Project 52 by Dora

[dulceza]

Hello and happy new year !
Actually the energy and the enthusiasm around this project is quite palpable so I'm in. Not sure about what I'm going to do, but few things are in my short list :
-no more squirrels
-CS5 practice every week (improve my pp skills)
-use the tripod
week 1 :

Earrings



Surrender



Thank you , c&c much appreciated

[Rob Douglas]

Well composed. It is a touch bright though And the red is a bit washed out. Can you tell me what you did in post? I'm thinking a little blending of the background would look better and maybe tone down the red and add a touch of saturation maybe.
The second one I love the detail and texture. I think a bottom and right side crop might make it stand out better. Those elements are a little distracting from the main subject.

[dulceza]

Hello Rob,
I didn't do much : crop and played with the curves
Here is the original of the first one

but I don't know yet how to apply the blending for the background (please explain more)
For the second one, here is another version

Thank you for your useful comments

[Rob Douglas]

Dora, sorry for the late reply. I just walked in the door, quite the busy day at work. I really like the second version of the second image. The crop is much better. I think a hint of vignette would look great on it too. Home on my monitor the first crop looks better than when I looked at it at work. The reds are better but the background could still use a bit of blending. The background on the original is lighter and smoother that your crop. If you don't mind me working on your original I'll see what I can do with it and give you an explanation of what I did and how I did it.

[Donald]

Not sure about what I'm going to do, but few things are in my short list :
-no more squirrels

Phew!

-CS5 practice every week (improve my pp skills)

Wonderful

-use the tripod

Excellent.

Achieve that and you'll be a lot further along the learning curve ............ with great respect to the squirrels!!

Definitely the second version of the second one. This gives a much more 'uncluttered' image. It is, on one level, beautifully simple, but on another, is a wonderfully complex image about line shape and tone. Super.

[dulceza]

Hello Rob,
I don't mind at all. I just cropped the image because I didn't know how to blend the background. Thank you

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Hello Rob,
I didn't do much : crop and played with the curves
Here is the original of the first one

but I don't know yet how to apply the blending for the background (please explain more)
For the second one, here is another version

Thank you for your useful comments

You know, for some reason I actually prefer both of these crops to the first. The first one has a bit too much space on the right I think but I wonder what a portrait version of the first showing more of the branch with a bit of negative space above and below, and the cherries positioned in the bottom third of the image would look like.

[dulceza]

with great respect to the squirrels!!

It would be a P 366 (yes 2012 is a leap one) very easy to achieve. I have squirrels on my deck all colors, shapes and my computer is cluttered. Ok, maybe I should have said that my goal is to go for more elaborate shots, hope I didn't offend anyone.
Donald, Malcom, thanks a lot for your feedback

[dulceza]

It's -24C outside so I used my pictures from last Sunday to practice HDR toning.
I'll post the original and the (over)cooked one.
I got some details on the darker side but the colors are so surreal.
Please let me know what you think,

thank you,

[Dave Humphries]

It's -24C outside so I used my pictures from last Sunday to practice HDR toning.
I'll post the original and the (over)cooked one.
I got some details on the darker side but the colors are so surreal.
Please let me know what you think,

Hi Dora,

Clearly I shouldn't be reluctant to venture out in -5C then

I like the added detail in the snow and foreground, but as you say, the second is somewhat overcooked, specifically, the red/orange colours are so over saturated that they have mostly lost any gradation and the bright red pixels just burst through the distant trees in an unnatural way.

I know how I could achieve that by overcooking LCE using USM, which would allow me to explain how not to (if you know what I mean), but since you have done this with "HDR", I can't begin to help, as I don't use it myself. Now it has got this far, I suspect just turning down the saturation won't help much.

It is sharp though and avoids some of the classic problems 'HDR' seems to bring, plus the composition and foreground are quite pleasant. (I always see sunsets/rises when there's a rubbish foreground - but I should get out more!)

Well, that's what I think, but I'm not important.

I hope that was helpful,

[dulceza]

Overdoing the HDR effect can easily cause the image to lose its sense of realism

-from CiC tutorial about HDR
I wish I would have read that first. I barely touched the slides and
Thank you Dave, I'll go back and try with different exposures as explained in the tutorial
Stay happy and warm

[dulceza]

I have to rely on the weekend for my project and I don't like that. Maybe later in spring I could get out more after work. For this week I practised an interesting concept found in Bryan Peterson book "Understanding exposure".
So my project is about using the "creatively correct exposure".
As always, C&C much appreciated.
Thank you,
Dora
Ice diamonds

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I like some of the lighting effects in that first shot but it looks all out of focus to me. That second shot I think works very well though. Some interesting lines and lighting on the ice.

[dulceza]

Oh I agree with you about the focus. Imagine my frozen hands at -15C trying to focus in a small 2 cm icicle with 70-200 lens. Thank you Malcolm for your feedback.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Oh I agree with you about the focus. Imagine my frozen hands at -15C trying to focus in a small 2 cm icicle with 70-200 lens. Thank you Malcolm for your feedback.

Well, when you put it like that - well done for taking a photo without dropping the camera!

[Donald]

So my project is about using the "creatively correct exposure".

I'd say you scored a high mark in achieving the objectives of this particular project.

Set the problems of the first one aside and concentrate on the exposure and the exposure is, I think, very good. And in the second one, I think you have it spot-on. A lovely study of light playing on ice.

[dulceza]

Well, when you put it like that

- yes Malcolm, I know, it sounded like a poor excuse, but did I mention the wind chill factor? Joking aside, I have to practise more.
I liked the explanation used in the above-mentioned book, about the shotgun approach. It made me think before shooting, use my settings "creatively"- a giant leap for me.
Thank you Donald for the encouragement.
The last picture for week 3

Ephemeral jewels

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Another nicely done one - perfectly capture IMHO despite the potential for tricky exposure. The great thing about understanding exposure is that after a while, you start being able to see a certain lighting situation and know instinctively what exposure you're likely to need.

I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it

[Sam Smith]

Ditto. I think you got it. Have you been reading Bryan Peterson's books? He says that alot.

[Rob Douglas]

Beautifully captured. I love the glimmer of light threw the tack sharp ice formation. Excellent work Dora.