Gay Pride Parade - Reykjavik Iceland

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

08/08/2004 12:12:08 AM · #1

Blured the background a bit more and fixed the colors a bit in PS and croped it.

Auto levels, color, contrast, USM and croped.

What do you think?

Message edited by author 2004-08-08 00:23:01.

aerogurl

Nikon D300

08/08/2004 01:03:11 AM · #2

The top one is Fab! The hat looks alive with energy! I love it :)

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

08/08/2004 05:43:39 AM · #3

Originally posted by aerogurl:

The top one is Fab! The hat looks alive with energy! I love it :)

Yes the hat is spectacular.

JC_Homola

Canon EOS-20D

08/08/2004 08:17:06 AM · #4

The first one is excellent, 2nd could use a little shorter DOF to isolate the couple in the foreground.

EddyG

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

08/08/2004 09:18:48 AM · #5

What technique did you use to artificially blur the background in the first picture? I see a halo around the hat and body of the person, almost like it was a feathered brush selection. In a situation like this, you can typically get better results by creating a mask from the image data itself. The color information in one of the channels of an RGB image can sometimes provide a better contrast or definition between what you want to select and not select than the full composite image. Find the channel with most the contrast, copy it as an alpha channel, and then use the Levels tool to get it as close to pure B&W as possible. Use pure black and white brushes to touch areas where necessary. You then duplicate your background layer, add a layer mask, and apply the mask that you just created. Run your blur on that layer, and only the background will be affected, leaving your foreground subject nice and crisp, without any haloing (assuming you did a good job creating the mask, of course!)

The first part of this tutorial shows the technique I'm talking about (copying a channel, using Levels to get it as close to pure B&W as possible, and then touching it up with a brush.)

Give it a try...

08/08/2004 09:32:39 AM · #6

I'll give it a shot later but until then I'll pretend to know what your talking about.

I just used magnetic lasso, when I look at it now the tool is set to feather 1px and anti-aliasd is checked.

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Canon

08/08/2004 10:46:52 AM · #7

I used the channel method to select it and then did gaussian blur and it caused an halo too but then I did a lens blur instead.
There is a bit less sharpen on this one, I need to do a bit more shapen on it. just forgot to do it.

Message edited by author 2004-08-08 10:48:57.

magnus

Canon EOS-30D

08/08/2004 11:32:30 AM · #8

The channel method obviously does a better job of isolating the person, but in this case I think the first one looks better. That glow just adds to the radiance of the hat!

08/08/2004 11:55:54 AM · #9

Originally posted by magnus:

The channel method obviously does a better job of isolating the person, but in this case I think the first one looks better. That glow just adds to the radiance of the hat!

Maybe I should blend them, hat from the first one and the dress from the other.

08/08/2004 12:11:01 PM · #10

Here is a blend of them both.
The hat from the first one and the dress from the second.

garlic

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for Canon

08/08/2004 12:26:38 PM · #11

Very nice. I was going to be there to but one canÂ´t be everywhere.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

08/09/2004 01:47:38 AM · #12

Very cool, I went to the Pride Parade in San Diego last weekend. Quite the learning experience.