NON Square Cropped Portraits - (nSCP's) - Archive

[Antonio Correia]

This photo reminds me the second time I have been in the USA, Boston where I was supposed to see the falling leaves of Vermont and around.

Unfortunately there had been too much wind some days earlier and most of the leaves were not in the trees any more ...

Nice picture as usual Alis. !

[Antonio Correia]

[Alis]

This photo reminds me the second time I have been in the USA, Boston where I was supposed to see the falling leaves of Vermont and around.

Unfortunately there had been too much wind some days earlier and most of the leaves were not in the trees any more ...

Nice picture as usual Alis. !

This year, because we had almost no summer (a lot of rain), the trees are very "healthy" and the fall foliage will come down to Boston area a little bit later than usual. Last weekend, I drove almost 250 miles North and West to find a good location to shoot (I am switching to landscape as you may know ) and came back with like 15 shots of a few cemetries

The lesson learned was that it is better to wait for the foliage to come to your area!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Antonio,

Now THAT is what I call a great photo. Well done

[Colin Southern]

[Antonio Correia]

Hi Antonio, Now THAT is what I call a great photo. Well done

Thank you Colin.
As you know - better than myself - the luck/hazard factor is an important component when taking pictures.
I was reading about this matter a small text of Susan Sontag the other day. Not exactly this one I link but another one I found surfing ...

These two men, I assume father and son, were being shot by other persons when I arrived.
I said nothing and put myself on my knees composing as you can see, avoiding to be opaque to the others at my sides and back
One shot. No more, just one and here we are !

I focused on the persons and re-composed. (with the central point)
Funny how the older man is dressed in blue and not red as the costume is in Mao's style. The younger, who is centainly born under the dictatorship of Mao belongs to another generation with no better freedom/democracy than his father.

The perspective of the path way is the future and also the past as father and son are stopped for a brief instant, balancing between moments, belongs to both times.
The person on the right is the Time passing by in a hurry asking why are these stopped here ?

I have thought to erase the person on the right. I would like her to be more to the center of the image and with more motion or sense of. But the frame ends there.
To repeat the shot was, then as now, out of the question.

I also like this picture which I have found strolling among my hard disk.

[batman44]

My nephew and his girlfriend. I wasn't sure where to crop the bottom of the picture????
Comments Welcome as always!

[Alis]

Thanks, Colin! This is amazing; I logged in to look for another picture, in the competition I guess, where you commented on a landscape/marshland picture that if the black clipping is increased it will come to life or something like this. Not sure where it was but I was just editing an old picture and started thinking what the fill light and black sliders do and came here to look for that picture and ask you and saw this one!

Anyway, I usually increase the fill light until I do not have any black clippings I do not want in the picture. But then when I increase the black clipping, the histogram goes back where it was before increasing the fill light. Could you please explain what these sliders do exactly wtih regard to each other and how you use these and in what order.

Thanks,

Alis

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Kori for posting this picture of yours.

I made two versions of it with much the same treatment but with different crops

I didn't like the crop you did because of visual confusion of hand and legs at the bottom part.
If you have the original: try to correct the un-sufficient detail on her coat. It is from a nice dark blue which is difficult to get with all the light around if you intend to keep your crop.

I like the background but I am sure you do better.

And I like very much the way they look at infinity with hope in the future and all their lives ahead. I like the position of both of them.

It's a good picture made of diffuse light enhancing the beauty of two young persons.

I almost forgot to say that her face is a bit "burned" in terms of pixels but that is a minor problem you can easily correct because you are shooting raw.

Take care.

[Alis]

This is from a while ago, just practicing my PP skills:

[Antonio Correia]

Pretty good Alis, isn't it Dave ?

[batman44]

Thank you Kori for posting this picture of yours.

I made two versions of it with much the same treatment but with different crops

I didn't like the crop you did because of visual confusion of hand and legs at the bottom part.
If you have the original: try to correct the un-sufficient detail on her coat. It is from a nice dark blue which is difficult to get with all the light around if you intend to keep your crop.

I like the background but I am sure you do better.

And I like very much the way they look at infinity with hope in the future and all their lives ahead. I like the position of both of them.

