The Un-DPL Group Thread - DPChallenge Forums

10/04/2010 12:03:32 PM · #1

Ok, I don't know about the rest of you -- but I'm missing my DPL thread. :(

It was a place where I could go and say things like "I shot a wedding Saturday -- and my feet still hurt!" or "anyone want to give an opinion on this entry?" or "How should I edit this photo? I'm having a hard time getting with Matt's left ear being backlit."

It seems really stupid to start a new thread for each inconsequential thing. Yet it was nice to have a place to discuss those inconsequential things.

So...

I'm starting my own Un-DPL group -- and this is its thread! Anyone want to join?

Message edited by author 2010-10-05 08:55:31.

10/04/2010 12:05:33 PM · #2

Hey Wendy. I'm still having withdrawal symptoms. Sure, I'll drop by inconsequentially now and then with stuff to ask and/or offer.

10/04/2010 12:07:43 PM · #3

Wonderful! Welcome!

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

10/04/2010 12:08:27 PM · #4

Btw, I shot a wedding on Saturday, and my feet still hurt!

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

10/04/2010 12:17:50 PM · #5

I played a round of golf yesterday, but my feet don't hurt. Nor does my knee. No doubt thanks to my new knee brace, it's awesome.

Can I come in every now and then and talk about my knee brace and the weddings I haven't shot?

R.

10/04/2010 12:19:06 PM · #6

You're always welcome, Bear! I miss you!

10/04/2010 12:29:56 PM · #7

Btw -- does anyone know how to desaturate just one color with the sponge tool? Is it possible?

There are many times where I'd like to take down a specific color in a small area. I know I can duplicate the layer, change the saturation, and mask out a particular area. But it would be so much faster if I could just tell the sponge tool what color I want to desaturate (or saturate). Anyway of doing it?

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

10/04/2010 12:46:35 PM · #8

Good idea Wendy, I would like to join up.

The weather has turned, temperatures are down, we're getting air from Canada, & I feel like a photo expedition.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

10/04/2010 12:52:34 PM · #9

Oh goody!

In the meantime, I just wanted to share how amazing the Universe is. Sometime earlier this year (during the famous photo challenge), it dawned on me that if there was anything I could spend the rest of my life doing, full time, it would be photography. I do realize that like acting, there is a "biz" aspect to it, but I'm enjoying learning about that too.

I have a rather epic, long-term project in mind, but it requires knowledge of studio lighting (or a budget to hire someone with that knowledge and equipment), and I had neither. So I decided to take a studio lighting workshop (3rd class tonight), and am humbled by how much I DON'T know. But I approached the teacher, who turns out to live about a mile from me, and asked if he'd take on an apprentice. And he said "yes"!!

Incidentally, I am most decidedly the most inexperienced and under-equipped student. Everyone is hauling out their ginormous Marks and Ls and equipment bags with enough stuff to start their own camera store. But I digress...

Everything is exciting, but this mega-project is still a ways off, and I like taking pictures of other things, so... I just casually let it drop with a couple of friends that I was doing portraits. And BANG! I immediately shot two portrait sessions (one image from the second one is in the FS), a location shoot for a HS musical, and two celeb friends who want me to do couples portraits for them. And all this while still trying to produce fulfilling images under pressure at DPC :-) Not to mention that

julietNN is blowing into town (a visiting veritable tornado of chaos - or so her reputation would imply), with whom I'll be taking another workshop this weekend, besides running around town with her and other local DPCers and our collective cameras.

So far all the portraiture and location stuff has all been probono because I don't think it's fair to charge anyone (especially friends) for learning on the job. But it turns out that I'm really good at portraits, and am now studying

njsabs's images VERY closely.

However, I'm leaving all the wedding gigs to you guys. Having been in one, I just can't cope with that kind of neuroses.

Dang!! This certainly became an opus... That's what happens when months of withdrawal are released with a little thread...

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

10/04/2010 12:55:06 PM · #10

Originally posted by vawendy:

Btw -- does anyone know how to desaturate just one color with the sponge tool? Is it possible?

You can work in channels and use sponge tool on just one of the channels. That gets you partway home...

R.

