Photo-a-day

[Bobster]

Not sure if it's just jpg compression Bob but there's quite a bit of distracting noise in the black below the moon there.

turn your brightness down a smidge and it will disappear

JPEG compression can be an arse at times.. i expect if i added some noise, it would go when saved..

[sleepyhead]

So, another RAW file edit...thoughts?

[GoNz0]

So, another RAW file edit...thoughts?

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...DSC06713_R.jpg

a bit dark for my liking, maybe shoot raw+jpg so you can see what it should come out like and then tweak it.

[kalniel]

Hehe I was about to say the opposite

I looks like the camera or editor has brought up the exposure because there's so much shadow in the scene, and it's blown the sky a bit as a result.

It's a really, really awkward scene to sort out - aside from showing your sensor sees a lot of detail in shadows without noise it's kind of hard to use/find the point of interest, which determines what you need to sort out in PP and what you can sacrifice. And something would have to be sacrificed because it's such an awkward scene in terms of lighting.

So er.. I'm not being very helpful. You could saturate the colours a bit more, whack up the contrast, create some pop in an attempt to tell a story from the picture, if making it less accurate.

[Bobster]

if you look at your histogram, your midtones are lacking in brightness, all your details are in the highlights and shadows..

another moon shot, this from just now - clear sky, not a cloud about - clearer i think, and adding noise to the blacks seems to have worked with the JPEG compression issue


might see if i can take a moon shot every night for the next month

[GoNz0]

that's nice bob, i just couldn't seem to get a sharp shot using my 7-300G lens on the sony


need to tinker a bit more when i get the chance.

[sleepyhead]

Hehe I was about to say the opposite

I looks like the camera or editor has brought up the exposure because there's so much shadow in the scene, and it's blown the sky a bit as a result.

It's a really, really awkward scene to sort out - aside from showing your sensor sees a lot of detail in shadows without noise it's kind of hard to use/find the point of interest, which determines what you need to sort out in PP and what you can sacrifice. And something would have to be sacrificed because it's such an awkward scene in terms of lighting.

So er.. I'm not being very helpful. You could saturate the colours a bit more, whack up the contrast, create some pop in an attempt to tell a story from the picture, if making it less accurate.

I chose that as it is a tough one to sort out. The sun was setting, so a lot of the photo was in the shade of the buildings (hence the lamps were lit up), but the sun and sky was still blazing. I think I understand what you are trying to say; I need to bring out the focus of the picture and sacrifice the other areas. Is that right?

if you look at your histogram, your midtones are lacking in brightness, all your details are in the highlights and shadows.

Ahhh OK. I get it. If I try to increase the midtones on the tone curve, the picture looks whited out...

[kalniel]

I need to bring out the focus of the picture and sacrifice the other areas. Is that right?

Pretty much. But by focus you should mean 'the story you are trying to tell with the picture'. Or alternatively 'why did I decide to press the shutter?'

The reason could be technical ('this looks like a challenging scene, lets see how the camera/my PP skills cope') in which case you'd probably want to concentrate on recording as much information as possible and not killing it in the PP - so sharpness, getting the most dynamic range captured and then displayed etc. So you'd concentrate on avoiding clipping, checking the histogram etc. and you'll end up with an image that isn't very exciting to view afterwards.

Alternatively there might be something about the scene that you thought would make a good picture. It could be the lantern cascade on the left in which case don't worry about blowing the sky or whatever in your quest to get them exposed in the way that shows off them off the best (and crop to re-frame). It could be you want to highlight all the red and white lanterns throughout the scene so again expose/adjust for them and tinker with the colours in a way that brings them out.

Some of those things need to ideally be thought out before you take the picture, but by shooting raw you give yourself the most flexibility to bring out stories (or correct things) in PP.

That picture might make a fun example to offer up to people in another thread to practise PP on to bring out different stories in the same photo. I'd suggest converting from DSC raw to DNG for compatibility with the most common workflows, using the free DNG converter from adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=5389

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Hi. please critique my portrait shoot attempted on my wife i done today.

i used off camera flash on some of these pics


IMG_0373-2.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


IMG_0368-2.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


IMG_0317.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

[matts-uk]

So, another RAW file edit...thoughts?

You are never going to sort that frame out in post!

The choice of subject is great but needs a bit of work with the camera to get a picture out of it.

The spot meter on your camera is your friend (if you have one). Point it at the brightest area of the scene (the sky). Then point it at the darkest area of interest. The usable exposure range is about from 1/2 way down the negative (-) side of the light meter to about 1/2 way up the positive (+) side.

Now, what were you trying to take a photo of? It's all a bit confusing really.

The subject in the foreground is not going to stand out while there is so much sky in the frame. So, move to the left and get closer, to remove the sky and the confusing background. Use the spot meter to expose the highlights on the subject at about 1/2 way up the + side, perhaps shorten the DoF (if you can). You might get a more pleasing image, with the foreground subject standing out.