It's a good picture made of diffuse light enhancing the beauty of two young persons.

I almost forgot to say that her face is a bit "burned" in terms of pixels but that is a minor problem you can easily correct because you are shooting raw.

Take care.

Thanks!
I don't like the original crop either for the same reasons, but didn't know if I got toooo close if it would look bad - but after seeing yours I do like both versions.
The were getting cold, as we were on the water and it was windy. I'm glad they were able to hold still.
I'm still learning this stuff, so what do you mean by her face is a bit burned in terms of pixels?
Thanks!!!

[Alis]

Pretty good Alis, isn't it Dave ?

Thanks, Antonio!

I think the dead center crop is one of the problems. Also I used a warming filter for this while rest of the picture has a nice warm tone, the skin tone is not natural, may be too red? Anyway, I am working on these older pictures for a photobook and sometime post them here so that you don't get bored

Keep the comments coming before I print them!

Thanks again,

Alis

PS: Are you and Dave physically together right now or you saw he's online?

[Colin Southern]

One shot. No more, just one and here we are !

For sure Been there, done that! I remember one of my wall canvases - I'd setup lights and diffusers - had mother and sister helping - took lots of shots - and mucked up every last one of them. Had a think about it - next day took #2 daughter out to test a theory - took 3 shots - and ...

[Colin Southern]

I was just editing an old picture and started thinking what the fill light and black sliders do and came here to look for that picture and ask you and saw this one!

It's part of a new pre-cognitive service we've introduced to anticipate customer demands

Anyway, I usually increase the fill light until I do not have any black clippings I do not want in the picture. But then when I increase the black clipping, the histogram goes back where it was before increasing the fill light. Could you please explain what these sliders do exactly wtih regard to each other and how you use these and in what order.

I just work down the list of sliders in the order they appear - rinse - and repeat (and KEEP repeating until I'm happy). The histogram IS useful - but - only from the perspective of making the image look better; the ULTIMATE technique for achieving a perfect looking image is to stop moving the slider at the point where the image looks it's best ... it really is that simple.

The Blacks slider changes the level at which pixels are clipped to black, whereas the fill light (spoken in a reverent tone) essentially applies a strong curve to the darker portion of the image. (all described in your camera RAW book ). The two definately compete, but they don't cover quite the same ranges and since we're still in linear gamma at this stage it's possible to improve some images by getting quite agressive with both controls at the same time. Whatever looks best

[Antonio Correia]

... I'm still learning this stuff, so what do you mean by her face is a bit burned in terms of pixels? Thanks!!!

I mean that there is no information in those areas because the pixels have received too much information.
This is a poor way to explain and may be Colin will be so kind as to post a better explanation.


Anyway, these areas are generally seen as red and blue on LR or Bridge...

Ah... then they were looking at the sea ...

[Antonio Correia]

...

Colin, don't you think that the flash in your image is too strong ?
Very even but too strong ...

To me it looks like so. And really, it's not the first time I notice this on your photos...

Just me with my perfection schizophrenic mania ?

Have a nice Sunday !

[Dave Humphries]

I mean that there is no information in those areas because the pixels have received too much information.
This is a poor way to explain and may be Colin will be so kind as to post a better explanation.

Anyway, these areas are generally seen as red and blue on LR or Bridge...

Hi Kori,

Ah, what Antonio means is they were over-exposed (if red) or black crushed (if blue).
Those are the colours that ACR applies to warn of clipping at either end of the exposure range. The red would equate to "the blinkies" in camera.

The girl's cheek isn't too far gone, within range of ACR "Recovery" I would have thought.

Cheers,

[Antonio Correia]

Hi Kori ... Cheers,

Thank you Dave.

That's better than the way I was trying to explain.

Nice Sunday !

[Dave Humphries]

Pretty good Alis, isn't it Dave ?

Yes, it is.

I couldn't put my finger on how to improve it, so I had a play myself.


Burned down background highlights and also cloned out some stuff to simplify.
Neat Image NR
Crop

I think I over did the background though
Also still a little unhappy with the bright ground in shot by the fence.

Not sure that helps,