At the fair

[Snarkbyte]

The county fair has been in progress for the past week, so I took the opportunity to break in the new 5DMkII. C&C appreciated.

#1 - Joyride:


#2 - Ride at sunset


#3 - Ferris Wheel (a required shot for any fair, of course)


#4 - The Historian. This young lady's knowledge of the history and technology of spinning was amazing. I don't know or care anything about spinning, but she was so knowledgeable and entertaining I ended up spending 90+ minutes listening and talking to her.

[jiro]

Seems like your 5D is getting some good break-in time with you, Al. For me, #1 is the best among the series! Question: "Did you by any chance apply some form of pseudo HDR processing on the images?"

[Snarkbyte]

"Did you by any chance apply some form of pseudo HDR processing on the images?"

No, but I did some Multiply and Screen blend layering plus a little burning in the blown-out white areas to get some tonal balance against the bright sky. #2 has an Overlay blend layer, and #3 had some distortion correction to get rid of the "backwards lean" effect. Other than that, just a little cropping and sharpening. Thanks for the comment, Jiro.

BTW, I also discovered that my Canon 70-200mm lens has some rather severe vignetting in the 70-80mm focal length range. It never showed up using the 7D because of the crop factor, but it's completely unacceptable using the full frame 5D... too much vignetting for the LR Lens correction to remove. I'll probably send it back for some repair work, since the lens is still under warranty.

[Snarkbyte]

BTW, Jiro, may I ask why you wondered? I've never really delved into (or even dabbled with) HDR, so I'm curious as to what you see to prompt the question.

[stevewe88]

I had the same thought as Jiro Al

The colours look really saturated, as though they have been tonemapped in Photomatix or something similar. Particularly images 1 and 4.

Cheers
Steve

[jiro]

BTW, Jiro, may I ask why you wondered? I've never really delved into (or even dabbled with) HDR, so I'm curious as to what you see to prompt the question.

The highlight areas on image #1 has a different kind of sheen that seems to look "unnatural". I would definitely suspect some kind of post-processing was involved. I'm not saying it's bad, Al. Rather, I'd say it is quite unique. Actually, more like a borderline pseudo HDR look to me. I knew it's not HDR because the sharpness is still normal. I'd say you keep this post-processing technique as it is really unique. You might find it handy on some future images of yours.

[Snarkbyte]

The unnatural sheen you're seeing is probably the burned areas that were completely blown out. I probably should have just left it alone, since burning a completely blown area usually leaves this sort of halo around the edges.

As for the color, well... it was a fair, which is just filled with vibrant and garish color, so I thought overdoing the color somewhat might help convey the carnival atmosphere. I do think the sky color in #1 is definitely overdone... too much on the Vibrance adjustment (that's probably what you see in #4, as well, though I don't think it's quite as bad). Thanks for the comments, Jiro and Steve... this is the sort of feedback I find most useful, so don't be afraid to speak up!

Any comments on #2? I keep thinking I should get rid of the bright light on the right (and the post its mounted on).

And what about this one?

[ions]

Great series! I think I like #1 best, although the latest is also very good for completely different reasons. The range of fun to be had at the fair. Good stuff!

[Geoff F]

Any comments on #2? I keep thinking I should get rid of the bright light on the right (and the post its mounted on).

Yes, Al, that was my only slight criticism of these photos; but you have beaten me to it.

Firstly, I think I might try just toning it down a fraction and see if that works.

[stevewe88]

You could get rid of the light in #2 but I quite like the star effect from it so I think it adds to the image. I guess there are some other bits you could clear away from the background just to make the triangle shape stand out more but I quite like it as it is.

The latest image could be very nice with a bit of PP. I would try and darken all of the background right down to isolate the girl on the horse more from the rest of the scene. Also clone away the child under the horses chin (unless it's your child, in which case I am sorry for suggesting you delete them).

Cheers
Steve

[Snarkbyte]

I had tried to darken the background of the carousel shot before I posted it, using a masked Multiply blend, but that brought out some terribly ugly bokeh effect in the highlight areas. Taking your advice, Steve, I cloned out the girl's face under the horse's head (none of the people in these photos are related to me... all strangers), and darkened the background with local exposure adjustments. Much better results with the background this way... no ugly bokeh effect. I'll work on the others a bit, and post again later. Here's the revision of the carousel shot:

[PicsbyChance]

Al,

I like the series very much and to me, the colour saturation works because of the fact this is a fair. My favorite is the first image mainly because of the kids faces. Is it possible to zoom in to capture their expressions more? Deleting the face under the horse's chin and darkening the background did help your last image. I have enjoyed all of them. Thanks for sharing!

Mike

[stevewe88]

That has worked well Al. A bit of Halo on the back of the girl but I guess that is a very tricky bit to mask out due to the very bright highlights.

I hope you don't mind but I had a very quick go and cropped slightly tighter. If you object I will of course remove it straight away.

Cheers
Steve

[jeeperman]

Nice series Al. I love the sky in #2.

[Snarkbyte]

Is it possible to zoom in to capture their expressions more?

It is possible, of course, but here's another shot from the same ride, and I think the expressions are better. Maybe it's a personal thing, but I love shots that show different expressions when people are reacting to the same thing. I didn't post this earlier, because I didn't like the framing of the shot (not enough room at the top and right of the frame in the original framing), but I do think it works when cropped for the facial expressions. Hope you like it.



A close crop of #1:

[Snarkbyte]

I hope you don't mind but I had a very quick go and cropped slightly tighter. If you object I will of course remove it straight away.

I don't mind at all, Steve. In fact, I rather like when people show me their ideas/corrections with my shots. As for the halo along the girl's back, I agree, and I tried to get rid of it without much success. This is a case where some corrections at 300% zoom will be needed in PP to get a realistic blend. Thanks for your comments, I will have more shots from the fair later this week.

[Snarkbyte]

Nice series Al. I love the sky in #2.

Thanks, Paul. I really wanted to get that sunset with the fairground lights, but I didn't know if I could pull it off. I like the result, but I still think I need to remove the light and pole on the right.

[KTHXBAI]

I really like #1. great shots.

[Ashwin]

And what about this one?

My version of your this photograph...