Project 52 by Bryan (BJ Denning)

[Geoff F]

I was more concerned about the left hand tree which I find a little too dominant. Because it is out of focus I seem to notice it more than if it was sharp.

There is plenty of spare space at the top so I would consider cropping that tree in part or possibly entirely; maybe part crop and part clone. I'm not really sure.

But the main subject is excellent.

[BJ Denning]

Thanks Donald. Thanks Geoff. Perhaps this is a project to practice some PP. I kept the head room so that the "horizon"/ground line would be below the middle. But I will take a shot at de-emphasizing the tree on the left and clone out the tree behind

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Can't add anything over and above what Donald and Geoff have mentioned. Your subject looks great

[BJ Denning]

Here you go. I have to agree that I like it better ....

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Really great job Bryan.

[Geoff F]

Yes, excellent result.

[BJ Denning]

Well the cheetahs have been unusually cooporative lately. Our weather was spring like and they were lounging around. So absent human subjects, here are a few new shots. This time I tried to pay better attention to the background and composition.

All shot with 5D mkII, 70-200 f2.8 II





"The Yawn" -- admit it, you want to yawn too ;-)

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Now you're just showing off! I like the pose of the first one but wouldn't mind a tighter crop. In #2 it's a shame the negative space isn't on the other side - in the direction that the cheetah is looking at. As it is, he's pretty hard up against the left side of the frame - I think a tighter crop would work better here as well. #3 - well, my what big teeth he has!

[BJ Denning]

I think you're right. Unfortunately #2 is how I shot it, so not much to do. I guess I was paying more attention to his body. But here is one to make up for it ...

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I think you're right. Unfortunately #2 is how I shot it, so not much to do. I guess I was paying more attention to his body. But here is one to make up for it ...

Absolutely brilliant! I think that's the best one of the lot.

[BJ Denning]

I do favor animal photos. But have no fear, I have another model shot scheduled next weekend so I should have some more challenging shots.

In the mean time, here are a couple bird shots from todays walking around. I love the wood duck's colors and parterns. And the cardinals distinctive call always reminds me of spring/summer, can't wait for winter to be over.


Canon EOS 5D Mark II
(1/200)
f/2.8
200 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Canon EOS 5D Mark II
(1/3200)
f/2.8
200 mm
ISO Speed: 800
I was at ISO 800 because I had just walked out of the primate house and this little girl just flew up and was curiously watching, I was thinking about her and didn't pay attention to the ISO number (thankfully all is well). I'm guessing that people feed them or drop food because she was unusually close.

[Geoff F]

Once again, focus and exposure are excellent.

[SpiderBob]

Outstanding, got to say Im learning a lot from all of this. thanks

[Donald]

Once again, focus and exposure are excellent.

That sums it up perfectly. And then all you have to do is compose it. And you've done that well too.

[BJ Denning]

Wow, thanks all. I really appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback. Now I hope I don't ruin it all when I try the some more portraits.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

What the others said - great colours and fantastic sharpness. I'm sure you'll be fine with subjects that you can actually instruct

[Wendy Stanford]

Wonderful Cheetah series Bryan, I like how you reprocessed the image in #9, the cheetah really pops out and it is the only focus. I agree with Mal on the final image, the cheetah is nicely in focus, looking into the space, good DOF,
You have great focus on the eye and head with the wood duck, the wood ducks over here are a brown with very little colour.
great capture with the cardinal bird , you have placed in the frame very well with great background free of any distractions

[BJ Denning]

Hi Wendy

Wonderful Cheetah series Bryan, I like how you reprocessed the image in #9, the cheetah really pops out and it is the only focus. I agree with Mal on the final image, the cheetah is nicely in focus, looking into the space, good DOF,

The reprocess in Number 9 was performed completely in Photoshop Elements 8. I cropped the image to half the tree on the left and "burned" the tree a little to de-emphasis. To remove the tree from behind the Cheetah, I selected a large portion of the bamboo background and copied to a new layer. I then repositioned it over the tree to remove and applied a layer mask (in PSE8 you fake a layer mask with levels). I then lowered the opacity and with a black brush, colored out the new layer to reveal the Cheetah, raised the opacity back to 100%. I merged the copy, level, and image to one level and cloned the image to a new layer and used the healing bruch to remove the seam and touch up around his leg. Once it seemed OK I flattened the image. Hope this makes some since.

You have great focus on the eye and head with the wood duck, the wood ducks over here are a brown with very little colour.
great capture with the cardinal bird , you have placed in the frame very well with great background free of any distractions

This was a male duck, the females are all brown. Maybe the same as yours? As for the cardinal, I am learning, I "healed" out several small twigs to clear the image and added a catch light to his eye so it didn't look like a black pit.

[BJ Denning]

The model shot went pretty good. The theme was concert photography. Studio setup with colored lights. We were to practice using shutter, aperture, and ISO to balance the light. The goal was to capture the subject with some color.

I'm still struggling with dark complected individuals with dark clothes on dark backgrounds. I just can't find a shot that I am remotely happy with.

Below are a few shots from the session. I ended up getting frustrated and experimenting with some shots of eyes with scarves.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
0.017 sec (1/60)
f/2.8
115 mm
ISO Speed: 800



Canon EOS 5D Mark II
0.017 sec (1/60)
f/2.8
150 mm
ISO Speed: 800


Canon EOS 5D Mark II
0.033 sec (1/30)
f/2.8
88 mm
ISO Speed: 800

[FrankMi]

Hi Bryan, I've been away for a month and trying to catch up on the 50+ Project 52 entries that I missed. You have an outstanding collection of images posted. My favorite subject is the Cheetahs. If you get to go back, I would love to see a facial close-up of one of those beauties!