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Critic 2023 #5

3/17/2023

The icicles hanging from this long rock face caught my attention while on a recent hike. My initial attempt to photograph this scene resulted in the sky being blown out. I metered off the sky for my second attempt but the result was a severe underexposure. My thought was why not try to salvage the shot.
Using Lightroom I made minor adjustments in the Basic Panel except for Shadows (+100) and the Blacks (+77). This was followed by slight adjustments to the HSL Luminance colors (red +25 & orange +67). Adjustments in Detail and Tone Curve were minor.
I did find myself making local adjustments to the rock face, sky, icicles and leaves. My final edit was to remove the tree from the right edge of the original photo.
I would appreciate any input as to what I might have done differently.

5 Comments

March 02nd, 2023

3/2/2023

4 Comments

Three versions- general comments of the three editing

#1 is the original on which I did some basic editing
#2 is a crop to panorama with some dehaze applied to the sky
#3 is more the aspect of the original but I did more editing to add some drama to the sky and added a touch warmth which brightens the trees a bit.

Here's a 4th version; cropped like #2, trees brighter like #3. The low, dark clouds are also lighter.

4 Comments

Critic 2023 #3

2/17/2023

3 Comments

No specific questions.
Would like to have any comments or advice.

3 Comments

Critic 2023 #2

2/2/2023

5 Comments

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

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

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Maryann Flick

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The 4 versions above
original Revision 1
Revision 2 Revision 3