Pond at Parker Meadow
by craigdm

Comment by craigdm:

Originally posted by PennyClick: It is unfortunate that this has been submitted with a width of less than 800 pixels, the max allowable for a landscape format image. You can ask in the forums if you need advice on saving your images for a challenge.

Penny, thanks for commenting. I'm a beginner, typically I've been doing the adjustments on the raw image, then converting to JPEG at the highest quality and then reducing the image size until the file size is under 300k and long dimension is less than 800px. I do the conversion at highest quality to avoid compression artifacts. To me, this particular photo seems to have a lot of high frequency components (sharp black-to-white transitions), which is difficult for JPEG compression to handle. I believe that in order to keep the file size under the limit, and minimize artifacts, the image size naturally needs to come down.

Originally posted by PennyClick: There is a lot of detail here but it appears over-sharpened.

I don't recall how much sharpening I applied, so you may be correct. This was also my first HDR attempt, so the oversharpening probably came from my misuse experimentation of the sliders in photomatix.

Originally posted by PennyClick: The picture also lack the tonal range typically found in Ansel Adams's pictures. However, this is a peaceful looking setting with nice reflections.

Would you mind elaborating a little more? The reason I went with the HDR in the first place was specifically to try achieve the wide tonal range. Based on what I read of the zone system, the two tonal extremes are 0 (pure black with no texture or detail) and 10 (pure white with no texture or detail). I thought I hit a 10 in the clouds just above and to the right of center, and hit a 0 in the shadows beneath the trees along the waters edge. The trees and leaves are admittedly very cluttered, but it seemed to me that they also hit almost every other tone.

Pond at Parker Meadow
by craigdm

Comment by PenelopeK:
It is unfortunate that this has been submitted with a width of less than 800 pixels, the max allowable for a landscape format image. You can ask in the forums if you need advice on saving your images for a challenge.

There is a lot of detail here but it appears over-sharpened. The picture also lack the tonal range typically found in Ansel Adams's pictures. However, this is a peaceful looking setting with nice reflections.

Pond at Parker Meadow
by craigdm

Comment by hahn23:
A good scene. I find my eyes searching the shore for a subject. On my monitor, the reflection in the water is quite bright, which seems a bit unnatural. The clouds above the tree line are plain. The trees and leaves are detailed and appear to be in focus, but seem to clutter. I do like your effort at controling detail in the shadows.

Discordia Regis
by craigdm

Comment by littlemav:
fun and makes me wonder how you got the movement yet the hand so still...

Discordia Regis
by craigdm

Comment by Abra:
Gee I hope this is legal as it is soooo impresive!

Discordia Regis
by craigdm

Comment by mrchhas:
nice work

Portal
by craigdm

Comment by Bensted:
Like the mystery, makes you want to step inside to see further. Really like the way you have framed the shot.

Discordia Regis
by craigdm

Comment by Teafran:
Not to be pedantic, but its Regius - regis is not a latin word. More properly, it should be Discordia Regina or Regius - depending on what you want to convey.

Just sayin'. :>)

Great image - must have taken a few tries to get it right like the previous image. Great idea and composition. Well done.

gas_submission
by craigdm

Comment by jmritz:
I hate this photo, 10

gas_submission
by craigdm

Comment by Ammie:
Yeah, take me to an expensive place please! Gasstation is good enough.