| Photograph Information |
Photographer's Comments |
Challenge: Bokeh (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Location: backyard woods
Date: Jan 9, 2005
Aperture: F/5.6
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/250
Galleries: Sky, Nature
Date Uploaded: Jan 9, 2005
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While giving the dogs a run in the woods the other day, I found some interesting dead vines, twisted, knotted, and holding dew left from the morning fog. Luckily, I had brought my camera, and I started taking a couple shots with a fairly shallow DOF. In the LCD, I noticed how the branches in the background were dispersing the sun light, creating a slight bokeh...
So, I made a mental note to return before the challenge ended.
As typical, I waited until almost too late. I got down the trail just about 45 minutes before sunset. I also brought a spray bottle to make my own dew drops. The knotted vines produced some interesting images, especially shooting up towards the naked upper reaches of the trees--that produced some really nice bokeh.
I tried all three of my lenses: 28-80, 75-300, and my 100 macro; none but the 28-80 at 80 produced any bokeh (at least under these conditions).
As I changed lenses back to the 28-80, I turned and started shooting towards the sun. It looked like it would be great; unfortunately, the trees were too dense to get any decent lighting to come through.
Now, it got interesting. I'm in the woods and running out of light. I had to find a place with enough light coming through to catch it, but not so much as to wash everything out. (To make it more fun, I had both the dogs with me...so, we were all running wildly through the woods.)
I finally found an opening and found a branch that I could spray down. This was a real treat, shooting handheld and manually focusing. I only got off about 15 shots before running out of sun.
Post-processing was very straight forward. Cropped, a little healing on the sun bokeh, adjusted levels, added adjustment layers for brightness/contrast and hue/saturization. Added a duplicate layer and multiplied, then sized and saved for web. Finally, added a touch of NeatImage to take a bit of grain out of the bokeh.
Here is the out-of-camera original used to produce this image:
Just to prove to myself that the image wasn't a fluke, I went back to the woods a couple mornings later in an attempt to recreate the image. That effort produced this original: 
from which I culled the cropped image:
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01/25/2005 10:46:30 PM |
| Jeez, I wish I'd voted on this. I would have put it high! This is really lovely. Very pretty bokeh, and as mentioned earlier in the comments, integral to the image. Great idea. Now I wanna do it ;) |
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01/24/2005 08:15:02 PM |
| This is a terrific shot, and so much better for reading about your adventure. It's really nice to see one of these water drop reflecty shots taken outside a studio :). |
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01/22/2005 06:50:27 AM |
| Your top so far Skip. Strong work in a tricky challenge; and with the bonus of that lovely shot of the dogs, too ;-) |
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01/17/2005 05:13:43 PM |
| IMO you were unlucky not to get a top 3. Exceptional image. |
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01/17/2005 04:17:46 PM |
thank you all for your wonderful and generous comments! this challenge was a lot of fun, especially considering all the hand-wringing before and during about just what was meant by 'bokeh'. there was some really great photography, as well as some really great bokeh. i congratulate all! thank you!
skip |
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01/17/2005 11:18:47 AM |
I had this picked for the top three. A beautiful capture. I love the reflection.
Adding: The bright red circle, imo, was too pronounced. I love all your untouched originals. They're gorgeous!
Message edited by author 2005-01-17 11:20:48. |
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01/17/2005 10:32:36 AM |
| Congratulations on your top 20 finish, Skip. Great of you to provide the details pre and post. Great shot, great crop. |
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01/17/2005 09:04:49 AM |
| Great shot Skip, and a good finish in this challenge. |
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01/17/2005 08:00:35 AM |
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01/17/2005 12:49:03 AM |
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01/17/2005 12:27:07 AM |
| Look at you!!! Fantastic!!!!! |
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01/17/2005 12:20:49 AM |
| Congratulations on your 14th placing. This is almost hypnotic. |
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01/17/2005 12:13:20 AM |
| Congrats on 14th place, Skip! Great photo! |
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Comments Made During the Challenge  |
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01/15/2005 11:14:13 PM |
| Quite fabulous. I don't think it could be improved in any way. My choice for blue. 10 and added to favs |
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01/13/2005 01:55:18 AM |
| Excellent. Bokeh is an integral part of the composition here. Well done. |
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01/12/2005 01:22:34 PM |
| A very good effort which approaches the line into abstact art. The colors are just great since they represent dusk. Bumping up. |
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01/12/2005 11:56:41 AM |
| great pic love it one of my favorites, good luch |
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01/11/2005 02:04:10 PM |
| very interesting idea. What exactly is in the background? |
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01/11/2005 11:45:12 AM |
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01/11/2005 11:16:58 AM |
| The subject isn't very interesting, but it is accentuated by the bokeh. 8 |
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01/11/2005 10:30:06 AM |
| What a magical shot! Really stellar skills. My top choice! 10 |
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01/11/2005 10:12:23 AM |
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01/11/2005 01:02:18 AM |
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01/10/2005 09:05:49 PM |
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01/10/2005 09:03:33 PM |
| quite fascinating. I'm interested to see how this one happened. |
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01/10/2005 04:23:07 PM |
| Love this shot. Excellent. I thought to try something similar, but couldn't get a pleasing result. This is exceptional. Top 3. |
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01/10/2005 07:12:08 AM |
| cool image - I caprtured a similar water dropplet imgae (see profile). Hope this does well. |
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01/10/2005 01:34:32 AM |
| A retake of the drop lens but so beautiful and creative, perfect for this challenge. 10 |
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01/10/2005 12:56:21 AM |
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| Photographer found comment helpful. |
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