2016 Project 52, 1st quarter by Judith Noble (Urbanflyer)

[mknittle]

Nice concept, you have to be careful with the lighting when using effects or even monochrome SOOC, the algorithm used by the camera's computer tends to overexpose just as it would for a standard AUTO mode shot.

+1.

[Urbanflyer]

Mono Lake--week 4 project
The original image, taken late in the day, was clearly underexposed. The lake was very still and the reflection was beautiful.

original image


However as I worked with the file I could not find a result that pleased me. It all seemed to be visually confusing. Too perfect a reflection. Every crop I tried didn't seem any better. I tried cropping to a panorama, darkening and lightening various parts, leaving some foreground. Is this inherently not a good composition/subject matter? Is there something that would make it work?

Post processed image

[Geoff F]

I like the foreground reduction, Judith. There is probably another crop option which would be more of a panoramic effect that retained the full width.

The increase in brightness makes the detail more noticeable but maybe I would have kept the sky just a fraction darker by editing with a mask on a layer. However that is just a personal thought and assumes you have suitable software.

[Urbanflyer]

Took all the good comments under consideration and came to this version. Thanks to those who are helping me grow.

[Urbanflyer]

Week 5 already-- Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

original photo



Image with Post-processing



As always I welcome critique--I am learning more and more with your help.

[Val Mansfield]

I love the final version of week 4! I wonder if the processed vwersion of week five is a little over sharpened? I would prefer a softer version.

Val

[pnodrog]

The new crop is good although you could have cropped a bit more on the left side. I prefer the softer tones of the original version. With rain/mist/fog/spray when increasing the contrast it must be done very cautiously so the mood is not lost. Your PP has resulted in loss of detail in some of the water highlights and the moody mist diminished. A certain amount of overall brightening was required but it may work better if the increased contrast is only for the shadow/darker areas. If I was doing the PP after setting the black and white points I would try applying a "s" curve in the lower half of the curves control to introduce the kick in contrast in the wet rocks.

[Urbanflyer]

no sharpening was applied. 2nd version is more true to the reality. 1st version is result of slow shutter speed required in low light. I am interested in approaching this in curves as suggested and will work on that. Thanks for comments!

[Shadowman]

2nd version for me as well, better feeling of movement.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Judith,

I also prefer your processed (2nd version) of week 5's waterfall.

Cheers, Dave

[Urbanflyer]

Week 6--The Plunge --Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

The last waterfall picture for a while at least.

Original photo




After Post Processing







Critique sought after and welcomed

[Urbanflyer]

Week 7--Hawk dinner
I am really a novice at sharpening, nonetheless smart sharpening, so started to try to learn something. I have a long ways to go and could use suggestions of any kind. This is an older photo of mine taken from the window of my house. My husband says it is now a better record of the bird but not artful. I can't argue with him but I had to start learning this tool somewhere. Thanks for any input you might give.

Original photo




After Post Processing

[Shadowman]

Edit looks much better with Lightbox. Nice effort.

[Geoff F]

What I frequently do when faced with this sort of problem is to put a selection around the main subject and feather the selection (say 5 pixels). Then sharpen so the effect is only on the required subject not the difficult and potentially noisy background.

After that, I sometimes invert the selection and add a little extra noise reduction to just the background, not the subject.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Judith,

I see we all missed week 6 (sorry)

The processed version is an improvement, especially losing the bright leaves in the lower left corner, they really dragged the eyes away from the waterfall.

Unfortunately, the subject is still competing with that odd branch/log sticking up(?) at a peculiar angle and I find myself wondering more about that than enjoying the waterfall.


Week 7's shot of the Hawk feasting is a good recovery of a very challenging capture; ISO 1600 on a Nikon D40X at 200mm, 1/60s and f/5.6 - under the circumstances, I am amazed it is this good given how little light there was.

On the technicalities;
I think if mine I would have continued to clone out a bit more, if not all, of that foreground branch, but you did well recovering the tail where it crossed that.
On the sharpening, I'm not sure if you selectively applied it to just the bird? I would, because this might help avoid sharpened noise on the out of focus areas, where it shows far more.
There are a couple of white specks that have somehow crept in to the finished image; I'd spot heal those out IIWY.


With regard to your husband's comment, I don't see how you could make this scene 'artful', but perhaps I'm biassed since I shoot wildlife too and basically have the opinion that often we have to make do with what we can get and this shot is a classic example. Sure, we can shoot artful wildlife, but I suggest that needs a much 'cleaner' composition; the subject separated from the background by lighting, colour or tone (to name but three).

