weekly Superpippo's 52 in 2014 Week 52 - Support added and FINISHED

[overbez]

Fail to see whats wrong with the flagpole myself... It's vertical, as is every other post in the shot. Really very good removal job too, (on the bits you did anyway!!) Subtle graduated areas like that are really tricky to do sometimes, especially with other objects close by,

Yum is lovely, the cake in his spare hand and the other shoving it all in! Lovely to see, and lovely big bright blue eyes well captured too.

 

[posiview]

Get the flagpole bac in there

On theme and I like the inclusion of the flag to add some dynamism. Looks a little under exposed and a bit flat on my works PC.

Yum, again, on theme and nice and close. I do prefer some eye contact.

Cheers.

 

[Allan.H]

Hi Alan, thank God you took that flagpole out, it leaves me with little crit to offer.
nice pic of the little one too, certainly enjoying his cake, so who cleaned up after him?
I bet you took the pic and made your excuses

 

[Tango32]

hmmm now i quite like the flag pole....

Yum - he looks as if he enjoying that lovely blue eyes well captured

 

[Dark Knight]

Heresy !!! The good people would never let me chop this down.

HAhaaaaaaa started something here haven't I

But that for me is MUCH more pleasing to the eye, nicely done mate

 

[pjm1]

Nice shots - I too like the flag! It is a bit dark, as Andy has said, which flattens it a bit - get the contrast pumped up maybe and some extra exposure?

Yum - great capture and really nice shot. Technically good, lighting pleasant. Super model! Looks a tad oversharpened though, but easily fixable...

 

[superpippo]

Fail to see whats wrong with the flagpole myself... It's vertical, as is every other post in the shot. Really very good removal job too, (on the bits you did anyway!!) Subtle graduated areas like that are really tricky to do sometimes, especially with other objects close by,

Yum is lovely, the cake in his spare hand and the other shoving it all in! Lovely to see, and lovely big bright blue eyes well captured too.

Thanks graham. I too thought that the flagpole was worthwhile. Good to see that you were able to see the bits of guy wire that i left in in the quick and dirty clone
He enjoyed his birthday
food.

Get the flagpole back in there

On theme and I like the inclusion of the flag to add some dynamism. Looks a little under exposed and a bit flat on my works PC.

Yum, again, on theme and nice and close. I do prefer some eye contact.

Cheers.

Thanks Andy. Flag in is my preference, just did the edit for DK
It is a bit dark and i have tried to lighten it but I keep getting a yellowy cast - so left it as is. Very early in morning shooting into bright sunrise and I quite liked the atmospheric feel - but maybe a bit of a fail

 

[superpippo]

Hi Alan, thank God you took that flagpole out, it leaves me with little crit to offer.
nice pic of the little one too, certainly enjoying his cake, so who cleaned up after him?
I bet you took the pic and made your excuses

That flagpole is really splitting opinions !
As to cleaning up - well I had to hold the camera didn't I?

hmmm now i quite like the flag pole....

Yum - he looks as if he enjoying that lovely blue eyes well captured

Thanks Craig

 

[superpippo]

HAhaaaaaaa started something here haven't I

But that for me is MUCH more pleasing to the eye, nicely done mate

Yes you put the cat amongst the etc. But 4-3 in favour taking a/c of Paul below

 

[superpippo]

Nice shots - I too like the flag! It is a bit dark, as Andy has said, which flattens it a bit - get the contrast pumped up maybe and some extra exposure?

Yum - great capture and really nice shot. Technically good, lighting pleasant. Super model! Looks a tad oversharpened though, but easily fixable...

Thanks Paul.
Vertical is a bit dark and i have tried to lighten it but I keep getting a yellowy cast - so left it as is. Very early in morning shooting into bright sunrise and I quite liked the atmospheric feel - but maybe a bit of a fail.

On Yum - could you tell me why you think it is oversharpened (how does it appear so?) as I do have a bit of difficulty deciding where to stop with the slider

 

[pjm1]

Thanks Paul.
Vertical is a bit dark and i have tried to lighten it but I keep getting a yellowy cast - so left it as is. Very early in morning shooting into bright sunrise and I quite liked the atmospheric feel - but maybe a bit of a fail.

