PROJECT 52 Bunty Plumchip

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

That is a crab claw, Carolyn. The top joint of the pincher assembly to be exact. Not sure how it could have got there though.

Possibly just shoveled up with the coal?

ps. after looking at it again, I would expect from the curve on the tip that it would probably be a right claw. That is a good size for a Yorkshire crab. But just a tiddler compared with the monsters we get down south. :D

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Thanks Geoff, - My house is 450 yards from the sea (at the moment- the cliff is eroding alarmingly but should see me out) and we get some interesting fossils on the beach that came out of the gllacial till, so perhaps it got deposited in what is now my potato patch during the ice age! If it was relatively fresh I might think a bird had dropped it.

We collect coal on the beach , hand pick it, mainly small bits but sometimes larger chunks if we are lucky- it's free, burns hot and a shovelful lasts a couple of hours. Every so often we use it when the logs are wet or too green.

Definitely modern, Carolyn, a bird, cat, fox, etc probably picked it up after it had washed up onto the beach then gave it to you as a present. :D

Where I live we frequently get gulls stripping down dead crabs around the fish quay. Once, we actually had one gull that would fly up with a crab claw then drop it onto the concrete in order to smash it open. That was one clever bird!

http://i39.tinypic.com/1zqttnd.jpg

Nikon 70s
1/60s (handheld)
focal length 90mm
f 4/5
iso 200

I think, Carolyn, I would try a very slight crop off the top and, as he is looking sideways, a similar amount from the left side should work OK.

Otherwise, excellent.

Not sure I like the stakness of the white backdrop...his complexion is too splotchy to make that much white do anything but draw more attention to the blemishes. Shoot him again against a light tan or darker ivory backdrop and see if you can use those colors to soften the foreground (him) a bit. Also, try focusing on the bridge of his nose. His eyes seem a bit soft to me as does the tip of his nose.

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Originally Posted by MiniChris

Not sure I like the stakness of the white backdrop...his complexion is too splotchy to make that much white do anything but draw more attention to the blemishes. Shoot him again against a light tan or darker ivory backdrop and see if you can use those colors to soften the foreground (him) a bit. Also, try focusing on the bridge of his nose. His eyes seem a bit soft to me as does the tip of his nose.

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Thanks Chris and Geoff.
This is the image before I applied sharpening and curves. I wondered perhaps if I had roughed it up too much.
Also I have cropped as Geoff suggested.
Next time I attempt a portrait, I shall definitely concentrate the focus a bit better.


http://i39.tinypic.com/2d0cdhu.jpg

I wouldn't do a great deal more to this shot.

Brightening the whole photo also over lightens the background. This 'dull white' background looks better to me. I might try to selectively apply a little bit of sharpening, with a duplicate layer and mask, which will avoid any skin problems as those areas can remain unsharpened.

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

I wouldn't do a great deal more to this shot.

Brightening the whole photo also over lightens the background. This 'dull white' background looks better to me. I might try to selectively apply a little bit of sharpening, with a duplicate layer and mask, which will avoid any skin problems as those areas can remain unsharpened.

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Thanks Geoff- I shall try and work out how to do that over the weekend. :)

I'm with Geoff and like it the way it is. Given your subject's expression is quite stern as it is, the blemishes for me add to the photo overall. Alternatively, you if you wanted to de-highlight them a bit you can try bringing down the clarity setting (I think this exists in both photoshop and Lightroom - can't remember what PP program your'e using again).

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Originally Posted by Goldcoastgolfer

I'm with Geoff and like it the way it is. Given your subject's expression is quite stern as it is, the blemishes for me add to the photo overall. Alternatively, you if you wanted to de-highlight them a bit you can try bringing down the clarity setting (I think this exists in both photoshop and Lightroom - can't remember what PP program your'e using again).

