The Chosen One

[Lon Howard]

Hi Lon,

Thanks for the kind words. The shutterspeed for this kind of shot has to be in a certain range ... if the shutter is open for longer (at a narrower aperture) then the ripples are smoothed out too much (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does change the look to something I didn't like as much), and if it's too short, it tends to freeze other "abberations" of the water that I don't like either. So in practice, 1/4 sec tends to be long enough for the high-frequency "small stuff" to disappear, whilst short enough for the ripples not to be averaged out.

Truth be known, that shoot was the first one in years where I put the camera in Tv (shutter priority) mode.

Boy howdy, do I thank you for that, Colin! Do you realize how many frames I would have to shoot on heaven knows how many trips back to the 'scene,' checking and rechecking the images on the monitor - before I would even notice that and figure it out? Don't even want to think about it ! Now I can check it out, knowing what to look for. Many thanks.

[Boatman]

Colin: The water and sky are fantastic, but that boat...

I don't have the mountains and sunsets you do, but I have friends with gorgeous boats. This is a 1971 replica, strip cedar on oak, of a 1937 Sam Crocker design called Classy Lady. I shot this at dawn in the Essex River.

Something I'm noticing with my GH2 is that low light photos have a rather 'painted' look It shows somewhat in the screen image but even more so in the print. I printed this on Red River Aurora Art White, which is a flat surface. It looks great, but definitely 'painted'.

[Colin Southern]

Boy howdy, do I thank you for that, Colin! Do you realize how many frames I would have to shoot on heaven knows how many trips back to the 'scene,' checking and rechecking the images on the monitor - before I would even notice that and figure it out? Don't even want to think about it ! Now I can check it out, knowing what to look for. Many thanks.

No Worries Lon - that's what we're here for

[Colin Southern]

Colin: The water and sky are fantastic, but that boat...

I don't have the mountains and sunsets you do, but I have friends with gorgeous boats. This is a 1971 replica, strip cedar on oak, of a 1937 Sam Crocker design called Classy Lady. I shot this at dawn in the Essex River.

Something I'm noticing with my GH2 is that low light photos have a rather 'painted' look It shows somewhat in the screen image but even more so in the print. I printed this on Red River Aurora Art White, which is a flat surface. It looks great, but definitely 'painted'.

Hi Homer,

She looks like a grand old girl. For what it's worth, many people often look at my prints for ages, trying to decive if they're a photo or a painting.

[epmi314]

Congrats on the worderful image and the info on shutter speed is informative for a rook like me and some of the vets I suspect.... I'm still waiting for that image I take and say... Now that is a picture! Didn't realize how hard it would be but you got it right with this one!

[Colin Southern]

Congrats on the worderful image and the info on shutter speed is informative for a rook like me and some of the vets I suspect.... I'm still waiting for that image I take and say... Now that is a picture! Didn't realize how hard it would be but you got it right with this one!

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the kind words

I remember watching part of a human heart valve replacement operation on TV ... there before me was a parient with their chest opened - heart stopped - opened up - and the surgeon had the new valve close at hand ... and was busy "doing his thing" whilst chatting to a reporter who had been granted the "privilage" of being allowed to cover the surgery. Replacing someone's heartvalve is something I would find very, very difficult (read "impossible"), but to the surgeon, it appeared to be something "routine" - certainly nothing that caused him any great challenge or stress ... and I guess (to be honest), it's a bit like that for me with images like this -- sure, the result looks OK (done better, done worse), but at the end of the day, producing something like that isn't hard - it's just a combination of having the right equipment - having knowledge of the right techniques - and knowing how/when to apply them.

I'm not saying any of this to try and say "I'm so brillient" - really just to say "anyone can produce images like this if they take the time to learn the techniques, and have the right gear".

Hopefully some inspiration in there somewhere!

[jimsuy]

great capture.. love it..

[Colin Southern]

great capture.. love it..

Thanks James

[Nihia]

Thanks for the tips Colin. I am going to use them.

I live in Palmerston North where we had snow in the city on 2 consecutive days & kids were making snowmen at the traffic roundabouts. Ranges are covered. The icy blast has been preventing forays too far from home.

Cheers
Nihia

[Colin Southern]

Hi Nihia,

Sounds like some great photo opportunities

Unfortunately, Nelson is a bit too sheltered for any serious snow, darn it!

[ChrisH]

You have some pretty fine scenery on your journey home Colin. A wonderful calm and peaceful "sundown" image.

[Colin Southern]

You have some pretty fine scenery on your journey home Colin. A wonderful calm and peaceful "sundown" image.

Thanks Chris,

I've shot there quite a few times ... And seem to get a new image every time.

[flashback]

Colin,
What I like most about your picture is that, while there's nothing in particular that grabs the viewer's eye, it still grabs the eye. Also, it's (IMO) difficult to find the perfect picture for a landscape format such as you did. Rectangular is hard to pull off but you have the perfect picture for that format. The above being said, were the colors stronger it would be have more impact.

I hope you don't mind but, because I really liked your photo, I took some liberties with it just to see what could be done.

In this one, I adjusted the saturation and color balance ( I use Gimp), trying to stay natural but to bring out a bit more color than in your original.


In this one, using filters, I first 'oilified' the picture with only a bit of mask, to give it an oil-painted look. I then added 'canvas' minimally and finally, under fade, added 'harsh light.'

[Colin Southern]

Hi Jack,

Just wondering if you're working from a calibrated and profiled monitor? I'm afraid that these look like the saturation has been applied with a fire hose

[flashback]

Colin,
What size fire hose? ;-)
I was just playing around with it. You did make me go and look, from what I can determine my monitor appears to properly
calibrated and profiled, but that in itself is no guaranty. The issue may reside with my own particular view(s).
Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

Colin,
What size fire hose? ;-)
I was just playing around with it. You did make me go and look, from what I can determine my monitor appears to properly
calibrated and profiled, but that in itself is no guaranty. The issue may reside with my own particular view(s).
Cheers,

Hi Jack,

Not sure what you mean by "from what I can determine my monitor appears to properly calibrated and profiled" - calibration and profiling is done using a hardware colorimeter like a Spyder III or ColorMunki. If you haven't created a display profile using one then it's uncalibrated / unprofiled.

The first one isn't too bad, but I'm afraid that the 2nd one is ...

[flashback]

Colin,
Mostly I was just playing around to see what I could make it look like. Clearly I wasn't intending to pass it off as real life, I just sorta like the pretty colors :-)
I don't have the software to actually check my monitor calibration and profile, but from I could determine on a couple of websites.
From here - http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/C...itor_black.htm my monitor distinguishes black at an RGB 5,not great but upper end of average, perhaps. Grayscale appears to be ok, no apparent banding.

As for profiling, that's the one area I can't check without the software (spyder(?)) As I've only recent gotten back into photography (digital) and haven't had any prints made, once I do I will at least be able to see where the errors are. I'd go back to my Nikon 35mm but slides just aren't as much fun as instant-gratification-digital-photography. Plus I don't have to worry about disposing of my exhausted chemicals.

Cheers,