weekly overbez's 52 for 2013.... ** COMPLETE **

Hi Graham,
You have got to be happy with that, there is nothing I could find fault with nor would I want to
excellent work :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:
 
Cheers guys,

Alan, do you not think that the shadow is needed (not that I considered whether it should or shouldn't be there when I set up or took or processed the shot(s)), to provide the depth to the hands part, in order to differentiate them more from the flat 2D drawing of the cuffs?? :shrug:

Allan, as Brian said t'other week - you're not supposed to find fault!! :LOL:

I can be a harsh critic on my own work I suppose, if I were to do it again, I'd make sure the paper couldn't move between shots, and ensure that the wrists lined up better with the drawn wrists.... but overall, yes, I'm happy. :)

I know no-one asked for a how-to, but we all like 'em...... 3 shots, layer, and mask. B&W conversion, up contrast, lower brightness.
Individual shots >>>> here <<<<<.
 
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Food works fine for me, colour just looks warm and pleasant. I like the composition and the detail. The only thing that bugs me a little is the bottom right hand corner, being the boldest colour in the frame it draws my eye a bit.

The Escher shot, just wow. Hard to offer anything of value, it's just bang on! (y)
 
Hey Graham :)

Food - Now that is excellent !!!! - I like the background, it adds context to the shot for me, the nuts are set our perfectly, a good touch with some open ones, some shells and the inevitable crumbs :clap:

Art - Damn that's a good idea, really like how you have done that (y)
 
Thanks guys..... comments all appreciated. I enjoyed ART, finished image quite a way from the shot ones.... but having the final image in mind, and the plan of how to get there definitely improves the end result.

At risk of getting behind with only 5 weeks left...

Week 47 - Friendship

And yep - it's these two again!!!



Not completely happy with it, took a fair whack of processing to get the background colours out...
 
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Hi Graham (y)

They look pretty "normal" colours to me so whatever problem you had it looks like you handled it well. Good DOF & focus too.

Regarding the story: I can't help but feel the story is incomplete without a proper landing shot :( - I think the middle one would work better on it's own.

Only 4 weeks to go don't fall behind now!
 
Cheers Brian,
Think I missed focus on the last, should have either stuck to single point focus, or prefocus and go MF.
I also thought the middle on its own worked, but was strengthened by the ones either side.
Just shows, it takes a first try to find out all the issues, just need the time to get the second attempt in.

SOOC here, to see how washed out the colours were.... need better light too.

5 weeks for me still. :LOL:
 
Yeah single point AF/C might have been better, although I'm surprised the multi point didn't grab the contrast of your older boys jacket.

Do you use lightroom? I have found it quite interesting to create presets of the camera profiles under the calibration section (just to make it a one click thing) I import and then step through the camera profiles to find the best colours/contrast combination as a start point before continuing to process the image. Perhaps you could try your raw with camera vivid or camera landscape & see what happens! :)

Edit to add - that's a nice job with the borders and the drop shadow Graham. (y)
 
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I think the colours are fine, and I like the setup with the 3 frames too. Can't have been easy shots to get, and they're nicely done, but the fact they're looking down (of course they would be) hiding the faces to an extent detracts a little. I agree that the middle shot works well as a standalone.
 
Brian,

No LR here, but the Nikon software ViewNX2 has the presets you mentioned... I'm also using Lightzone a fair bit now too. tbh, I tend to process them all pretty much independantly nowadays, never have that many. Borders and DS is from the Gavin Hoey tut you linked Lynne to a few weeks back. (y)

Cheers nick, as you say, lack of eye contact possibly detracts, but sometimes the ones when they are engrossed in what they're doing they ignore you work well too. And of course they do need to be looking to spot their landing too.

I like te story too, you can see the big one ready to jump... but waiting until his little brother is ready before he does. They really are the best of friends.
 
Do you know, I don't think I have ever used the Nikon software! - I think I'll load it up and have a look - Thanks, that'll keep me busy till the new theme comes out!
 
