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Critic 2023 #2

2/2/2023

5 Comments

 
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                                                                               For the images above
                                                Original                        Rev 1
                                                Rev 2                           Rev 3

Here's a photo needing much help.  I wouldn't bother except this is the best EMU photo I have.  

Situation: In a van, at 50MPH, at deep dusk.  EMU's are ~100 yards away.

Camera settings:  Maximum Telephoto (600mm), f/4,1/1000 sec, AWB, Auto ISO(1600), Continuous focus.

Original: Dark and very noisy, but focus was pretty good, considering.

Rev. 1
Cropped Image
Increased Exposure +2.37
Shadows: +30
Increased Texture, Vibrance and Clarity
White Balance: Increased Temp. from 4.5K to 5.2K

Rev. 2
Edited Photo in Topaz Denoise and Sharpen.

Masked facial skin patches and added blue back into skin, which was removed when I adjusted WB.

Rev.3
Used B&W Presets set to Infrared. 
Readjusted:
 Exposure +.44
 Contrast +11
 Highlights +2

Be Blunt.  Was it worth the effort?  Does anyone have ideas on what I might have done differently in the editing process?
Another trip to Australia to get a good daylight shot, setup on a tripod at 25 yards is not in the cards.  

I like the B&W because of the contrast of the grass from the birds.  Comments?
5 Comments

Critic 2023 #1 Addition posting

1/27/2023

3 Comments

 
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​Here is another version I attempted after reading the comments.

1) I agree, that the street grounded the image, so I put it back in, and just tried to mask the "newer" items in the image that stuck out for the older concept I was going for. Helped me learn about layer priority as well when I tried replacing a few signs.

2) Since I'm not going back, not much I could do about taking a new picture to help make the buildings more vertical. But the comments helped point out the "transform" function, so I played a little with that as well. Couldn't get perfect, as I ended up just chasing my tail eventually, but do think I was able to improve it a bit without totally losing the fire escapes on the left side, which I really liked.

3) I also, just for fun, tried another aging process on the older buildings. This method kept the color differences, but played with the saturation and shading to try and mimic the older photos that had color but not very deep blacks to them.

4) I also tried creating my own clouds in the area I removed the top of the building in the back. Thought it might help mask the fill of new sky that was hard to blend.

Thanks for the comments. As this was basically an "exercise" to start learning the software, it was useful to point me in the direction to try a few things I didn't even think of at first. Still have a way to go, but it was a decent first step.....John
3 Comments

Critiques 2023 #1

1/19/2023

3 Comments

 

                                                     The 4 versions above
                                    original                                                Revision 1
                                  Revision 2                                             Revision 3
​

 I took this image in NYC while walking around. I love to find images that show some sort of dichotomy, if I can. (Life/Death, Old/New, etc.) This image of the new tower between the streets of the older buildings caught my eye for that concept. I also then wanted to start learning how to work with layers and transparencies as part of actually editing a photo, rather than just straight from camera. So here are some of the items I am sort of debating on during this process.
 
1) Do I crop off the bottom of the image. My initial thought was to clean up the busy street and signage. But also thought that when cropped it lost a little sense of the vertical nature of the hallway. I looked at also cropping the sides a bit to make more vertical, but thought the fire escape ladders and smaller portion of building added to the sense of the "older" building, and a diminishing horizon going back to the tower. (Rev.1)
 
2) As far as the masking exercise I thought to try and make the old building back in time a bit. I tried sepia, but thought the grayscale felt better. I also worked on the highlights and shoadows to try and bring out the texture of the windows. Does that concept come through between the old and new? (Rev.2)
 
3) When I lost the color from the older buildings, I also lost the sense of depth between the two different building on the left. So I thought to highlight the back building somewhat with highlighting it, so it might come across at a different building, rather than blending together when it had the same exposure as the front building. (Rev.3)
 
Just wanted to see what others may think about the thought process, and the direction I was heading. I realize that my cropping may not be the best, but as I first try, the image gave me something to work with for a purpose. 


3 Comments

Critiques 2023

1/19/2023

0 Comments

 
CCC is starting a Blog called Critiques 2023.  The idea is to allow any member of the club to post  images and to receive comments and criticism to specific questions and areas of concern.  

