Square cropped portraits (SCPs) - Archive

[stevewe88]

Joshua

[Alis]

Joshua

Hi Steve,

You have captured a very nice expression on both portraits (of your Son?).

One of the problems I see consistently on your pictures is that they are not sharp enough. Specially when the subject is sitting, as in the first one, we should able to see a more sharp and crisp picture.

Are you doing this intentionally?

[stevewe88]

They seem fine when they are full size but seem to lose sharpness when I re-size them. I am still learning with CS3 though and so I am not surprised if I am doing it wrong.

It is difficult to have the patience to work through Scot Kelby's book and learn what I am doing before I PP my own work properly. I hope to get better soon.

[Alis]

They seem fine when they are full size but seem to lose sharpness when I re-size them. I am still learning with CS3 though and so I am not surprised if I am doing it wrong.

It is difficult to have the patience to work through Scot Kelby's book and learn what I am doing before I PP my own work properly. I hope to get better soon.

Hi Steve! It is interesting. Based on the EXIF data, there should not be any problem. And just from downsizing, I don't think you can introduce that much blurring. Not sure but it may be a focusing problem but then you are telling us that they look fine at full resolution.

For sharpening, there is a very good post by Colin here that summarizes the process.

Alis

[stevewe88]

Thanks Alis

I still wouldn't be surprised if I have done something silly to them whilst trying to improve them. I will try posting a different shot in a couple of days and then we can see if the same problem exists.

[Antonio Correia]

Great work Colin. Very nice.

[Antonio Correia]

Without a doubt Alis you are building a big pile of images

What I mean is this:

When we are shooting pictures of our family we are making pictures for them and us to see in the future. In that sense we are building the past, as it can be seen somewhere ahead of this time.

Alis young boy will like to see his images in 20 years time and we like to see ourselves some years ago in spite of, at that moment, being already some years old...

But I really think that the charm is to wait years and then, look at the picture.
Not to see them everyday, no.
On my right - here where I seat at the computer - I have a photo of me and my parents hanging on the wall, walking in San Sebastian beach in 1951. My father was careful enough to write on the picture the date. It is very interesting. I have not scanned it. Not yet at least. But I must some day.
In this sense he was building the past. He made a picture of us reminding that moment.

Have you ever thought to write the price and date of your equipment as a reminder ?
Very interesting. I do it under the table, the sofa, behind the fridge, the washing machine, everywhere. Even when the house is painted: on the top of the door, hidden.
Sometimes we are amazed of how long passed since we bought the fridge or the flash.

Oh well, just a mess of mines ...

[Antonio Correia]

...I thought you were going to connect your iPod to your TV and take a picture of the screen with your cellphone and send us some pictures while you are on the trip, where are they?

The iPod to the TV then a picture of the screen with the cell phone and send. Uff. So much work to do ...

Pictures ? Later, later...

Man, I have some that - I hope - we all be amazed. I hope. I hope

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Steve !
Our young man look very British.
The image is very cute.

Thank you for posting.

[Antonio Correia]

Joshua

I don't like this one so much. Why ?
The picture is rather blurred, the eyes are dark and the background is too bright on the road.

Not speaking about how cute the young man is and how his faces expresses happiness and curiosity ...

I do know you can do better. We are all waiting for them. Them... the pictures.

Come on, surprise us !

[peterb533]

What ???? This is great Peter. Great. Fantastic. Very creative.
Oh man. I am amazed. You did a wonderful job my friend.

I don't care if it is a little grainy or the picture on the wall is seen, I don't care.
The image is so powerful and nice...

I wish this image was one of mines...
No, I am not jealous. I like other people to be happy, so I can be the same.

Great work again Peter. Great work.

Did you think of it or was it a chance ? If it was a chance it does NOT diminishes its value.

Hi Antonio,

Thanks for your comments. It was planned, in as much as I was watching Abigail as she relaxed after her birthday party looking for an opportunity to get a good shot. Then I saw her eye reflecting the sunlight, framed and pressed the shutter. It required some work to get the dark parts light enough, which is what caused the noise, but like you it dosen't worry me.

Peter

[stevewe88]

Hopefully this is a bit sharper!

[Alis]

Hopefully this is a bit sharper!

Hmmm! It is sharper I think but still not crisp. I usually have problems with oversharpening! Look at some of Antonio's pictures here. I am not sure what the problem is.

[aia21]

Hopefully this is a bit sharper!

It is sharper but still a little bit out of focus looking.

Just as an experiment:

If you put the full resolution file somewhere and post a link to it then we could have a look at the full size image to see how much sharper that is.

Alternatively make a 100% crop, i.e. crop till dimensions are small enough to post and save without resizing it, then post it. That should not be blurred by the resizing as no resizing is done.

If we can then all see a sharp image it means you are doing something wrong when resizing the image for posting in which case we can explore that further.

Best regards,

Anton

[stevewe88]

Hmmm! It is sharper I think but still not crisp. I usually have problems with oversharpening! Look at some of Antonio's pictures here. I am not sure what the problem is.

I have just been reading another thread and have realised that I need to re-sharpen aggressively after down sizing. I will try this.

I think my problem is I PP the photos at home and then put a select few onto memory stick to load onto my work computer but still in full size jpeg. I then downsize in a very basic program on my work computer which is where it loses the sharpness.

[stevewe88]

If you put the full resolution file somewhere and post a link to it then we could have a look at the full size image to see how much sharper that is.

The full size image is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/43802342@N08/4025377789/ but I am not sure quite how to share it fully.

Thanks

[KentDub]

The origional looks pretty sharp, Steve . Most likely an issue with the program you're using at work. The thing that gets me, is while the clothes are sharp, his eyes and hair arn't. This seems to be consistant through several of your images. When you autofocus, are you getting it to focus on his eye, or simply him?

[stevewe88]

I agree, I wonder whether I had the AF on the wrong setting. As a rule I do focus with the centre AF point on the eyes and then re-compose but perhaps it is refocussing if I had it on servo or auto. More haste less speed I think.

[Alis]

The full size image is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/43802342@N08/4025377789/ but I am not sure quite how to share it fully.

Thanks

Yup the original looks much better. What Pete suggesting was to cut a part of the image, let say 600 by 600 pixels at full resolution (without resampling) and past that small portion of the picture here. But I guess the one that you showed us on Flickr tells that the original is pretty sharp.

[aia21]

The full size image is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/43802342@N08/4025377789/ but I am not sure quite how to share it fully.

That image certainly is sharp! No problems there.

You have shared it fully! How much more sharing can there be than putting it on Flickr?

Also the Flickr shows brilliantly that there is nothing wrong with the photo, just look at the smaller resolutions on Flickr! E.g. select the "medium" size and you will see it is small yet completely sharp...

I suggest that you don't want to use your work program for resizing any more I would suggest...

You can always upload to Flickr the full size and then download the "medium" size or something. That will give you a sharp, smaller image.

Best regards,

Anton