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11/06/2008 09:06:46 AM · #1 |
Okay, so I've been here a little over two years, and I have learned sooooooo much. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful help & guidance that I've gotten from so many of you. This is a young lady from my church, and she's a delightful volunteer for impromptu portraits. I kind of feel that I have something of a knack for the candid portrait, and this one just struck me as a good one to show what I've learned to do.
The original image, just cropped and converted from RAW to load ( Stupid dialup!)
[thumb]736996[/thumb]
Despite what some die-hard marque-loyal Nikonians say, I do feel that noise is a pretty serious issue with Nikon, and my D70s in particular, but I've learned to work with it, and around it such that I feel that knowing the issue affords me better tool usage and skillsets in dealing with it. This was shot at 1600 ISO in pretty poor lighting....(OLD flourescent fixtures with yellowed covers.)
This is what I worked it like:
[thumb]736997[/thumb]
Now, just for the record......this is EXACTLY what I wanted from the result. That's a big step for me.....to actually be happy and comfortable with my own abilities, and my comfortability with the compromises necessary to shoot in real life.
I'm no Larus, Joey Lawrence, Irene, Judi.....you get the drift, but I'm the best damn  NikonJeb I've ever been and a far cry from what I was when I started.
I drag my camera with me everywhere, to a point where people who know me look at me strangely and make fun of me if they don't see it, and I end up with so much of life in my collection simply because I'm there, and I'm living it with my camera in my hand.
I really love what I do with my camera these days, and it brings great delight not only to me, but to many of the people around me here.
For that, I am astonished, and grateful.
I'd be delighted to have your thoughts, and critiques if you wish, but what I'd like to ask is not so much how you'd fix it; I like it just like it is, but what does or does not strike you on a subjective level. Because ultimately though I shoot for myself, I like to have people see what I do as well.
Edited for fat fingers......8>)
Message edited by author 2008-11-06 09:07:26.
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11/06/2008 09:15:39 AM · #2 |
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11/06/2008 09:33:35 AM · #3 |
I am a die-hard Nikonion. Trust me, Nikons have had nois issues from the start. However, now that they have switched to using a CMOS sensor instead of the CCD there is a huge difference. I have the D200 with a CCD and the noise above 1000 kills me, I can't stand it, but it is slightly better than the D70 which I started out with.
I think you have done a great job with getting just what you wanted out of this shot. You have done a great job in isolating and and getting rid of extra distracting elements in the photo. Good job. |
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11/06/2008 09:59:55 AM · #4 |
Firstly congratulations on getting an image just how YOU wanted it and pictured it before you started work on it, that in itself is no mean feat.
You asked for some CC, or how it appeals on a personal level so here goes:
First thing that springs to mind is the excellent way you have removed the distractions in the background and really isolated the model, it brings a whole new atmostphere to the image. If I am honest I still find the image a little dark and you can see that the light was not in your favour at the location.
I played around with the image for a little while and whilst I would normally post it when people have asked for help with a shot, I am very aware that you are happy with your image and I do not wish to offend you, so will ask if you would like to see how I would have chosen the final look had it been my image. I can either post it in workshop or send it to you via email if you prefer, or simply leave it at the comments above.
Overall a great job and looking back through your portfolio and early challenge entries I can see you have used your 2 years extremely well and can only hope that I can gain as much growth from the site whilst I remain a participant. |
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11/06/2008 12:11:16 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by Mark-A:
Firstly congratulations on getting an image just how YOU wanted it and pictured it before you started work on it, that in itself is no mean feat.
You asked for some CC, or how it appeals on a personal level so here goes:
First thing that springs to mind is the excellent way you have removed the distractions in the background and really isolated the model, it brings a whole new atmostphere to the image. If I am honest I still find the image a little dark and you can see that the light was not in your favour at the location. |
Honesty is good....in that vein, I find that I have a tendency to lean towards dark, especially in portraiture. It's an over-compensation thing from before I shot in RAW and before I knew how to work my camera....I blew out a lot of jpegs and haven't sufficiently recovered...LOL!!!
Originally posted by Mark-A:
I played around with the image for a little while and whilst I would normally post it when people have asked for help with a shot, I am very aware that you are happy with your image and I do not wish to offend you, so will ask if you would like to see how I would have chosen the final look had it been my image. I can either post it in workshop or send it to you via email if you prefer, or simply leave it at the comments above. |
Post it up, dude!
Here it is......I love the threads where someone throws out an image and seven people doink it with their particular style.....you get a lot of interesting variations on a theme, and they are surprisingly well distributed as to taste with the various edits. We're a diverse lot.
I did not mean on any level to stifle anyone's urge to do their own edit....go for it!
As a matter of fact, one of the images in my site favorites is a remake of an image from another DPC photog. It's very different than the original, and well, I like it much better. Funny thing? So does the original photog!
Oh, in answer to a note from another commenter, I don't know how Justine likes the image, but her mother saw both, LOVES what I did with the edit, and said the finished one reminded her of Richard Avedon!!!! (As IF!!!!! LOL!!!)
Originally posted by Mark-A:
Overall a great job and looking back through your portfolio and early challenge entries I can see you have used your 2 years extremely well and can only hope that I can gain as much growth from the site whilst I remain a participant. |
Yeah....I sucked, didn't I? LOL!!!
Seriously, what I've gotten most out of this is a sense of comfortability in my composition and technicals skills as a photographer, some reasonably decent skills in PhotoShop, and have really developed my pssion.
Here.....from you guys....I blame y'all! LOL!!!
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11/06/2008 12:28:04 PM · #6 |
Ok here it is
Not that it's better than yours, just my personal taste and the sort of look I would have in mind.
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11/06/2008 01:01:24 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Mark-A:
Ok here it is
Not that it's better than yours, just my personal taste and the sort of look I would have in mind. |
DAMN!!!!!!
NICE work........(Goes off to sob in corner)
8>)
Hey....what'd you do in your edit?
I was going for the slightly flat desat look on purpose......yours is still subdued, but warmer.
Message edited by author 2008-11-06 13:03:33.
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11/06/2008 01:12:20 PM · #8 |
Noooooooo don't sob, most of the hard work was done by you originally :)
I just used a few extra steps:
1) The really powerful shadow highlights (I think this is massively under used / rated) this helped bring out the darker details and lighten the image a tad
2) Noise Ninja pretty light pass
3) 2x Colour balance layers (first one masked to bring out the lips - second one to adjust skin tone)
4) A little dodge and burn (Catch lights in the eyes mainly plus a little to soften the shadow under her nose)
And that was it really, 6 weeks ago I had not even heard of shadow highlights and masking was something I just could not get my head around. I am only just getting to the point where I can see how I want an image in my mind and then set about trying to achieve it and like you I owe most of that to DPC
Message edited by author 2008-11-06 13:12:44. |
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