Here is how this will work--
1-- you send an email to Peter Chow and Maryann Flick (cpchowphoto@gmail.com, cmflick@comcast.net) and attach an unedited and an edited version of the same image.  In the body of the email you will write out your questions and any areas of concern that you want feedback.  
2-- I will post the two versions as well as the write-up on the Blog.  It is important that you write out your questions and concerns so that I can cut and paste them onto the Blog.
3--if you choose, you may post a revised version after you read some of the comments by emailing Peter and Maryann with the revised version. This is optional so no pressure.  You must do this within 14 days of the initial posting.
4--after 14 days of the initial posting another person's work will be posted and the whole process starts over.
5--the order of posting is in the order of the emails received.
6--you may send another email for another posting after yours go live.  

Your posting will be anonymous.  So if you are a little shy about sharing there is no need.
0 Comments

Wabi Sabi

11/23/2022

0 Comments

 
Our most recent speaker was Lisa Cuchara who presented "Wabi Sabi: Photographing the Old, the Imperfect, and the Everyday". It was another enjoyable and inspiring presentation from Lisa. I could identify with the 'style' so I went looking in my files for images that might fit the definition of Wabi Sabi style. Here are some that I found. 
If you have some to share, post a link here or a few individual images directly in the comment box.
Maryann
​https://photos.app.goo.gl/devh2BGTCBgqQoXeA
0 Comments

Making a slide show, follow-up observation & opinion

2/17/2022

2 Comments

 
The process of putting together an eye-catching slide show is, well..., an art. If you’re using one of the programs like Photo Stage that Mark demonstrated last night you have an overwhelming number of options. Here's a couple things that came to my mind.

Timing observation. Mark clearly talked about choosing the right timing for how long an image stays on screen—not an easy decision. You also have to consider the transition time and the type of transition you use. There were SO many options there. It appeared to me that some of the ‘fancier’ ones took longer to complete than the simple ones so that if you set the transition time too short for these they didn’t quite finish; it looked garbled and there wasn’t enough time for the image to be rendered clearly before it changed again. There’s a delicate balance of timing to consider.

Transitions opinion. There were comments about choosing transitions to fit the image subject matter as well as the target audience. I think this goes as well for sound effects and visual effects (yes the program has those!). You know what they say about 'too much of a good thing' and the adage 'less is more'. Varying transitions will keep the audience from nodding off but too many can be visually jarring and as Allison pointed out, unprofessional looking. My opinion; choose a transition style that has several options and cycle through them to give some consistency but also variety. Maybe throw in wild card once in a while to shake things up for fun. Or pick 4 or 5 ‘fun’ ones and cycle through them. Use things like pan and zoom to relieve repetition, but not for every slide. The ’stars’ of the show should be your images not a sampler of transitions.  

What do you think?

2 Comments

Member's Project for '20-'21

11/18/2020

0 Comments

 
I’ve decided on a simple project for the club year 9/20-6/21. This is a combination of ‘scavenger hunt'-working the subject. I call it “5x5". Below is a list of 5 items. Your assignment is to make 5 images of each item. It MUST be the same item in each of the 5 images. For example: #2 Flower—all the exact same flower (on the plant or removed), not 5 different flowers nor 5 of the same kind of flower. 

1. Kitchen tool/utensil
2. Flower
3. Bridge
4. Rock (any size--pebble, stone, boulder)
5. Book

Tips: The item should be noticeable in each image but does not have to be by itself in the images. Think about POV (point of view), lighting, macro v. non-macro, color v. B&W, depth of field, background, context… Be inspired by images you’ve seen of these items without outright replication of other’s work.
You are not required to do all 5.
Consider doing more than one item for each number and then choosing your best set to submit for that item number. For example: Item #1. 5 images of a spoon, 5 of a whisk; decide which of the two is your best work and submit either spoon shots or whisk shots.
Please try to be creative. I hope we will be able to do Viewer’s Choice balloting when we get to view them. Members’ Project images are usually viewed at the second meeting in May. Don’t wait until May 1st!

0 Comments

My photographic summer

8/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Three planned trips this year—all cancelled because of the pandemic. I do most of my photography when I travel so it’s been disheartening. Of course there is plenty to photograph near home but frankly it was too darn hot this summer to go anywhere. I was able to capture the comet NEOWISE one night. That was a highlight. And there are always bugs, birds and flowers just outside my door so I was not totally divorced from my cameras. Yes I could have done some indoor shooting—was not inspired. And I could have spent oodles of time on webinars and tutorials. Somehow I didn’t get to those either. I did find a few photo-related things to do.


