JUNE CONTEST COMMENTS THREAD...

Please post your comments regarding the June submissions here.

Now that I've submitted my stupid pic, I can sit back and enjoy the contest. If I'd waited for too many more entries, I would have lost my nerve entirely and skipped it!

The syntax for the gray box is in the HTML lookup table under: Create a styled, indented blockquote (useful for posting excerpts from articles). Just paste your text into the tag where the word Text appears, and delete the word text, of course.

If I can do it, it's easy.

but I'll know next time (if there is a next time). And your picture isn't stupid.

But I'll make like Kreskin and say you will not be hosting next month's contest.

Pic may not be stupid, but it probably ain't real smart either.:shrug:

I have been looking foward to the contest just to see what dazzling stuff people will come up with. I'll make like Kreskin again and say I know I will not be disappointed.

Now how about some more of your vacation shots will the entries roll in?

Glad to see you chose the one you did!

It had to be that one. That image had been in my head until I figured out how to convert it into a picture. My first thought was using a fresnel lens, but that didn't seem random enough. The scratched up plexiglas did the trick.

It's a very powerful image. Great job.

The picture looks horrible as RBG. It only works as a black and white image.

I will be surprised if it makes it to the top 10. There's some terrific photographers here.

to the black and white version, will anybody be mad? Okasha has convinced me.

Though having looked at the 2 a few times, I think I prefer the sepia. My first reaction to the comparison was entirely the opposite.

or wait until Little Blue has a chance to check in herself. I'm so confused....

I think I agree with some people in the group that the black and white creates a stronger image. More of what I imagine he was thinking when I took the shot (either that or "where's the beer!")

Can we switch it to the black and white shot?

mind at all.

I wonder how it would look colorized to look like a Social Realism poster

My net has been iffy at best the last week, guess I will have to break down and call for a new cable box Monday.

Story behind my pic, the best man was really egging the groom to cake the bride's face so they caked him. It was the bride's idea and definitely her personality.

Love all the pics so far can't wait to see more.

Go a head and change BlueCA's if she wants. I have been trying to figure out which one I like better and it is a tie.

Blue AK, I have been able to least look at you vacation pics, beautiful but we need lots more.

Raging, :woohoo: on the gallery spot. I love your Cuba pics and want to see more.

So at least for now that's what it will be. She decided that she liked the "golden boy" look after all. This was a very tough call.

"Baby Killer?" is my new fave, but it's so hard to choose with all the other great stuff here.

Whew, where's my fan?

Funny thing - I just took a look at the forum yesterday after doing this session and saw the subject was "people" so I thought, why not?
KJ

I envy you people who know how to do people pictures. That's why I'm really glad I'm hosting this month. :)

If someone had submitted a similarly posed and lit shot, but with a woman as the subject, would it have been allowed?

:shrug:

(Although, after having seen some of GMoney's photos, I'd have to think the question may have answered itself.)

everybody else can go home :rofl:

I've seen quite a few of his shots and he is good and gets better and better.

With a woman's body, I could still say I've seen far more revealing, in the lounge.

so I (strategically) placed a shadow for the DU version....
KJ

Which was a photo of kids playing with a hose during summer. :(

And still didn't like the ones I put in my poll. Didn't go with the poll winner (Carrollton Hunter Mardi Gas Indian) because I feel like that photo is more about the head dress than the girl under it.

I like CC's "action shot" of the bridal party, so I almost submitted this:

Falcon Teaches Swing


but ultimately felt that the shadowy couple had more general appeal. :shrug:

But your contest entry is much more powerful, and has personality overtones for good measure.

I like the photo you submitted, as well. I think it shows the personalities more.

I really would have liked to submit - my grandmother celebrating her 100th birthday, a 1.5 year old I cared for last summer with exquisite lighting, etc, but posting without consent is not an option for me (as you may have gathered if you were reading the threads discussing consent).

...so you get a photo of my teenager (which she hates, but I love).

I'm so impressed with these photos. Nine more to go.

Cuban bagpiper was a close second. I love the sky background and "El Moro" in the background. This one is definitely going in my portfolio.



And Cuban Cigar was my third choice, which actually came close to being my first choice. But I was never content with this one because of the extreme contrast of the photo. The woman is very dark and she is wearing a very highlighted outfit. It just drove me mad and I tried to make it look better in PS, but I never managed it.






In the end I chose Havana Kids because they were just so cool in how they struck a pose. That became one of my all-time pictures. And I have to go with my heart. I always do.

It could just be me, but you might want to check your links just in case. :shrug:

I see them fine on my computer, so who knows what the issue is. It's always something when it comes to computers.

Does anyone else have any problems seeing the photos?

and open it in a browser, but not in the actual post.

Maybe it has to do with the "-" in the title? I've had problems with non-alphanumeric characters in URLs before. :shrug:

The properties URL works but the pic, like those in your post in this thread, only appears if the "properties" link is viewed directly, but not when embedded in the post.

I also used the Transformation/Gray/Brightness Curve adjustment in PWP to play with the cigar photo. Not sure if this addresses your concerns, but I basically brought up the brightness in the skin tones and dropped it it the bright areas to yield this:

If you have time and get a chance, can you work your magic on this photo to see if it comes out any better than when I did it? I even broke it up into layers, but it still didn't come out good.

http://s14.quicksharing.com/v/6825223/060514_CRW_4977.CRW.html

a small cropped (jpeg) section of the more troublesome parts of that image as modified in Picture Windows Pro for others to view without enduring a 30MB download.