On Yum - could you tell me why you think it is oversharpened (how does it appear so?) as I do have a bit of difficulty deciding where to stop with the slider

Not a fail at all - it's a good shot... and if there's a yellowy cast maybe the light was... erm... yellowy!? If you can remember in your mind's eye what the scene looked like when you were there, you will be able to tell better than the rest of us what it should be

Re: sharpening - if you look at the image fullsize in Flickr you'll see quite a lot of artifacts where the sharpening algorithm thinks it has found an edge and has made it more distinct. But because the threshold was set (IMO) too high, it is turning dithering (think old newspaper colour prints - loads of dots) into edges. Look at his chin, his right cheek (left as we look at the reversed image) and around his right eye - there are plenty of telltale signs.

The trick I find (and I'm no expert) with sharpening is if the image looks "processed" then it's gone too far. I also try to be equally careful with noise reduction - too much and an image becomes plastic, meaning you then start to over-apply sharpening to get the edges back... a vicious circle of processing! As an example of "tough" conditions, here is a photo I took at 4.30am (before sunrise) through a window from a dark room with a zoom lens (albeit quite a decent quality one) - in order to get the shot I needed ISO3200, so it is horribly noisy. It's full of detail (grass, deer fur) so I was between a rock and a hard place. This is the best compromise I could manage between extracting detail and reducing noise, without introducing artefacts - it's not great by any stretch: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123807334@N03/14648410526/ (choose original size to see the poor quality).

Conversely, my "rich" picture is no great photo by any measure, but taken at ISO 80 it needs virtually no NR. This makes sharpening easier - I actually used a high sharpen 40 in LR (more than the high ISO image, which was 35) but also a high masking threshold at 60 (and probably should have gone to 70)... but there are very few artefacts. (As an aside, the reason for the high sharpening was because I felt the cookies were more OOF than I wanted because of my DOF choice so I was trying to rescue...)

Edited to add: everything I've said could be complete and utter mince... I'm a newbie to all this really but it's what I find works "for my eyes". Which could, of course, be bad eyes!
Edited again to add: I have to look at the image 1:1 to check for sharpening/NR artefacts... often they don't show up as easily when zoomed out. Having said that, I could see them on your otherwise lovely photo at forum resolution so I guess it's horses for courses! (Flickr sometimes does strange things, too...)

 

[superpippo]

Week 27 - Loud

Our Big Gig is a community music celebration taking place across England and Scotland from the 11th - 13th July 2014. This annual event aims to bring communities together to celebrate their local musical talents and get more people involved in music making.

I went to Poulton event last Sunday hoping for some young rock bands who played loud. i was not disappointed
This drummer was in a group of four who were pretty good and won me over with a super faithful rendition of 'The Boys are back in Town' - Thin Lizzy. Rock star face paint too.

Loud 1DSC_7994 - by Superpippo0547, on Flickr

But then these came on - The Fylde Ukelele Network (FUN) singing Bring Me Sunshine

Gently Loud

Loud 2 DSC_7978 - Copy_edited-1 by Superpippo0547, on Flickr

 

[JasonGlyn]

Shape: A very slick piece. The lighting, glow and muted background tones really add to the modern subject. Really like this.

Numbers: A strong composition with the focus on lines and diaganals giving added interest. You've done well here on what I think is a trickier subject to photograph than one might think

Texture: love the wavy curvey movement in the bark and the contrasting jagged shearing areas of bark. Would be tempted to try a little dodging and burning to add some extra texture / depth?

Dreamy: Love the starburts and upsidedown reflection of the palmtree. The color of the beverage adds to the warm and dreamy atmosphere on this. The low pov you've used seems to subconsciouly elavate the subject and scene into one the viewer aspires to experience.

