Mini Competition #67

[ScoutR]

Here's how it works ...

- You good folks post images in the thread (please change your post title to a name for your picture)

- When we get 10 images we will attach a voting poll

- After 3 days the poll closes and the winner is declared!

- If you would especially like some critique after the competition poll closes, please make it known in the post

Too easy eh?

Limit of 1 image per post, and 2 image posts per person.

If there are already 10 in the current comp, please start a new thread in this forums

[rogerb]

When I shot this I wanted to include the log with snow in the foreground. Now I'm not sure it was a good idea. There was very high contrast so it results in a dark lower right corner.

Any C-n-C would be appreciated.

Roger

[Doughboy]

[ScoutR]

Nikon D3000: 18-200mm: 1/100s: f4.5: ISO 100: 44mm
PP Lightroom & Elements 8

[RonH]

Hand held my Nikon Coolpix 4800 last year on holiday there which was a bit tricky in the available light. Photo 'as is' with no colour enhancements. I have slightly angled the horizon (part distant land) as it seems more effective with the 'beach' foreground.

[Donald]

With grateful thanks to all those who commented in the Stone, Wood & Imageshack thread.

This is a re-work that, I hope, retains the 'spirit' of the orginal, but sorts out some of the PP matters noticed by people. I think they were issues caused by the ghosts of the Murray family that still stalk the ruined castle.

[rogerb]

Donald:
I see there is a significant colour shift in the highlights of the sky. This may have been caused by the application of sepia toning onto an image that already had highlights very close to saturation (i.e., close to being "blown-out", not in the sense of colour saturation). There are several areas of the image where the red channel is at level 255 (saturated) and fewer areas where both the red and green channels are saturated. Since sepia toning involves enhancing the red and green channels, the colour shift occurs due to the fact that the red and green channels not being able to get any brighter in the saturated areas, thereby giving the viewer the perception of blueish highlights compared to the rest of the image.

It might be interesting to reduce the brightness of the B&W image before applying the sepia toning, and/or trying a lower intensity of sepia toning.

However don't mess up the mood of the image. It's great!
Roger

[cneedha]

Bill,
Love this. Ever heard of Pierre Doutreleau?
Chris

[Doughboy]

Bill,
Love this. Ever heard of Pierre Doutreleau?
Chris

No, I haven't..... tell me more

[Yan Zhang]

Here is my entry: Solitude

This photo was taken on the first day of 2010. I saw this man stood at the edge of cliff alone, with the powerful ocean underneath. The word "solitude" just came to my head.

[RonH]

Interesting shot maybe ... taken in W Australia, Shark Bay on holiday. The smoke is actually some strong 'atmosphere' wood burning ... you can just see it being held.
Nice time!

[JK6065]

F3.5 1/3226s ISO 100 @18mm

[Hans]

D90 + 18-105mm (@75mm) f5.3 1/60sec hand held natural light (very late in evening so ISO 800)

Criticism very welcome...is this too close a crop (with viewfinder not in PP), girl on left not enough neck and shoulders?



And that is ten (10).

Keep it up in Mini Competition #68

[Hans]

When I shot this I wanted to include the log with snow in the foreground. Now I'm not sure it was a good idea. There was very high contrast so it results in a dark lower right corner.

The foreground interest is good and leads my eye into the scene to the subject pretty well...and I agree with you, Roger, the lack of detail is in that lower right corner is a bummer. I'm no expert, but it looks like a high dynamic range scene so you have done pretty good. You couldn't really open it up much more by the looks as you would have blown highlights in the face and waterfall. This is where RAW PP with my NX2 often allows me to regain those details in "shaddow protection" tool (D-lighting). The only other option I can think of is try another time of day when the light was more accommodating (but you already know that). I like the compostion , don't know about the frame

PS: LOVE your homepage! Brilliant landscapes there

[rogerb]

Thank you Hans for your comments.

I did shoot this raw and really tried to pull up the dark areas. However a large portion of that log is actually charred so it's very black. It also cast a very dark shadow beneath it. I probably should have taken two exposures and manually blended them.

As far as the frame, well, I'm not too sure either. I'm experimenting with this and trying them out on some of my galleries on pbase where it seems to work OK but the jury's still out. I just did a link to the image to bring it into the forum so I had no opportunity to strip it off. Oh well.

[Hans]

However a large portion of that log is actually charred so it's very black. It also cast a very dark shadow beneath it

Well that explains things. Once again well done with your galleries. I can only aspire

...but still don't know about the frame

Hi everyone,
I wasn't sure if I was supposed to start a new thread. There's actually more than 10 entries already.

Pete, #68 is a little further down the list of posts coz I don't know how to do the 'sticky' thing!!!
Can someone do the sticky thing for me? Dave...Colin...someone?

[Colin Southern]

D90 + 18-105mm (@75mm) f5.3 1/60sec hand held natural light (very late in evening so ISO 800)

Criticism very welcome...is this too close a crop (with viewfinder not in PP), girl on left not enough neck and shoulders?

Hi Hans,

The cropping looks fine, but what the image desperately needs is fill flash.

Do you have any kind of flash capability?

[Hans]

The cropping looks fine, but what the image desperately needs is fill flash.

Thanks for that feedback. Really appreciate any criticism of my stuff, Colin

Yeah the left subject in particular needs some highlights in the eyes at the very least (is that what you are thinking?). I only have built-in and the pics always look crap in a colour photo (and my little girl [on the right] has very light skin so flash seems really harsh)! So I just never use it. I have a real thing about that. I don't really know what I will convert to BW until I get the pics on the PC (I'm not thinking like a real photographer yet), but I suppose the BWs shot with built in flash aren't so bad. It's just that when I use full power it seems too much and any lower, not enough (though haven't done a lot of experimentation). My next purchase might be a speedlight (Nikon SB600), but to tell the truth, they really intimidate me...I'll do some more research in that area, but I really feel that I need to understand natural light more before I go getting into speedlights...what think ye?

regards,

[Colin Southern]

Hi Hans,

To be honest, it's not so much a case of "the eyes of one of the ladies being a little dark" as it is "2 pairs of black holes where the eyes shoud be".

In a nutshell, you have to get light in there somehow - a fill flash is one way - a reflector is another - or even just the plain old "shoot with the light behind you".

The quality of the result all depends on how much time and effort you can spare; on camera flash is the easiest - using a puffer a little better - external flash better still - external flash with diffuser better again - external flash off camera through a large / close diffuser getting pretty good.

Give me an idea of how much time you have to setup the shot, and I'll give you some more detailed ideas

[Hans]

"2 pairs of black holes where the eyes shoud be".

Lol! yep

Come to think of it, the sun had gone down to camera left so I should have turned them 90 deg to their right and that would have filled the shaddows better. Didn't take the oportunity seriously enough and didn't think about what I was trying to do (only had the camera with me) before pulling the trigger. put that one down to experience