The Photography Thread

[jwa4894]

Iphone pic not bad?

[jwa4894]

and on spur of the moment

[KaizenK]

The sights at Amphawa Floating Market. About an hour from Bangkok..

An Armada of boats


Musician


Floating lil Restaurant


Thai lemonade Stand


More boats: anchored and in formation



Ice Cream Lady

[john voight]

Originally Posted by hybris

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7296134...3455/lightbox/

Some of my work with HDR and standard pics.

wat lens you using?

[john voight]

[DoTheMath]

Love the cacti! For some reason this shot reminded me of "The Trouble with Tribbles". Definitely get the sense of them pouring towards the viewer.

Otherwise, some pretty interesting shots. Lots of geometric stuff going on, which appeals to me.

I wonder if the tables and the second to last one wouldn't be better at a different time of day when the shadows would not be so obtrusive. The shadows are what make the final pic, however.

The second to last one would probably be my favorite if it didn't have the diagonal slashes of sunlight. The triangle of light in the bottom right corner is too distracting. The light on the left is positioned in such a way as to work with the other elements in that part of the frame, but it weakens the overall concept. I love the idea of the different types of rectangles in each of four quadrants.

I feel like the arrowhead pic is a bit conflicted. The space below the arrowhead implies its continued downward movement, but the solid block at the arrowheads's tip makes it clear that this particular arrow has come to a complete stop. Given that, I think I'd rather see where it came from, rather than where it's (not) going to. The question would be where to put the tip of the arrowhead: very close to the bottom of the frame, 2/3 down the frame, at the golden ratio, or somewhere else? My own approach when faced with a subject like this is to take several images, each with a different framing, or if resolution allows, frame loosely and make multiple different crops. I'd probably experiment with 10:16, 9:16 and 1:2 aspect ratios for this subject, as well as the 2:3 that comes out of the camera. I might want to take this shot from much closer to ground level, and maybe with a wider angle of view.

Love the last one, too: the framing with its division into four distinct vertical slices of similar size; the foreground element seeming slightly OOF, lending a softness to the shadowed half while sharpness is preserved in the lit half. Best use of light in these five.

Please keep posting as you explore this sort of subject matter.

[john voight]

Wow thanks for your analysis dtm. I took all the shots at the Getty Center. I know they are not great, but for the 1st time I was pretty satisfied with how some of my pics came out. My budget limits me to a 50mm prime (~80mm on my crop sensor). Architectural and astronomical photography are my two favorite forms. I hope to purchase something a bit wider since often I feel constricted due to lack of space... even when I do astronomy.

The cacti shot is a bit of a cheat because one might assume it was shot in a desert. Above the cacti lied a fairly unflattering view of L.A, so I decided to fill the entire frame with cacti.

The tables/chairs are full of dreaded humans most of the day, so I was so excited to get some shots off but I think I wasted the opportunity. The pillars on the sides and wall in the back bother me a bit. The shadows don't bother me, but maybe that's because I am having trouble picturing the image with out them. I'd like to try this one again from multiple angles.

I don't remember my thought process behind the arrow. My natural instinct is always to put the subject at the bottom of the frame. However I decided to switch things up on this one Next time I will try some more variations.

The two interior shots were pretty cool because it was the 1st time I was consciously focusing on composition for interior stuff. Gosh the light really distracts from the four distinct areas in the 2nd to last shot. Next time I go I will have to take a print-out of your analysis with me to make sure I stay focused on composition. I often start pointing and shooting thoughtlessly.

The Getty Center is a wonderful place to practice architectural photography. I hope EDF poster Mike Kelley someday gets some pics of the place. I know he is situated in L.A, and shoots architecture professionally.

[Everlastrr]

My brother is on holiday in Europe and took this untouched pic of the Matterhorn this morning at dawn. The owner of the place he's staying recommended getting up to see it.

[suzzer99]

Matterhorn and John Voight's pics are awesome.

[Freakin]

Really like your composition in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th shots, JV.

[cardsharkk04]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Try the clone-painting technique - it's amazing.

Hey Suz, do you think you could give me a little bit of an in depth description of the clone painting technique? I'm very familiar with using layer masks in PS, but I still don't really understand how it is different. Thanks!

[cardsharkk04]

Originally Posted by Snipe

the pics of Daniel Cheong on 500px.

Really enjoyed looking at his dubai nightscapes. Any one have any idea on what he does for post processing? Are these HDR? I just love how crisp and clean they are and how the colors just pop. I've certainly never had results this good with HDR.

Also does anyone have any good info/links on more advanced HDR PP'ing? I hardly ever do HDR (manually blending ftw), but when I do, I usually just plug 3 photos into PS HDR and play with the sliders. And maybe I'm an idiot, but what exactly is tonemapping?

[kingweed]

http://youarenotaphotographer.com/

Website is gold.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by cardsharkk04

Hey Suz, do you think you could give me a little bit of an in depth description of the clone painting technique? I'm very familiar with using layer masks in PS, but I still don't really understand how it is different. Thanks!

You kind of just have to try it to see if it feels different. Maybe you are so used to layer masks it won't feel right for you.

1. Do normal image-wide stuff in Camera RAW
2. Make a copy of your base layer and open it in a new document.
3. Open new doc (pallete) preferably side by side with your target doc (let's call it canvas)
4. Blow up both docs to 1600 or something.
5. Select clone tool, make sure it's on a smallish size like 10-20px.
6. Alt-click to target clone tool so it's perfectly aligned in the bottom left corner of the pallette (use the big circle touching the edges)
7. Click to apply clone tool to exact lower left of canvas (same technique with circle).
8. Make desired changes to pallette (say for one band of color you want to enhance).
9. Paint changes onto canvas using (usually) low opacity, and appropriate brush size.
10. Use history to undo changes to the pallette (if nec.) and start work on another piece.

That's pretty much it. Just give it a try and come back with questions.

[cardsharkk04]

Cool, i'll give it a shot