Week 48 - Sleek

Now I know why I have many more pictures of our dog, than I do of our cat. If he's not outside under a bush or a car, trying to get him to look your way is nigh on impossible. :LOL: Oh, and looks like I'm the first to bring something Christmassy into a shot. ;)

 
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Sleek - Nice shot that! Lovely bokeh from the Christmas tree in the background. Can be tricky shooting dark cats - I know ours a) won't sit still long enough b) the AF struggles to find something to lock on to! Neither of which you've struggled with here. Theme wise it works for me too! Nice work!
 
Hi, friendship, wonderful photograph. The tryptic works well and the colours do pop. I'd prefer a shallower DOF.

Sleek...indeed and he looks quite content. The bokeh works well and is very seasonal. His eyes look, hmmm, strange. They look slightly luminous??

Cheers.
 
CHeers matt - you still with us? (y)

Andy - the eyes eh?? Can only put it down to one of, or a combination of......

a: natural cat's eye's
b: small burst of in-built flash
c: increase saturation when processing, but masked off his coat (to lessen his gingery bits he's getting as he gets older)
d: selective levels adjustment on the eyes to darken the pupils

but with the direct eye contact - I think it works.
 
Hi Graham
Really like the friendship pic nice idea with the triptych, colours look good to me nice and autumnal
the pic for sleek works well too although the eyes of the cat look a little over lightened?
well done for getting a christmas tree in there too (y)
 
Hi Graham....

top shot & top pp work , very Arty indeed :clap: Can't really add any crit as wouldn't know where to begin doing this shot but I imagine it involves layers & masks :eek:

Missed a couple....
Sleek ...what a fine looking fella he his , lovely shiny coat & stare to stop you dead.....you have a christmas tree up already ??? does give really good bokeh though :)

Friendship...tells a lovely tale , I'm also of the camp that thinks #2 would have worked on it's own but can see why you went for the 3 , nice to see the SOOC verison as well :)
 
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Sleek is excellent Graham, except for the eyes! - I find them too strangely coloured and being drawn in to the "eye contact" they dominate and spoil the otherwise perfect picture. Sorry to be so negative, I'm just being honest mate. :(
 
Sleek Graham, yup its certainly that (y)
Lovely pet portrait, I am sure you have captured its character but that is one evil looking cat :LOL:
 
Hi everyone... Lynne, yep layers and masks... actually pretty simple to do. And Christmas starts December the first round here!

And the cats eye's.... hmmm... gone back to the RAW file and re-processed it with no adjustments, apart from slight sharpen, contrast boost, but no colour adjustments.

Nothing done selectively to the eyes, and the simply processed version has lighter eyes (iris') than my posted shot. My processed version has darker pupils, and actually darker iris's (slightly), and a couple of flash spots cloned out. Compare with this....

So, maybe we'll have to go with Iain's suggestion that he is just evil looking.... (He is called Dexter after all.......)

(y)
 
Week 49 - Colour

Of course it had to be Selective Colour.... :LOL:

 
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Hi Graham
Best bit of selective colouring I have seen for a while:clap:
 
Sleek - Yup, says sleek to me. Love the shades and textures in the fur, the sharp focus on the face, and the bokeh with the fairy lights is beautiful.

Colour is a cracker. Nice to see SC used in an imaginative way. Can't think of anything that would improve it.
 
Cheers guys... I started off with a dry brush, and without my hand in the shot.... but found it didn't work until I had paint on the tip and my fingers holding the brush in the shot. (y)

Only 3 themes to go.. :eek:, plus a reshoot (maybe).
 
Thankyou chaps.... (Layers and masks... that's all it is). (y)

Evan Sharboneau I presume you mean Brian, (after a few clicks with google). Think I may have found his stuff a while back, but certainly not recently.

I was going to carry on another row of fingers.. (I had the resolution) just not the time, and I was having trouble keeping track of the last row as it was!. :LOL:
 
Thats the chap, he did a floating sliced banana like the one that I did a few weeks back and quite a few others. TBH I think yours is better than his. (y)
 
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