Which Picture Should I Enter in a Contest?

Tamron AF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical for Canon

04/12/2010 10:30:39 PM · #1

Our local downtown enhancement committee held a one-night photo contest - their purpose, I think, is to attract people downtown. I wound up with 13 shots that I felt were decent. They are on flickr at Contest.
I thought I would solicit the advice of the most talented group of photographers I know.
If you are really motivated, edit suggestions would also be welcome (keeping mind that my editing skills are pretty basic).
The deadline is coming up in a few days.
All comments are welcome - even "dog poop would look better than any of these"...
Thanks in advance for your help.

JokersSoul

Canon EOS-50D

04/12/2010 10:35:14 PM · #2

The Beast's Castle is my favorite.

Trumpeteer4

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

04/12/2010 10:38:59 PM · #3

Originally posted by JokersSoul:

The Beast's Castle is my favorite.

I'd have to second that.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

04/12/2010 11:11:07 PM · #4

Yes, what they said.. Also Columbia Street West isn't bad at all.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

04/12/2010 11:12:24 PM · #5

Have you thought about learning how to do HDR photos? I know you have a deadline, but you might be able to pull it off, and I can pretty much promise you a well done HDR will grab the judges by their eyeballs....

Phocal

OM System OM-1 Mark II

Olympus 300mm f/4.0 IS PRO M.Zuiko Digital ED

04/12/2010 11:15:50 PM · #6

I will agree, "The Beast's Castle" is the best one. I also agree that it would awesome in HDR.

JacksonGariety

Sony DSC-RX1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/12/2010 11:30:30 PM · #7

Originally posted by Trumpeteer4:

Originally posted by JokersSoul:
The Beast's Castle is my favorite.

I'd have to second that.

I'll third that. And I also like Columbia St. West.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

04/13/2010 07:46:15 AM · #8

Can you do HDR from a single RAW image? Contest size is limited to 1000 x 1600 max size, and the T1i is 15M.
If so, how would I do that? Darken 1 copy, lighten 1 copy, and then HDR the three?
Thanks everyone for their comments.
BTW - all these shots were without a tripod. Where possible, I tried to use a convenient pole or such, but I'm very impressed with what the camera can do in low light.

spiritualspatula

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

04/13/2010 08:23:28 AM · #9

Originally posted by dtremain:

Yeah, that's how you could do it. You can also probably just tonemap it and get a result that will look HDR'y but not overly done as well without doing the after the fact multi exposure deal. You've got some noise going on so you'll have to be semi aggressive with your noiseware after the fact cause HDR makes noise go insane.

I did a 5 minute edit to give you the idea. Convert to 16 bit, tonemap with Photomatix, slight topaz detail 2.0 adjustments for detail (also to boost contrast/lower brightness to get windows darker), select sky heavy application of nik dfine, light dfine on rest of image, high strength use of blur tool used to get rid of noise in lower windows

Still has some goofy stuff in the sky and not quite as polished a final product as I'd like and a little heavy handed but you get the basic idea here. If you can take the photo again at a lower ISO it will help you tremendously. The letters on the building strike me as a little soft, as well.

Message edited by author 2010-04-13 08:30:20.

bohemka

Nikon D700

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX Aspherical DG HSM for Nikon

04/13/2010 08:42:39 AM · #10

I'd actually crop out that writing altogether, as I'm guessing it's "Lincoln" and not "coln National Bank & Trust." The name isn't important... unless it's cut in half.

That shot also works well for the "downtown enhancement commitee" as it's a good representation of downtown development. Then again, if they or you would rather there be more character downtown, go with the diner with the "no whining" sign. Good luck.

Chinarosepetal

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM

04/13/2010 08:54:05 AM · #11

Diner Interior for me :)

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

04/13/2010 09:45:46 AM · #12

Originally posted by Chinarosepetal:

Diner Interior for me :)

I had been thinking I was the only one who liked that one. I like the lightplay on all the metal surfaces.

Ja-9

Nikon D750

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

04/13/2010 10:02:52 AM · #13

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by Chinarosepetal:
Diner Interior for me :)

I had been thinking I was the only one who liked that one. I like the lightplay on all the metal surfaces.

I definitely like that one as well...I like how it makes me feel like I'm part of that community (which is what I think the contest is trying to do) make the community more "inviting"

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

04/13/2010 10:27:35 AM · #14

Originally posted by Ja-9:

I like how it makes me feel like I'm part of that community (which is what I think the contest is trying to do) make the community more "inviting"

Exactly. It conveys the activity that was going on in here just a few hours prior. This is the lull before the storm, when the breakfast rush will start in the morning.

Ja-9

Nikon D750

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

04/13/2010 10:42:44 AM · #15

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by Ja-9:
I like how it makes me feel like I'm part of that community (which is what I think the contest is trying to do) make the community more "inviting"

Exactly. It conveys the activity that was going on in here just a few hours prior. This is the lull before the storm, when the breakfast rush will start in the morning.

these are the kind of pictures that make me want to visit downtown areas...David where is this???

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

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

04/13/2010 02:40:39 PM · #16

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

You've got some noise going on so you'll have to be semi aggressive with your noiseware after the fact cause HDR makes noise go insane.

I was taught to apply noise-reduction as the very first step, so that later edits would avoid making it worse.

JacksonGariety

Sony DSC-RX1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/13/2010 06:07:24 PM · #17

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
You've got some noise going on so you'll have to be semi aggressive with your noiseware after the fact cause HDR makes noise go insane.

I was taught to apply noise-reduction as the very first step, so that later edits would avoid making it worse.

Good point, and I've never heard of HDR making noise go insane... Though if you use high quality noise-reduction software, it's good to crop first so processing will take less time.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

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

04/13/2010 06:23:49 PM · #18

Originally posted by ApertureJack:

Good point, and I've never heard of HDR making noise go insane...

Big time, BIG time. It's trying to pull detail out of flat, dark places and all it's finding is pixels, so it exaggerates them. ALWAYS do N/R first before doing HDR if you're starting with a noisy image in the first place.

R.

04/13/2010 11:43:46 PM · #19

Fort Wayne, Indiana - come visit us sometime. If you're a car buff, Auburn is only about 20 miles North up I-69, where they have and Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum, the NATMUS (National Auto and Truck Museum of the U.S.), and the Cruse WWII museum.
Ft. Wayne is an interesting combination of the old (Beast's Castle - my son's name for it from when he was young - was started in 1929 and opened in 1930; the Columbia Street West bar is in a building from the 1870's; Firehouse is from the 1800's) with the new (the ballpark was opened in 2009; the convention center and library were redone within the last 12 years). Cindy's Diner has been around for many years - no checks, no credit cards. It was a bit spooky down there after 11 PM - the shots are a bit sparse on people. There are about 7 - 10 old churches downtown (you can see one spire in the upper left of the Instant Copy shot), but all the shots with them in came out too blurry to use.
Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.
BTW - I know 1800's is like yesterday for you europeans, but that is pretty old around here (early- to mid-1800's typically puts you into log cabin-type structures)

Message edited by author 2010-04-13 23:44:05.