*Challenge 22: 'Beach Bike'

PerezDesignGroup · September 20, 2004

F4, 1/200th, ISO 100, 28mm. Shot today on my daily walk on the beach. The wind was turbulent and kite surfers were abundant. Unfortunately none of the kite surfin' pics came out too decent.

Thoughts & Improvements kindly welcome. I cropped a lot to give the suggestion this person in the distance ditched their bike to go for a walk. In reality, there was a guy a few feet away admiring the surfers. :wink

Andy · September 20, 2004

PerezDesignGroup wrote:

F4, 1/200th, ISO 100, 28mm. Shot today on my daily walk on the beach. The wind was turbulent and kite surfers were abundant. Unfortunately none of the kite surfin' pics came out too decent.

Thoughts & Improvements kindly welcome. I cropped a lot to give the suggestion this person in the distance ditched their bike to go for a walk. In reality, there was a guy a few feet away admiring the surfers.

i really enjoy this shot. i hope you don't mind but i have some suggestions... i think this shot is a little flat, and could benefit from some increased contrast, and further adjustments.

in this step, i simply did a simple levels adjustment, bringing the right hand and left hand sliders in toward the center until i got the desired result:

then, i ran a velvia action (search google for "free velvia action") at 40%. i ran some noise reduction (fredmiranda's isox pro at 40% level) masking away the nr on the beach. finally, i applied a bit of usm to the bike and sand.

anyhow, i really like the shot, and thought it could benefit from a bit more "in-post." i would also like to see a snidge more scene lower right, but maybe there was compositional / cropping challenges?

how do you feel about these mods i made?

tmlphoto · September 20, 2004

Nice shot. I do agree with increasing to constrast some, but I wouldn't take it as far as Andy did IMHO.

I like the pastel look of the original. I believe this is an effect of slightly underexposing the scene. And the hight contrast really makes the bike very dark. The lack of "pop", i think, adds to the mood of the lone bike. Just my 2 cents.

PerezDesignGroup · September 21, 2004

andy wrote:

how do you feel about these mods i made?

Thank you very much for the comments and the adjustments. I had tried adding some more -umph- to the pic in PS but I, like TML, felt it pulled some of the bike's detail out. You're versions, however, look pretty damn good

So thank you! I only cropped out the left because there's a kite surfer right that I felt pulled away from the 'alone' concept and distracted the eye a bit. But there might be more leeway once I check the pic out some more.

And TML, thanks for the input as well. It's greatly appreciated. I was playin' with virtualPhotographer and I pulled the following image out. I like it's 'emotional' impact quite a bit. Any input on it?

tmlphoto · September 21, 2004

PerezDesignGroup wrote:

Thank you very much for the comments and the adjustments. I had tried adding some more -umph- to the pic in PS but I, like TML, felt it pulled some of the bike's detail out. You're versions, however, look pretty damn good So thank you! I only cropped out the left because there's a kite surfer right that I felt pulled away from the 'alone' concept and distracted the eye a bit. But there might be more leeway once I check the pic out some more.

And TML, thanks for the input as well. It's greatly appreciated. I was playin' with virtualPhotographer and I pulled the following image out. I like it's 'emotional' impact quite a bit. Any input on it?

It looks like there are large pixellated (is that a word?) artifacts throughout the image. I do like the toning however. Gives it a more somber feeling I think.

lynnma · September 21, 2004

andy wrote:

i really enjoy this shot. i hope you don't mind but i have some suggestions... i think this shot is a little flat, and could benefit from some increased contrast, and further adjustments.

in this step, i simply did a simple levels adjustment, bringing the right hand and left hand sliders in toward the center until i got the desired result:

then, i ran a velvia action (search google for "free velvia action") at 40%. i ran some noise reduction (fredmiranda's isox pro at 40% level) masking away the nr on the beach. finally, i applied a bit of usm to the bike and sand.

anyhow, i really like the shot, and thought it could benefit from a bit more "in-post." i would also like to see a snidge more scene lower right, but maybe there was compositional / cropping challenges?

how do you feel about these mods i made?

I think this is a great improvement. The shot was great but lacked the wow factor.

digismile · September 23, 2004

I've come back several times to your photo and I personally like colour over B&W. What drew me to the photo the first time was the soft, warm glow of the sky.

Andy's adjustments also brought out the colour of the water much better than the original. Still not sure how much "pop" I would personally want, but I definitely think the picture is a keeper, in colour of course:D

Regards,
Brad

landrum · September 23, 2004

I liked the original image with the added contrast and color. The b&w is my favorite, but I think the intensity should be dialed down a touch. The sky is a little too bright I think. Overall though, I really LOVE this photo!

Laurie

ish · September 25, 2004

I think it captures the contest theme really well. The location is beautiful.

As far as the PP, if anything I might bring out the colors a little bit, but maybe not as much as the first person did (IMHO).

Good work~~~~~

dkapp · September 25, 2004

PerezDesignGroup wrote:

Thank you very much for the comments and the adjustments. I had tried adding some more -umph- to the pic in PS but I, like TML, felt it pulled some of the bike's detail out. You're versions, however, look pretty damn good So thank you! I only cropped out the left because there's a kite surfer right that I felt pulled away from the 'alone' concept and distracted the eye a bit. But there might be more leeway once I check the pic out some more.

And TML, thanks for the input as well. It's greatly appreciated. I was playin' with virtualPhotographer and I pulled the following image out. I like it's 'emotional' impact quite a bit. Any input on it?

Personally, I like the color over the B&W. The color of the sky is what keeps me coming back to the photo for another look. Here are a few ideas for the shot if you want to give them a try.

Punch up the colors as Andy did using a layer mask so you can get the detail back in the bike when finished tweaking. I've only used this technique a few times, but I had great results using the tutorial Andy put together.

If you like the toned look better, try a sepia. Since this is an older bike, I think the sepia could give it a real classic look & feel. I just did this for a photo in the fredmiranda challenges & it didn't do well, so take my advice for what its worth...haha

Link to my dark sepia photo to give you an idea. Yours doesn't need to be this dark, but I punched mine up to get rid of the clutter in the background & help the streetcar stand out. It's a matter of preference.

Dave

*Challenge 22: 'Beach Bike'

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