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Matthew


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2007-04 (Expert Editing*)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Location: Castle Howard, Yorkshire
Date: Apr 5, 2007
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/4000
Galleries: Sports, Action
Date Uploaded: Apr 29, 2007

 This is a composite of three shots.

Layer (1) I shot the foreground by placing a photo on top of a wooden cupboard and shooting a shallow depth of field image using my 16-35.

Layer (2) I shot the main image using my 70-200 and 2x converter at Castle Howard at a power boat race. It was set against some trees in the background, which made the water spray stand out.

Layer (3) The last shot was another powerboat race image that I nearly used for the main image, but for which I had already masked out the water well - I used the extra spray to create extra drama in my shot.

I tried post processing this shot several different ways. Ultimately, it was easiest to expose an underexposed version of layers (2) and (3) from RAW, on which I could use the magic wand to make a good selection of the water spray. I applied the selection to make a layer mask. I applied the layer mask to a properly exposed version of the image (in fact, an HDR version of the image) to mask the background.

I created a black rectangle on a new layer and used transform to make it match the shape of the photo in layer (1) that I wanted to replace. I used magic wand to create a selection, and then I used the selection as a guide to tidy up the layer mask in layer (2) to show the foreground water.

I took the water spray from layer (3) and used it to add extra spray in several places (using transform to change its shape and size for different areas, and blurred versions to add background spray to add to the shallow DoF look that I wanted).

I experimented with different levels of opacity in the layer mask to allow some of the background through. I did this selectively by using light strokes in the layer mask affecting layer (2).

I applied some light blurring to the foreground of layer (2) to match the DoF of layer (1).

Flattened, resized, sharpened at various levels in various layers, flattened, saved for web.

Statistics
Place: 76 out of 573
Avg (all users): 6.3547
Avg (commenters): 7.3125
Avg (participants): 6.2602
Avg (non-participants): 6.5918
Views since voting: 1278
Views during voting: 413
Votes: 172
Comments: 23
Favorites: 5 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/06/2007 03:32:26 PM
Wow, nice masking job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/14/2007 08:54:10 PM
Wow 6.3 is really low for this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/08/2007 01:21:40 PM
Pay no attention to the well-known chronic complainers. Your work is excellent. A 10 from me and well deserved.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/08/2007 06:57:04 AM
How long did it take to mask out that water properly? :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/07/2007 10:53:35 PM
no 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/07/2007 05:07:54 PM
This is such a cool idea and nicely done - might like to see it with the action taking up a bit more real estate in the overall composition next time. My first thought was "I want to learn how to do this!" :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/07/2007 10:46:56 AM
Excellent photoshop skills - no doubt about that. But IMO it's an example of creating an effect just for the sake of that - and not to enhance the picture in any way. Others might look at it differently (and I'm sure a lot of others do), but to me this is just a show-off case and not worth more than a 5.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/06/2007 04:13:29 PM
i think this is what expert editing means... very nice!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/06/2007 02:41:23 PM
The type of picture I wish I could do... I think the powerboating scene alone would have been enough but you've given it that extra dimension that works really well here. Kudos.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/04/2007 03:05:30 PM
This is fabulous! I tried this technique and can't imagine how hard it was to get the water droplets right!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/04/2007 02:41:28 PM
So imaginative and well executed. To me this is what expert editing is all about. You have created a wonderful composition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/03/2007 01:48:32 PM
My goodness, you're really talented at expert editing. Hope this does well for you.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/03/2007 01:27:15 PM
that's some clever photoshopping.
but the image itself doesn't really do anything for me.
sorry.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/03/2007 12:58:08 PM
I love the concept, and it's well executed. I am not so sure that the woodgrain backdrop is the best choice here, to me it looks sort of out of place. Just my opinion though :) ~8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/03/2007 01:21:14 AM
why the crazy border? it detracts from the shot, IMO. You would have been better off ignoring the expert ruleset...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/02/2007 06:58:00 AM
8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/02/2007 01:46:11 AM
I like the idea but not sure wood was the best choice for the outside image
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 10:32:33 PM
great editing
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 07:49:23 PM
Brilliant editing! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 04:52:24 PM
You are very talented in photoshop but this dose not make this picture more intresting. less intresting if anything.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 04:44:13 PM
Very awesome! Excellent work on the water.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 01:03:23 AM
I wish the composition held some purpose beyond just showing off your ability to edit but that said it still gets an 8 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/01/2007 12:27:34 AM
This is such a great idea! I'm very interested in how this was setup. Nice execution and great job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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