Vertical: This has got alot more going for it than you give yourself credit for. The verticals are on point and the part silhouette leaves enough detail visible to keep my eye wandering round the frame. Has a romantic feel about it, like one of those ending scenes in an american movie where the new lovers come together again to re-kindle their love after going through a rocky patch in the middle of the movie. Definitely keep the flag....no question about it

Loud: I like both. the first is crisp and sharp whilst having enough DOF to show off the drummer well. The second is my fav though. Like the quirckyness of this and especially like the panarama type crop. Really enjoyed scanning over all their expressions - The clear winner and one that made me smile

 

[superpippo]

@JasonGlyn - thanks for taking the trouble to make these detailed comments - much appreciated. Will have a go separately with the dodge and burn on Texture (not really within my competence at the moment)

 

[superpippo]

Not a fail at all - it's a good shot... and if there's a yellowy cast maybe the light was... erm... yellowy!? If you can remember in your mind's eye what the scene looked like when you were there, you will be able to tell better than the rest of us what it should be

Re: sharpening - if you look at the image fullsize in Flickr you'll see quite a lot of artifacts where the sharpening algorithm thinks it has found an edge and has made it more distinct. But because the threshold was set (IMO) too high, it is turning dithering (think old newspaper colour prints - loads of dots) into edges. Look at his chin, his right cheek (left as we look at the reversed image) and around his right eye - there are plenty of telltale signs.

The trick I find (and I'm no expert) with sharpening is if the image looks "processed" then it's gone too far. I also try to be equally careful with noise reduction - too much and an image becomes plastic, meaning you then start to over-apply sharpening to get the edges back... a vicious circle of processing! As an example of "tough" conditions, here is a photo I took at 4.30am (before sunrise) through a window from a dark room with a zoom lens (albeit quite a decent quality one) - in order to get the shot I needed ISO3200, so it is horribly noisy. It's full of detail (grass, deer fur) so I was between a rock and a hard place. This is the best compromise I could manage between extracting detail and reducing noise, without introducing artefacts - it's not great by any stretch: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123807334@N03/14648410526/ (choose original size to see the poor quality).

Conversely, my "rich" picture is no great photo by any measure, but taken at ISO 80 it needs virtually no NR. This makes sharpening easier - I actually used a high sharpen 40 in LR (more than the high ISO image, which was 35) but also a high masking threshold at 60 (and probably should have gone to 70)... but there are very few artefacts. (As an aside, the reason for the high sharpening was because I felt the cookies were more OOF than I wanted because of my DOF choice so I was trying to rescue...)

Edited to add: everything I've said could be complete and utter mince... I'm a newbie to all this really but it's what I find works "for my eyes". Which could, of course, be bad eyes!
Edited again to add: I have to look at the image 1:1 to check for sharpening/NR artefacts... often they don't show up as easily when zoomed out. Having said that, I could see them on your otherwise lovely photo at forum resolution so I guess it's horses for courses! (Flickr sometimes does strange things, too...)

Thanks for the time that you have put into this Paul. Reading your advice, presumably you use LR for sharpening? I just use the Adjust Details/Sharpening sliders in Windows Live Photo Gallery - so perhaps I need to be a bit more sophisticated.

 

[mr.si]

Hiya, that's some great face paint on the drummer and you can't ever go wrong with a good version of that song! I like that his face is sharp and the drums are too, but that you have captured the movement of the stix.

Quirky for number two but being a sound engineer I was just looking at the stage monitors! (typical me). Good photo tho. ☺

 

[superpippo]

Hiya, that's some great face paint on the drummer and you can't ever go wrong with a good version of that song! I like that his face is sharp and the drums are too, but that you have captured the movement of the stix.

Quirky for number two but being a sound engineer I was just looking at the stage monitors! (typical me). Good photo tho. ☺

Thanks Simon - pleased that photo #2 holds something of special interest
As to the choice of song - just brilliant in my book

 

[susiejb]

Hi Simon...I thought I'd replied to your vertical and yum shots ....it's hard to keep track sometimes. Anyway, I think they are both great choices for the theme. I'm agreeing with Jason on vertical....a lovely, almost dreamy shot, and I definitely like the flagpole.

