Take two at the Botanical Garden for C&C please...still learning

[IzzieK]

1. George Washington Carver. I have taken three images on different angle but I think this is the best of the three. As some would say, wrong time of the day. Wrong time indeed, the sun was right up my head and it was windy too and I did not bring my circular polarizer for some of my shots...just getting by with what I have at the time...



2. Crossing a stream 1 : asking for Mom's help



3. Jump!!! These kids are just too far down for me to take a good shot of them but I like the action...



4. Waiting....



5. Helping the next one...




6.



The other little one was able to cross too but I did not get that because I lost DH somewhere...

Hope you enjoy my little show here...thank you all for viewing and any comments and critiques are welcome.

[Shadowman]

Statues are difficult to capture in any light. Sometimes it's best to treat them as shadows and light and forget about the colors. Nice series.

[Geoff F]

There is quite a bit of rather high contrast in these scenes but nevertheless they do work.

I think I would try a very slight crop from the top and right for the statue. Maybe you could try a bit of selective editing on the brightest areas such as that small area on his right arm but it isn't a serious issue at the moment.

The children are standing in shadow as they wait although possibly the idea of coming from shadows into the light as they make their jump actually adds to the overall 'story' of these scenes.

Maybe I would try a small clone job over the top right corner of #2 but nothing to worry about.

The same pale item is also in #4 but now it is much bigger so appears less distracting, although I suppose because the children have moved forward you could consider a slight crop from the right side. Maybe a bit of crop and clone. A balancing amount from the bottom would probably work OK and help to reduce the area of foreground shadow.

So all in all, a nice series of images.

[TonyW]

I like the series with the children, especially the "decisive moment" in #3. The light was not in your favour for the statue. The main problem for me was that the front of the face was lost in the background. Perhaps a slightly different point of view would have fixed that.

I have recently started using the shadow/highlight image adjustment in Photoshop almost routinely in many of my images but especially in harsh lighting. It's judicious use is helpful. It looks to me as though it would be useful here.

[IzzieK]

Statues are difficult to capture in any light. Sometimes it's best to treat them as shadows and light and forget about the colors. Nice series.

I was actually thinking along the same lines, John while I was hovering and going around the area while shooting him...the second one I took actually has harsher shadows to the left of the image but I wasn't able to capture the whole shadow thing. I was more concerned about knowing who this fellow it that started this place and turned into this botanical garden....

Thanks John. I appreciate your comments very much.

[IzzieK]

I only saw what you were referring to when I saw your comment. Goodness knows how many parts of the photos I have used Content Aware here after cropping the scene. Thank you for your comment. I must learn to be diligent in looking for flaws before I post...

There is quite a bit of rather high contrast in these scenes but nevertheless they do work.

I think I would try a very slight crop from the top and right for the statue. Maybe you could try a bit of selective editing on the brightest areas such as that small area on his right arm but it isn't a serious issue at the moment.

The children are standing in shadow as they wait although possibly the idea of coming from shadows into the light as they make their jump actually adds to the overall 'story' of these scenes.

Maybe I would try a small clone job over the top right corner of #2 but nothing to worry about.

The same pale item is also in #4 but now it is much bigger so appears less distracting, although I suppose because the children have moved forward you could consider a slight crop from the right side. Maybe a bit of crop and clone. A balancing amount from the bottom would probably work OK and help to reduce the area of foreground shadow.

So all in all, a nice series of images.

[IzzieK]

I like the series with the children, especially the "decisive moment" in #3. The light was not in your favour for the statue. The main problem for me was that the front of the face was lost in the background. Perhaps a slightly different point of view would have fixed that.

I did tried to lighten the face slightly in Viveza 2 and I thought I lightened it better than the original shot...the difficulty was the sun just slightly behind us, the statue and I, hence the darkened part of the image. I keep forgetting that I must look at the original recommended percentage before I even start with my postprocessing of any image I upload to the software.

I have recently started using the shadow/highlight image adjustment in Photoshop almost routinely in many of my images but especially in harsh lighting. It's judicious use is helpful. It looks to me as though it would be useful here.

