The Photographers' Corner 2013-2020

[seraphim]

The Photographers' Corner

Last one - I promise



White reflector as opposed to silver - less harsh. Attempted to burn in the highlights with my hand. No other PhotoShop style adjustments. Just for comparison purpose...

My arm did a nice burn job on the bottom left corner.

Oh yeah - removed the haze filter I forgot was on the lens, then didn't recheck the focus lol...

This would be improved by opening up the exposure in PS, but is a better base image to work with than the first.

 

[Major Tom]

Tom

Like the 2006 LA shot. Won't say why - that might constitute critique *grin*

Well, the mods haven't told us what we can and can't do in this thread, above and beyond the regular forum rules. Critique is fine, unless they step in and say otherwise.

I'll say nice things about photos posted here and might even say why. Nobody dislikes praise (unless they really have a problem), but criticism could be taken the wrong way, especially if someone is posting merely to share. For that reason, when I see images here that I think could use some constructive criticism, I hold off.

In my case, there's another reason too. For quite a few years, I spent much time in online photo groups giving and receiving criticism (mainly giving, as my stuff wasn't really worth posting.) One particular group had a rule that we should be tough on the photos, but kind to the people. That rule was strictly enforced, and I liked it a lot. After a few years of that, I began tiring of all the talk. I do think (like you) that it's very useful to be able to identify what it is you do and don't like about an image. Being able to do that is a useful first step towards exercising control over your own photographs, so that your final image can match the inital vision.

However, having said all that, sometimes the talk starts to come across a bit pretentious, and just simply "too much meaningless chatter and noise", and I just want to look at photographs. For me, looking at a photograph that I really like affects me directly. It completely bypasses the language part of my brain, so talking about photographs involves a lot of extra translation in my head that I just don't want to be bothered with. I just want to take, and look at photographs dammit!

On top of that, I like this community, and don't really want to offend anyone. Similarly, I'm not sure I could deal with it myself. Rigorous photo criticism can be a harsh mistress. I'd rather not deal with the possible reality that compared to where I'd really like to be, my photographs suck

 

[seraphim]

The Photographers' Corner

Tom

I was teasing, attempting to be friendly.

I'm not going to offer a critique to anyone. The OP stated discussing techniques and that's what I'm doing. On my own photos, as FIREd suggested. No hurt feelings that way.

Just look at the photos and skip the chatter.

Tell you what - never mind. Have it your way.

 

[Major Tom]

I know seraphim, but I still couldn't help myself.

Apologies if I came across as too serious.

 

[Walt34]

it has a bit to much of a done with flash for my taste. if you ever feel like doing it again i would like to see the 2-sb200 with a ratio of 2 to 1 .

There was a reason for doing it that way, but I forgot what it was now. I'll try the 2 to 1 with the SB-200's. If DW hasn't eaten them all.

Edit: Now I remember - I wanted the sharp point-source light from the SB-900 farther away.

 

[seraphim]

The Photographers' Corner

"Apologies if I came across as too serious."

And mine if I took your response too seriously.

 

[seraphim]

There was a reason for doing it that way, but I forgot what it was now. I'll try the 2 to 1 with the SB-200's. If DW hasn't eaten them all.

Why would your wife eat your SB-200s

Groan. Sorry...

 

[seraphim]

Untitled by jglennhart, on Flickr

An attempt at true macro...

 

[mathjak107]

handheld, nikon d800 and d300

 

[Ronstar]

The Photographers' Corner

Anyone try out Lightroom Mobile yet? I downloaded the Lightroom 5.4 upgrade last night on my Mac and there's a "get started with Lightroom mobile" link top left on the screen. I need to make some room on the iPad before I get into this.

 

[seraphim]

No. But don't waste your money on Adobe Touch for he iPad. Photogene is far superior.

 

[ERD50]

some of my favorite places to photograph are churches.

churches seem to look nice in hdr . ...

I tend to not like some hdr, too cartoon-ish for my tastes (but interesting, and I might like them depending on my mood/subject), but I really like those. Stained glass tends to look a little 'out of this world' in the right light (probably what was intended), so I think that hdr helps bring that feeling to us.

Nice shots of daughter and DIL. You just gotta smile along with them, they look like they are having a good time! Really infectious (in a good way!). So much better than the typical frozen smiles we often get.

I'll have to scan in a picture DW took years ago. My daughter and niece from about 20 years ago. Two little kids in ballet outfits, one looking straight into the camera, and the other looking off, distracted by something. Reminds me of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. I've seen it a thousand times on her dresser, and it still captivates me. I'll ask her if it's OK to post it here.

-ERD50

 

[mathjak107]

the nice thing about hdr is it can be a subtle or as surrealistic as you want. in the beginning i had everything looking like a bad acid trip but eventually it gets boring and you learn to use it tastefully.

in fact a few of my photos come packaged inside the software hdr darkroom in their tutorial section.

i helped refine the software for them . i like the nik and photomatix the best

 

[seraphim]

Haven't tried HDR yet. Don't understand the attraction - how it can affect photos...

