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The Battle of Antietam - Blood Alley 1862
The Battle of Antietam - Blood Alley 1862
hihosilver


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Duotones III (Advanced Editing V)
Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR
Location: Civil War Re-enactment - California
Date: Nov 10, 2007
Aperture: F5,3
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/500s
Galleries: Military, History
Date Uploaded: Nov 11, 2007

Every year in my home town, the Civil War re-enactment booms across the fields. So, for the first time this year, I decided to go.

Edited as follows:

1. 8 bit > Grayscale > Duotones (Black/Blue #95b9FD) > convert to RGB
2. Shadows/Highlights
3. Smart sharpen
4. Fix pole
5. Levels Color Burn > background only
6. 16-32-16 tone layer 38% > background details only
7. Neat Image
8. Selective color (blue) > adjusted whites, blacks, neutrals
9. Levels multiply > leaves only
10. Fix halos around backpack
11. Levels (screen) > foreground people
12. Flatten > convert to profile > resize > USM > border > save for web


Statistics
Place: 94 out of 295
Avg (all users): 5.9068
Avg (commenters): 6.8889
Avg (participants): 5.9038
Avg (non-participants): 5.9123
Views since voting: 11438
Views during voting: 241
Votes: 161
Comments: 13
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
12/24/2007 11:50:59 PM
Hi Mae. I like the action here. I only have two minor suggestions, and I'm not quite sure they'll improve anything. First, I'd think about cropping off the dead space on the left so the back of the leftmost soldier is next to or on the left edge. That would pull the foreground soldiers out of the middle. Try it and see - it may also be that that space provides a sort of border to the whole shot.

Second, and I see you did a bit of this, try darkening the background even more and also brightening the foreground. I use soft light layers for this kind of thing. The idea is to further separate foreground from background.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/23/2007 02:31:07 AM
Thanks for the notes -- that's quite a bit of stuff. I think if you're using a later version of Photoshop you can set it up to keep a log of all the editing steps in a text file, which you can then copy/paste/edit for your notes.

It's interesting that you did most of the editing after converting it to the duotone colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/22/2007 01:52:30 PM
I really lake the interplay of light and shadow, and the sense of action introduced by the gunsmoke. The very-sharp foreground and blurry background and the stark lighting almost make it look like a studio shot of a model/diorama -- an effect which works well for this image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/19/2007 09:21:09 AM
Beutiful capture, should have done much better!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
11/18/2007 07:00:04 PM
perfect capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/17/2007 07:08:03 AM
This would make a great souvenir of the day!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/16/2007 08:28:12 PM
I like it.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/15/2007 10:08:02 PM
Usually I am not big into re-enactments because usually the history has already been recorded. However, this is a very nice one. I like the catch of gunfire. They way the flag moves across the frame. I even light the individual lying/dying body on the left.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/15/2007 03:36:52 PM
Nice clarity and dof.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/15/2007 11:54:24 AM
I really like this shot, and think it has great DOF and lighting. However I think in a sepia tone it would have looked more 1862. But a great shot non the less.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/13/2007 01:44:18 AM
Nice, crisp capture of a Civil War reinactment (sp). Perfect DOF and lighting. Nice job!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/12/2007 09:10:47 AM
Very cool capture. Worth spending more than the typical 2 second view to search throughout the image. The gun blast in the background is a great feature.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/12/2007 02:10:35 AM
Wow! I love stuff like this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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