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A 'Sunday in the Park' captured on 5D

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bullet1

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This is the second annual 'Sunday in the Park' outdoor performance by Boulder Ballet. I missed the first and was glad to be there. All were shot with the 5D and the 70-200 IS with the extender.

The lighting wasn't bad but I switched from Av to manual as the colors of the costumes kept changing. All were shot in RAW, processed in Capture One and resized with IrfanView. C & C are welcome.















The gallery link is:
http://www.pbase.com/nelsonc/boulder_ballet&page=all
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

 
I like the shots, especially the mid-air one. The dancers came out very well. However, the background sucks, and it's not your fault. There are smudges, ripples in the fabric, and even a big old door with an ugly lock mechanism. These detract from your subjects. Photoshop should easily take care of most of the issues.

-Porter
 
Thank you for the kind words and suggestions. You are right the background was bad. It would have nice to have a nice piece of neutral material (curtain) to cover the back wall. But it was a free outdoor performance without any lighting or stage preps.

I am going to ask for some help in the retouch forum as I am not a skilled PhotoShop user with masks and background changes.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

 
Great skin tones, are you having problems with dust? I've had the 24-105 on mine since new - never been off - 1 small speck of dust so far. I use Canon's own Digital Photographer Pro for handling raw and conversion - great programme. I also use IrfanView for renumbering images - from several cameras to one contionious file numbering for client selection.

Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks for the compliments. They were shot in RAW and so the skin tones could be fine tuned.

I had a few dust spots on the 5D sensor but was able to clean it with a Giottos rocket blower.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=OrderDetail.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&shs=GIBAL&image.x=0&image.y=0

There is a minor spot for which I may have to use the Copperhill wet cleaning method. For even shooting at wide apertures, the dust has not been a problem.

I took the 5D to the Great Sand Dunes and it survived the sand blast with the 24-105 on it. Surprisingly, it did not collect any extra dust. I did the blowing cleaning afterwards just to be sure.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

 
One thing I love about the 5D is its super soft shutter sound. I shoot a lot of performances and recitals, the shutter noise can be disturbing to other people.

The 20D shutter noise is so much louder compared to the 5D that I don't use the 20D in the performances like this one any more. An FF 1DIII with 8.5 fps would be fine at sports but may disturb other folks in the live performances.

Another thing I like about the 5D is that its images can be cropped so much without losing the quality. Its super high ISO performance means I no longer need to run the ISO3200 indoor low light shots through the Neat Image any more, unless the images were severely underexposed and/or heavily cropped.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

 
the background need some realy nice blur, maybe. It draws attention, all the time. At least for me.

Some cloning would be nice too for the BG. Do I see dust, or just some damage on the wall there?

You did freeze the action, I like that. But, I would try a smaller F, I guess, for a some blur.

Best regards,
werner
 
...it's in the background. It's part of the scene. This work is documentary in nature and the background is what it is. Stay honest. Leave the door there, leave the imperfections just as they are. Take Photoshop away from James and all those who cannot see a photograph unless it is sterlized, made pretty with all soul and content removed.
 
I prefer the PJ style, story telling photography without the digital manipulation other than the necessary WB, color and contrast enhancement which were done in the film days too.

In my photo club member photo presentations, there are "traditional" and "altered" categories to separate the two.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

 
bullet1 said:
One thing I love about the 5D is its super soft shutter sound. I
shoot a lot of performances and recitals, the shutter noise can be
disturbing to other people.

The 20D shutter noise is so much louder compared to the 5D that I
don't use the 20D in the performances like this one any more. An
FF 1DIII with 8.5 fps would be fine at sports but may disturb other
folks in the live performances.
Click to expand...
I agree, except of course, there is no such thing as a FF 1DIII. ;-D
bullet1 said:
Another thing I like about the 5D is that its images can be cropped
so much without losing the quality. Its super high ISO performance
means I no longer need to run the ISO3200 indoor low light shots
through the Neat Image any more, unless the images were severely
underexposed and/or heavily cropped.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

Click to expand...
--
Once the Jones' died, there was no longer a compulsion to keep up with them.
 
from the technical standpoint. So what about the backgrounds? Pictures are fine the way they are. Unless the photoshop work is guru level, it will start to look painted. Leave them alone as they are.
 
I'm a regular in the retouching forum and thought I would take a try at one of your pics. I cropped first and then used curves to darken the background and then blurred it. Cloned out what was left of the door.

Nice pics by the way:-)


bullet1 said:
Thank you for the kind words and suggestions. You are right the
background was bad. It would have nice to have a nice piece of
neutral material (curtain) to cover the back wall. But it was a
free outdoor performance without any lighting or stage preps.

I am going to ask for some help in the retouch forum as I am not a
skilled PhotoShop user with masks and background changes.
--
Nelson Chen
http://pbase.com/nelsonc
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro

Click to expand...
--
Sam
 
Your version is no longer "An Afternoon in the Park." All feeling of time and place is gone. I love Photoshop, but it is destroying the eyes of so many... making them lazy.
 
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