Photo of the Day - October 2009

[BarryJ]

Frog in a puddle

 

[gaswerks]

Wasps nest, Lensbaby on extension tubes, PS invert (I liked the blues over the browns)

 

[Designer Dale]

Josephina's Restaurant. Parkland, Washington

I have always loved these colors. I have a tighter framing if you don't like the upper portion.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

The milky quality of the water really makes this shot. I also like the vignetting and might even be tempted to increase it a bit. Nice shot.

Josephina's Restaurant. Parkland, Washington

I have always loved these colors. I have a tighter framing if you don't like the upper portion.

Dale

I also love these colors and wouldn't change a thing about the framing. However, if it's possible to return to this site when the sun is lower (looks to have been a morning shot, so a couple of hours earlier?), you would get some wonderful long shadows and eye-popping texture on that wall (I can see that the wall is textured, but the direction of the light is mostly obscuring it).

Oh, and one minor tweak you might try in Photoshop: if you use the "distort" feature, you should be able to tug down the lower right corner and remove the sloping effect at the bottom of the frame.

 

[Ag3nt-Orang3]

Took this while driving from Houston to Baton Rouge...actual picture was taken at 65 mph in Lafayette, Louisiana.

 

[Designer Dale]

I also love these colors and wouldn't change a thing about the framing. However, if it's possible to return to this site when the sun is lower (looks to have been a morning shot, so a couple of hours earlier?), you would get some wonderful long shadows and eye-popping texture on that wall (I can see that the wall is textured, but the direction of the light is mostly obscuring it).

Oh, and one minor tweak you might try in Photoshop: if you use the "distort" feature, you should be able to tug down the lower right corner and remove the sloping effect at the bottom of the frame.

Thanks for the comments. I took this about 2:00 pm. It's close to me and easy to reshoot if the sun ever decides to visit again... I go by this a lot and the colors always caught my eye. I thought it might be a bit much, it jumps off the screen

I do use the transform features of PhotoShop to square up the sides of buildings and prevent that slop effect you get sometimes, but I try to stay away from altering what is in front of the camera. The world isn't perfect and that's that. If I reshoot this I will square it up and see.

Thanks again.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

Thanks for the comments. I took this about 2:00 pm. It's close to me and easy to reshoot if the sun ever decides to visit again... I go by this a lot and the colors always caught my eye. I thought it might be a bit much, it jumps off the screen

I do use the transform features of PhotoShop to square up the sides of buildings and prevent that slop effect you get sometimes, but I try to stay away from altering what is in front of the camera. The world isn't perfect and that's that. If I reshoot this I will square it up and see.

Thanks again.

Dale

If it was about 2pm, then maybe a few hours later would be about right. At any rate, this is really well seen; you've found a photogenic spot that I think is worthy of a return visit. I really like the log supports projecting out from the roof line.

 

[Phrasikleia]

I try to stay away from altering what is in front of the camera. The world isn't perfect and that's that.

Had a moment to think about this statement. If that's your philosophy, then I suppose you should go with it. In my view, all photography is a form of illusion because the photographer has a great deal of control at the moment of capture. Focal length (and its concomitant perspectival effects) can make a big difference in the relative sizes of objects. Framing is a process of inclusion/exclusion. Shutter speeds can emphasize or obscure elements. A CPL filter can magically erase or exaggerate reflections. My goal as a photographer is to have a vision of a certain scene and to use the camera to render the scene as I feel it/experience it/understand it--or even as I wish it could be. I don't believe that the camera is a recorder of "truth." But then that's my philosophy, and if everyone shared it, the world would be a less interesting place.

 

[panoz7]

 

[Designer Dale]

Had a moment to think about this statement. If that's your philosophy, then I suppose you should go with it. In my view, all photography is a form of illusion because the photographer has a great deal of control at the moment of capture. Focal length (and its concomitant perspectival effects) can make a big difference in the relative sizes of objects. Framing is a process of inclusion/exclusion. Shutter speeds can emphasize or obscure elements. A CPL filter can magically erase or exaggerate reflections. My goal as a photographer is to have a vision of a certain scene and to use the camera to render the scene as I feel it/experience it/understand it--or even as I wish it could be. I don't believe that the camera is a recorder of "truth." But then that's my philosophy, and if everyone shared it, the world would be a less interesting place.

