Critique - feel free!

FourRingCircus

FourRingCircus

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Name
John
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm a bird photographer who just dabbles in night-time stuff. The best thing about shooting the moon, or night photography in general, is that it's just there without going hunting for it and nothing tends to fly away when you point a camera with a wide lens on it at night!

Anyway, I took this shot in about 98% darkeness on Christmas Eve last year. Standing in the cold, there was no way you could see a loch in front of you, and the (apparent) light in the distance was not visible with the naked eye. You simply couldn't see the hill with the snow on it to the left, nor could you see the faint spot of lights at the bottom right of the loch (I still don't know what this is and despite looking like a car, it most certainly isn't!). I was standing less than a meter from my car and I had to fumble about waving my hands in front of me to find the car!

This shot has been heavilly processed with sliders going all the way in numerous directions, so it's a total fabrication from what was actually (not) seen that night. However, it has received accolades of astonishment from friends and relatives and I'm keen to hear what others who don't know me think of it. There is a faint hint of the aurora at the cloud edge in the centre too. I was actually there to shoot the aurora, but the clouds spoiled it. The camera is looking to the north-west.

EOS5Diii, EF24-70 F2.8L, 30s ISO3200.

10862708_908407459178997_4234710029994926134_o.jpg
 
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I would IMHO like to see the orange/yellow dulled down a fraction, and placed on a canvas with the top 2/5th (10 x 4 Crop)missing, Oh & clone the white spot BRH edge of lake :)
 
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cant say anything other than ...nice pic :)
 
Good effort John in quite challenging circumstances. Personally the colour is just right for me but I am often guilty of overdoing the sliders :)

Love the tinge of the aurora at the edge of the cloud, shame you couldn't get more of it.
 
For the sake of some clarity, here is a straight rezise to jpeg from the RAW image:

12117-1435676090-03053da0d662cb052cdffca542c7fe49.jpg
 
Were you drunk when you cropped this?
 
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I do Prefer your edited version to SOC, and would look nice on a large Canvas 60 x 20
 
Digisatman said:
I do Prefer your edited version to SOC, and would look nice on a large Canvas 60 x 20
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in the dark

when I originally saw it I was looking for the bird

but as it has " received accolades of astonishment from friends and relatives" - I did not ask the "Windbag Sailor" :)
 
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BRASH said:
Were you drunk when you cropped this?
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It was Christmas Eve, so Yes, I think I was drunk until the 4th January!! :p

I've made it my task to have a go with LightRoom, so have been looking for a RAW image to play with. Perhaps the original of this one will be a good start.
 
Look at the angle of the water line in the crop. Sloppy or should I say slopey.
 
BRASH said:
Look at the angle of the water line in the crop. Sloppy or should I say slopey.
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If you look at the opening post, you will see that I did straighten it from the original. In fact, I think that's all I did with it. The straightening accounts for some of the loss of land in the bottom right because I don't recall cropping it at all. To be fair, drunk or otherwise, have you ever tried to set-up a tripod in the pitch dark / freezing cold and manage it correctly?

If you think there is something wrong with level of the edit at the top, you're wrong!!:p:D
 
FourRingCircus said:
If you look at the opening post, you will see that I did straighten it from the original. In fact, I think that's all I did with it. The straightening accounts for some of the loss of land in the bottom right because I don't recall cropping it at all. To be fair, drunk or otherwise, have you ever tried to set-up a tripod in the pitch dark / freezing cold and manage it correctly?

If you think there is something wrong with level of the edit at the top, you're wrong!!:p:D
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I clearly said the crop, ie the second shot and yes I've done many things successful in the dark.
 
