August 2008 - Photo assignment #2 - Summer photography

[Marko]

Thanks for the suggestion Kiley!

[tegan]

Shot last weekend. Handheld.

Tegan

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/Lalune.jpg

[baddness]

You have very steady hands.
Nice shot. What did you use for a lens?

[tegan]

You have very steady hands.
Nice shot. What did you use for a lens?

Sony G lens 70mm to 300mm shot at 1/125 second at f. 5.6.

Tegan

[Marko]

I like this shot - My first guess is it's obviously the moon.
But then I pull and say whoa this is tegan's shot, it could be anything :D

Is it the moon? and if so, just curious, how come the outside edge looks jagged almost 'aliased'? Don't moon shots usually have somewhat softer edges. (That's not a critique - rather curiosity)

Either way i like it!

[tegan]

I like this shot - My first guess is it's obviously the moon.
But then I pull and say whoa this is tegan's shot, it could be anything :D

Is it the moon? and if so, just curious, how come the outside edge looks jagged almost 'aliased'? Don't moon shots usually have somewhat softer edges. (That's not a critique - rather curiosity)

Either way i like it!

Gee, you have learned to be skeptical. :D

Yes, it is the moon and to answer your question, the edge between the light and dark area of the moon produces cross lighting as seen from earth, emphasizing surface texture: the craters and ridges. (I was interested in astronomy when I was a kid. :))

Tegan

[tegan]

Double checked Marko. I also had a hard light adjustment on too hard which resulted in no smoothing and some aliasing as well.

Details, details. Thanks for noticing.

Tegan

[baddness]

Sony G lens 70mm to 300mm shot at 1/125 second at f. 5.6.

Tegan

I used my 75-300 canon to capture the full moon when I last seen one, past spring. Since summer came so hasn't the fog. But, it came out fuzzy, I was hand holding it to. I will have to remember the settings that you used and try it again when the fog clears or when winter comes, whichever comes first. I'm going to use my tripod to :)

[tegan]

I used my 75-300 canon to capture the full moon when I last seen one, past spring. Since summer came so hasn't the fog. But, it came out fuzzy, I was hand holding it to. I will have to remember the settings that you used and try it again when the fog clears or when winter comes, whichever comes first. I'm going to use my tripod to :)

I have been lucky enough to have missed the fog during my shooting in Cape Breton and New Brunswick this summer, even though I spent most of my time in coastal areas.

Tegan

[baddness]

The fog seems to be hanging around south west Nova Scotia.
We manufacture it :)

[kiley9806]

This is one of my favorites of the summer. The upstretched arms are that of my daughter, looking to Uncle Paul to pick her up while casting her Spongebob fishing rod. She's not yet 2, you really can't blame her... :)

[Bahandi]

beautiful capture, kiley.

the silhouettes seem blurry to me though.. anyone else seeing it or have I played to many video games tonight?

[tegan]

I like the shot, but a few suggestions for sunsets:

When shooting toward the sun a square neutral grad filter will bring more light and detail into your foregrounds which are an important part of your image.

On the photo, I would consider trying a lower camera angle to the right and use a fill flash set for -2 stops and set the colour balance to warm, or put something orange over the flash. The challenge is to make the little bit of fill flash defining the silhouettes look like sunlight. Less complicated even than this is to use a diffuse camplight out of the frame to bring more detail into the foreground.

Tegan

[kiley9806]

good tips - thanks tegan. i'll have to go pickup some filters sooner or later... i have none actually, since the polarizing one i bought previous to the d80 is the wrong size.

[Marko]

I really like this shot Kiley! Nice capture!

[baddness]

Sony G lens 70mm to 300mm shot at 1/125 second at f. 5.6.

Tegan

What was the iso set at?
It was finally clear last night. Although the moon wasn't full it did have an odd shape to it and it was yellow so I got out my xti and took shots with my 75-300. Had the same shutter and aperture settings that you used, but had the iso set at 200. Looks noisy and by the time I got the shots loaded onto the computer, the moon didn't look the same. I should have used a tripod, I braced my elbows onto the patio railing, but still had some shake. I do not have steady hands.

[tegan]

What was the iso set at?
It was finally clear last night. Although the moon wasn't full it did have an odd shape to it and it was yellow so I got out my xti and took shots with my 75-300. Had the same shutter and aperture settings that you used, but had the iso set at 200. Looks noisy and by the time I got the shots loaded onto the computer, the moon didn't look the same. I should have used a tripod, I braced my elbows onto the patio railing, but still had some shake. I do not have steady hands.

ISO 100. However try ISO 400 at f.5.6 at 1/500 of a second. That should work too.

Tegan

[baddness]

I will give that a try. Thanks tegan :)

[Travis]

Some people talk about shooting in the "Golden Hours".... Here's an example of "Golden Minutes"...

These exposures are three minutes apart without any boosting.

[Marko]

I like these shots travis and they do clearly show the dramatic change within minutes as the sun sets.

