Photo of the Day - March 2010

[MattSepeta]

Awesome

I'm still in pre-post mindset, thinking of how to approach this. Not sure if this is the take I'll use, and still plan to add a second artist into the right side of the frame. At this stage, still testing out various post approaches, so seeing what your general opinion was to the look of this.

I have been following your stuff on the boards for a while, and its AWESOME. You make fantastic use of light, and your shots always have such a delightful "staged" feel that manages to feel natural at the same time. I can't compliment your work enough.

What lighting was used in this shot? What was it shot with? Can we see some EXIF?


Well, heres mine. Shot with a 430EX II and some shutter drag. Some friends were jumping off a boring little jump and I was bored, so I tried to make it interesting.

 

[Hitrate]

Camera: Casio EX-Z750

Nice to see the so far only camera I got (besides the 3GS) still being used well - bought mine back in 04 when it was one of the best pocket cam's with the most manual settings, and "good" depth of field, or lack thereof when doing macro's..

Been contemplating getting a new pocket camera but the 3GS/Z750 combo is almost sufficient, and i think I'll rather just experiment and get better at photography than worry about the camera's spec's for now..no doubt this thing can take seriously nice pictures with the right cameraman. (I'll probably graduate to use a video cam such as canon S21 since I'll need it for videos which also is better for pictures, and then hopefully eventually graduate to a DSLR)

Aaanyway, I've started getting a bit into photography again the last weeks, been off it for years - so I'm listening to Phototips podcasts, tipsfromthetopfloor etc. every day, and thought I might as well burst the bubble and start posting some pic's of the day, so here we go with a few snapshots from the porch:

(only did auto-levels and very mild straightening)

edit: also, 88888888 I really like that scenery picture from the park! And one last thing - I'm not entirely satisfied with the cropping/lack of in my two pic's but have yet to learn much about framing yet so this will have to do for now

 

[maddagascar]

i created an ORB, but i can't seem to get the backround black in photoshop? anyone know if that would be possible?

 

[Schtumple]

Best as I could do in a few minutes

Sorry you lost your head.

 

[maddagascar]

Best as I could do in a few minutes

Sorry you lost your head.

hahaha, sweeet. yeaah, it sucked cause the flash from my camera fired first when i was doing that in bulb mode. i was just wondering why it didn't get all of me perfectly....?

 

[macrumormonger]

^^^^ That looks like it would cut you up good! Cool pic!

Wayne Brady stops by here to get stuff to cut a b*tch with.

Nice to see the so far only camera I got (besides the 3GS) still being used well - bought mine back in 04 when it was one of the best pocket cam's with the most manual settings, and "good" depth of field, or lack thereof when doing macro's..

I still have my Z-750. The camera is amazing when you're not dealing with low-light or movement.

 

[Designer Dale]

I'm still in pre-post mindset, thinking of how to approach this. Not sure if this is the take I'll use, and still plan to add a second artist into the right side of the frame. At this stage, still testing out various post approaches, so seeing what your general opinion was to the look of this.

Framing on the right and left is good, but I would like to see just a bit more on the bottom so that the base of the stool looks more intentional in the frame. The work light on the top left needs to be moved or included more in the frame. Being cut off like it is seems just not you. Another artist on the right, you say? How about a tattooist tattooing the tattooist?

Thanks for adding your images to the mix here. You have a unique vision of studio photography.

Dale

 

[Educ8r]

Spring

...

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I have been following your stuff on the boards for a while, and its AWESOME. You make fantastic use of light, and your shots always have such a delightful "staged" feel that manages to feel natural at the same time. I can't compliment your work enough.

What lighting was used in this shot? What was it shot with? Can we see some EXIF?

Thanks. Lighting was a mix of Alien Bee strobes, silver and gold umbrellas, and sheets of white and yellow plasticore. Triangular lighting. Shot with a Canon 5D. EXIF honestly really isn't that essential because it depends more on the light and post work, but I think it was f/8, 1/30, ISO 100. Focal length might be a bit more important, at 35mm, but the more important question would be camera height, which was about 24 inches.