I agree with all of your statements with regard to in-camera work. All of my photographs represent what I saw in a way that I intended to capture it and convey that to others. Where I move with caution is when the image is in software. It can be modified to such an extent in post that the vision coming out of the computer can be unrelated to the vision at the moment the shutter was squeezed. Perspective corrections and transformations stretch or compress the pixel composition of the image. This is fine with moderation but people need to be careful not to overdo it. Same goes for Cloning. It is very difficult to pull that off in such a way that a guy like me won't catch it.

I always enjoy these banters with you.

Dale

PS: Love "concomitant perspectival effects". Takes my back to my Art History classes where I learned cool terms like "curvilinear".

 

[Phrasikleia]

I agree with all of your statements with regard to in-camera work. All of my photographs represent what I saw in a way that I intended to capture it and convey that to others. Where I move with caution is when the image is in software. It can be modified to such an extent in post that the vision coming out of the computer can be unrelated to the vision at the moment the shutter was squeezed. Perspective corrections and transformations stretch or compress the pixel composition of the image. This is fine with moderation but people need to be careful not to overdo it. Same goes for Cloning. It is very difficult to pull that off in such a way that a guy like me won't catch it.

I always enjoy these banters with you.

Dale

PS: Love "concomitant perspectival effects". Takes my back to my Art History classes where I learned cool terms like "curvilinear".

I'm glad you brought up the issue of post-processing because that's where I was intending to go with my last post--but somehow I didn't get that far! My point that I didn't quite make was that I have no qualms about tweaking things a bit in post because even at the point of capture I'm creating an illusion. But I think you probably got my drift anyway.

Not sure whether or not to say "you're welcome" or to apologize for my academic jargon. It sometimes spills out of me when I forget to turn that "switch" off.

 

[Designer Dale]

I grew up in Ohio and lived in Boston for a few years. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest I find that fall is quite fleeting and I miss the colors. This has been a great month in this forum and I want to thank the following MR shutter bugs for the wonderful foliage pictures.

panoz7 mcavjame anti-microft oblomow

nissan.gtp AlexH BarryJ Joe King Rocio

mikeschmeee liljohnny51 someoldguy gnd

Fiveos22 loderunner Kronie AlaskaMoose kallisti

If I missed anyone, sorry...

Dale

 

[Doylem]

 

[grassland]

ice berg in the bay

boat is not the titantic...Newfoundland canada

 

[appie57]

Central Hebei, China

 

[CanadIan]

Thanks for the comment dubels.

And for today:
The Presidentials (from Mt. Washington)

I hiked that whole ridgeline to finish off my backpacking trip.

 

[prodigee]

That is a beautiful picture, hope you had fun on your backpacking trip, from that view, looks like it would have been spectacular.

 

[AlexH]

I grew up in Ohio and lived in Boston for a few years. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest I find that fall is quite fleeting and I miss the colors. This has been a great month in this forum and I want to thank the following MR shutter bugs for the wonderful foliage pictures.

panoz7 mcavjame anti-microft oblomow

nissan.gtp AlexH BarryJ Joe King Rocio

mikeschmeee liljohnny51 someoldguy gnd

Fiveos22 loderunner Kronie AlaskaMoose kallisti

If I missed anyone, sorry...

Dale

Glad you've enjoyed the pics!

Now, for my photo of the day:


"Killer haircut"

 

[oblomow]

Nice cold open skies in Bad Godesberg

Thanks for the comment dubels.

And for today:
The Presidentials (from Mt. Washington)

I hiked that whole ridgeline to finish off my backpacking trip.

Wow, what a view. And I really like the layered mountains. Do you have more of that trip?

 

[Designer Dale]

The Garfield District getting ready for Halloween​

​

Dale​

 

[sziehr]

Mom enjoying the fall day in the park with her baby

 

[BarryJ]

Lobster Head, Rocky Harbour, Bonne Bay, NL. Canada (whew)

Scanned from something called f-i-l-m

 

[oblomow]

Scanned from something called f-i-l-m

I've heard about those. Those are analog compact flash cards, right?
Good scan. I've had some trouble getting good clean scans from my slide collection.

 

[andy8408]

October photo

First time posting so dont know whether this will show.

Photo attached - Easdale Island, Argyle, Scotland looking out west to the Garvellachs.

 

[appie57]

Another one from the same area.