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Inspiration Challenge #28, entries

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Thanks, Jim, and thanks for your detailed and interesting critique. I hadn't considered a crop into portrait orientation, but it certainly works but even so, I think - at the margin - I still prefer the landscape. I just like those lights twinkling far away.

What I was particularly pleased about was the way the K20D handled iso 1600.

By the way, I think you may need another "oops" on this one....

--
Thommo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jthommo101/

 
Imagequality (18): 15
Scenequality (18): 16
Creativity (18): 13

Total (54): 44

Good image quality. The PP fits the scene very well but I do think that mild sharpening (at least around his eyes) would make it a little harder for me to take my eyes away again.

Scene quality:

Priceless situation. Good composition but I don't think the relative large area above his head is important for the story. (see example)

Good eye catcher with a great wow-effect but a slightly weaker long lasting effect because his eyes are not quite where my eyes would naturaly rest.

His facial expression made the scene unique. Perfect spontaneíty. Perfect time, place and timing. I really like the chaotic but powerful energy created.

Creativtiy:

Spotless camera handling and PP. Good use of the light. It plays a significant role regarding the energy created. Perfect info quality. A quite simple and clear expression but homogeneity is average due to the image size and the background above his head.

PP: Alternative crop and resized. Mild sharpening.



--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
The annual cricket match between South Zeal and Sticklepath

You wont know these villages but if you know the song Widecombe Fayre ... it is from these villages and those beside them that Tom pearce, Dan'l Whiddon and Tom Cobley and all came from. In fact if the mood takes you you can go to Spreyton , take a pint in the Uncle Tom Cobley and then pop outside to the church to visit his grave ....

Where was I? Oh yes very wet after our abortive effort to play the annual match . Even in Wellington Boots it proovd imp[ossible !!

Here w are seeking shelter from the rain



K200D
Sigma 17-70

FL40
F5
1/50
ISO 250
--
Tom Bell
Dartmoor
Devon
Users/tombell/Desktop/2546832826_c2bacb91ac_t.jpg

http://flickr.com/photos/tombell1
 


Model PENTAX K10D
Flash Used No
Focal Length 200 mm
Exposure Time 1/180 sec
Aperture f/6.3
ISO Equivalent 200
Exposure Bias +2/3

I was planning to shoot some of the snails that were abundant in the Camargue in a more creative fashion than just on a row (although I have to admit I made some of these as well). In this moment verything I was searching for during a few days came into place. The soft evening light created the warm cast in the image and a touch of fill flash was used to get a balanced lighting in the image.

Mike

--
--
Capturing time that will never be the same



http://www.mmfoto.nl
http://www.pentaximaging.nl
 
Imagequality (18): 15
Scenequality (18): 13
Creativity (18): 11

Total (54): 39

Good image quality. No weak spots. Perhaps a tad lifeless.

Scene quality:

Interesting situation. Perfect composition. Good eye catcher with equally good wow effect and long lasting effect. The angle of the light made the scene special. Good spontaneity. Perfect time, place and timing. The mood does not really grab me. From the title I figure that you are somehow related to the person and that is why it might mean something special to you. A neutral viewer however does not have this prerequisite. In movies this perspective is usually used for dramatic purposes. Either it could be something about surveillance or somebody is about to attack from above. Not exactly the story you are trying to express.

Creativtiy:

Spotless camera handling and PP. Good use of the light. Weak info quality. Nothing about PP. I also miss information about camera and lens. A quite simple expression but not particularly clear. Nice homogeneity.

--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
There is an interesting way to get a brighter tone in your image without fiddling with differential exposure corrections or contrast enhancements and that is to tweak the dynamic range. It will not bring you more dynamic range but it will bring grey tones in high contrast scenes closer to how our eyes handles them.

I got this idea at work and if you find it interesting I could have a go at it later.

--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
Imagequality (18): 14
Scenequality (18): 15
Creativity (18): 10

Total (54): 39

Average image quality. It is a tad soft. To me it looks like your shutterspeed might be too low. Judged by the water around his knees focus seems to be OK but as the movements happen perpendicularly to the lens you need a relatively high shutterspeed. This is a situation where maximim crsipness is needed. Also because of the water droplets.

Scene quality:

Priceless situation. Good composition but that orange and blue colored line blocks the natural vertical flow. Cloning it out will be very difficult because of the colored shadows it creates and the diffennce in DOF.

Fortunately there is a simple way to reduce this effect and that is simply to shorten the distance between the vertical borders. IOW the borders óf the frame can be used to create a flow to a certain degree. (see example) The best example is actually panoramas. Stitching more images together will almost automatically result in a natural flow. You can also use a panoramic crop if you want to emphasize a horizontal fliow.

Good eye catcher with a great wow-effect but reduced long lasting quality due to the image quality. Spontaneity though does not get any better than this. Perfect time, place and timing. The mood does not really grab me. Again it is because of the image quality. Not because of the situation and now that the colored line is there I find it rather cool that it changes color right behind his back.

Creativity:

Good camera handling apart from the shutterspeed. Spotless PP but info quality about this part of your workflow is weak. Tricky light. A quite clear and simple expression. Average homogeneity across the frame.

In situations like this I oftne switch to shutter priority and around 1/1000s. Use the lens wide open if you need to. It will still be sharper.

