original more accurately depicts the scene I saw that night; but I quite like the last version too. I would have a difficult time choosing which to frame for myself now

Why not frame both???

Gotchya!

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