DSS 82 - Midday in Napa

sapphire73 · July 27, 2011

Heading home tomorrow and may not have much time for photography after being away for several weeks, so I tried to get a few shots today. Happened to eat lunch at Gott's Roadside diner in St. Helena, California and tried to get a few photos within the time frame.

I have given these some quick processing with the Snapseed iPad app but plan to process the RAW files at home, so I am looking for input on the subject and composition rather than the photoprocessing at this point. (Did take the precaution of changing my camera's time to PST and will need to remember to change it back to EST when we are back home in Pennsylvania.)

1. Roadside Diner Window

2. Gott's Roadside Diner

3. Lining up at Gott's Roadside

4. Keeping an Eye on Things at Gott's

My food arrived outside the time frame so there are no shots of it here but the cheeseburger and blueberry milkshake were delicious!

Thank you for your help.

Gretchen

powder · July 27, 2011

I love the first one....it even shows a clock to prove that it's midday! lucky you!

sapphire73 · July 27, 2011

Thank you, Powder, for your input on these. I like the window shot best, I think. I Made new edits of the shots with tables and the line, but the Internet was out this am.

For those who watch the food network (which has featured it on several shows), I gather that this place used to be called Taylor's and is transitioning to Gott's now that they are opening franchises.

Cheers,
Gretchen

The Curious Camel · July 27, 2011

I really like the first one best to.
I like all the different reflections and the different faces in the window.
Nice clean image.

Peace, gail

DsrtVW · July 28, 2011

Wow I did not realized that they had changed the name of that place. I guess I have not been paying attention drive through there often for work. Used to be called Taylor's Refresher.
Pretty good burgers very busy place during the tourist and wine season.
I have to go with the first one, second one is pretty interesting.

kdotaylor · July 28, 2011

I like #1, too. It really conveys the busy-ness of noontime at a lunch counter.

Demian · July 28, 2011

I didn't like #1 or #3. I feel #1 is way too busy - there's so much going on in the reflection. Trees, street signs, cars driving by, random patches of light and shadow. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be looking at and my brain gets frustrated. IMO, reflection shots usually work best when you have a clear subject and two discrete layers, with one leading into another. One photographer I love does a lot of this stuff, see http://www.dougiewallace.com/ "Reflections on Life" if you're interested.

#3 - What happened to the bottom? It looks like the file didn't upload correctly (or my computer is messed up). Besides that, there are white halos around the objects touching the sky. And again, subject confusion: Am I looking at the tree, the roadside, or the people? (which could easily be fixed by a tighter crop... I think a panorama of the people/roadside would look quite good). And finally it looks a little noisy... the sky has a very discernible texture(Judging by the halos, my guess is from excessive sharpening). However, I do like the concept of this shot, particularly the way you captured the people. If you corrected the technical flaws, I think it would be pretty good.

#2 - Easily my favorite. The low saturation gives me a nostalgic feeling, and the umbrella's shadow + overexposure is a great way to show the bright midday sun

sapphire73 · July 28, 2011

Thank you all for the thoughtful input on these. Just got home from our vacation today and will see what comes of processing with photoshop or Lightroom rather than Snapseed, but I can definitely see why Billseye is liking this app!

Demian, you are right about #3 not uploading correctly. (Caught that with some other files while on vacation but missed this one.) Got home today and am looking forward to processing the Raw files. Your comments about subject confusion in #1 and #3 apply regardless of the processing though and are good points. Thanks for your input on all of these.

Here is a different take on #2 that wouldn't upload earlier - still from the iPad series processed with Snapseed.

2b. Gott's Roadside Diner

And one more from this series:

5. Anticipating Lunch

Gretchen

sapphire73 · July 28, 2011

Demian wrote: »

One photographer I love does a lot of this stuff, see http://www.dougiewallace.com/ "Reflections on Life" if you're interested.

Great series of photos here! I don't do much of this kind of photography and feel somewhat awkward photographing people like this, but appreciate the perspective that photos like Wallace's give us.

Just a quick note about #3. The white halos, noise, texture, etc. are the result of using the "Drama" creative adjustment in the iPad app Snapseed. I was experimenting with several iPad photography apps while on vacation and figuring out what I do and don't like about them. Thanks for noting the problems resulting from my choosing that filter.

Cheers,
Gretchen

PedalGirl · July 29, 2011

I think 2b is my favorite. Love the flags and the umbrellas... and the hustle and bustle. The people give it even more interest.

~Lisa

Froch · July 29, 2011

you look to have had a GREAT vacation. good for you. Fun images you've been sharing.
For these and this challenge though....I think you may want to consider going back the the drawing board. They really don't have anything 'special' going on in them. You're a good shooter and I'd hate for you to try to "make these work."

)

At times these CC threads confuse me. For me personally, so often I see initial 'thoughts' that the photog puts up here, and comments that appear to me to be forced in a manner to find something in the image 'that will work'.
Sometimes it doesn't 'work'....hopefully everyone takes this in the manner that I intend. We don't grow if we don't critique.

sapphire73 · July 29, 2011

Froch wrote: »

you look to have had a GREAT vacation. good for you. Fun images you've been sharing.
For these and this challenge though....I think you may want to consider going back the the drawing board. They really don't have anything 'special' going on in them. You're a good shooter and I'd hate for you to try to "make these work." )

At times these CC threads confuse me. For me personally, so often I see initial 'thoughts' that the photog puts up here, and comments that appear to me to be forced in a manner to find something in the image 'that will work'.
Sometimes it doesn't 'work'....hopefully everyone takes this in the manner that I intend. We don't grow if we don't critique.

Thanks, Froch. We did have an awesome vacation. We are often traveling for business but rarely get a couple of weeks "away from it all". I couldn't agree with you more about these not being especially compelling, and I appreciate your frank input on these. Sometimes we stumble across a great opportunity (like my photo op at O'Hare airport), but often a snapshot is just a snapshot.

I just spent an hour shooting another idea and then found that I was more tired last night than I thought, incorrectly resetting the time on my camera from pst to est. (I rechecked the white balance settings today but not the time.) So...I may post the new photos in another thread for input on the idea but will need to reshoot to have the correctly time frame show up in the exif. Sigh. It would be great to have your input on the new shots when I post them as I am trying something a little different....

Thanks for taking the time to give me your input!

Gretchen

Froch · July 29, 2011

I always look forward to seeing what you have going.
I'm on a 10hr flight in a few hours, so will catch up tomorrow.
Good Luck!

sapphire73 · July 29, 2011

Froch wrote: »

I always look forward to seeing what you have going.
I'm on a 10hr flight in a few hours, so will catch up tomorrow.
Good Luck!

Thanks, Froch. Have a good flight.

DSS 82 - Midday in Napa

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