For some reason a few attempts to upload that file to the site you used failed, so I used another. The link is http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/19/78515/060514_ CRW_4977-PWP-LC-BC-AS.tif -- but you will need to copy and then delete the space before the 'CRW_4977-PWP-LC-BC-AS.tif' part of the link.

Here is the cropped section from that modified version of your image:

She looks much better. She was just way to dark in my attempts. How did you do it?

I will use your version of the woman, but I am going to use a layer from my version to make the background appear more natural.

One group is called "Gray" because they effect all RGB channels equally.

The first I used is called Levels and Colors, and it brightens (or darkens) the midtones in the image and allows extending (or compressing) the black and white ends, and also varying saturation. I used this to bring up the midtones and give a slight boost in saturation to heep the pink from getting washed out.

Since the skin tones were still a bit dark and the canopies distractingly bright, I used the Brightness Curve adjustments to selectively brighten all the colors that were comparable in brightness to the skin and darken those similar to the canopies. (The operation uses a graph that shows the original image brightness and the output image brightness, which is at the beginning of the process a 1:1 relationship, and tweak the curve at several points so that the output image is corrected is needed in selected areas.

The last step was to use the Advanced Sharpening operation to bring out some of the detail that is otherwise lost.

As you noticed, this had an undesirable effect on some of the background. The proper way would have been for me to first build a mask that exposed only the skin area and another for the canopy area. If I had done this. those artifacts would not have been created, since the when a mask is in use the various transformations will only take place within the unmasked area, or to whatever degree you want them to in the masked or unmasked area, depending on the transparency settings you choose for those two areas.

But, although the use of masks in this way is is really what really gives this program its power, I haven't used them much yet, and didn't want to try to climb that particular learning curve last night. Call me lazy.

If I right click on the image box and select view image the image loads in a separate page, and is then viewable in the original thread when I return.

I haven't sorted out why that happens but when someone's image (and sometimes it is mine) doesn't display this trick usually works as long as the photo server is functional.

Not even when I click "show picture."

And choose View Image.

It's only a very minor annoyance, imho.

Here's another version of the lady with the cigar.



In PSP I selected the face using overlapping ellipses with a feather of 5(added and subtracted until just the face was included in the selected area - not the hand and cigar). Used automatic contrast - neutral (lighter/darker selection) + bold (contrast), then enhanced the saturation a bit to get back to the right color shade. Process can be repeated, if there still isn't enough contrast for your tastes.

This is a technique I use pretty often to add contrast to isoloated areas of a photo with wiped out contrast because of shadows.

Is PSP Paint Shop Pro? I use Photoshop CS2 but I'm just familiar with the basic adjustments, so I'm sure there is a way to do it, but I have no clue how.

Maybe it has something to do with "paths" and "channels" which I haven't had the patience to sit there and try to figure out.

I haven't tried Photoshop CS2 (although I think I have a version of it that came with our graphics tablet around somewhere).

Brightness/Contrast enhancement is pretty basic in PSP. Try searching the help menu for brightness and contrast enhancement. If that fails, if PS CS2 has an automatic version (similar to PSP) it should be near curves, gamma corrections, clarifying, highlight/midtones/shadows.

Its layers I'm lacking the patience to sit down and figure out. I've tried a couple of canned examples but they don't yet make intuitive sense...

"Nyah"

Thanks, Blue.

I'll pick it up when I post in the Lounge.

They're just so CUTE.

And entered "Pool Sharks", a photo of the well over 100 photos I took for a friend's wedding at the start of my trip. It was actually a very dark pic, but thanks to the digital darkroom, it seems to have come out OK. I stayed two days after the weeding and edited all the photos taken.

Unfortunately, the couple's computer on which I was working has a broken CD burner. So, my edited pics will have to wait until they come back from France (groom's family lives there...has country property in the family for over 300 years...way cool!) I didn't have the photo editor on my laptop, but did upload all the pics from their camera that I used, and installed a good pic editor on their machine.



Here's one of the bride (unedited) struggling to get the ring on the groom's finger:



(in the edited photo for the wedding album, I cropped out the young lady in plaid, and naturally created more contrast and depth.)


And SUCCESS!! :D

Lots of personality on display here. The light is dramatic but must have been challenging to work with, especially with the white of the bride's dress. I like shooting with this kind of light, but I often get poor results from miscalculating aperture and exposure time.

It was a challenge re: editing, especially keeping the bride's gown white while working on exposure, shadows and highlights. Took 124 photos, and was able to edit 77 very satisfactorily. The wedding was on the couples' property way up in a canyon just outside Hualapai National Forest outside of Kingman, AZ.

I really liked the photo of the boys playing pool that I entered for this month's contest. But, I almost entered this one that was NOT from the wedding.

What? You didn't ask for directions, AGAIN?!?!?!

There's something about the quiet pride and wisdom captured in his expression.

Excellent choice, Immad2!

There are so many that moved me deeply. How will I be able to vote???