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Archive 2014 · A floral arrangement.

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · A floral arrangement.


Here are a couple from my second night at the Oregon coast near our motel at Yachats. I have already shown one from this night with the sun ring issue. Both of these were a bit later and had less issue. I used my normal processing here and corrected white balance to remove some green from the flowers and used Kent’s method of brushing in some warmth in the sky.

I wonder if the rocks appear to have a color cast, I avoided changing them during other corrections.

I would like to hear any and all comments on composition and processing and overall value of the images. I feel like I am making some small improvements as a result of visiting this forum.














Jul 19, 2014 at 08:01 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · A floral arrangement.


I might look at some tweaks to the intermediate distance rocks (closest/largest @ magenta) and log @ right (cyan). I surmise that the removal of green cast from the flowers, imparted some magenta on the rocks (mask out the correction) as the light tones of the the flowers picked up more of the greens than the dark tones of the rock. But I think you've got it figured out that two pieces of the puzzle are:

1) mixed lighting temp diff's
2) amount of human accommodation to neutral WB differs with distance/proximity.

Everything else is S&P to taste & your desired message conveyance @ how you want to accentuate/diminish the warm/cool diff's. Now, it becomes degrees of refinement.

FYI, I prefer the first ... another (almost) ROYGBIV with some nice transitional (organic) lines.



Jul 19, 2014 at 08:34 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · A floral arrangement.


Kent thanks a lot for staying with me on this, much appreciated and your feedback is most valuable.

I never saw the issue until I had them posted side by side. I used 3 images to blend but was darkening the foreground in post so why did I need the bright blend image to start with? Note, the middle right green is too bright as well.

So I started over with just a 2 image blend (no way to make one work). I used the middle and dark shots. Then I found a neutral spot in the water which I later used to correct the rock area.

This one is not quiet as dramatic in the sky as the first (easy to add more) but I think overall a more natural balance.







Jul 19, 2014 at 08:54 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · A floral arrangement.


I once read that landscape photographers can spend weeks editing their images ... and yet we often expect them to come out of the camera looking they way we want them to be.

I'm not suggesting that every image should take weeks to work on ... but your point at not noticing, then noticing ... and the ensuing iterations is (imo) somewhat of an "unspoken" necessity that is a well-kept issue.

To that end, I appreciate your willing spirit of "iterations" & "refinement" ... which can include reversions. Hey, if it was good enough for AA & others (although much, much more challenging in the wet darkroom than the digital one) ... then for us to embrace the diligence of refinement seems appropriate discipline to our beloved craft.

Infinite options @ how you want to present S&P to taste, but seeing things is key to presenting the fullness of your desired message. I just wish I could "see" all the issues, interplay, balance, etc. at first effort (yeah right, like that's gonna happen). An hour or a day of "walkaway" can really make things look different from one session to another at getting things to where we want them.

I am sometimes amazed at how diff I can see something today vs. yesterday, etc. In that regard, don't think too much about "never saw" ... rather embrace that you did in fact "come to see" issue XYZ ... however they may be pertinent (or not) for your desired presentation. The differences can seem subtle or trivial ... yet they begin to add up along the way, particularly @ craftsmanship applied push/pull relationships rather than global blasting ... not unlike the tenets of refined engineering.

As to the changes made in the image ... one seems to pull me more toward the sea, the other holds me a (slight) bit more toward the foreground. I'm good with both, just depends on which way you want to more strongly move the viewers eye. Some subtle/mild selective sharpening can also help push/pull the direction a bit as well (which I reserve for last after I get my colors/tonal values situated where I want them).

Edited on Jul 19, 2014 at 09:58 AM · View previous versions



Jul 19, 2014 at 09:41 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · A floral arrangement.


All true Kent, we engineers always knew the instant we released a product that we could do better.

And by the way, I think the first has the better sky, but I think I like the 2nd comp best. Any thoughts?



Jul 19, 2014 at 09:53 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · A floral arrangement.


Too close to call ... ask me tomorrow and I'll tell you something different as my mood changes.
That, and a tweak here or there could swing it either way as well.

At the moment, I prefer the seeing the sun with its point of tonal brightness ... but I'm just one opinion in a sea of thoughtful minds.



Jul 19, 2014 at 09:59 AM
Camperjim
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · A floral arrangement.


Nicely done. I have tried these focus blends several times and they always seem tedious and never work as well as I want. To me the differences in these are minor and I have no clear favorite. Like them all.


Jul 19, 2014 at 01:41 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · A floral arrangement.


Camperjim wrote:
Nicely done. I have tried these focus blends several times and they always seem tedious and never work as well as I want. To me the differences in these are minor and I have no clear favorite. Like them all.