1] I went back into my files of thousands of images. Wow, some are really bad! But there were some gems among the drivel. Besides having a better sense of good imagery thanks to our critique meetings, numerous upgrades have been made to Lightroom since I made the images. So it was interesting to re-edit some of them. Some that were halfway decent were improved. So if you need a project, I recommend looking at your old images and reworking them using fresh eyes and more powerful software if you have it. If you are using Lightroom, be sure to update the Process for the image so you are working with the newest version. Old images retain the process they were originally made with. You never know what gems you might turn up. 


2] Another fun project was playing with manipulation—really drastic manipulation in Photoshop that changes a recognizable image to a colorful, totally abstract design. It began with a technique I blogged earlier—March 29th. (BTW, that began as an image of a butterfly). I expanded on the method by incorporating different steps and filters. Many of the resulting images are in the “Abstract Creations” gallery on my web site https://maryannflickphotography.weebly.com/abstract-creations.html  and the original tutorial that I used is here http://awakethelight.blogspot.com/2020/03/


3] I keep a Lightroom collection of my favorite images. I go to this for making prints and for competitions. One day I decided to single out the un-manipulated abstracts and noticed some similarities among them. It sparked another little project that I called “Pairs”. https://maryannflickphotography.weebly.com/pairs.html  
Some of my pairings are similar images and some are contrasting or complimentary images that I think have something in common. 
Here’s a quote from the Adorama 42 West web site about Abstract photography.
“Compared to more popular photography niches like product, outdoor, and wedding photography, abstract photography goes against many photography rules, giving you the freedom to take a photo of anything that grabs your attention and allows you to express your artistic nature.
Formally speaking, abstract photography is a method of expressing ideas and emotions with photographed image elements without the intention of creating a traditional or realistic image. By avoiding and going beyond the usual representations of an object, scene, or any particular element, it reveals details that are normally ignored and triggers the viewer’s imagination.” https://www.adorama.com/alc/abstract-photography-for-beginners-9-tips-for-capturing-stunning-abstract-images
Look through your images for ‘likeness’ and create pairs, triptychs or quads of images that go together. Doesn't have to be abstracts--anything you especially like to shoot is best. If you use Lightroom you can do this is the print module and use “print to file”. It's fun and can give you a better sense of your personal style.


Be well, Maryann

If you have a summer story to share send it to me and I will post it here. You can include images if you like.
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0 Comments

POTW before and after

7/2/2020

4 Comments

 

Jeannine Smith

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It is a slightly different perspective, chosen primarily out of "guess-timate" as 1. I didn't have a copy of the original on hand as a guide 2. precise incentive wasn't there as I'd no knowledge we would be showing "re-dos". I simply considered other's comments as I returned to this site. The primary thought was to include the additional real estate in front of the gravestone as this was the most common critique spoken. In editing I did add to the highlights, opened the shadows a bit  as well as lightened the exposure - a smidge ( I do prefer to nudge toward "the darkside"). 

For me, pros and cons to each. So, with curiosity, I welcome your thoughts. 
PS Maryann and Dave, now knowing some story behind the stones atop I took several other close up photos with the intent of "telling a story" . Thank you both for the inspiration!

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Maryann Flick
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Regina Hausmann
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Dave Rathbun
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Mark Janke
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Janet Rathbun
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4 Comments

Photo of the Week #11

6/12/2020

11 Comments

 
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Title: Iris Macro 2
​Photographer: Rob Nardino






I was trying to take macro photos of the irises that just bloomed in our front yard.  I wanted only some of it in focus, so it would have an abstract feel to it.  I’ve cropped it different ways, and would love to have input about the two versions here.  Offset in-focus elements would adhere to traditional compositional rules, but the background on right is a little less blurred than I would like (I guess I could play around in Photoshop) where as the more centrally placed one could be viewed as more static but I think it appeals to me a little more.


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Title: Iris Macro 3
​Photographer: Rob Nardino


11 Comments
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    Maryann Flick

    President, Coastal Camera Club

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