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Photo Assignment: Weekend 01/05/08

So I took some shots. Okay a bunch of them. I learned a few things along the way also. I am having some trouble getting the white balance tweaked in. . . .

So I understand the rules of not photoshopping, so here are the six keepers. But I wanted to improve the output a little more so I did white balance, crop, rotate, tweaks in Lightroom. I kept the file names the same so that they can be compared and "whipped".

I figured out that I need more light, and probably a better background solution.

Cropped a little and WB
240562114-M.jpg

I took a look at these shots and saw a lot going on correctly. Good composition, excellent focus, etc. The white balance is really tough though. Like Brad, I also am learning LightRoom, an adobe file organizing software program. It offers the ability to substantially tweak your photos but doesn't even approach the complexity of PhotoShop, which is, well, cumberful.

Anywho, I took a stab at further tweaking the above image and came up with this:

240797781-L.jpg


This is by no means perfect and I'm sure there are others on our site who are far more familiar with these programs. I can't remember everything I did, but for the most part I fiddled a bit with color temperature, greatly increased the exposure, reduced contrast (unusual for me), played with sharpening a bit, and really cranked "lens vignetting." Most zoom lenses vignette a bit, that is appear darker in the corners. This is hard to notice unless against a light background and you are looking for it. LightRoom has a correction for this under "lens corrections" of all places.

One of the chief difficulties with this image is that it's on a plain, white background. Camera light meters are engineered to register 18% gray reflectance. Anything starkly different than that (total white or total black) throws the meter off. I think the issue here was not so much white balance (maybe a little) but that your picture was underexposed because the camera's light meter was fooled. When photographing a plain white background (snow for example) one should OVERexpose by about two stops; conversely, a plain black background (a spotlit stage for example) one should UNDERexpose by about two stops. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but trust me on this.

Did you have it set for centerweighted or evaluative? CW metering is the old-fashioned system used by cameras for the past fifty years. The evaluative system is a light meter controlled by a computer program trained to correct typical lighting problems like backlighting, white or dark backgrounds, etc. They're very good, but far from perfect.

Post-processing is an art all unto itself and I've only begun to scratch the surface. I'd love to take a class one of these days. . . . . However, the knowledge about under- and overexposing high contrast backgrounds would negate the need for editing software to render the above image. Just sayin'.
 
Technical Question

Technical Question:

Sometimes when I click on "Quote" the reply includes the text and the photo I am replying to. Sometimes only the text shows up in the reply.

In #106 - no photo! In #109 I got the photo.

I'm guessing that it has something to do with an attached photo vs a URL referenced photo. Any clues??
 
Technical Question:

Sometimes when I click on "Quote" the reply includes the text and the photo I am replying to. Sometimes only the text shows up in the reply.

In #106 - no photo! In #109 I got the photo.

I'm guessing that it has something to do with an attached photo vs a URL referenced photo. Any clues??

Paul,

Your assumption about attached vs. URL is accurate, I think; however, in this particular case, in #106 you were quoting a message in which the photo itself was quoted. I guess it only works when you quote the message with the original URL'd photo.

Strictly speaking, not a torx bit. Sorry.
 
right on.

Tom, I whole heartededly concur...photoshop is indeed, full of cumber!

Burnzilla. Nice salamander shot by the way...did you opt for the superglue route to keep the beast in place, or do you possess a strange Dr Doolitesque mezmeric skill?
 
Tom, I whole heartededly concur...photoshop is indeed, full of cumber!

Burnzilla. Nice salamander shot by the way...did you opt for the superglue route to keep the beast in place, or do you possess a strange Dr Doolitesque mezmeric skill?

He was quite slow. I think I woke him up when I found him under the wood pile.
 
I took a look at these shots and saw a lot going on correctly. Good composition, excellent focus, etc. The white balance is really tough though. Like Brad, I also am learning LightRoom, an adobe file organizing software program. It offers the ability to substantially tweak your photos but doesn't even approach the complexity of PhotoShop, which is, well, cumberful.

Anywho, I took a stab at further tweaking the above image and came up with this:

No amount of tweeking is going to make that pen interesting. The shot lacks anything to pull the viewer in. A back drop might help.
Example on Flickr
 
He was quite slow. I think I woke him up when I found him under the wood pile.

Woke him! I'm having none of that, where are his jimmy jams then? This is without doubt a stunt salamander and is used to photographic modelling, either that or....

Doped!

I bet he was out of his tiny mind on creosote or some such concoction.

It's an evil plot to get the better of my squirrel, who only sniffs at the nuts with mogadone on them and runs off when I approach with a hammer and six inch nail.

You can tell that salamander is off his head, look at that stunned look in its eyes. In his mind he's gettin' down with the fine lady salamanders.

And you got it to pose!
Probably tempting it with a drug infused insect.

Well Burnzilla, I challenge you to a squirrel off. Yes big and mighty squirrels, not little squishable lizards and insects. Something manly with sharp nippy nippity nip bitey teeth and scratchy pointy claws and stuff....

Oh bugger it, I'm just jealous of that fine pic.

I did have a humming bird pass by today, but it naffed off when the bloody squirrel showed up and before I could lock and load.
 
This is without doubt a stunt salamander and is used to photographic modelling,....

I believe the correct term for stunt-salamander is chameleon. Besides, what's the big deal? He's nothing but a glorified insurance salesman.










This post strives to be bitingly ironic and in now way intends harm or insult to salamanders, chameleons, insurance sales representatives or expatriates. No geckos were harmed in the crafting of this post; however, one squirrel was roundly trounced. Little bugger.
 
I believe the correct term for stunt-salamander is chameleon. Besides, what's the big deal? He's nothing but a glorified insurance salesman.


This post strives to be bitingly ironic and in now way intends harm or insult to salamanders, chameleons, insurance sales representatives or expatriates. No geckos were harmed in the crafting of this post; however, one squirrel was roundly trounced. Little bugger.

That's it...an out of work, resting salamander, depressed at not getting an appalling sitcom out of the TV commercials. I bet Burnszilla picked him up on the cheap...one desperate deal away from a career in lizard porn (come on, someone's bound to be into that sort of stuff) down on his sticky feet. Burnszilla offered a pile of wood (euphamisms can be applied liberally) to bed down in, in exchange for some 'artistic' photos.

It's a very sad world we live in.

you should be ashamed, you, you, you, squirrelists!!!!!!
 
Please excuse the last rambling...I've been editing a friend's christmas video. Other people's kids singing "Oh jingle rudolph bethlehem bells of holly" time and time and time again, has just tipped me over the bleedin' edge.

I think I may stop being their friend.

Do you think Burnszilla will be able to get discounted insurance for MOA members?
 
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