PP: Alternative crop. I oversharpened it deliberately to give you an idea about what crispness affects a scene like this.



--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
Hi Jim, My entry for this month was a second choice for me. I was planning to enter something a little different but I seemed to receive a lot of comments on this pic on my pbase account. I had taken this pic June 22nd while on a day trip with my wife to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton Nat'l Parks. My wife had not visited those parks as of yet and I was leaving Montana on the 3rd of July to start a new job in Savannah, GA. When I took this pic my wife said 'why are you taking pics of the flowers, you should be taking pics of the mountains', and I told her, "but I am"...



My PP process as follows,,,

I converted the DNG with Silkypix trial version, (I plan to purchase in the near future) with these settings
+1/2 EV
7000K
Average contrast
Film Color V1
Natural sharpness

.jpg processed with PSE5 as follows,,,
Straighten
S/H; 10, 19, +10
H/S; Master 0, +15, -4
Resized; 795x
Levels; 13, 1.15, 238
H/S; Master 0, +10, 0
Red 0, +10, 0
Blue 0, -30, 0
USM; 130, .3, 2
190, .2, 0
12, 50, 0
Signed
Bordered

--
K10d + Tamron 18-250



My Pentax K10d galleries http://www.pbase.com/wjwncpro/k10d (GMT-6)
 
I took this July 10th, 2008 with my K100D and Sigma 17-70. I picked up a flower from the garden and set it up in my laundry room with the lights off. I used my tripod and a flashlight (with tissue paper on it) to light up the flower externally from the camera. No flash was used.

Shot in RAW @ F25, 1/2sec, ISO200, 19mm. PP includes a mild crop, WB adjustment, Increased sharpness and contrast.

I took over 30 shots and saved 10 of them. I found it hard to choose one since there were different angles and effects. I decided on this one since I find it has a WOW effect. just me maybe.

Thanks for doing this contest.



--

 
Imagequality (18): 15
Scenequality (18): 14
Creativity (18): 12

Total (54): 41

You might have thought that I overlooked your entry. That was not the case. It was a case of me spotting a potential but I could not nail it until now. I tried to figure what your intentions were.

Good image quality. I think it is a bit overexposed and a tad on the pale side and a little more punch color wise would suit the scene. There is a perspective error regarding the tower and it affects the composition in a significant way.

Scene quality:

Highly interesting situation and location. Good compositiion but I think your intention was to create a natural flow from the woman to the tower but it does not work 100% because of the perspective error and it affects the left / right balance.(see example) Good eye catcher with equally good wow-effect and long lasting effect.

This is a case where I wished that intentions were rewarded in this challenge because I think it was your intention to create a leading line from the woman at the bottom to the tower at the top but this perspective error means there is too little tension to establish a perfect flow while keeping a good left / right balance. Therefore spontaneity is rated good and not perfect. (Perhaps I should introduce the possibillity to rate something Perfect( just).

Perfect time, place and timing. Nice summer mood.

Creativity:

Good camera handling. Spotless PP. The light fits the subject well but it suffers a bit from the slight overexposure and turned a little pale. Perfect info quality. A quite clear and simple expression. Decent homogeneity.

PP: Perspective correction using ImageAlignPro. Adjusted levels and increased color saturation. The best thing would have been to use an ultra wide angle lens and kept it horizontal.

Unfortunately my PP made the long legged woman disappear. Therefore I want to apologize mainly to the men who think this composition was a bad substitute.



--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
Imagequality (18): 16
Scenequality (18): 16
Creativity (18): 13

Total (54): 45

I think this one was rated low in 2 areas. Image quality and Creativity.

Image quality is very good and fits the subject well. A perfectly clear and simple expression with decent homogeneity.

--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
Thank's Jim and i apologize for the time you spent with my entrie. Yes my idea was that a women can "make life" in a static photo of monument. The flow from the women to the church and the perspective error correction are two ways i'll use in my future photo. Where can i read somethings about composition of a photo and flow ?

Amitiés
--
Patrick
 
patabi said:
Thank's Jim and i apologize for the time you spent with my entrie.
Click to expand...
No need to apologize. Look at it this way. It was your image that inspired me. You delivered the potential so to speak. I thank you for inspiring me. I hope this challenge shows that the difference between mediocre and a solid keeper often is very little and it is achieved with PP only.
patabi said:
Yes my idea was that a women can "make life" in a static photo of
monument. The flow from the women to the church and the perspective
error correction are two ways i'll use in my future photo. Where can
i read somethings about composition of a photo and flow ?
Click to expand...
I am sure there is. Unfortunately I am 100% autodidact when it comes to photography and post processing. My experience comes from practice and looking at "a million". I have not read a single book about theory. I have carefully read the manuals for my cameras and Photoshop though.

Regarding tips and tricks I am inspired by other photographers around me and by the people in this forum for instance.

There are people who are born with a natural talent to spot perfect compositions and perfect light on location but it is perhaps 5% or less. They can "get away" with very little PP skills. I am not that fortunate but photography is also about good handwork and this is the path most of us will have to follow. You can't force a talent.

--
.......
Have a nice day (a picture is worth a thousand words)
Jim

Link to Pentax SLR Forum Best images:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23551175

Creative attempts:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24071712

Inspiration Challenge - in depth feedback guaranteed

'Don't overestimate technology - nothing is knowledgefree'

 
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