But these shots are taken at the end of that 'golden hour' where it is way to dark to see details. 45 minutes before this is AMAZING light for many more subjects including portraits.

Just as an FYI - The golden hour refers to the first hour of light and the last hour of light. The light is softer at these times due to the sun's lower angle.

[Travis]

I like these shots travis and they do clearly show the dramatic change within minutes as the sun sets.

But these shots are taken at the end of that 'golden hour' where it is way to dark to see details. 45 minutes before this is AMAZING light for many more subjects including portraits.

Just as an FYI - The golden hour refers to the first hour of light and the last hour of light. The light is softer at these times due to the sun's lower angle.

oh yes.... of course.... but in this golden hour the images were looking rather flat... no clouds for reflection... i was at a higher location up the hill firing away for the whole part of it and deleted most of the series....

I thought I was finished and was on my way down the hill to the car.... as I was packing up the colours start shifting very quickly... I scurried to the boat launch and set up for these sihlouettes which ended up being the best opportunity the evening offered... I guess the lesson here is not to pack up too soon!!!

[Marko]

Not sure if this really fits the theme, but it WAS taken this summer :)
Please feel free to critique - thx Marko

[tomorrowstreasures]

My grandson bought this umbrella and insisted on trying it out on a beautiful, sunshiny day...So, we sang "Singing in the Rain" at the top of our lungs and had a blast. Most of the photos did not turn out well, but I liked this one.

485

[tegan]

Not sure if this really fits the theme, but it WAS taken this summer :)
Please feel free to critique - thx Marko

Eyes, sharpness and accurate exposure really give this shot great impact.

It still needs a bit of post clean-up. Off colour edges should be cloned out with the orange background, the bottom distractions need to be cropped out and when you were framing the top and left should have been loosened and given more room in the shot.

Tegan

[tegan]

My grandson bought this umbrella and insisted on trying it out on a beautiful, sunshiny day...So, we sang "Singing in the Rain" at the top of our lungs and had a blast. Most of the photos did not turn out well, but I liked this one.

485

Good capture, but this type of shot is much, much, better in colour.

Tegan

[tomorrowstreasures]

This is my first effort at resizing. I sure hope I did an ok job. :fingerscr

487

[tegan]

This is my first effort at resizing. I sure hope I did an ok job. :fingerscr

487

No photo. I guess it is try again. :)

Tegan

[AcadieLibre]

Looks great to me in B&W, has a warm and happy feel to the photo.

[tomorrowstreasures]

Thank you http://www.photography.ca/Forums/images/smilies/smile.gif
:)

[tomorrowstreasures]

darn it. http://www.photography.ca/Forums/images/smilies/frown.gif
:( i wonder what i did wrong. http://www.photography.ca/Forums/images/smilies/confused.gif
:confused: i don't have time to fix it this morning, will do it tonighthttp://www.photography.ca/Forums/images/smilies/redface.gif
:o

[tegan]

Looks great to me in B&W, has a warm and happy feel to the photo.

For most of the general public who do not even take snapshots in black and white, their first impression of a black and white family photo is that it is old and must have been taken a long time ago. The reason is that they have generally seen black and white shots only in old family albums. The assumption made is also that if he/she was a certain age when the black and white was taken, they must be very old by now.

All my childhood photos are in colour by the way.

Tegan

[Marko]

Thanks tegan - I knew the distractions were in there, I just left them to see if you would notice. lol.

tomorrowstreasures - I like this shot very much, it's very playful.
Perhaps it could use a slight boost in contrast but that's it. It might also work REALLY well in sepia.

Thx
Marko

[tegan]

It might also work REALLY well in sepia.

Thx
Marko

SEPIA!??? :eek: If someone turned 90 this year, we would expect to see a childhood photo of him or her in sepia!!! That would be almost cruel. :eek:

Tegan

[Marko]

SEPIA!??? :eek: If someone turned 90 this year, we would expect to see a childhood photo of him or her in sepia!!! That would be almost cruel. :eek:

100% no - 1000% disagree. Sepia rocks!!
The photo already has a timeless feel and the sepia will make it even more timeless. Many many clients of mine LOVE sepia. :twocents:

[kiley9806]

i think nowadays, with all the technology out there, people realize that b&w or sepia photographs aren't actually from the stone age of cameras.
i personally love the b&w's, how classic and simple it can make a pic feel. and sepia sure can help make a shot warm & pleasant.
just my :twocents:...

[tomorrowstreasures]

*blush
thanks for all the debate on the photo! It makes me feel REALLY good that you even want to discuss it. On my blog, I almost beg for feed back, rarely receive any, so this is wonderful!!!! Here is the color version, I hope.Last night I tried to post it, the attach thing showed up but the photo did not. hmmmm what Here goes.......:fingerscr488

[tomorrowstreasures]

It showed up, but ewwwwwwwwwwwwww... I resized it. Obviously, something went very wrong. Any ideas?:eek:

[tomorrowstreasures]

489

This is the image that the resizing was from. I hope it shows up decent and that it is not too big!

