[Mac+]

Finally got down to sorting out some old rolls of film. Here are some shots from China that I took in 2005.

Shanghai skyline

Lama Temple Monk

[spikeh]

That skyline is stunning dude.

[intlplby]

Same Monk from the Lama Temple




Some old guy from Hebei province.


I should have bought his glasses from him right then and there. they are freakin awesome

[Mancomb Seepgood]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Winner of the 1st prize in the Portraits (singles) category of the 2007 World Press Photo Awards. Wounded US Marine returns home from Iraq to marry More shots of the marriage here. Edit: updated photo link.

My heart cringed when I went through the rest of those photos. I'm sure there are many people (including myself) that would rather die when faced with the realization that they will never be the same ever again. It has to be hard on not only him but his wife as well. I hope all goes well. And if the marriage does work out, then there has to be (contrary to my belief) something that exists such as true love.

[Mac+]

spikeh - thanks.
intlplby - I saw that on your website and it reminded me to fish my shot out.

[Mac+]

Here are two from the Shanghai acrobat show - October 2006.

[turtle]

Well my portfolio 3 went in today. It was all about one color. I choose red because it's kinda close to home for me. Here's one of the images from it; click on it to be taken to the photo page with all 8 of them.


Please feel free to give me some feedback on my portfolio, it's one of the only way's I'll learn to get better.

[billybobsky]

I really like the fire helmut (I would have had the engine be a little more in focus, but not in focus, if you know what I mean), the wheel, and the biohazard bin. The others don't grab my attention. Red 7 and Red 8 are somewhat boring. It also seems like you over-processed some of the images...

[Majost]

Red 6 would be much more interesting if you had more foreground showing.

Man, I wish I had taken more photo classes in college.

[torifile]

[billybobsky]

(congrats, papa)

[torifile]

Red 1 I liked a lot. I would have liked it even more if you had an even shallower depth of field. Red 8: I wish that the berries were sharper.

[Dorian Gray]

Mac+: that skyline is insane! Is that smog or lens flare I'm seeing in the distance?

Imaginative photos, turtle2472! I find that you suddenly realise the limitations of your ability when you have to return with good shots, so good job. This is also what seperates the pros from the amateurs: the amateurs have a handful of great shots in their portfolio, while the pros have to make that happen week in and week out.

I think you were right to select Red 1 to post here as it's probably the best. Like billybobsky I'd like a little more depth of field, but torifile leans the other way so on balance your judgement was probably sound. Red 2 would need to be printed very large to draw the viewer's attention to your multiple reflections in the polished wheel nuts. Red 6 was well spotted but I can't help but wonder what it would look like with the "FIRE" letters in the frame (or would that be too trite and literal?).

Is it the crap LG monitor I'm using (caution: avoid at all costs!) or are the large versions much less saturated than the thumbnails?

I'd love to see what these would have looked like on Kodachrome 25. That stuff rendered reds like nothing before or since (Kodachrome 64, still available, is the best substitute, but still a poor second). It had a high gamma but that was compensated for by an exceptionally long density range in the red channel, so the result was very high colour contrast as well as reasonable dynamic range (more than six stops). Maximum saturation in the red channel was very high due to spectral sensitivity out to 700 nm and minimal bleeding from the magenta-forming layer. And developer adjaceny effects gave PKM an eye-bleeding acutance that has never been matched. The results were absolutely magic. Ah, I'm waxing nostalgic at twenty-five...

[turtle]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I do appreciate them and they will help me to become better along the way, so again, thank you.

billybobsky, some of the colors had to be tweaked, though I tried to keep them "normal". Would you mind letting me know which ones you feel were saturated a little too far? I shoot in RAW and have yet to get a WB card so I have to do most of my adjustments trying to recreate some colors as I saw them with my eye. They are all fairly flat when seem in RAW on Aperture.

Admittedly, 7 and 8 were thrown in to break up the subject a little. This was only color based, not theme beyond that. I have to say though, I like the pomegranate seeds personally. I should have cropped 8 more to remove the ones on the right.