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Thanks Mal- I am using GIMP 2, Picnik, Picasa and Lunapic selectively- they all have different features, although I am still trying to get my head around how to work the layer thing, which I can onyl fidn in GIMP out of those. I remember using it a few years ago when I had my first digicam, a Minolta , but I have forgotten which facility it was in then.
I quite liked the way the sharpening exaggerated the stern-ness of the expression, gave it even more grit suggestive of a Victorian industrialist perhaps. That was the intended interpretation of the portraiture anyway.
I had to jump through a few hoops to upload the NEF files as I do not have the Nikon software, and I cannot download it at the moment as the internet connection is too slow here, but I got there in the end, through Picasa. :)

I am amazed at how much I have learned through this forum in a few short weeks.

I'm not a Gimp user, Carolyn, but the way I apply selective sharpness is to start by creating a duplicate layer of the original image.

Then apply sharpness so that the eyes, mouth, hair, etc look good; ignore any excessively sharpened areas of skin, for now.

Apply a mask to the sharpened duplicate, and edit the mask so the effect only applies to the required areas.

There are two options, both of which will work. Either use a 'Hide everything' mask which hides the effects but painting over the required areas with a 'white' low opacity soft edged brush will gradually reveal the sharpness, where required.

Or alternatively use a 'Reveal everything' mask which displays the entire effects then edit that with a 'black' brush to reduce the effects from areas which require a softer result.

Once you get used to using layers and masks you will find them essential for applying areas of selective brightness, etc. It is a simple method (once you get used to it) which I regularly use; in fact I would be totally lost without this option now.

And, another possibility for landscapes is to use gradient masks on layers to apply an effect similar to shooting with GND filters. Although obviously there are some limitations to the effects as you are applying them after shooting.

But, to return to this original image. Selective sharpening will allow you to retain a stern expression while having softer skin on the cheeks, etc.

Filling in an extra as I started late into the project. A fun shot I happened upon today. While walking into town. had taken the camera because the crocusses are spectacular in Harrogate at ths time of year, but didn't get around to them this time, preferring to practice buildings instead.
Exif
Nikon 70S
1/30s handheld
f8.0
focal length 66.0

http://i42.tinypic.com/33nuu88.jpg

I have just enhanced a bit of colour and exposure issues, no cloning or anything, alhtough I was tempted to have a go with the 'grid' lines to remove them.

I would be tempted to remove the red "brickwork?" at the bottom as it tends to draw my eye away from all the other things going on in the individual window panes. The grid lines are what make the image work as an abstract. Lose them, lose the shot.

I agree with Chris. A bit of ambiguity is interesting, but without those grid lines, I'm afraid it would look hopelessly jumbled and confused. Would be a tricky edit regardless. If you go ahead with it, though, I'd be very curious to see it.

Looks like you might have a little bit of perspective distortion along the grid as well. Not sure how easy it is to correct the distortion to make the lines of the grid horizontal and vertical using the tools you have but it might be worth a go.

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Originally Posted by MiniChris

I would be tempted to remove the red "brickwork?" at the bottom as it tends to draw my eye away from all the other things going on in the individual window panes. The grid lines are what make the image work as an abstract. Lose them, lose the shot.

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Thanks Chris, that was my feeling vis a vis the pane grids. I had actuually meant to remove the wall, but must have forgotten - by the time I had worked my way through the batch, my eyes were going. Thanks for your help.

Agree that the grid has to remain. That creates a 'solid reference point' and without it I think the scene would just appear very odd.

Thanks everyone- the building itself has strange angles and planes of reflective glass, which makes getting any 90 degree horizontals and 180 degree vertical reference points in perspective a matter of losing the effects and making completely different ones. Yesterday the other reflections in the buuilding were quite bland, but on other occasions they have been interesting from the same viewpoint. I am working on yesterday's batch to show a more complete architectural story. Sometimes an odd shot like this works as a stand alone- in this instance I am not sure if it does, other than as a curiosity. :O

I agree that without the window grid, it would just look like a photo distortion tool had been randomly applied for no apparent reason. :)

http://i42.tinypic.com/wvebf5.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/5chut2.jpg