Briony's 52 2010 Week 34 SURFACES added 24/08

jennyb said:
Both beautiful shots, Nicki. I really like the processing on the second one.

Jenny
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Thanks Jenny, I am just beginning to really enjoy my photography again and the PP is coming on, just have to learn, I think what helped me was the WHF day that got me back into it again and you can see my cheetah on there (August 7th thread), my love lies with the wildlife and I often tell myself I should try something else but I do enjoy it. (y)
 
Briony said:
Thanks Jenny, I am just beginning to really enjoy my photography again and the PP is coming on, just have to learn, I think what helped me was the WHF day that got me back into it again and you can see my cheetah on there (August 7th thread), my love lies with the wildlife and I often tell myself I should try something else but I do enjoy it. (y)
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I am really pleased that you are getting back on track again. I will check out your cheetah. They are my favourite animals - so sleek and streamlined.

Why should you try other things? You love wildlife and it is quite a specialised subject. You should stick with that. I do. I have no interest whatsoever in taking photos of people, for example. However, I would like to master landscapes.

Keep it up.

Jenny
 
Love the Kites Nicky, in particular the second. You are very lucky indeed to have these around you.
 
just catching up a bit on your thread Nicki, i love your take on endings, why do the feet look so cuddley when the reality is they could tear you apart? You have some great wildlife shots too. This weeks mobile is the pick for me along with grace. Well done.
 
Nicki, that second Mobile shot is just beautiful. The details in the feathers make me want to stretch out and stroke him/her. :clap: Has he (?) got prey in his talons?

I totally agree with Jenny - why shoot things you're not particularly interested in - and wildlife photography is challenging and interesting enough to keep your interest for ever. You must have infinite patience as well as a good knowledge of your subjects. I'm really enjoying your 52 photos. :)

Jean
 
Wow Nicki !!!!

I haven't been in here for a few weeks and you've posted some amazing shots. Seriously . . . I can't believe the improvement in your photography since you started your 52.

You're getting so good at shooting those Red Kites.
The first one for mobile looks like you missed the focus on the eyes slightly, but the second version is just beautiful. You've judged the focus and DoF really well and there's fantastic detail in the feathers.
I also love the Kite in Flight for grace. I remember your struggle with capturing BIF and your perseverance has really paid off.

I also love your lions' paws - both for endings and transform. It's refreshing to see a different angle on the usual wildlife stuff.
I like your decision to convert the transform shot to B&W too. Not just because it makes it fit the theme - it really suits the image and it's nice to see you thinking outside the box in presenting your shots.

As somebody who lost their mojo for a few weeks I'm glad that you've got yours back - and if you want to stick to wildlife for the rest of your 52, then why not?
The passion behind these latest shots is clear :clap:
 
holryn said:
Love the Kites Nicky, in particular the second. You are very lucky indeed to have these around you.
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I have to admit I can never tire of taking these sorts of shots - love it. Thank you

clud17 said:
just catching up a bit on your thread Nicki, i love your take on endings, why do the feet look so cuddley when the reality is they could tear you apart? You have some great wildlife shots too. This weeks mobile is the pick for me along with grace. Well done.
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Thank you, :)I thought it was a different take on the theme and trying to stick to wildlife, you should see the teeth, phenominal :eek:

justlooking said:
really like the second 'mobile' shot - the colours and feather detail are lovely
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Thank you.(y)

jeangenie said:
Nicki, that second Mobile shot is just beautiful. The details in the feathers make me want to stretch out and stroke him/her. :clap: Has he (?) got prey in his talons? Yes, he has.

I totally agree with Jenny - why shoot things you're not particularly interested in - and wildlife photography is challenging and interesting enough to keep your interest for ever. You must have infinite patience as well as a good knowledge of your subjects. I'm really enjoying your 52 photos. :)

Jean
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Patience, flask of hot drinks and nice weather does help, and after sitting the other day 10.5 hours and got nothing, but I did have time to think abouth what I want to do in photography and wildlife is the answer I think. (y)
 
SarahLee said:
Wow Nicki !!!!

I haven't been in here for a few weeks and you've posted some amazing shots. Seriously . . . I can't believe the improvement in your photography since you started your 52.

Thank you Sarah you are so kind.
You're getting so good at shooting those Red Kites.
The first one for mobile looks like you missed the focus on the eyes slightly, but the second version is just beautiful. You've judged the focus and DoF really well and there's fantastic detail in the feathers.
I also love the Kite in Flight for grace. I remember your struggle with capturing BIF and your perseverance has really paid off.

Yep the first one was off so that is why I posted another one. Birds in flight are hard but I am very fortunate to be able to get practice in right on the door step. My next chapter is to get a Kite feeding on the ground in the snow, that would be just so awesome, so here's hoping.

I also love your lions' paws - both for endings and transform. It's refreshing to see a different angle on the usual wildlife stuff.
I like your decision to convert the transform shot to B&W too. Not just because it makes it fit the theme - it really suits the image and it's nice to see you thinking outside the box in presenting your shots.