Yum .....another smashing choice ....you have captured those gorgeous blue eyes, and he really looks as if he's enjoying his cake...it's a messy stage isn't it ...but it has to be done

Loud just has to be shot two for me....I love the quirkiness of that little group.

 

[superpippo]

Hi Simon...I thought I'd replied to your vertical and yum shots ....it's hard to keep track sometimes. Anyway, I think they are both great choices for the theme. I'm agreeing with Jason on vertical....a lovely, almost dreamy shot, and I definitely like the flagpole.

Yum .....another smashing choice ....you have captured those gorgeous blue eyes, and he really looks as if he's enjoying his cake...it's a messy stage isn't it ...but it has to be done

Loud just has to be shot two for me....I love the quirkiness of that little group.

Thanks for the nice comments Susie(n)
Errrr.. Alan

 

[susiejb]

Embarrased apology......sorry about that. That's what happens when you do a quick catch up....I knew it was you really

 

[superpippo]

Embarrased apology......sorry about that. That's what happens when you do a quick catch up....I knew it was you really

I know you did. No problems. I have to write my comments on paper with the person's names at the top

 

[Delta Skies]

Wild - Great find. Looks like some sort of praying mantis to me. Sharpness looks good although I feel it looks a little out of place on the painted wood

Dreamy - Looks like you're having a great holiday. A pleasing image with a couple of nice touches in the starburst effect and the refracted image in the beer.

Vertical - Not sure about this one. Shame about hiding the radar dome. I spent many enjoyable years working at Warton. In fact my Father-in-Law also worked there before me. I didn't get to "south side" where the dome is that often as that area was generally a restricted area.

Yum - Looks like he's having a great time. Nicely lit portrait although the strap is a little distracting


Alan, If you are looking for some colourful photos next weekend don't forget to visit St Annes for the Kite Festival. We'll be on the beach displaying a few of the big ones. If you see a silver Hyundai Santa Fe don't be afraid to give us a shout. Public aren't generally allowed in but I maybe able to get you a little closer to the action.

 

[superpippo]

Wild - Great find. Looks like some sort of praying mantis to me. Sharpness looks good although I feel it looks a little out of place on the painted wood

Dreamy - Looks like you're having a great holiday. A pleasing image with a couple of nice touches in the starburst effect and the refracted image in the beer.

Vertical - Not sure about this one. Shame about hiding the radar dome. I spent many enjoyable years working at Warton. In fact my Father-in-Law also worked there before me. I didn't get to "south side" where the dome is that often as that area was generally a restricted area.

Yum - Looks like he's having a great time. Nicely lit portrait although the strap is a little distracting


Alan, If you are looking for some colourful photos next weekend don't forget to visit St Annes for the Kite Festival. We'll be on the beach displaying a few of the big ones. If you see a silver Hyundai Santa Fe don't be afraid to give us a shout. Public aren't generally allowed in but I maybe able to get you a little closer to the action.

Thanks for the comments Peter. I removed the dome because it was round not vertical and judging by the comments on the flagpole, it would no doubt have drawn some comments

Would be great to see the kites next week -it is always a pleasant sight. However we are in Glasgow for the weekend at the Commonwealth Games, specifically the velodrome, a Christmas present from our daughter. I would so have liked to see a flying Hyundai Santa Fe

 

[Delta Skies]

I would so have liked to see a flying Hyundai Santa Fe

LOL. Oh well never mind maybe next time

Looks like I missed page 11 for some reason

Loud - I like the feeling of action in #1 catching just the right amount of motion blur in the drum sticks.

Have a great time at the Games

 

[Tango32]

Loud -both are good but NO 1 for me its sharp, DOF focuses on the drummer well love the motion blur in the drum stix

 

[overbez]

I'm liking the drummer for loud, esp that there three different areas of movement (or not).

The drums and kit are all perfectly static and sharp, bit of movement in the body and head, but not enough to distract, and super moveemnt in the drum sticks.

