Please comment, Focal point and DOF

[Mad Aussie]

It's a good point Ed. Just because people 'disagree' does not make either opinion 'correct.' They are simply different viewpoints born from different experiences and tastes.

[Spriter]

hey, spriter, you are lucky because you are getting good 'critiques' from other members that will help you 'get it right'.
different interpretations of your work which is actually the second step in critiquing. the 'fun' part of critiquing. interpretation is a very personal thing and may differ greatly from someone else's. as you can see in the posts. the posts are all educated and intelligent expressions so, soak it all up. aren't you glad you are in this forum!

I really appreciated all your intelligent notes and remarks. Very Happy also to have started posting and shooting with a specific objectives in a specific field. Doing so, it is easier for me to grasp more.

Thanks to everybody. Will continue improving and might be able to contribute myself down the road.

[Marko]

it can be corrected by proper post processing by accentuating the bubble and getting your black and white pints in order. it seems your white point, if you look at the histogram of levels is not in the right place.

I think this is an important point Ed. Can you describe your technique for this?

Many thx!

Marko

[F8&Bthere]

I'm not sure I totally agree -- the rule of thirds is a and hotspots are good generalizations, but you also get stacks of predictable images if that's all you shoot. Like all rules, they should be broken when there's good reason.

I AGREE 100% Alex, and if everyone´s opinion counts for something, I´d still like more DOF but everything else I like.

[edbayani11]

I think this is an important point Ed. Can you describe your technique for this?

Many thx!

Marko

whenever i open a new image in photoshop, and find it wanting in contrast, i go to levels because it has a histogram and below the histogram are 3 triangles representing the black, middle and white points. most of the time you will notice that the end point triangles are not below where the histogram starts to rise. adjust the end points and move them to where the histogram starts to rise and you will see a marked change. if you still find it dark or light, you can adjust the middle triangle to the right to make it darker or left, lighter.
you can see the clipped or specular highlights by pressing Alt as you adjust the white endpoint. the image will turn black and white blobs will appear as you move the triangle. more whites will appear as you move it further to the left. these white blobs represents the clipped or specular highlights. you can do the same with the black point. it doesn't work with the middle triangle.
and while i'm at it, i usually correct for color casts and look for gray areas in the image like cement sidewalks, car tires or shadows on white clothing. i click the middle eyedropper of levels and click on the found gray area to correct the cast. this usually us enough but sometimes fine tune some more.

[Marko]

Very clear explanation ED! I often use curves in a similar way but I've always found that levels is more intuitive especially for beginners... and that Alt trick for seeing specular highlights is super-cool and works with curves as well!
many thanks Marko

[Spriter]

whenever i open a new image in photoshop, and find it wanting in contrast, i go to levels because it has a histogram and below the histogram are 3 triangles representing the black, middle and white points. most of the time you will notice that the end point triangles are not below where the histogram starts to rise. adjust the end points and move them to where the histogram starts to rise and you will see a marked change. if you still find it dark or light, you can adjust the middle triangle to the right to make it darker or left, lighter.
you can see the clipped or specular highlights by pressing Alt as you adjust the white endpoint. the image will turn black and white blobs will appear as you move the triangle. more whites will appear as you move it further to the left. these white blobs represents the clipped or specular highlights. you can do the same with the black point. it doesn't work with the middle triangle.
and while i'm at it, i usually correct for color casts and look for gray areas in the image like cement sidewalks, car tires or shadows on white clothing. i click the middle eyedropper of levels and click on the found gray area to correct the cast. this usually us enough but sometimes fine tune some more.

Wow thanks a lot. This helped me.