[tegan]

The distinct advantage to the colour version is that the colour of the umbrella strongly centres the attention of the viewer toward the child. The path also is stronger in colour directing the attention toward the child as well.

The technical problem is that the focus should be more on the child than the umbrella which is one of the weaknesses of some autofocus systems.

Bottom line however is that I have seen far more effective colour photos in the past half century than black and white. Too many new photographers think that black and white excuses more errors than colour. Not so. Black and white demands considerably more postprocessing or darkroom work to get right and this is seldom done by the majority of black and white enthusiasts.

Tegan

[tegan]

100% no - 1000% disagree. Sepia rocks!!
The photo already has a timeless feel and the sepia will make it even more timeless. Many many clients of mine LOVE sepia. :twocents:

I seem to remember a promise of a HDR moon\landscape photo from you which was never fullfilled, even though I presented my technique very quickly and suggested that your technique would not work. Perhaps you discovered that I was correct.

Now, it would be nice to see one of those "timeless sepia" shots from you that your clients love, along with the colour version for comparison sake and a close look for all of us in the Critique forum...but then I always expect promises to be fulfilled, as I am sure you know. :):)

Tegan

[tomorrowstreasures]

You caught me! I tried to fix the bluriness of the face - did not give it too much time to play with and yes, the attention is on the umbrella. This makes me want to work it again until I get it right.


An aside, I too noticed the hand in your blue window photo. :D
you little trickster, you! :)

[tegan]

An aside, I too noticed the hand in your blue window photo. :D
you little trickster, you! :)

Good for you! I was once told that a good photographer needed square eyes which means that he/she needs to see everything within the frame, and not just the main subject.

For you, that means paying attention to any distractions in the background, too. As you learn more about photography and postprocessing, you will learn how to better control background distractions.

By the way, I can take out the hands very easily in postprocessing.

Tegan

[Travis]

You caught me! I tried to fix the bluriness of the face - did not give it too much time to play with and yes, the attention is on the umbrella. This makes me want to work it again until I get it right.


An aside, I too noticed the hand in your blue window photo. :D
you little trickster, you! :)

I prefer the colour version as well. I`d also shoot it with a shallow dof to cxl out the background.

I know what Marko is saying about clients liking BW and Sepia. People say that too me ALL the time. Even with images that have stunning colour people will say ``oh... great shot.... you should make it black and white``

[tegan]

I prefer the colour version as well. I`d also shoot it with a shallow dof to cxl out the background.

I know what Marko is saying about clients liking BW and Sepia. People say that too me ALL the time. Even with images that have stunning colour people will say ``oh... great shot.... you should make it black and white``

I tell them that you do NOT watch television in black and white or sepia, why on earth would you want to look at photos in black and white or sepia.

Tegan

[Travis]

I tell them that you do NOT watch television in black and white or sepia, why on earth would you want to look at photos in black and white or sepia.

Tegan

lol..........

[kiley9806]

I tell them that you do NOT watch television in black and white or sepia, why on earth would you want to look at photos in black and white or sepia.

Tegan

everybody has different tastes though tegan...

totally understandable that b&w or sepia is not whats wanted in television/ media, but for family/wedding/baby/pet photos, they are usually highly praised and quite liked.

maybe your 'eye' is too professional!

[tomorrowstreasures]

Still needs tweaking, but wanted to share what I have done so far:

498

[Marko]

I like your 2 shots in this thread tomorrowstreasures!

tegan you are right I still owe an HDR podcast. I've been looking for the right "guest" that's why it hasn't been done yet. On many topics I feel at ease enough just to talk...but not HDR. Sepia shot will be uploaded this weekend I hope.

thx
m

[tegan]

Looking good Tomorrowstreasures.

Looking forward to taking a close look at your sepia shot, Marko.

Tegan

[kiley9806]

those brightened up eyes sure make a great difference!

[tomorrowstreasures]

I was rushed this morning and posted the posterize redo"s here instead of the alternative place that I started the thread in. Needless to say, thank you to every one for weighing in on these. Your insights helped a lot to sharpen up the piece. s
Susan

[baddness]

Sunset in Georgetown, PEI. Summer vacation.

[kiley9806]

really nice baddness! great lighting on the girl....
i can feel the end of summer coming through your shot...

[tomorrowstreasures]

nice composition, badness! :)

[pslove]

i love the pictures posted so far, especially the sunset ones..but my first thought when i read the forum topic was..we had a summer?with all the rain and fairly cool weather, it's felt a little more like a really long spring, hasn't it?:p this shot was taken on one of the sunnier days under a train overpass in Griffintown of a friend of mine. it's one of my favorite shots from that day.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/2752414538_d123ec7828_d.jpg

Jess

[tomorrowstreasures]

Jess. I love the mood of it!

[aophoto]

This was shot on one of not too many private beaches near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.