Hi Jim. It takes me a couple minutes to gaussian blend no brushing required and halos are minimal. You should check it out before I take my web site down when the subscriptions runs out in August.

I spend far more time adjusting colors etc after I get done. I blend and save in a special folder and might work the blend many times. Or in some cases I do a 2 image instead of a 3 image blend like I did here.

By the way, this is an exposure blend, I never bother with focus blend. I find that a well focused image at 16-24mm (my normal landscape range) seldom needs focus blend. I have recently started focusing with a preference for near sharpness and stopping down to f11 or even f16. My 5d3 has a lot less dust than my 1ds3 which drove me to stay at f8 or lower.

These images have some motion blur in a few places but otherwise are pretty sharp everywhere.



Jul 19, 2014 at 02:13 PM
Oregon Gal
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · A floral arrangement.


I really enjoy these images, beautiful. Nicely balanced and Kent has covered in detail the color balance challenges.


Jul 19, 2014 at 02:52 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · A floral arrangement.


Oregon Gal wrote:
I really enjoy these images, beautiful. Nicely balanced and Kent has covered in detail the color balance challenges.


Thanks for your feedback I never know how my stuff will be received. In the past I have worked them to my satisfaction only to get lots of negative comments. After some time, I start to see the truth of it and eventually my own judgement improves (all too slowly).




Jul 19, 2014 at 03:58 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · A floral arrangement.


well I printed them and they came out way too dark, got to start over.


Jul 20, 2014 at 12:43 PM
pike40
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · A floral arrangement.


RustyBug wrote:
Too close to call ... ask me tomorrow and I'll tell you something different as my mood changes.
That, and a tweak here or there could swing it either way as well.

At the moment, I prefer the seeing the sun with its point of tonal brightness ... but I'm just one opinion in a sea of thoughtful minds.


I agree, #1 for me. I do like the colors a little better in #2.

Mike




Jul 20, 2014 at 09:13 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · A floral arrangement.


pike40 wrote:
I agree, #1 for me. I do like the colors a little better in #2.

Mike




Thanks very much for the feedback.



Jul 20, 2014 at 09:36 PM
FarmerJohn
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · A floral arrangement.


Ben, nice images indeed. Good lighting on flowers and sky.

As usual, Kent has it covered with colors.
Comp-wise, I like the version with the full sun better, and the light coming off the tops of the flowers is nice. The tall flowers jutting into the beach/waves center-left is slightly distracting in my opinion but I'm sure you'll find plenty of opinions out there about that one.



Jul 21, 2014 at 12:28 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · A floral arrangement.


FarmerJohn wrote:
Ben, nice images indeed. Good lighting on flowers and sky.

As usual, Kent has it covered with colors.
Comp-wise, I like the version with the full sun better, and the light coming off the tops of the flowers is nice. The tall flowers jutting into the beach/waves center-left is slightly distracting in my opinion but I'm sure you'll find plenty of opinions out there about that one.


Thanks Farmer John. I too wish I did not have the merger with flower and water. I was paying attention to non centered horizon and sun. I wonder if a higher camera position pointed downward might have fixed it. At the time I was attempting to get certain flowers in the shot and omit others. I had to move into a very tight position to get the sun at the left 1/3 position.

I scouted this that morning and got this one. But that night I saw the sun did not work well from this same angle.







Jul 21, 2014 at 09:34 AM
andyjaggy82
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · A floral arrangement.


I like the third one. Possibly my favorite image I have seen from you.


Jul 21, 2014 at 01:16 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · A floral arrangement.


andyjaggy82 wrote:
I like the third one. Possibly my favorite image I have seen from you.


Thanks Andy, glad you like it and thanks for dropping into the forum, we could use more posters and commenters here.

Hmm, did you mean the second version of the sunset or the morning shot?



Jul 21, 2014 at 01:31 PM
Wildcats_Fans
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · A floral arrangement.


The 3rd is my favorite. It has the great sky colors along with seeing the greenness of the foliage. I like the composition with the flowers and foliage as foreground interest, rocks and shoreline as mid and sky &horizon for foreground. The 3 blend well together.


Jul 21, 2014 at 01:58 PM
andyjaggy82
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · A floral arrangement.


2nd version of the sunset shot. 3rd image in the thread.

Yeah I don't comment too much these days.



Jul 21, 2014 at 02:10 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · A floral arrangement.


andyjaggy82 wrote:
2nd version of the sunset shot. 3rd image in the thread.

Yeah I don't comment too much these days.


Thanks again Andy. I did not think my morning shot was so hot so I had to ask.



Jul 21, 2014 at 02:20 PM
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