 

[mathjak107]

You can greatly expand the dynamic range of your camera . you can capture perfect snow and great detail in black objects all at the same time.

in fact the range is wider than our monitors can display as of now. so the images need to be compressed again.

it is called tone mapping and it determine how an hdr image looks.

it is like taking a slinky and trying to get it back in the box.

depending where and how you pinch it the look will change from very natural to cartoon looking.

by nature if we could see it an hdr image is very very natural looking. almost like our eyes sees.

 

[ERD50]

Haven't tried HDR yet. Don't understand the attraction - how it can affect photos...

What mathjak said. If you are going for realism rather than 'effect', it can really help - basically it can keep the highlights from blowing out, and pull details from the shadows. A little technical background:

You usually need a tripod, then you take multiple shots of the same subject, varying the exposure in steps from under-exposed to over-exposed. Some camera have a setting to do this automatically (bracketing).

The HR software use the highlights from the under-exposed areas (where they still have detail), and the shadows from the over-exposed areas (where they still have detail), and blend them into one photo. It's a powerful technique to extend the limits of the dynamic range of the camera. For pure realism, it shouldn't be needed unless the subject is beyond the limits of the camera.

It can also be used to change the look of the photo. As I said earlier, this can get 'cartoon-ish', and it can look very beautiful, but not to everyone's taste - it comes across as 'artificial' to some, in some cases.

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

...as surrealistic as you want...

They have pills for that...

Generally, if the shot is in focus, and no fingers are in the way, any critiquing I would give would be more about aesthetics than "technique". Also, any advice would be worth what you paid for it...

 

[FIREd]

FIREd

Take photos for yourself, not others.

That's where I went wrong. Over the weekend, my wife reminded me what prompted my interest in photography in the first place. It was a tool that allowed me to document my life, where I've been, what I've seen, what I've done, the people I've met. Some people write a journal, some people blog about their life, I take snapshots because I am an unenthusiastic writer. The pictures go in a photo-journal meant to be a private pictorial record of my everyday life. As it turns out, that is my only aspiration as a photographer. After browsing photography forums for the past few days, I realized that I am no more interested in photography itself than the masses who post their iPhone pics on Instagram. Which is probably why I never spent more than a few hundred dollars on a camera.

 

[mathjak107]

i am a photographer because i suck at painting.

every time i go outside the lines of the smurffs head i get so frustrated.

 

[Walt34]

Haven't tried HDR yet. Don't understand the attraction - how it can affect photos...

What it does is allow you to get all the lights and darks within the range of the photo. The human visual system adapts quickly and there's a lot of mental processing going on that the camera cannot do.

Anyway, here's an example (poorly done, I know, I didn't spend much time on it). Start with one normal exposure, one underexposed, one overexposed, and combine them. The last photo is the HDR, done quickly in Photoshop.

 

[seraphim]

The Photographers' Corner

So it's nothing more than automatic layering, which Photoshoppers have been doing for decades?
Seems like it has advantages, since it only requires one shutter activation, but the effect looks a bit odd. But thanks for the explanation and demo. It explains how mathjak made a couple of images with that effect. Guess I'm an old dog, though, and the new trick doesn't interest me lol.

But Walt - that first exposure has all the detail you need, if you PS it and tweak the histogram and saturation. Maybe tweak the exposure as well, lastly. To me, that's almost an ideal exposure from which to make an image.

Dark areas tend to hold detail better, which can be discovered with 'shopping.

 

[Walt34]

So it's nothing more than automatic layering, which Photoshoppers have been doing for decades?

Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, and admittedly the process/math is way over my head. As noted some can look garish and some can look very nice. I just found this one that I worked on some time ago that came out better. Perhaps a bit more color saturation for some tastes.

 

[FIREd]

i am a photographer because i suck at painting.

every time i go outside the lines of the smurffs head i get so frustrated.

That explains it. A lot of your landscape photos look like paintings to me (that's the HDR effect I think).

 

[mathjak107]

hdr can work nice in black and white too, you can get some interesting looks .

on the last one you can see what hdr can do. we have white snow and yet you can see in the barn.

 

[mathjak107]

That explains it. A lot of your landscape photos look like paintings to me (that's the HDR effect I think).

i don't shoot hdr that often , it is just to much work dealing with as many as 7 huge d800 files.

i do like to use other techniques on most of my stuff. i rarely really like what i see at the scene.

i like my stuff to look the way i wished it did.

after all who needs another photo of the empire state building or some landmark unless it looks unique.

good or bad i usually like a unique look to my stuff.

you all should be happy i moved on from my intense color years lol. now talk about a bad acid trip. ha ha ha