2017 Project 52, First Quarter by Joe/ Joebranko

[joebranko]

This year I would like to continue working on composition and also hope to learn using layers to improve my images.
My first for this year is a scene from last summer. I have not been able to get out as yet this year so have to resort to history. These images were taken on a trip to Port Dover on the shore of Lake Erie with my Grandkids. The 'actors' in the scenes are not known to me, but were kind enough to provide these scenes.
The PP for these images was done today.

1 Get up!


2. Made it!


3. I'm OK, but...


4. Oops!

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, looks like an overcast day and those conditions can wreck havoc on skintones especially if you want to print.

[Wavelength]

Very nice set

[Geoff F]

Good clarity and little noise for dull day shots.

[joebranko]

Nice efforts, looks like an overcast day and those conditions can wreck havoc on skintones especially if you want to print.

Thanks John. I did not know that.

[joebranko]

Very nice set

Thank You Nandakumar.

[joebranko]

Good clarity and little noise for dull day shots.

Thanks Geoff.

[Urbanflyer]

Fun series! Might suggest rethinking the crop. As they stand the foreground figure takes most of the attention while the story exists with the background figure. A thoughtful crop could increase the attention to the male figure. For the final image in this series it might look like this.



This crop puts the male on the intersection of thirds (upper and left) and eliminates the empty spaces on the right.

crops to the others in the series might be similar.

Your technical work is great as always!

Happy 2017!

[John 2]

+1 from me Joe. Nice story, nice exposure but the sort of crop suggested by Judith adds a little more balance to the composition by decentralising both figures..

[joebranko]

Thanks Judith. Thanks John. Great observation! It does bring the supporting cast more into the picture.

[Manfred M]

Nice efforts, looks like an overcast day and those conditions can wreck havoc on skintones especially if you want to print.

I would suggest that the opposite is true, overcast skies are wonderful as they provide a diffuse light that is great for shooting people and animals. Think of the sky as a giant soft box. I've never had any issues with skin tones in shaded natural light, unless there is a dominant colour (i.e. the subject is standing up against a red wall) to cause problems.

[Shadowman]

I would suggest that the opposite is true, overcast skies are wonderful as they provide a diffuse light that is great for shooting people and animals. Think of the sky as a giant soft box. I've never had any issues with skin tones in natural light.

I would counter your comment by suggesting extra post processing would be needed otherwise the skintones would print as muddy colors. Even after setting black/white points and removing any color casts I have often had to apply a screen blend layer, this was done on a calibrated monitor.

[Manfred M]

I would counter your comment by suggesting extra post processing would be needed otherwise the skintones would print as muddy colors. Even after setting black/white points and removing any color casts I have often had to apply a screen blend layer, this was done on a calibrated monitor.

Let's agree to disagree on that one John.

I've never had to go to any such extremes in diffuse natural light, save the example I've given (people sitting under a tree on the grass is another example where things can be harder to do). I should add, that I am assuming the shot was done in raw or that the white balance was correct in a jpeg; trying to colour correct a jpeg with a poor white balance can be a struggle. Throw in a mixed light or fluorescent or sodium light light source, now that is tough.

When shooting people as subjects, it is critical to get the skin tones looking right unless you are getting into fashion shoots and are doing a strange colour grade.

[joebranko]

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

[joebranko]

This shot was also from last summer. However the sky was grey and not very attractive. I am learning to use ON1 Layers so I decided to try substituting a more attractive sky using files already in ON1. This mask needs more work, especially where the tree tops 'meet' the sky. I hope to improve this as I go along.




This is the shot before the PP.

[Geoff F]

You are attempting something which is virtually impossible with that scene, Joe. You really need a strong clean edge where the division appears; open foliage doesn't work well. With a lot of effort you may be able to zoom in on each spot of sky between the branches and leaves but it will be very time consuming to work well. There is a bit of contrast between foliage and sky in the original so it may be possible to eventually get bits of an auto mask to add together - eventually.

When editing a sky, etc, I will occasionally create an auto mask with a 1 pixel feather if the edge is against a solid area. Otherwise I edit a mask manually using brushes on a layer mask and vary the opacity to suit; but this is just for editing the original area. When attempting to change a complete sky it is far more tricky to avoid an obvious join.

Sometimes I create a bit of extreme contrast by using various ways, such as a Curves layer or suitable Blend Modes, to considerably separate colours or brightness levels on a duplicate layer then use an auto mask, very carefully. When the mask comes to an acceptable standard, remove the extreme edited duplicate image so the mask drops down on to the required background layer.

[bnnrcn]

I prefer the original shot Joe, IMO the fake sky doesn't fit the image and makes the composition crowded, besides it is impossible to merge it with the real scene because of the tree tops as Geoff already mentioned. You might as well crop the original shot from the top and from the RHS just a bit and eliminate some of the sky this way

[joebranko]

You are attempting something which is virtually impossible with that scene, Joe. You really need a strong clean edge where the division appears; open foliage doesn't work well.

Thanks Geoff. Appreciate the advice.

[joebranko]

I prefer the original shot Joe, IMO the fake sky doesn't fit the image and makes the composition crowded, besides it is impossible to merge it with the real scene because of the tree tops as Geoff already mentioned.

Thanks Binnur. As a practice, these were not good choices of images to work with.

[Urbanflyer]

Good learning! Glad to see you taking a risk!