Winter Dawn - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/12/2006 02:05:02 AM · #1

I love this picture. It was taken while I was looking for backlit shots, and I seriously considered entering it, but I decided that even though it's undeniably, obviously backlit, it doesn't have the "light" I thought the voters would expect. So I went with a completely different shot of a completely different subject.

But how do y'all like this gentle, subdued image? Technically, it was an absolute trial. I'm real happy with how it turned out.

Robt.

Message edited by author 2006-01-12 02:05:45.

_eug

Nikon D50

01/12/2006 02:07:34 AM · #2

Great shot, but I think landscape with the sun rising in front of the lifeguard chair.

ShutterPug

Canon EOS-6D

01/12/2006 02:25:00 AM · #3

I think it's a great shot. I really like the colors and reflection in the water. Nice crisp image without being over-sharpened.

Mr Tee

Canon EOS-5D

01/12/2006 02:35:22 AM · #4

You can't beat a winter dawn. Great shot

01/12/2006 02:54:56 AM · #5

Originally posted by Mr Tee:

You can't beat a winter dawn. Great shot

Maybe not, but I sure froze my ass off making this happen. Karma had more sense; she refused to get out of the car and curled up in a tight ball :-) That's the FIRST time she's refused to get out at the beach...

Robt.

01/12/2006 03:02:49 AM · #6

Left you a comment.

01/12/2006 03:06:16 AM · #7

Originally posted by justin_hewlett:

Left you a comment.

Thanks. The dynamic range on this one was HUGE. Holding onto all that detail and still not blowing the dawn part was a real learning curve for me. Solved it by separating into channels :-)

Robt.

01/12/2006 03:08:36 AM · #8

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by justin_hewlett:
Left you a comment.

Thanks. The dynamic range on this one was HUGE. Holding onto all that detail and still not blowing the dawn part was a real learning curve for me. Solved it by separating into channels :-)

Robt.

I'm guessing you shot raw, correct? If so, wouldn't it have been quite easy to combine two different exposures of the raw file?

I'm not sure how you gained more dynamic range by "separating into channels." Care to enlighten me?

01/12/2006 03:14:03 AM · #9

Originally posted by justin_hewlett:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by justin_hewlett:
Left you a comment.

Thanks. The dynamic range on this one was HUGE. Holding onto all that detail and still not blowing the dawn part was a real learning curve for me. Solved it by separating into channels :-)

Robt.

I'm guessing you shot raw, correct? If so, wouldn't it have been quite easy to combine two different exposures of the raw file?

I'm not sure how you gained more dynamic range by "separating into channels." Care to enlighten me?

Yes, it was shot in RAW and yes, it has merged exposures for extended range. But even so, I wasn't able to "perfect" it until I separated out the red channel and used adjustments on that channel alone.

Regarding your comment on the image about darkening the corners, this version was prepared as a possible entry for a basic editing challenge, so I didn't have that luxury. I'll certainly be doing so when I prepare it for printing.

R.

01/12/2006 03:18:51 AM · #10

Thanks :)

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

01/12/2006 03:36:32 AM · #11

Hope you don't mind, bear, but I decided to play around with it a bit to see what I could come up with. Here's my vision of your photo:

I brought in the white point in levels ever so slightly, burned the corners in, cropped a bit, and bumped the saturation of blue/cyan just a bit to make the sky a little less gray.

lentil

Canon EOS-5D

01/12/2006 04:36:16 AM · #12

i think it is stunning bear, and from someone who lives right near the beach.. good on you for getting up that early.. all too often i take where i live for granted. You have inspired me to try and get up early :)

roadrunner

Canon EOS-20D

Tamron SP AF 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

01/12/2006 04:55:18 AM · #13

bear it's a gorgeous photo, one i have tryed many times , but , i have failed with the different exposure's needed.. i see you used more than one photo for this photo???.. is there any chance you can upload the original and give us a brief outline on how/what you did?.. i've tried to do this mulitple exposure thing for the sky and forground then merge, but so far i haven't been successful.....

Mr Tee

Canon EOS-5D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

01/12/2006 08:13:30 AM · #14

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by Mr Tee:
You can't beat a winter dawn. Great shot

Maybe not, but I sure froze my ass off making this happen. Karma had more sense; she refused to get out of the car and curled up in a tight ball :-) That's the FIRST time she's refused to get out at the beach...

Robt.

You gotta be prepared to suffer for your art. I have an image in the "best of 2005" and although it doesn't look cold, there was a wind blowing so I had to hang my camera bag on the bottom of the tripod and it was the only time we had the light. I was happy with the result but we will see how others view it, however as someone said to me "I am a little out of step with the way the voting goes" lol

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

01/12/2006 08:20:02 AM · #15

Bear, your technical expertise in managing the dynamic range aside, I love the composition of this shot. I would have shot the sunrise, tried for an interesting composition of the beach, the terrain, the hills, whatever. What I always miss is the opportunity to use something ordinary like a lifeguard chair as the subject. I need to learn how to walk around my world and "see" shots like this. They're all around, but I always seem to walk right by.

01/12/2006 12:31:48 PM · #16

Originally posted by justin_hewlett:

Hope you don't mind, bear, but I decided to play around with it a bit to see what I could come up with. Here's my vision of your photo:

I brought in the white point in levels ever so slightly, burned the corners in, cropped a bit, and bumped the saturation of blue/cyan just a bit to make the sky a little less gray.

That's about right for the burning. The slight increase in contrast is where I'd head as I move towards printing, too.

R.

01/12/2006 12:33:36 PM · #17

Originally posted by lentil:

Lisa, I'm within walking distance of that beach; this is why you see it so often. But it was too damned cold to walk it this particular day. It's less than half a mile from my house.

R.

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

01/12/2006 12:36:07 PM · #18

Nice shot bear. I would have liked it in Backlighting. It nicely juxtaposes feelings of forlorn/lonely and hope. Or maybe it's just a lifeguard tower blocking a nice sunrise...

01/12/2006 12:46:55 PM · #19

Originally posted by roadrunner:

I am using the free version of "photomatix", downloadable here. If you have CS2, the tools for this sort of thing are in Photoshop, but I'm still in version 7.0 and lack windows xp. Teh free version of photomatix is limited, but useful regardless. I'll be buying the full version when I get a check.

Robt.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

01/12/2006 12:49:04 PM · #20

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Nice shot bear. I would have liked it in Backlighting. It nicely juxtaposes feelings of forlorn/lonely and hope. Or maybe it's just a lifeguard tower blocking a nice sunrise...

We'll see if I was right or wrong when we see what the ribbons look like. My actual entry is pulling 6.2ish, so I'm in decent shape anyhow, albeit short of ribbon territory.

R.

batmaing

Fujifilm FinePix S5100

01/12/2006 01:44:43 PM · #21

Left a comment. :)

Elaine

Canon EOS R5

01/12/2006 01:47:01 PM · #22

Did you say you used two pictures to do this? Even if it is two edits of one picture combined, is that legal in basic? I think I am confused...

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

01/12/2006 01:56:50 PM · #23

Originally posted by chaimelle:

Did you say you used two pictures to do this? Even if it is two edits of one picture combined, is that legal in basic? I think I am confused...

I've heard conflicting views on this. Had I entered this in the basic challenge I'd have asked SC for a ruling. I can make a decent-enough example of this with a single exposure if I have to, but the combined version has better contrast/detail in the dark areas.

R.

According to this current thread, it's not basic-editing legal.

Message edited by author 2006-01-12 13:59:17.

rox_rox

Canon EOS-20D

01/12/2006 02:25:25 PM · #24

Wow Robert! That's a great image. Left a comment.