graffer Workshop Photos Given

Title: Looking Sheepish....Canon EOS 20D

Looking Sheepish.... (12)
tyro

(3923)

FastStone - an excellent composition.

(805) [2009-10-25 02:56:47] [2]

John replied to my critique:

"Now, as far as composition is concerned with this one, I did pass the "thirds" grid over it. I had also read somewhere on these sites that it is often thought with portraits that it is good to have one eye of the subject in the vertical centreline of the picture. So I placed the ewe's eye on the centreline and her right ear-hole at the left upper "powerpoint"."

I wrote my critique in a bit of a hurry last night, and for once I didn't follow my usual routine of running the thirds grid over it.

I've just done this, and it is remarkable how well it fits.

There is also a fine diagonal from top left to bottom right.

More examples of this type of composition analysis here.

There are also some more thoughts about composition on my profile page.

Illumination (8)
glint

(3606)

Neat Image PS 7 and FastStone

(805) [2009-10-20 02:16:18] [3]

I've cropped a bit from the left side to bring the strong patch of light nearer to the line of thirds,
then applied Neat Image [on default setting] to get rid of some of the noise.

Hope you approve.

P.

Title: ReconstructedSony cybershot DSC-N1

Reconstructed (14)
jean11-3

(4593)

FastStone - an excellent composition.

(805) [2009-10-14 02:38:48] [2]

Composition Analysis:

Without consciously thinking about such things as the rule of thirds, good photographers know intuitively what makes a good composition when they look through their viewfinder.

Here I'd like to illustrate why I think this is a good composition:

The nearest "leg" of the dolmen lies neatly on a vertical line of thirds, and the bottom of the "table" on a horizontal third.

I also like the way you have positioned the ruined tin mine on the horizon in such a way that the table points directly at it, carrying the eye across the image and into the distance, giving a fine sense of perspective.

More examples of this type of composition analysis here.

There are also some more thoughts about composition on my profile page.

Title: The flower thievesSony cybershot DSC-N1

The flower thieves (16)
jean11-3

(4593)

FastStone - an excellent composition.

(805) [2009-10-06 04:14:44] [4]

Looking at your image in the free software FastStone Image viewer, which has a very useful thirds grid in its 'crop board', it shows me that the most important element in the picture – the lady scarecrow – is positioned over an intersection of lines of thirds.

The low wall behind her lies just above the lower horizontal thirds line.

The other scarecrow, climbing the wall is close to the diagonally opposite intersection.

The line of the high wall makes a strong diagonal lead across the top of the image.

More examples of this type of composition analysis here.

There are also some more thoughts about composition on my profile page.

France

Title: On a bicycle made for twoCanon Powershot A430

On a bicycle made for two (6)
graffer

(805)

Another view of the tandem

(805) [2009-09-19 04:56:39]

The machine itself.

Title: Down Memory LaneSony cybershot DSC-N1

Down Memory Lane (6)
jean11-3

(4593)

PhotoShop 7

(805) [2009-06-02 01:49:50] [3]

Applying Levels adjustment to the whole image doesn't have much effect. Therefore I selected the part this side of the dam to work on.

On an adjustment layer I applied auto levels and moved the middle slider a bit to get the right brightness.

The saturation now seemed a bit too much, so on another adjustment layer I reduced the greens and blues, and adjusted the hue a bit.

Then I merged the layers and applied a little USM.

Perhaps the end result looks a little too strong, and a bit more fiddling and fine tuning needs to be done.

Anyway, I hope you can see what I was trying to do - I found it a very useful exercise in PP, and learned a lot myself.

P.

Jagged (8)
jean11-3

(4593)

PhotoShop 7

(805) [2009-01-30 08:11:58] [1]

Looking at the histogram, I thought there was a little more impact to be got from Levels adjustment, so using adjustment layers this is what I did:
1. Auto Levels
2. Curves - a shallow S curve to darken shadows a little, and add some contrast
3. A little saturation +5
Merged layers
A little USM - 25: 0.5: 0
Crop 2pixels width
Add 2 pixels black edge.

Hope you approve,

P.

Title: Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?Canon EOS 20D

Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (34)
tyro

(3923)

Crop in FastStone

(805) [2009-01-27 06:20:31] [5]

I just wondered how a little alteration of the balance between the gorse and sky would look, by cropping the left and bottom.

P.

Canal Walk (2)
exuereb

(1942)

PT Lens and PS7

(805) [2009-01-24 10:18:17]

I thought you might be interested in this software - PTLens - free to try 10 times, but not expensive to buy.

It is excellent for correcting distortions - barrel and pincushion especially - at the wide end of zoom lenses.

It reads the exif on your image if available, but in this case I input your camera model details - guessed at the lens you used, and the software does the correction automatically. I rotated the image -1.4° to get the tower and its reflection looking vertical.

In PS7:
I cropped the oblique edges resulting from the rotation.

A bit of Levels adjustment and sharpening.

Saved for web at as near 300 kb as possible for best result - your original was only about 89 kb.

Hope you approve,

P.

Title: Portrait: Group photo!Sony cybershot DSC-N1

Portrait: Group photo! (18)
jean11-3

(4593)

PhotoShop 7

(805) [2009-01-10 04:00:10] [1]

You have thrown down a bit of a challenge, so here goes!

I opened a levels adjustment layer, made no adjustments to the histogram sliders themselves, but tried "setting the black and white points":-

With the black "eye dropper" I clicked on the blackest part of the image I could find, which was the opening above a barn doorway in the distance. Then with the white dropper I clicked on whitest patch on central cow's back.

This produced an increase in richness of the brown colour of the cows' coats, which I liked, but at the cost of some loss of shadow detail among the cow's legs in the lowest part of the image.

I then made a "layer via copy" [CTRL J] and used Luko's sharpening method on this layer, just as I did on your St Ives picture. I reduced the opacity on this layer to about 30%, so that the sharpening wasn't overdone, then merged all the layers and "saved for web" at just under 300kb.

Apart from sharpening, Luko's method seems somehow to liven up an image. I have recorded it as an "action" in PhotoShop so that I can apply it as one click.

By the way, it appears in your PP notes that you resize after applying USM. I don’t see any lack in sharpness in your images, but the "experts" seem to advise that sharpening should be done last, after resizing, but before adding any frame.

What do you think?

Regards.

Peter.