Digisatman said:
No just turn in my case iPad 10deg right, it is straight :)
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It probably look straight to bill because he's on a French red tilt all the time:D
 
BRASH said:
I clearly said the crop, ie the second shot and yes I've done many things successful in the dark.
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The second shot is the ORIGINAL, just resized from RAW. Numpty......:facepalm:
 
FourRingCircus said:
The second shot is the ORIGINAL, just resized from RAW. Numpty......:facepalm:
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I know that you muppet. The point is it's squint and shouldn't have been posted in the form, regardless of the reasons. Is your medication adversely affecting your judgement?:rolleyes::)
 
FourRingCircus said:
For the sake of some clarity, here is a straight rezise to jpeg from the RAW image:
Click to expand...

BRASH said:
I know that you muppet. The point is it's squint and shouldn't have been posted in the form, regardless of the reasons. Is your medication adversely affecting your judgement?:rolleyes::)
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Why??

first image lots of work including straighten
2nd image no work what so ever apart raw to jpg.( as stated)

You have to remember not everybody including guest's and newbys are proficient as some, and is nice to see the before and after, in this case the other way around.:D
 
Digisatman said:
Why??

first image lots of work including straighten
2nd image no work what so ever apart raw to jpg.( as stated)

You have to remember not everybody including guest's and newbys are proficient as some, and is nice to see the before and after, in this case the other way around.:D
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No it's not. It's the simplest thing to produce a straight image. End of.o_O
 
Why ???

because you believe everybody should ?

Some people don't have software, some people don't know how, some people like to see before & after,
there seems to be more reasons to leave than to straighten :confused:
 
Sometimes is hard to get it straight, when people keep putting water or ice or worse, cola in it.
 
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Digisatman said:
Why ???

because you believe everybody should ?

Some people don't have software, some people don't know how, some people like to see before & after,
there seems to be more reasons to leave than to straighten :confused:
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Negative, the majority of squinty horizoned pictures are inadvertently posted by folk who haven't paid enough attention to detail when either composing the shot or when processing it. As for not having software, by definition to post digitally produced images, software must have been used. Even the most basic free software allows cropping and straightening and it's about the simplest and quickest of procedures.
 
I think Brian has missed the bit about fumbling about in the dark, or thought I was just saying that for dramatic effect.:rolleyes:

I couldn't see the camera or the tripod and I couldn't even see that there was a loch there at all. It was a virtual blackout. An odd feeling when yiou get out of your car in the highlands and within seconds, you don't even know that your car is there! The original image (2nd on here) is a 30 second exposure. Trust me, trying to make that striaght in camera when there is nothing at all to see with the naked eye is impossible.

Anyway - Brian - go back to the birds and leave us in the dark here!;)
 
As they said go away and come back when you've seen the light
 
FourRingCircus said:
I think Brian has missed the bit about fumbling about in the dark, or thought I was just saying that for dramatic effect.:rolleyes:

I couldn't see the camera or the tripod and I couldn't even see that there was a loch there at all. It was a virtual blackout. An odd feeling when yiou get out of your car in the highlands and within seconds, you don't even know that your car is there! The original image (2nd on here) is a 30 second exposure. Trust me, trying to make that striaght in camera when there is nothing at all to see with the naked eye is impossible.

Anyway - Brian - go back to the birds and leave us in the dark here!;)
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Like I've now said several times it's the easiest thing to sort in PP as you did for the first post. See you CAN do it if you try.
 
Brian
We beg to differ just because you know others don't, how can they learn, is this not a learning forum

hows this for you
glass-of-water-clipart-glass-water-17651781.jpg




John for next time :)

X-Ray-Glasses-via-Flickr-photobunny_earl-2412677222.jpg
 
Digisatman said:
Brian
We beg to differ just because you know others don't, how can they learn, is this not a learning forum

hows this for you
glass-of-water-clipart-glass-water-17651781.jpg




John for next time :)

X-Ray-Glasses-via-Flickr-photobunny_earl-2412677222.jpg
Click to expand...

As Peter Tosh once sang "I man don't drink, pink, blue, yellow, green soda. Soda pop, soda pop" (Mystic Man Title track of that album).

I do tho:D
 
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