 

[Rondue]

Pork Chop Sandwiches!

ISO 800
F/2.5
1/25
35mm

 

[MattSepeta]

nice

Thanks. Lighting was a mix of Alien Bee strobes, silver and gold umbrellas, and sheets of white and yellow plasticore. Triangular lighting. Shot with a Canon 5D. EXIF honestly really isn't that essential because it depends more on the light and post work, but I think it was f/8, 1/30, ISO 100. Focal length might be a bit more important, at 35mm, but the more important question would be camera height, which was about 24 inches.

As far as suggestions for the shot go, I like Dales idea, or, personally, I see a "girlfriend" figure to the right, visibly displeased or upset with the choice of tattoo, or the tattoo, period.

ISO 800
F/2.5
1/25
35mm

OH *****, WERE ALL DEAD!!! GET THE F**K OUT!!! lol

 

[MaddMacs]

I love this. Excellent exposure, very sharp. It makes me feel like I'm right there. I really prefer it to the fisheye version you posted earlier because it doesn't make all the trees look as if they're going to fall into the center like that one did. This is a truly beautiful photo!! Pentax's certainly produce great images... in the right hands.

Thanks, you're too kind. I have to say that I've enjoyed your boat series lately, though haven't had much time to comment.

 

[Designer Dale]

Another from the Nisqually Delta.

EXIF Summary: 1/100s f/8.0 ISO100 30mm

Dale

 

[Jason Beck]

Just me. =p

 

[VirtualRain]

I'm interested in what other's might have done to improve this picture either at the time of capture or in post-processing...

This is the fantastic lobby at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel... my intent was to capture the windowless aspects, the amzing jungle-like foilage, etc. however the lighting was very challenging as evidenced by the under-exposed subject on the couch and blown-out sky in the upper right despite using highlight recovery in post. I'm guessing some further tweaking with levels or curves might produce some positive results or perhaps even brushing in some dodge and burn?

 

[NeGRit0]

I like this one more and more... there's always something about light playing through water drops that I love. It would make a great desktop image... anyway, good job on this.

Wow, thanks! That means a lot from someone of you caliber. Feel free to click through to my Flickr, and grab a copy if you like. There's also a couple similar shots from that night.

I'm interested in what other's might have done to improve this picture either at the time of capture or in post-processing...

Definitely no pro, but here goes..

I would have perhaps stepped 1-2 paces forward, and 2-4 to the right and put her in the lower right hand side of the frame, and eliminated the coloumn to the right of her. It's cracked, and appears to be home to an air freshner, or something above the crack. Also by moving that way and turning toward her you wouldnt have gotten a blown out sky, and probably could have used you flash for some fill to even out the lighting.


Mine for today:

Clickable...

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 100

 

[Razeus]

Before Spring 3:

 

[Doylem]

Still life with fire buckets...

 

[davegregory]

Just got back from a snowmobiling trip in central Newfoundland. We were jumping what little drifts were around. Good time though.

 

[Designer Dale]

I'm interested in what other's might have done to improve this picture either at the time of capture or in post-processing...

This is the fantastic lobby at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel... my intent was to capture the windowless aspects, the amzing jungle-like foilage, etc. however the lighting was very challenging as evidenced by the under-exposed subject on the couch and blown-out sky in the upper right despite using highlight recovery in post. I'm guessing some further tweaking with levels or curves might produce some positive results or perhaps even brushing in some dodge and burn?