Bracketing is also a great friend, while getting to grips with exposure. Your frame presents you with the choice of exposing the sky correctly and underexposing the subject or exposing the subject and over exposing the sky. Bracketing would allow you to see which choice might work best for you.

Course I wasn't there and don't know what your camera can and can not do.

[matts-uk]

Hi. please critique my portrait shoot attempted on my wife i done today.

LOL. I am not worthy.

Loving the exposure and DoF control, and the choice of background.

Don't like the composition so much. Too much emphasis on the horizontal centre-line of the frame. There is a lot to be said with starting with your model offset and looking into the frame and staying with that unless you have a good reason to change it. Take the third frame as example; placing your model to the far left would have her looking into the frame and the viewer wondering what she might be looking at.

First shot, weakest of the three IMO. Perhaps a bit of fill to the right. Perhaps a slight change of horizontal angle, to create a diagonal on the shoulder.

Second shot, love the lower angle and you have created a diagonal along the shoulder.

First and second shot the shoulder is dominating a bit. Was the focus point on the eye? Could you do something with the pose or camera positioning to alter the emphasis?

The third shot, your wife's hair is softening the outline of the shoulder which I think looks a lot better. The light on your wife's hair looks great in the third frame and I gotta wonder what it would look like illuminating her face.

You are of course very lucky to have such a lovely subject to pose for you

[Bobster]

Hi. please critique my portrait shoot attempted on my wife i done today.

i used off camera flash on some of these pics

good attempt, but think about light angle and the way the shadow is passing over your subject

[Bobster]

2 speedlight setup - 60cm softbox camera left - single bare flash behind subject

[sleepyhead]

Pretty much. But by focus you should mean 'the story you are trying to tell with the picture'. Or alternatively 'why did I decide to press the shutter?'

The reason could be technical ('this looks like a challenging scene, lets see how the camera/my PP skills cope') in which case you'd probably want to concentrate on recording as much information as possible and not killing it in the PP - so sharpness, getting the most dynamic range captured and then displayed etc. So you'd concentrate on avoiding clipping, checking the histogram etc. and you'll end up with an image that isn't very exciting to view afterwards.

Alternatively there might be something about the scene that you thought would make a good picture. It could be the lantern cascade on the left in which case don't worry about blowing the sky or whatever in your quest to get them exposed in the way that shows off them off the best (and crop to re-frame). It could be you want to highlight all the red and white lanterns throughout the scene so again expose/adjust for them and tinker with the colours in a way that brings them out.

Some of those things need to ideally be thought out before you take the picture, but by shooting raw you give yourself the most flexibility to bring out stories (or correct things) in PP.

That picture might make a fun example to offer up to people in another thread to practise PP on to bring out different stories in the same photo. I'd suggest converting from DSC raw to DNG for compatibility with the most common workflows, using the free DNG converter from adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=5389

What I wanted to focus on was the lanterns being lit up. Framing it was impossible. This is the Gion summer festival; there are so many people, you walk without walking. A lot of photos were opportunistic, i.e. I could get my arms up and out to take a photo. When I was editing the RAW file, I was trying to be too scientific about it. I'll have a go and put on my artistic glasses.

You are never going to sort that frame out in post!

The choice of subject is great but needs a bit of work with the camera to get a picture out of it.

The spot meter on your camera is your friend (if you have one). Point it at the brightest area of the scene (the sky). Then point it at the darkest area of interest. The usable exposure range is about from 1/2 way down the negative (-) side of the light meter to about 1/2 way up the positive (+) side.

Now, what were you trying to take a photo of? It's all a bit confusing really.

The subject in the foreground is not going to stand out while there is so much sky in the frame. So, move to the left and get closer, to remove the sky and the confusing background. Use the spot meter to expose the highlights on the subject at about 1/2 way up the + side, perhaps shorten the DoF (if you can). You might get a more pleasing image, with the foreground subject standing out.

Bracketing is also a great friend, while getting to grips with exposure. Your frame presents you with the choice of exposing the sky correctly and underexposing the subject or exposing the subject and over exposing the sky. Bracketing would allow you to see which choice might work best for you.

Course I wasn't there and don't know what your camera can and can not do.

Bracketing, my camera can do. I don't know what you mean by spot meter. As I mentioned earlier, framing was impossible due to the event.

As an aside, I just came back from a great automotive event called "HitomiGO". This is just the JPEG off the camera.

ちょっ吉 at Meihan by JDM Box, on Flickr

[kalniel]

Creepy crawly



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Hi. please critique my portrait shoot attempted on my wife i done today.

i used off camera flash on some of these pics

A reflector would do wonders, just to remove the shadows from the opposite side of the main light source.

[Bobster]

Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)