2016 Project 52, 2nd Quarter by Janis

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Originally Posted by Sam W

Great shots of the squirrel Janis. I especially like #5. You might consider cropping a bit off the left and top to reduce the negative space in the top right.

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Thanks, Sam; I think I see what you mean and will give it a go.

Binnur, I have come to think we have very similar taste. ;) Not sure what crop you have in mind, though; feel free to hack away any time.

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

The squirrel shots have come out OK, particularly well considering the rather shallow focus depth at F4.

Maybe I would selectively tone down some of the brighter background spots. Some background over exposure was bound to occur with those scenes where you had to expose for the main subject. What was the Iso? I would probably have risked a bit of noise by going as high as Iso 800 in order to have a bit of spare capacity with the shutter speed/aperture options.

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Appreciate the feedback, Geoff. The ISO ranged from 200 to 400 over all the frames, I think. Next time, I will go on manual, choose my aperture as well as my shutter and let the ISO go where it will.

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Originally Posted by purplehaze

Thanks, Sam; I think I see what you mean and will give it a go.

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I'm sorry, I meant ...negative space in top left.

Here is my crop Janis. I tried to put the emphasis on the two parallel diagonal lines on the clouds and on the sand. I just want to say that my crop is not a better option ,but it is just another alternative:)

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ldknq8.jpg

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Originally Posted by purplehaze

Binnur, I have come to think we have very similar taste. ;) Not sure what crop you have in mind, though; feel free to hack away any time.

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Well done Janis, what a little character you have captured on your camera, I think they are all good and wish I could get some little creature shots, like these, with such clear light on his/her face and realistic colours.

Nice shot, Janis. When I am unable to get out with the camera, I often find interesting shadows and reflections around the house. Perhaps that's just my way of going 'stir-crazy', though.

Edit - I am referring to the image in post #9.

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

Here is my crop Janis. I tried to put the emphasis on the two parallel diagonal lines on the clouds and on the sand. I just want to say that my crop is not a better option ,but it is just another alternative:)

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ldknq8.jpg

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Gee, that is a beautiful, serene image, Janis. I like the original but I think Binnur's crop has enhanced it.

Yes, Binnur, thanks. It mostly works for me and probably would have cropped it that way myself, but was trying to keep the debris at lower right within the frame without having to clone any of it out. Lazy, I know :rolleyes:.

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Originally Posted by CormacD

wish I could get some little creature shots, like these, with such clear light on his/her face and realistic colours.

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Thanks, Lindsay. The light is due to luck and the colour, Mother Nature and the wizards behind the technology used to capture her splendour. All I am willing to take credit for is a wee bit more knowledge and skill at using dynamic area focusing.

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Originally Posted by FootLoose

Nice shot, Janis. When I am unable to get out with the camera, I often find interesting shadows and reflections around the house. Perhaps that's just my way of going 'stir-crazy', though.

Edit - I am referring to the image in post #9.

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Thanks, Greg; glad you caught that. I don't think that what you describe is stir-crazy; it's just being sensitive to the light in your environment. That is a great asset; means you don't have to travel far to find worthwhile subjects. ;) There is surprising beauty to be captured in the mundane.

Week 23

I participated in the first dragon boat festival of the season this weekend. We did not place, but were very pleased with our performance, and feel we are in a good position to take one or more trophies this fall.

The site was very wet and the weather rainy, so I elected to take the Sony Rx100 Mark IV over the Nikon. I am still learning it, and watched some video tutorials today that I wish I had seen before this weekend, but better late than never. I have changed some settings and reassigned some buttons, and finally figured out how the various focus modes function. It ain't exactly intuitive if you've never used a Sony. My biggest complaint so far is battery life. I bought a second battery and a Sony charger, but the charger does not seem to work. It is designed to fit several different types of batteries, but the instructions that come with it are imprecise and confusing. The camera manual is not very good either.

Anyhow, this is a shot of some our team members cheering on a fellow member who was paddling with a team of young people she used to coach:

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7544/2...7c87f6d9_h.jpg

All of them seems to be interactively pleased with your team in the water apart from one lady at the left who just looks quietly with barely a smile on her face....

Obviously the light wasn't doing you any favours but this is still a decent shot with plenty of detail and very little noise.

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Originally Posted by IzzieK

All of them seems to be interactively pleased with your team in the water apart from one lady at the left who just looks quietly with barely a smile on her face....

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That's a provocative observation, Izzie. Perhaps she was thinking of the member we had just learned was in palliative care with stage 4 cancer. Or perhaps that is just her RBF. I also have RBF and am used to people thinking I am not happy and engaged when I in fact am.

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

Obviously the light wasn't doing you any favours but this is still a decent shot with plenty of detail and very little noise.

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Yes, I think I could get some good things out of this little camera, if I can ever find my way around it.

Week 24

Was on the beach early in the morning a few weeks ago and shot a few frames that I saw potential in this evening that I didn't see before. C&C welcome, especially as regard processing.

#1
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7465/2...85c85c67_h.jpg

f/14 @ 1/200 and 400 ISO
Processed in CEP using the Neutral Density filter to darken the sky, the Reflector Efex Silver filter to bring out the reflection of the rock, and the Detail Extractor selectively applied to give some texture to the large rock and some of the clouds.

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Originally Posted by purplehaze

That's a provocative observation, Izzie. Perhaps she was thinking of the member we had just learned was in palliative care with stage 4 cancer. Or perhaps that is just her RBF. I also have RBF and am used to people thinking I am not happy and engaged when I in fact am.

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Sometimes, we just get lost in our own thoughts...that's human nature.

This is a nice scene, very calm apparently because of the reflection of the rock there...I can almost hear the sound of the waves pounding the shore. I got a question -- why the preference for that setting? I can understand F14 or even F16, shutter speed does not really matter, the image is sharp from top to bottom, side to side, very pleasant, but why ISO 400? Just curious...

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Originally Posted by purplehaze

Week 24

Was on the beach early in the morning a few weeks ago and shot a few frames that I saw potential in this evening that I didn't see before. C&C welcome, especially as regard processing.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7465/2...85c85c67_h.jpg

f/14 @ 1/200 and 400 ISO
Processed in CEP using the Neutral Density filter to darken the sky, the Reflector Efex Silver filter to bring out the reflection of the rock, and the Detail Extractor selectively applied to give some texture to the large rock and some of the clouds.

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Glad you like it, Izzie. The high ISO is due to the fact that I was on Auto ISO. The beach faces west, and the sun was not yet up behind the trees, so I needed the higher ISO to see into the shadow along the shore. Most of the shots were along or into the shore, but I could have switched to manual ISO when shooting out over the lake. I also might have got away with a slower shutter speed, and really should test what my minimum is with the Sigma handheld. Notes for next time.