A couple of things are going on here. The first issue is the focal length of 17mm. I guess you had the 17-55. The wide angle lens caused a lot of distortion to the perspective of the columns. If you had used the 55mm end of the lens, they would be rather square and vertical. The frame is also tilted slightly. Both of these I can correct in PhotoShop by rotating the Crop Tool frame until it's parallel with the horizontal plane formed by the base of the columns. I corrected perspective by dragging a vertical guide to the center of one column and using the Edit/Transform/Perspective tool. I pulled the top left corner out until the column was straight (or as straight as it will get with a wide angle.

What I can't fix is the exposure. This is one of those great photos in a setting that has light that will kill it dead. You are shooting in the shadows and the background is in bright sun. Your camera set the exposure for the shadow and the highlights were blown out.

If this was shot in RAW, you would have sliders that could change the exposure and add fill light as you balance between the lights and shadows.

In the camera this is tricky, but it can be done. Set an f-stop (aperture priority) and read the shutter speed for the bright (not brightest) part of the background, then read the shutter speed for the subject in the shadow. Switch to manual and set the aperture. Start with the shutter speed for the subject and bracket out until you use the shutter speed for the highlights. Somewhere in between these you will find one with the best balance in exposure.

When I shot large format film there was something called the Zone System that accomplished this more scientifically. I used a spot meter to read the highlights, shadows and mid tones and set an exposure with a bias toward what I was going for in the final negative. I could then adjust time in the developer tank to compliment it.

I'd rather just send an owl to Hogwarts and ask one of the wizards there for a good spell to cast on it. Exposis Perfecto!

I have your picture with the perspective correction if you want me to post it.

Dale

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I'm interested in what other's might have done to improve this picture either at the time of capture or in post-processing...

This is the fantastic lobby at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel... my intent was to capture the windowless aspects, the amzing jungle-like foilage, etc. however the lighting was very challenging as evidenced by the under-exposed subject on the couch and blown-out sky in the upper right despite using highlight recovery in post. I'm guessing some further tweaking with levels or curves might produce some positive results or perhaps even brushing in some dodge and burn?

Quick, nitty gritty way to pull some detail back out of your subject:

Copy your image layer. If they are multiple layers, do a copy-merge top layer (Shift-Option-Command-E).

With this new dup layer, set the blend mode to screen. Mask it all away, and then when a gentle brush, begin to paint on her. See the attached for a 30 second job using this technique.

 

[VirtualRain]

I probably should have started a different thread rather than consume space here.

I think everyone so far has had great suggestions on how to improve this picture... from the composition, to the focal length and correction, to the bracketing and everything else. Thanks!

Frankie, I love the look that you've accomplished with my subject on the couch. I wonder if using a dodge brush in Aperture would achieve a similar effect to what you are proposing? I'm not a Photoshop guru, but that may have to change.

EDIT: I was able to achieve nearly the same effect on my subject by "dodging"... There's nothing that can be done about the sky it seams. The RAW just doesn't have anything there to work with. I also straightened the image but don't have any tools at the moment to correct the lens distortion.

Here's a broader view of the area just to provide some perspective of the situation.

 

[heyisti]

 

[pit29]

I'm interested in what other's might have done to improve this picture either at the time of capture or in post-processing...

Maybe portrait orientation rather than landscape?

 

[Designer Dale]

I probably should have started a different thread rather than consume space here.

I think everyone so far has had great suggestions on how to improve this picture... from the composition, to the focal length and correction, to the bracketing and everything else. Thanks!

Frankie, I love the look that you've accomplished with my subject on the couch. I wonder if using a dodge brush in Aperture would achieve a similar effect to what you are proposing? I'm not a Photoshop guru, but that may have to change.

EDIT: I was able to achieve nearly the same effect on my subject by "dodging"... There's nothing that can be done about the sky it seams. The RAW just doesn't have anything there to work with. I also straightened the image but don't have any tools at the moment to correct the lens distortion.

Here's a broader view of the area just to provide some perspective of the situation.

This is what I was able to do with perspective. Didn't try anything else. A Help Me Fix My Photo thread would be interesting. I have none to contribute, of course...

Dale