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Photo of the Day: November 2013

compuwar

compuwar

macrumors 601
Oct 5, 2006
4,717
2
Northern/Central VA
Puckman said:
Great capture. Love the way it pops at you.

[url=http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5517/10527026776_b772bf157d_c.jpg]Image[/url]
IMG_6510 by Puckman2012, on Flickr
Click to expand...

If you don't mind a bit of critique, there are three things I'd do to improve this image next time you get a chance to shoot something similar.

1. Put the duck further down in the frame, so it's got some headroom.
2. Put the duck further back in the frame so it's swimming more into the frame.
3. Use a flash to get some catchlights in the eyes if you're far enough back that you won't give it devil eyes.

Paul
 
Doylem

Doylem

macrumors 68040
Dec 30, 2006
3,858
3,642
Wherever I hang my hat...
There's an English expression... 'Just enough blue sky to make a sailor's trousers'...

wm0h.jpg
 
P

Puckman

macrumors 6502
Feb 5, 2008
475
1
Yorba Linda, CA
Doylem said:
There's an English expression... 'Just enough blue sky to make a sailor's trousers'...

Image
Click to expand...

Haha. Never heard that one before. Perfect.

compuwar said:
If you don't mind a bit of critique, there are three things I'd do to improve this image next time you get a chance to shoot something similar.

1. Put the duck further down in the frame, so it's got some headroom.
2. Put the duck further back in the frame so it's swimming more into the frame.
3. Use a flash to get some catchlights in the eyes if you're far enough back that you won't give it devil eyes.

Paul
Click to expand...

Critique is always welcome. Thank you.

Didn't have my flash and it woulda been useless at this distance. The duck was probably 50-100 feet away. This photo is cropped. I can probably redo the crop to give more headroom. Was going for as close to 1:1 detail as I could in this one.

Today's photo. From the Huntington Library.


IMG_6921 by Puckman2012, on Flickr
 
compuwar

compuwar

macrumors 601
Oct 5, 2006
4,717
2
Northern/Central VA
Puckman said:
Didn't have my flash and it woulda been useless at this distance. The duck was probably 50-100 feet away.
Click to expand...

The idea of the flash in this case isn't to illuminate the subject, it's to create a catchlight in the eye. For live subjects you want a catchlight almost 100% of the time, as it's key for the viewer to make a connection with the subject. Test it yourself by adding a small catchlight in PS to your image and then resizing down to a smaller image and comparing them side-by-side.

Paul
 
A

Alexander.Of.Oz

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2013
3,200
12,499
Doylem said:
There's an English expression... 'Just enough blue sky to make a sailor's trousers'...

wm0h.jpg
Click to expand...

I had to go look this saying up, I'd never heard it before. For others that need deciphering too:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000712

------------------------

Mine for today. A pretty small Lynx Spider with her sack of treats. She would reach into it and have a bit, as she is doing here.

Apologies to any arachnophobes out there. She is tiny, maybe 10mm from end of legs to end of legs when standing still.

_MG_7044_zps29d9108c.jpg
 
S

snyder7

macrumors member
Feb 6, 2012
55
0
A different view from Spirit Falls



Hey guys, a very long time since I've contributed to this site but here I am, happy to be back!

This is what flows away from Spirit Falls. I was very fortunate to meet up in the Columbia Gorge with a few pals a couple of weeks ago. Two of them from Portland. They showed us a couple of locations that are not, at least to my knowledge, very popular. Or at least not heavily advertised.

The first stop on the tour was Spirit Falls. It's I believe, a little bit over half a mile from the side of the road down to the falls. It's pretty steep, according to my friend TJ, "not for casual hikers". With a warning like that, who could refuse?

The hike down is a real pain in the ass. But the falls and the river are extremely beautiful. The only issue is that the current is really, really strong, and there aren't many options to set up different compositions.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be waiting on TJ to finish shooting, while I noticed that the light was looking really awesome, as I looked away from the falls. When I showed it to my wife, without knowing the name of the falls, she said, "The title of this piece, is Spirits Flowing Away!".
 
Astroboy907

Astroboy907

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2012
1,387
14
Spaceball One
compuwar said:
The idea of the flash in this case isn't to illuminate the subject, it's to create a catchlight in the eye. For live subjects you want a catchlight almost 100% of the time, as it's key for the viewer to make a connection with the subject. Test it yourself by adding a small catchlight in PS to your image and then resizing down to a smaller image and comparing them side-by-side.

Paul
Click to expand...