10/04/2010 12:56:01 PM · #11

How exciting!! I really need to take a lighting class -- I know absolutely nothing about it. I'm trying to read and fly by the seat of my pants, but it's not working very well. (which is odd, because it's my style of learning. I've never taken a class on photography -- I just like reading about it and figuring it out own my own. But for some reason, it's not working with lighting...

Are you and JulietNN taking the librodo class?

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

10/04/2010 12:57:47 PM · #12

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by vawendy:
Btw -- does anyone know how to desaturate just one color with the sponge tool? Is it possible?

You can work in channels and use sponge tool on just one of the channels. That gets you partway home...

R.

I really know next to nothing about channels... Are you talking about the channel mixer, the channels tab instead of the layers tab, or the channels in something like curves or selective colors?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

10/04/2010 12:59:26 PM · #13

Go to the Channels Pallette and pick just one of the color channels instead of the RGB composite. Each channel will show up as a grayscale image, showing how much of that color is present at any location.

10/04/2010 01:10:39 PM · #14

Originally posted by GeneralE:

I went there, and I was able to sponge there -- however, when you're working in greyscale, it's hard to tell what areas are problematic. Anyway of working on the actual color photo but just sponging out the red a bit?

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

10/04/2010 01:25:41 PM · #15

There are just some things you have to learn hands on, I find! Lighting is one of them because you have to see exactly what your choices produce, and how simple, often tiny, adjustments make an enormous difference.

Actually, it all started by trying to take the Librodo workshop in Vegas. That was rather an epic process which ended with the course being canceled!! (Don't get Juliet started on that. She was incredibly resourceful and determined to make it happen...) So instead, she's coming to LA and we're taking a workshop with [url=www.brookeshaden.com ]Brook Shaden[/url]. Not technically a "studio lighting" since she uses natural light. But very exciting work.

JustCaree

Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS

10/04/2010 02:16:12 PM · #16

I wasnt in DPL but find this type of thread to be a superb idea! (an am hoping the next dpl will include me) can I play in here too??

Olympus 7-14mm f/4.0 Zuiko Digital Zoom

10/04/2010 02:24:43 PM · #17

Definitely! I've added you to the list!

one2one

Olympus E-5

10/04/2010 04:08:37 PM · #18

Great idea but I don't see why you need a list of names though? Exclusivity?

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

10/04/2010 04:15:55 PM · #19

I miss that thread too. OK, here is a shot for comment. Selective desat...yes, often overdone and cheesy. Does it work here? I've used it to try to pull the subject out from the busy background. A pure B&W seemed to lose the subject. One other option I had was to go all B&W but to bump the red channel on the cheerleader to make her skin lighter (and thus stand out versus the more midtone crowd).

I like the shot because I've been trying to get this stunt for 4-5 games now, but I'm never in the right place to capture it. Finally on Saturday I was...

10/04/2010 04:48:09 PM · #20

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

I don't know, doc... it looks kind of funky. What about, instead of completely desaturating the crowd, just partially desat it and saturate the cheerleader a little more?

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

10/04/2010 04:50:41 PM · #21

Originally posted by Jac:

Great idea but I don't see why you need a list of names though? Exclusivity?

nope -- just to try to get people interested in sticking with it for awhile. Looking for a little bit of a commitment to giving it a shot -- not just people coming in when they need help, but also sticking around to answer questions as well. I wanted it to have a group feeling.

Though I'll probably go get rid of the names in a bit, since I'm not sure who has officially "joined" and who has just popped in to see what it's about.

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

10/04/2010 04:53:59 PM · #22

Oh, that's a decent idea. I'll try that.

10/04/2010 05:38:41 PM · #23

Originally posted by vawendy:

I don't know, doc... it looks kind of funky. What about, instead of completely desaturating the crowd, just partially desat it and saturate the cheerleader a little more?

Sheesh! I should have read this before posting the same suggestion on the photo page...

10/04/2010 06:08:02 PM · #24

Originally posted by tanguera:

Originally posted by vawendy:
I don't know, doc... it looks kind of funky. What about, instead of completely desaturating the crowd, just partially desat it and saturate the cheerleader a little more?

Sheesh! I should have read this before posting the same suggestion on the photo page...

great minds think alike! (or is the saying "great minds having nothing to do with us...?)