I'm not ususally a B & W lover but someone suggested I should try it and I am always open to suggestions, and in fact I do like it. :thumbs:

As somebody who lost their mojo for a few weeks I'm glad that you've got yours back - and if you want to stick to wildlife for the rest of your 52, then why not?
The passion behind these latest shots is clear :clap:
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Thank you for you kind comments they are really appreciated and keeps me going, just got to sort out the PP skills now and then I think I may just cracked the ice, so to speak, a long way to go yet. (y)
 
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I put this on the Zoo forum and then it hit me as I was thinking to myself, the surace of the eye, then voila, 2 surfaces,

1. Tigers eye.

2. Tigers fur (surface of the tiger :shrug:)

Taken with my good old 450 and nifty fifty :LOL:

Not sure if it is a tad overdone and if I come up with anything else I will add to this.

Thanks for looking.(y)

003edit.jpg


003edit-1.jpg


Softened it a bit - any better?

Trying to work a bit more on the PP section now !
 
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Nice idea Nicki. Is this a huge crop from the original image? Whilst the top version seems a little over sharpened, the bottom version is too soft. Somewhere in between would work better. I'm not sure the focus is quite there on the original to get it spot on though.
 
No not a huge crop wanted to take a piccy of the eye, can't seem to get the softenss as to how everyone likes though :shrug: worth a try, shame I can't retake this:LOL: perhaps one day.(y)

I only dropped 1 stop between the top and bottom image so not sure what else to do in that situation :shrug:
 
#1 for me Nicki, the second one is a bit soft. I like the image, certainly up close and personal with that fine beast. Perhaps a wee tweak in composition, to have the tigers eye on a third, possibly upper right, then it is looking into the frame? Iain
 
Wow - that's close, and definitely meets the 'Surfaces' theme. :)

I prefer #1, even though the white fur is a little bit too bright. It's certainly not easy when you have such contrasting colours to contend with, but perhaps taking a very small touch of brightness out would tone it down slightly. on the other hand, it could just be my screen, so don't take it as gospel. The level of detail of amazing, and I presume since you are here to tell the tale that it wasn't taken with a macro lens. Sometimes the nifty fifty just does the job, doesn't it! :D;)

Jean
 
I love this idea and I think you've done brilliantly to get that close up and get that amount of detail into it.

The degree of sharpening is always going to be a personal decision - and what people see will also vary depending on their monitor.
For me, the sharpness in the eye is spot on in the first one, but I'm finding the fur oversharpened in both of them for my taste.

A very quick edit here, but it's probably easier to show you what I mean. My personal preference would be something like this. Softer fur, but retaining the sharpness in the eye.
Please say if you don't like it or if you'd prefer me to take it down. If it does work for you I'm happy to explain what I did - with more time and patience you could blend the fur around the eye a lot better.

 
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Love it Sarah, (y) and this is where my route has got to take me down next, more of the editing. How did you do it?
 
Glad you liked it Nicki - I don't normally like editing photos in people's projects, but I thought with this one was easier to show what could be achieved.

I think selective sharpening on the original pic may be easier than what I did. Effectively I had to "unsharpen" the fur, but these are the steps that I took and you can use the same principle to sharpen bits of a photo as well as blurring them.
(I'm not sure what editing software you have. This was in CS4, but if you have layers then you can replicate this in whatever software you're using.)

1) Started with no.1 image with the eye very sharp.
2) Duplicated the layer and added some blur to it (easier to add more blur than you really want and tweak it in step 5)
3) Masked out the eye area on the duplicate layer so that the sharp original showed through.
4) Reduced the opacity of the brush to 50% and masked a little more around the eyelashes, so that there was a gradual transition from very sharp to softer - this is the bit that you could do a lot better with some more time.
5) Reduced the opacity of the duplicate blurred layer until I was happy with the feel of the fur in the final image.
6) Finally, I'd lost a bit of contrast through blurring the fur, so I bumped that back up.
 
Nice and close shot Nicki. Sarahs edit just edges it. On you first shot the fur a little too 'bristly' and doesn't convey 'soft' fur, but the eye is great.

Well done on getting so close.
 
Nicky, sorry, just catching up... The kites are excellent, well done on getting so close with your "portaloo" :D.... The second is a truly stunning picture. Have you had it printed and put on the wall yet ? if not why not ?

As for Surfaces, that really is close. I think I agree with the others, the first is too sharp, the second too soft. Sarah has got it just right for me with her edit.
 
jgs001 said:
Nicky, sorry, just catching up... The kites are excellent, well done on getting so close with your "portaloo" :D.... The second is a truly stunning picture. Have you had it printed and put on the wall yet ? if not why not ?

As for Surfaces, that really is close. I think I agree with the others, the first is too sharp, the second too soft. Sarah has got it just right for me with her edit.
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Thank you do you mean the one on post 398 ? :thinking: the Kite one.
 
Thats what I like about this forum, nice friendly people sharing opinions, hints, tips and abilities. Briony had a good idea for the starting point of what she wanted and Sarah helped her try to attain it, enabling Briony to see the PP side just a little more and the possibilities available.
Photoshop is an art in itself - and I for one tend to stick to what I know rather than explore the million alternatives. For example I saw one guy who uses blur for sharpening!! and it works.
 
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