It is possible the thumbnails are off as compared to the originals. It was built through iWeb from my Aperture version exports, if only Aperture could export to iWeb directly or be available in iWeb's Media Browser.

If anyone else has comments please feel free to add to this. Thanks again all who have commented.

tori, I almost forgot; congrats daddy! Feels good doesn't it?

[Mac+]

DG - thanks.

Re: smog or lens flare. Shanghai is definitely smoggy, but this was taken with a standard 28-80 kit lens from the top of the JinMao tower so it's probably more lens flare than smog.

Also, to clarify on the lens used, it is two shots: vertical on the right, horizontal on the left. I don't have a scanner or PS, so my "print guy" did the composite for me. He then gave me a tiff file and I performed some tidying up after that in Aperture. It "blew up" quite well too. I have a 1m*.5m framed version above my desk and the school purchased a huge 2m*3.7m version to hang in the stairwell.

turtle - Aperture shots are available in iWeb. Be sure you have previews set to display in Aperture as this is what iWeb uses ... not that I've tried, but this is what I've read.

tori - congrats again.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 billybobsky, some of the colors had to be tweaked, though I tried to keep them "normal". Would you mind letting me know which ones you feel were saturated a little too far? I shoot in RAW and have yet to get a WB card so I have to do most of my adjustments trying to recreate some colors as I saw them with my eye. They are all fairly flat when seem in RAW on Aperture.

It apparently really depends upon screen... On my laptop, the Biohazard bin, the seeds and the berries were all over saturated... on my desktop, only the biohazard bin seemed to have some over saturation on the left hand side, but it is barely noticeable...

Once, again, though the shots are nice...

Levels are a hard thing to get right, especially since our eyes respond differently to front lit reality than back lit lcd surreality...

[turtle]

Yeah, I need to calibrate my monitor with a real calibration eye and software to make sure it's right. Though, I do my editing on a nice CRT and only ever view them on my wife's MB every now and then. Her computer is the one with Aperture on it, I just hook it up to my monitor through a KVM. I have noticed some differences in LCD and CRT. Again, once I calibrate with an eye and software I'll have a better comparison for the LCD and CRT's I use.

Thanks again for the input.

Mac+, I'll have to play with it some and see if it does. I honestly haven't even tried yet.

[turtle]

For those who may be interested I have published my images from the lunar eclipse. It is only with my .Mac and iWeb, but if you didn't get to see them now would be your chance.


Click the image to see the photo page on my site. If you want to read about the evening then click over to my blog and read about it there.

[turtle]

For those who don't go through the Genius Bar often I thought I would post this here.

I have created an Automator workflow to aid in archiving the images coming out of your camera cards. See my post here if interested.

[AWR]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 For those who may be interested I have published my images from the lunar eclipse. It is only with my .Mac and iWeb, but if you didn't get to see them now would be your chance. Click the image to see the photo page on my site. If you want to read about the evening then click over to my blog and read about it there.

Color me impressed. Nice work turtle. I have poked around your pictures before, and liked what I saw. Should have mentioned it earlier. Keep snapping.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by AWR Color me impressed. Nice work turtle. I have poked around your pictures before, and liked what I saw. Should have mentioned it earlier. Keep snapping.

Thanks you very much. I really appreciate that.

[turtle]

First, most of my images will be changing hosts. Since I am not renewing .Mac and instead going with a real hosting company, the links to my photo albums will be going down about the middle of May. If y'all are interested in seeing them again after that, I can ask an admin to change the links of just post new links.

Next up: Photoshop wizards, can I get some technical feedback from you. (I'm using CS2.) Others, I'd like your input too.

I was given an image to work on in class and submit Monday. I have no idea who the subject is in this image and I didn't take the picture. My instructor just gave all of us a CD to pull the image off of and to correct it. So here are my before and after shots. I'll post the after first and then the before. