Starkly!

[Katy Noelle]

I would love to know what you guys think about these. Comments, encouragement, advice, criticism is always greatly appreciated. Thanks!

#1

AV f10 1/10 -1.ooev 32mm pattern metering ISO400

#2

AV f10 1/8 -1 55mm ISO400 pattern metering - perchance, I should have used a wider aperture to make the berries pop more?


#3

AV 1/15 -1.00 55mm f10 pattern metering ISO400

#4
A different crop and post process. (as exciting as my pp gets. )

same as #3

#5

AV 1/50 -1 f5.6 47mm ISO200 pattern metering

[Donald]

Katy

I think #1 & #5 are lovely images.

#2, #3 & #4 I don't think have it.

#2 is too cluttered for me. The background interferes with the twig, which is clearly meant to be the main subject. For #3 & #4, I think all the flower/seed heads needed to be in focus. I'm surprised that at f10 (ps - See some of Colin's posts as to why we should always use full aperture stops and not halves or thirds) you seem to have had such a narrow depth-of-field. I would say it was an idea worth exploring, but in this case it doesn't work.

But, #1 & #5.

#5 has just a got a beautiful combination of colour, tone, shape and texture. Don't know how you got that or what you did, but it works (for me). Ditto #1. Just a well constructed image. Well composed. Everything in proportion. It's balanced. In #1 I do think there's a fair old bit of haloing around the stalks of the plants, especially those tall ones on the right hand side. I remember having the exact same problem with a very similar shot of tall grasses. But that's just a technical issue that can be sorted with knowledge. It doesn't diminish the artistry attached to creating the image.

I'm sure that those with much more technical knowledge about sharpening than I possess, will give advice about how to achieve the rigth result and avoid the halos.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,
First is first!
Radu Dinu

[Clactonian]

I too like No:1 Katy although I wish more could be made of the lovely red berries. The problem is that to crop more tightly on them, you would lose the grass, which does a great job of anchoring the image. So I guess what I'm saying is that fine as it is!!!
No:2 would be better if the branch were silhouetted against that creamy sky. Similarly with No:3 & No:4 but without the background branch, which somehow keeps taking the attention.
I like the muted colours on No:5 but there again are several elements fighting for my attention.
The light is beautiful in all of them and exposure and focus spot on.

[Katy Noelle]

Well, I've gone back and tried to repost process the first one to get rid of the haloing but keep winding up with it again. Thanks, Donald, for pointing that out. I could see that there was something strange there and thought that it was the little ridgeys (demosaicing?) but couldn't see them. Anyway, here is another one with more of the berries in the frame.

[Donald]

Like Mike says in the post above, you lose the grass that it is the anchor. For that reason, I don't think this version works so well.

[Wirefox]

Katy, I am pretty much in agreement with the others. The light is fluid and quaffable and your camera control is spot on. The last image is my pick of the bunch. I am waiting for the lights of the dead to appear in the Dead Marshes. "Master must not look at the Nasty tricksy lightsies".

The first image is very well done too but here I do prefer the original crop. The grasses add a layer that gives the image depth.

I think you may have cracked it young lady

[wilgk]

Well done Katy!
and I'm happy that without reading the other replies - #1 and #5 were my pick of the bunch as well
Very nice work

[Camellia]

I vote for #1 and #5 too. #1 is real attention getter. Beautiful colours and then the soft lines of the grass. The red berries grab my attention and then the blue and the grass make me feel calm.

And Steve is right about #5 being the Dead Marshes.

Well done Katy

[David deSousa]

Hi Katy,

My vote is for numbers 4 and 5. Both of those are technically sound in my view and artistically pleasing. Both of them have a Zen simplicity about them.

I like your redo of #1, which I rejected at first on the basis of the sharpening halos, although the composition was good. I do like the later one in spite of comments about the foreground blades being a necessary anchor. You have left enough of the foreground grass in the redo to satisfy the same element quite well enough.

Number two is simply too busy as shown. Perhaps you could experiment with a blur brush (more bokeh) and some color contrast tools on the foreground, in-focus twigs and buds.

Number three is nice, but not when compared with number four side-by-side, to my taste.

My pick actually is #4. I would like to have this on the wall of our quiet room where we go to meditate.

D.

PS: You still haven't told us what you are using to post process your images. We can't help you with specific tips if we don't know.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Katy,

Is there any point in me echoing the concensus? Yeah, why not; #1 deserves it

#1 is a winner, but would be moreso with less (pesky) halos, if you see what I mean, and #5.

I also think #3/4 hold some promise, but without the background/RH branch altogether and a slight re compose - i.e. too much to attempt in PP.

Cheers,

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, All! Wow! I've cracked something? I don't know, quite what, but I do know that I did all of this on purpose - both the taking of the photo and the post processing. I'm getting somewhere,.... i think.

I, also, think that most of you know that i am using iphoto for my post processing. I cannot WAIT to get to photoshop, which we own, somewhere around here. I'm just trying to figure out if it's wise to learn during the Christmas season. I just can't bring myself to put in my signature, here, "AND, I use iphoto for all of my post processing needs!"

I shot these against the water in the pond. The November light has been silvery and mild - perfectly beautiful and hard to resist. Regarding #3 and #4, I am wanting to shoot "weeds" - ahem, "seed pods" - with some in focus and some blurred in the background. I have some other ideas for this compositionally, though. I hope that I have a chance to try again. (Thanks, David, for your favorable vote for this one - this goes way back to some memory of a room from my childhood. hmm.)

Thanks so much for your encouragement!!! I'll keep working on it!

[wilgk]

Katy
Don't apologise for using iphoto - it makes perfect sense to master the basics on a more basic program to me, b4 diving blind into the deep pond of CSx!
I only have CS5 becasue they had a super cheap version for school staff.....and if we're 'coming clean' today....when I have a big batch of sports shots to process from RAW for school, I can do most stuff in apple's aperture, so you're amongst friends
I save my photoshop for the 1 or few at a time versions and try to learn a bit more each time I open it......

[Katy Noelle]

oh, Kay! What a practical and encouraging comment. Phew! Thanks!

[Katy Noelle]

I've fallen deeply in love with this - go figure! I just thought that I'd share it, too, for good measure. Feel free to like it or not. I wasn't sure at first....

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Katy,

You are getting good. Great exposure. I like grasses and it is often difficult to get them without blowing out the highlights.
I like #1 above for all the reasons discussed above but I do like this one. You have achieved good proportion between the grasses and the background.

You have achieved better control over DOF in this shot compared to # 3 and 4 above where I would like to have seen more overall sharpness.

Well done.

[David deSousa]

Katy, there is no shame whatsoever in using the tools you have, which you seem to be doing quite well with BTW. I do not know iphoto at all ~ never even heard of it, so there you go! But I would seriously recommend that you find Photoshop and load it up soon (maybe not over Thanksgiving or Christmas) because Photoshop has a steep learning curve and so a rolling stone gathers no moss, so to speak. You can always revert temporarily if you get bogged down. The advantage for you will be in the vast resources vis-a-vie Photoshop that you can tap into on the Internet.

Your latest post photo is in keeping with your progress, good on ya!

D.

[RockNGoalStar]

I love the contrast between the deep, navy blue of the water and the silvery slithers of grass in #5