On One's Picture Enhance is very good at lowering down a harsh sunshine via their sliders too but I did not use it this time. I only used it for reading and translating my image from the D810 NEF which my Photoshop cannot read directly from. And I do not think Photoshop will not change their stand on improving CS5 Extended anymore because they are selling Cloud. Just like Microsoft do not offer anymore upgrade nor improvements to their Office Suite of past versions.

Thank you very much for looking and commenting. I appreciate it very much.

[pnodrog]

I really like the last photo in spite of the harsh difficult lighting. Very natural and captures what looks like a very enjoyable outing.

[bnnrcn]

Nice series Isabel

[rpcrowe]

The problem that I see with the shot of the statue is the foliage (tree leaves) directly behind the statue's face. These somehow compete with the face.

I like the children shots as a series... So typical of children at that age...

[IzzieK]

I really like the last photo in spite of the harsh difficult lighting. Very natural and captures what looks like a very enjoyable outing.

Thanks Paul...it was a quick snap shot. I appreciate your feedback...

[IzzieK]

Nice series Isabel

Thank you Binnur...I leave the semi interesting shots for my installment. I will upload my last ones when I finished pp-ing them. I appreciate your comments.

[IzzieK]

The problem that I see with the shot of the statue is the foliage (tree leaves) directly behind the statue's face. These somehow compete with the face.

I like the children shots as a series... So typical of children at that age...

Thank you for passing by, Richard...Yes. Children shots are my favourite too especially the spontaneous ones. Even if I had a lot of practice with my little granddaughter when I was in Oz, I am still surprised of the outcome of my shots when I look at them in my computer.

As for the statue...I had a hard time taking that shot too...what with the sunlight and not having the circular polarizer with me. I just had that camera for general walking about there. I was thinking I will be well covered at all points so when we came to the beautiful buildings I felt downtrodden for not bringing anything else...

Thank you for commenting and giving me feedback. I appreciate it very much.

[wilgk]

Hi Izzie
Im late Im sorry, but glad I didn't miss them altogether.
Sometimes, we are where we are, when we are there & the light is what it is, we cannot change it or go back when it is better.
Yes its high contrast, but its a bright sunny day & the children are out enjoying the environment. Their bright colours and movement all suit the situation & scene.
These are not portraits of just the children, they are of them & the environment, so I think work really well.
The only small suggestions, would be maybe crop the big dark green bush at the front a wee bit, as it competes for attention just a tad much for me.
I love the angle of the stepping stone path across the scene.
I would maybe try to clone that tree trunk away from the adult's head in the latter ones, but a good fun series.
Well done

[JamesScott86]

very interesting, great set

[Kaye Leggett]

Lovely set - the children tell their own story and you've captured it well on camera, so even if their are some very minor technical issues, I wouldn't worry because it is the sequence that says is all.

[ied]

Very nice captures Izzie- they tell a story. I agree
children are fun, spontaneous and natural most times.
Irene

[IzzieK]

Thank you for your advice, comment and feedback Kay...I do appreciate them all very much coming from you. I wasn't prepared to photograph anything but I came out of there with more than 280 for the day, mostly garden and flower arrangements ideas for our house and garden...

Hi Izzie
Im late Im sorry, but glad I didn't miss them altogether.
Sometimes, we are where we are, when we are there & the light is what it is, we cannot change it or go back when it is better.
Yes its high contrast, but its a bright sunny day & the children are out enjoying the environment. Their bright colours and movement all suit the situation & scene.
These are not portraits of just the children, they are of them & the environment, so I think work really well.
The only small suggestions, would be maybe crop the big dark green bush at the front a wee bit, as it competes for attention just a tad much for me.
I love the angle of the stepping stone path across the scene.
I would maybe try to clone that tree trunk away from the adult's head in the latter ones, but a good fun series.
Well done

[IzzieK]

Lovely set - the children tell their own story and you've captured it well on camera, so even if their are some very minor technical issues, I wouldn't worry because it is the sequence that says is all.

Thanks James, Kay and Irene for your comments, too...I grow as your comments and feedbacks come in when I post...I appreciate them all, good or bad...

[James G]

Hi Izzie, I like these, they show the children being engaged in things that children like!

As regards the statue, I think it would have more impact if it were high contrast monotone.