Project 52 by Gregj1763 (Greg)

[Ryogenetic]

Very nice shot, great colors. Only thing that disturbs my eye is the blackened center of the grass. I look forward to your HDR's I have been toying with that as well

Ryo

[gregj1763]

Thanks Ryo,
Changed a couple of things which I missed with the first post.
Cloned out the black heads on the stalks which seemed to draw attention and filled in some darker areas at the bottom of the photo.
Happier with it now
Thanks for your comments, Greg

[ScoutR]

Hi Greg, I really like shots like this, but I think I would have tried to get complete clouds in the picture. Also because there is really not a central subject I might tend to try and brighten and bring out the colours in the grass. I'd do everything I could to make colour the subject so I'd want it to be really dramatic and saturated. That's just me though and these are only suggestions from another novice.

Wendy

[gregj1763]

Thanks Wendy,
Will try your suggestions with the grass and see how it looks.
Greg

[gregj1763]

Project 52 week 4

Been stressing on what I should do for this week. Taken lot's of photo's on a property I am working on in central Tasmania. Birds, bugs, landscape, etc. But nothing I have done really stood out as, (this is the shot )
So I chickened out and have posted these two.
This little girl is one of three 7 week old Kelpie pup's and as I have a Kelpie myself, I couldn't go past posting these.
All dog owners, ready..... Awwwwww

[kezmal]

Awwww ;-) Gorgeous.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Very nice. I love Kelpies

[gregj1763]

Week 5

Ok, This week I'm back to bugs. These shots were taken last week but have just finished editing them with my new software Photoshop Elements 10. Quite like it
I spent an hour at a lake about 500 metres from where I was working trying to get a photo of a dragonfly in flight with no great results. Little buggers just won't keep still. Had to give up and go back to work.
Then this one landed on a wall right next to me and decided to pose. Maybe it felt sorry for me?
I was able to get within 500mm of it and it stayed put for 15 minutes or so, very decent of it I thought.
I had a bit of a go with PSE with the last 2 photos just to try and isolate the subject.
Would appreciate some C & C and by all means some editing of them if you like.
Thanks, Greg.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Nice captures Greg. Funny thing about dragonflies that I've noticed - they can actually be quite considerate - and certainly curious little creatures, although catching one in flight isn't something i've had any success with.

I like the way you've enhanced the colours in the second and third photos. Have you thought about rotating them at all?

[gregj1763]

Thanks Mal,
I will go back to the originals and have another play with them tonight if I get time and try some rotation.
Greg

[gregj1763]

Found this article while searching about macro photography. http://www.australianphotography.com...n-macro-photos
Macro photography interests me greatly, and I hope to improve throughout the year.
I used some of the techniques mentioned in the article to capture these bugs in some local bushland.
I have no idea what they are, never seen them before. Perhaps someone with a bit more bug knowledge might be able to identify them.
I have a 90mm Tamron macro lens and used a Metz ring flash with the shots.











Sorry about putting so many photo's in, but I thought it might help the entomologist's among us.

Greg

[woty87]

Greg, cool bugs and great crisp photos. Is there a reason why you chose not to center a few of these on the subjects? I think a couple of them would be better if composed with the insect centered. Particularly, #2 and #3. Regards, john.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Some nice captures there Greg. The little old Tamron 90mm doesn't do a bad job with the bugs, does it?

I agree with John on the composition of the shots though The ones were the bugs are facing us directly I think would work better if they were more centered. The negative space thing works when better when your subject is actually facing the negative space I think.

Great captures though - I think I might have to go searching for more bugs this weekend

[gregj1763]

Thanks John & Mal,
New to composition of photography and still using rule of thirds with most of my photo's.
I think the penny is starting to drop, would I be right in saying with the photo's and cropping.
Shot 1 & 5: Crop further to the right to give the subject room to move.
Shot 2 & 3: centre of frame
Shot 4: OK?
Cheers Greg

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Thanks John & Mal,
New to composition of photography and still using rule of thirds with most of my photo's.
I think the penny is starting to drop, would I be right in saying with the photo's and cropping.
Shot 1 & 5: Crop further to the right to give the subject room to move.
Shot 2 & 3: centre of frame
Shot 4: OK?
Cheers Greg

That's how I'd do it

[Geoff F]

If that was in the UK, Greg, I would say they are a variety of shieldbugs (Heteroptera) adults and juveniles (nymphs). But I don't know anything about Australian species.

However there is plenty of detail there so you should be able to obtain a positive identification.

[woty87]

Greg, yes I think #4 is fine. My favorite one.

[gregj1763]

Thanks very much for the advice everyone, much appreciated.
I edited the photo's last night and they all look much better.
Greg

[gregj1763]

This week I'm going right out of my comfort zone by trying portrait photography and going a little further with pp.
These are the before and after shots of my step daughter taken just before a modelling class.
Sony SLT A55 18-270mm Tamron lens 100mm. f/5.6 1/125 flash bounced off ceiling.

The first step of pp was using portrait professional. It does a great job of removing skin blemishes and giving the subject that modelling look, not that Georgia needs it
Next I downloaded a trial version of Lightroom 3 and used a bleach bypass filter.
Have heard a lot of the CIC members talking about LR3 so thought I would give it a try, so this is my first effort with it.
Cheers Greg

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Great to see you getting out of your comfort zone Greg. I'm a firm advocate of Lightroom just because it's so simple to use. If you're interested in presets, go to http://www.ononesoftware.com - they have a bunch of free presets that are very useful and help you to learn the effects of different settings in Lightroom. I'd also recommend watching some of the tutorial videos at http://tv.adobe.com - again a great source of learning on how to get the most out of Lightroom.

Onto your photo - there's just the slightest touch of shadown behind your subject's ribbon but otherwise, lighting wise you have it nice and even. Clothes and background - you might notice that the jacket and the wall are quite similar so your subject doesn't quite standout from the background as much as she could. I would also crop a lot tighter and use a portrait crop rather than a landscape one as the negative space doesn't really add to much to the photo overall. Your bleach bypass gives the photo a high key look which I think works okay - I might suggest trying to tweak her skintones though so they look a bit more natural.

How did you find trying to elicit a natural smile?