Maybe you can explain more to a newbie like myself what a catchlight is/does? Sounds absolutely intriguing.
 
compuwar

compuwar

macrumors 601
Oct 5, 2006
4,717
2
Northern/Central VA
Astroboy907 said:
Maybe you can explain more to a newbie like myself what a catchlight is/does? Sounds absolutely intriguing.
Click to expand...

It's the light reflected in the eye of a living subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_light

The part you'll want to pay attention to is:

"Audiences usually perceive eyes without specular highlights to be lifeless or evil, and for this reason many cinematographers specifically eliminate catch lights on antagonistic characters."

In other words, if you want your viewer to connect with the subject, make sure there's a catchlight.

Paul
 
acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
compuwar said:
It's the light reflected in the eye of a living subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_light

The part you'll want to pay attention to is:

"Audiences usually perceive eyes without specular highlights to be lifeless or evil, and for this reason many cinematographers specifically eliminate catch lights on antagonistic characters."

In other words, if you want your viewer to connect with the subject, make sure there's a catchlight.

Paul
Click to expand...

I think I have a good example. Below is a shot I took on Sunday. There is no catchlight and, to me at least, it's obvious that the picture is missing that emotion. I do have one other that I like from the shoot and I think the difference is the catchlight.

As always, any comments appreciated!


Patricia by acearchie, on Flickr
 
P

Puckman

macrumors 6502
Feb 5, 2008
475
1
Yorba Linda, CA
acearchie said:
I think I have a good example. Below is a shot I took on Sunday. There is no catchlight and, to me at least, it's obvious that the picture is missing that emotion. I do have one other that I like from the shoot and I think the difference is the catchlight.

As always, any comments appreciated!

[url=http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7316/10710923803_19ae2c9689_c.jpg]Image[/url]
Patricia by acearchie, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Posting the other one too for comparison would help illustrate the point. :)

I like this one, on its own merit, catchlight or not.

----------

Another shot from the Huntington library. My first go at slow exposure waterfalls.

Critique welcome. Mainly, I am wondering if I succeeded in making this waterfall look bigger than it really was.


IMG_7063 by Puckman2012, on Flickr
 
acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
Puckman said:
Posting the other one too for comparison would help illustrate the point. :)

I like this one, on its own merit, catchlight or not.
Click to expand...


But then I would have broken the cardinal rule of the POTD thread:

*One Photo per Day - Don't post more than one photo each day.
Click to expand...

Can't have that now! Maybe I will post it tomorrow!

uvafan1 said:
This is a shot that I took today...it was a little blustery, but temps weren't to bad.


DSC_2453 - Version 2 by wwsakall, on Flickr
Click to expand...

On my screen at least it seems very flat and grey. No whites in the clouds and no blacks in the shadows. Was this intuitional?
 
Apple fanboy

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,480
53,309
Behind the Lens, UK
acearchie said:
I think I have a good example. Below is a shot I took on Sunday. There is no catchlight and, to me at least, it's obvious that the picture is missing that emotion. I do have one other that I like from the shoot and I think the difference is the catchlight.

As always, any comments appreciated!

[url=http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7316/10710923803_19ae2c9689_c.jpg]Image[/url]
Patricia by acearchie, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Maybe not seeing her mouth is also contributing to the lack of emotion.
 
A

Alexander.Of.Oz

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2013
3,200
12,499
Totally the wrong sort of picture to be posting because of the small size of the images here. Nonetheless, from the bird-banding on Sunday past, I found this disused old quarry there. This is the entrance to it. I really need to go back and bracket some shots, to avoid blown out clouds like this and maybe learn how to treat them in Lightroom too.

_MG_6885-3_zpscb7e453b.jpg
 
A

Alexander.Of.Oz

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2013
3,200
12,499
Puckman said:
Another shot from the Huntington library. My first go at slow exposure waterfalls.

Critique welcome. Mainly, I am wondering if I succeeded in making this waterfall look bigger than it really was.


IMG_7063 by Puckman2012, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with all those plants, so see the scale of it straight away, but, if I let that slip from my consciousness and just look at the waterfall, it works! ;)

If you want to get a longer shutter speed again, you can step back a bit and go to the long end of your lens at 55mm. That will gain you a little more time with the shutter open.

My 10 stop ND filter arrived today of all days, just when the 24-105mm has been sent off for repairs to Canon! Got the dreaded ERR01 message on Sunday with this lens... :(
 
fcortese

fcortese

macrumors demi-god
Apr 3, 2010
2,223
5,278
Big Sky country
i visited my daughter and grandkids and paid a visit to the Dallas Arboretum. It's a great place to visit and I highly recommend it.

n758.jpg
 
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