Comparing the Two shots - DPChallenge Forums

11/03/2003 08:33:49 AM · #1

Hey, everyone, first of all, thank you for my highest score yet from my All Alone Entry and the comments it received. It was a spur of the moment shot for me and my daughter was the main subject without even knowing it. I showed it to her afterwards and asked her permission to use it because it does show her desolation at the moment. She was actually a bit excited that I wanted to use her!

Anyway, this is my entry:

Alone on the Playground

Most of the comments were about the tightness of the crop on her and the trees on the top, so I took the original, played with it a bit more and came up with this:

All Alone Two

Looking back I'm betting the second would have done even better? Comments, critiques and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Deannda

11/03/2003 08:45:11 AM · #2

Yikes... NeatImage killed your photo.
The main problem with the original is that your daughter has too much going on just behind her. I'd be tempted to make a selection in Photoshop of everything except your daughter, and give it a bit of Gaussian Blur to seperate her out a bit, and make it look like you have less dof. I like the added foregound in the new crop.

Message edited by author 2003-11-03 08:45:37.

11/03/2003 08:49:12 AM · #3

There's also a strong white halo around everything, especially the subject in the second version... is this as a result of oversharpening?
I find that unless there are exceptional curcumstances, anything stronger than 100% with a radius of 0.4 (unsharp mask) with images of this size will result in really bad side effects.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

11/03/2003 09:37:23 AM · #4

Okay, yes I did oversharpen and agree the neat image didn't help much. Per your suggestions how does this look, I cropped just a bit differently again.

All Alone Three

Deannda
Thanks for the input, I really need and appreciate it!

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

11/03/2003 10:03:23 AM · #5

Personally, of the three, I prefer the original. The newest one is closer to what you probably wanted, but I find having slices of kids on the left distracting/disturbing. If they were more fully there, that shot might work better.

magnetic9999

Canon EOS-20D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

11/03/2003 10:39:25 AM · #6

i like the edited version you did Neuf. The NI gives an interesting effect. Combined with the high contrast, it enhances the mood.

Much higher impact, imo.

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

11/03/2003 11:55:05 AM · #7

I think the third one is much better, but what I meant by adding Gaussian Blur, was to not blur your daughter, but blur everything else.
I hope you don't mind, but I had a quick edit of your latest one, and selected the background, did a Gaussian Blur radius 5, and reduced the effect by 50%.

Let me know what you think...

Bob

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

11/03/2003 12:03:25 PM · #8

Originally posted by BobsterLobster:

I hope you don't mind, but I had a quick edit of your latest one, and selected the background, did a Gaussian Blur radius 5, and reduced the effect by 50%.

Bob

Bob -- I like the overall effect of what you did -- it gives it that "dream-like" quality which heightens the idea that she's alone, off in her own world. I'd play around with the blur settings some more, and I'd reduce the highlight brightness or contrast; I think the starkness of the light conflicts with the softness you're trying to accentuate with the blur filter.

Message edited by author 2003-11-03 12:04:21.

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

11/03/2003 12:10:01 PM · #9

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by BobsterLobster:
I hope you don't mind, but I had a quick edit of your latest one, and selected the background, did a Gaussian Blur radius 5, and reduced the effect by 50%.

Bob

Bob -- I like the overall effect of what you did -- it gives it that "dream-like" quality which heightens the idea that she's alone, off in her own world. I'd play around with the blur settings some more, and I'd reduce the highlight brightness or contrast; I think the starkness of the light conflicts with the softness you're trying to accentuate with the blur filter.

I agree with all those points... all I did was a quick 1 minute selection and blur just to point Neuferland in the general direction. :)

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

11/03/2003 12:13:16 PM · #10

Originally posted by BobsterLobster:

I agree with all those points... all I did was a quick 1 minute selection and blur just to point Neuferland in the general direction. :)

I knew that! In addition to the blur, I wonder how it would look to use the same selection and lighten the background up as well.

Hmmm ... that might make an interesting "speed" challenge -- edit however you want, but you're honor-bound to stop after 5 minutes ....

Message edited by author 2003-11-03 12:14:42.

e301

11/03/2003 12:47:30 PM · #11

Neatimage is a real tricky beast with a black and white image as the base. Haven't solved that one for myself yet - but if that's originally a colour image, Neatimage the colour one, and then convert.

Ed

11/03/2003 02:11:01 PM · #12

Originally posted by BobsterLobster:

Don't mind at all but now you have to tell me how you did that because I"m still learning PS and such. Please? :)

Deannda

11/03/2003 03:28:20 PM · #13

Oha and also, if I had done the gaussian blur like Bobster, wouldn't that have been illeagle for the challenge?

Deannda
Think I figured out how you did that

11/04/2003 07:09:31 AM · #14

Sorry about the wait...
Here's what I did...
in Photoshop,
Duplicate your layer.
select the magnetic selection tool.
Make a selection of your daughter. The magnetic selection tool follows lines of high contrast, so you may need to help it out in places where the subject is not easily distinguishable from the background.
Invert the selection.
Apply Gaussian Blur.
Reduce the opacity of this layer until you are happy with the result.

If you need this broken down more, search using Google for some Photoshop tutorial sites. There are many excellent ones out there.

Because we have applied an effect to a selection within the photo, it is of course not DPC legal. However, I still think it's an important skill to learn, and you may want to print your own photos using techniques such as this. Of course, I believe that DPC should loosen the rules... surely there are quite a few people here who would like encouragement to learn these kinds of techniques?

Message edited by author 2003-11-04 07:09:54.

beez

Canon EOS-10D

11/04/2003 07:52:03 AM · #15

sorry men you dont have it. and the filtering in the photo made you loose it finaly. NEWER do those things they are not only out of date by 15 years, but also take the power of the camera. The camera is the key not filters. you could improve your self.