What you have here is a random set of branches, mostly dark, with a dark bird buried in the middle - unless you got unbelievably lucky and the random branches formed a nice shape around the subject, I don't see any artistic potential here - it just is what it is.

For artful shots, most of that has to be in place at the time of capture, so find such a place and wait for the wildlife to turn up, or just keep looking and hope you get lucky. I know that doesn't sound like a recipe for success, let alone quick success, but that's how it is.

Getting lucky can happen, see my shot here (1).
As can 'artistic', if you can see a situation developing and get in to a suitable position, as here (2)
Or go somewhere with a good chance of success, although I wouldn't call this one (3a) artistic - but check out the processed capture (3b).
Or this one (4), shot in my garden.

Hope that's helpful, Dave

[Urbanflyer]

What I frequently do when faced with this sort of problem is to put a selection around the main subject and feather the selection (say 5 pixels). Then sharpen so the effect is only on the required subject not the difficult and potentially noisy background.

After that, I sometimes invert the selection and add a little extra noise reduction to just the background, not the subject.

Thanks so much for taking your time to help me learn. I will play with your suggestions.

[Urbanflyer]

Hi Judith,

I see we all missed week 6 (sorry)

The processed version is an improvement, especially losing the bright leaves in the lower left corner, they really dragged the eyes away from the waterfall.

Unfortunately, the subject is still competing with that odd branch/log sticking up(?) at a peculiar angle and I find myself wondering more about that than enjoying the waterfall.



Week 7's shot of the Hawk feasting is a good recovery of a very challenging capture; ISO 1600 on a Nikon D40X at 200mm, 1/60s and f/5.6 - under the circumstances, I am amazed it is this good given how little light there was.

On the technicalities;
I think if mine I would have continued to clone out a bit more, if not all, of that foreground branch, but you did well recovering the tail where it crossed that.
On the sharpening, I'm not sure if you selectively applied it to just the bird? I would, because this might help avoid sharpened noise on the out of focus areas, where it shows far more.
There are a couple of white specks that have somehow crept in to the finished image; I'd spot heal those out IIWY.


With regard to your husband's comment, I don't see how you could make this scene 'artful', but perhaps I'm biassed since I shoot wildlife too and basically have the opinion that often we have to make do with what we can get and this shot is a classic example. Sure, we can shoot artful wildlife, but I suggest that needs a much 'cleaner' composition; the subject separated from the background by lighting, colour or tone (to name but three).

What you have here is a random set of branches, mostly dark, with a dark bird buried in the middle - unless you got unbelievably lucky and the random branches formed a nice shape around the subject, I don't see any artistic potential here - it just is what it is.

For artful shots, most of that has to be in place at the time of capture, so find such a place and wait for the wildlife to turn up, or just keep looking and hope you get lucky. I know that doesn't sound like a recipe for success, let alone quick success, but that's how it is.

Getting lucky can happen, see my shot here (1).
As can 'artistic', if you can see a situation developing and get in to a suitable position, as here (2)
Or go somewhere with a good chance of success, although I wouldn't call this one (3a) artistic - but check out the processed capture (3b).
Or this one (4), shot in my garden.

Hope that's helpful, Dave

Thanks for taking the time to give me such useful input. That's how I learn and that is why I value this group!

RE week 6 I tried cloning out the log and it began to look barren/without context. So I burned it a bit to make it less obvious. But I have to guard against the feeling I remember and the feeling I want to convey--In this case I wanted to convey the splash so the log may really be superfluous.



Will study the images you noted as well. I have been reading some of Galen Rowell's books. I do not aspire to be him but his thoughts are also helping me grow.

[Urbanflyer]

Worked on selecting the bird before sharpening and adding a little blur to the rest. I can see it is better in some ways. I will add this approach to my repertoire.

[Urbanflyer]

Week 8--Acorn Woodpecker Meets Oak Tree--biggest challenge here was to make a pattern shot with interesting composition and focus. I seem to gravitate toward these pattern shots.

Original



Post processed image



As always--C & C most welcome--I feel I am growing from this exercise and appreciate your help

[Geoff F]

Increasing the contrast has nicely brought out the fine detail and this works as a 'record image' but I can't really get over excited by a scene without any clear main subject.