Project 52(late start!) by Gary (oldgreygary)

[oldgreygary]

Thanks for your comments Geoff. When I started to take sports shots I switched to using shutter priority mode(tv). I have continued to use this for most other shots that I have been taking. I am not sure that the aperture setting in terms of depth of field is very effective with the G2. It has an impact on the amount of light coming in but overall I think that for the Canon G2 thinking in terms of shutter speed seems to be more effective?

The settings for this shot were ISO 50, Focal Length 21mm, shutter speed 1/500, aperture f/4.5.

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

I was out and about early again during the week. I had been doing some reading about backlight. So, this image is a result of that. I wanted to catch the sun which was highlighting these wildflowers and grasses. My reaction after looking in PP was that it didn't work. But, a few days later I revisited it and when I did this crop it seemed to work for me anyway.

Thoughts and comments welcomed.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Geoff F]

For me, Gary, that tall grass stalk angled directly to the sun really makes this shot. Without that one element the scene would have been somewhat bland.

[oldgreygary]

Thanks for your reply Geoff. I think that the sun reflecting on the plants also makes the image. I suspect that this shot might also benefit from isolating the grass stalk or other subject taken in this way.

I also tried a shot earlier in the morning when it was that in between stage of dark and light. But the shutter speed had to be very slow and the image suffered from blurring. I guess that that both of these shots would benefit from using a tripod or some sort of support.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi!Your eyes work well for photography but it seems you don't pp the images.This one is only a little pp to take up the grey veil because you must the light's effects to take over.


Ctrl J >Enhance>adjust color>hue/saturation>change the blending mode to saturate.At the end clone stamp upon the grass(only a few over 7 min.)

[oldgreygary]

Radu, thanks for your comments and re-working of the image. I don't use Photoshop but I do use Lightroom to do my PP work. The original image was not well exposed and it was one of those shots where the sky was ok but the plant/ground area was underexposed. In those circumstances I tend to play around with the 'Fill Light' option and then use the Gradient option to adjust the sky. I think that is the basic problem in that the original image was not well exposed.

However, I can't quite make up my mind about your version. It does to me anyway seem to evoke a different, warmer feel. But, at the time I took the image it was at dawn and the light at that time seems to me anyway to be fairly cool. Hence my less aggressive use of saturation?

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. But, any more thoughts/comments welcomed.

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

After Radu's comments I went back to the image and started to process from scratch. In this version I didn't crop but left at full size. It sort of tells the story a bit better with the early morning sky and sun which glistens on the dew on the plants. Further comments welcomed.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Radu, thanks for your comments and re-working of the image. I don't use Photoshop but I do use Lightroom to do my PP work. The original image was not well exposed and it was one of those shots where the sky was ok but the plant/ground area was underexposed. In those circumstances I tend to play around with the 'Fill Light' option and then use the Gradient option to adjust the sky. I think that is the basic problem in that the original image was not well exposed.
However, I can't quite make up my mind about your version. It does to me anyway seem to evoke a different, warmer feel. But, at the time I took the image it was at dawn and the light at that time seems to me anyway to be fairly cool. Hence my less aggressive use of saturation?

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. But, any more thoughts/comments welcomed.

Cheers for now

Gary

For"didactic" purpose I emphasize the effects of pp.You must understand that pp help us to tell what we felt independent of the temperature or spectrum,more if we should work RAW than JPG.
All the best
Radu

[oldgreygary]

Thanks Radu, I appreciate your response and the fact that it has made me think more about the PP process. Maybe, sometimes I make to literal a translation of a subject. I do tend to do PP work in a way that I think that it is the 'correct' way to present a subject.Rather than why it moved me to take the image in the first place.

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

As the daylight hours lessen I decided to try some low light/night shooting. Not very succesful and I started this other post up to check out responses from others on the forum: Low light, Night, Moon photography etc.

Anyway, the image below is one I took that shows some of the problems I encountered. Moon, over exposed. Lots of noise (tried to adjust in PP). Lack of sharpness. The list goes on......!!! I took this as I was walking home and as a composition it doesn't look too bad. There was a streelight behind me so that helped a bit with the lighting. I used a post to rest the camera on as the shutter speed was 1 sec. I have since learned that you need a faster shutter speed to capture the moon. Comment/thoughts welcomed. In here or the other post.