The ukelele collective makes a good image once viewed full screen, the faces do just invite you to look around the whole image.

 

[d00d]

Loud 1: yes perfect shutter speed, good lighting too.

Loud 2: nice bright colours with contrasting black BG.

 

[blondie606]

HI Alan

Vertical I like , either version works for me , the flag does rather draw your eye but then you see the verticals so kind works for me

YUM....you should by now that I dislike/am crap at commenting on portrait type shot...partic kiddie ones but I will say the eye's look supper sharp & it's well exposed

Loud...gotta be #1 for me....the blur of the drumsticks says LOUD like nothing else...well caught ( & a cracking tune as well )

 

[Pinkbikerbabe]

Loud - two good images, I think the first image is my fav fits the theme. I guess the drums could be very Loud.

 

[superpippo]

HI Alan

Vertical I like , either version works for me , the flag does rather draw your eye but then you see the verticals so kind works for me

YUM....you should by now that I dislike/am crap at commenting on portrait type shot...partic kiddie ones but I will say the eye's look supper sharp & it's well exposed

Loud...gotta be #1 for me....the blur of the drumsticks says LOUD like nothing else...well caught ( & a cracking tune as well )

Thanks Lynne.
I know your predisposition to kiddie portraits but thanks for those comments anyway.

 

[Allan.H]

Hi Alan, Great pic of the drummer nice movement in the sticks, as someone said above nice ukelele players too the concentration on their faces makes the pic
two really nice images

 

[pjm1]

Thanks for the time that you have put into this Paul. Reading your advice, presumably you use LR for sharpening? I just use the Adjust Details/Sharpening sliders in Windows Live Photo Gallery - so perhaps I need to be a bit more sophisticated.

No probs - yes, I use Lightroom which does, I think, have a reasonably "good" sharpening algorithm. There are other (free?) sharpening tools available and it's probably worth using one of these if you want to sharpen up images well... especially if you're dealing with high noise or similar.

 

[superpippo]

Week 28 - Rich

Rich - DSC_0039 - Copy (2) by Superpippo0547, on Flickr

 

[superpippo]

Hi Alan, Great pic of the drummer nice movement in the sticks, as someone said above nice ukelele players too the concentration on their faces makes the pic
two really nice images

No probs - yes, I use Lightroom which does, I think, have a reasonably "good" sharpening algorithm. There are other (free?) sharpening tools available and it's probably worth using one of these if you want to sharpen up images well... especially if you're dealing with high noise or similar.

Thanks Allan and Paul

 

[Allan.H]

Hi Alan, so who has been raiding their piggy bank , Coins all the right way round and in line. i like the light coming through the middle and the slight reflection not to sure on the jaunty angle,
on saying that it doesn't upset me too much

 

[superpippo]

Hi Alan, so who has been raiding their piggy bank , Coins all the right way round and in line. i like the light coming through the middle and the slight reflection not to sure on the jaunty angle,
on saying that it doesn't upset me too much

Thanks Allan
I agree about the angle. - I wanted an angle but when I cropped it I thought that it might be too much - but that was the best shot and could not straighten it anymore.

 

[pjm1]

I think it's a cracking shot, for a number of reasons:
- exposure and lighting are bang on for me. Shiny coins not the easiest things, and the glossy surface can also be tricky so you've done well to capture a full dynamic range there.
- care in arranging the coins without them being too perfect.
- love the diagonal shaft of light
- subtle reflection captured in frame perfectly

The only crit I'd offer is re: angle (already mentioned) and a bit of a silly one: unless those coins are gold bullion (or you're a kid with only pocket money), is that rich?

But a lovely shot and even the angle is growing on me

 

[d00d]

with Paul all the way ... except I don't care how little or much those lovely shiny coins are worth.

 

[susiejb]

Hi Alan ....super shot...I really like the beam of light and the reflection...I like the random size of the money piles ...the angle works for me

 

[Judi]

Hi Alan,
Loud...#2 is brilliant, love the expressions and dress code
Rich... love the angle and shaft of light, nice one