Cheers for now

Gary

[FrankMi]

Hi Gary, ...when you stop to think about it, the moon is being lit by the same sun that lights the earth so it reflects about the same amount of light as daylight.

One way to keep the moon from being overexposed is to shoot two images, one exposed for the 'daylight' brightness of the moon, and one exposed for the night scene. You can then merge the two images in post processing using layers. As you are using Lightroom, layers are not available in the original package but can be used via an add-in as in this link:

http://lightroomkillertips.com/2011/...for-lightroom/

Hope this helps!

[oldgreygary]

Thanks Frank for your comments. It does seem to be the consensus of opinion with regards to taking two shots. I will check out the link.

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

As you are using Lightroom, layers are not available in the original package but can be used via an add-in as in this link:

http://lightroomkillertips.com/2011/...for-lightroom/

I tried this link and downloaded the software. When I tried to install it, it said something about the graphics card/Open4gl not being suitable and needs upgrading. That seems a bit odd as I had a trial version of Photoshop a while ago and that installed without any graphic card issues. Anyway, I guess the other option could be to use Gimp software as I understand that has processing abilities for layers?

Amendment/correction:

Part of message reads: Perfect Layers requires an OpenGL 2.0 compatible video card.

Cheers for now

Gary

[FrankMi]

I tried this link and downloaded the software. When I tried to install it, it said something about the graphics card/Open4gl not being suitable and needs upgrading. That seems a bit odd as I had a trial version of Photoshop a while ago and that installed without any graphic card issues. Anyway, I guess the other option could be to use Gimp software as I understand that has processing abilities for layers?

Cheers for now

Gary

Well that's a bummer! It really doesn't matter what software you use as long as it supports layers but you'll usually do better if you can stick with one product and learn to use it well.

[oldgreygary]

Well that's a bummer! It really doesn't matter what software you use as long as it supports layers but you'll usually do better if you can stick with one product and learn to use it well.

Couldn't agree more! I am not a fan of Gimp as I have dabbled with it before. An upgrade to the PC would be better. Another item on the ever growing list of things that it would be nice to have!

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

This image was taken of a spiders web on a miserable, drizzly grey day. But, the net result of this was that small water droplets had been left hanging on the web. So, I cropped the image down and thought that it would show them off. It gives a nice pattern and a sort of abstract feel to to the image. I was also incorporating some of the ideas from posts about spot metering subjects using macro to get the darker background. Not enough light differential to make it totally happen, but not too bad. What do you think?

Cheers for now

Gary

[Geoff F]

It is surprisingly difficult to get this sort of shot looking good, Gary.

It needs light from the right angle and a suitable background at the correct distance to give a good blur.

So this shot has worked well - but to get maximum points you need to have a spider in the middle of the web as well.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

As the daylight hours lessen I decided to try some low light/night shooting. Not very succesful and I started this other post up to check out responses from others on the forum: Low light, Night, Moon photography etc.

Anyway, the image below is one I took that shows some of the problems I encountered. Moon, over exposed. Lots of noise (tried to adjust in PP). Lack of sharpness. The list goes on......!!! I took this as I was walking home and as a composition it doesn't look too bad. There was a streelight behind me so that helped a bit with the lighting. I used a post to rest the camera on as the shutter speed was 1 sec. I have since learned that you need a faster shutter speed to capture the moon. Comment/thoughts welcomed. In here or the other post.

Cheers for now

Gary

For me the problem is neither the moon and his overexposure nor the noise for me the problem is that the light is not from the Moon but it comes from your right-behind

so I tried to erase this light as you see.Of course the work was not perfect because I'm in a hurry but I show you what it means.All the best again-Radu

[oldgreygary]

Thanks Radu, for your reply. Yup, I see what you mean. With the light coming from the moon the hedge and the post look a bit odd as they are highlighted from behind. There was a streetlight behind me when I took the shot and my thoughts were on capturing the moon. I didn't pay enough attention to the scene as a whole. All these things get registered in my head for future use!

Cheers for now

Gary

[oldgreygary]

It is surprisingly difficult to get this sort of shot looking good, Gary.

It needs light from the right angle and a suitable background at the correct distance to give a good blur.

So this shot has worked well - but to get maximum points you need to have a spider in the middle of the web as well.

Thanks Geoff for your comments. I think the spider was doing the sensible thing and sitting indoors have a cuppa!

Cheers for now

Gary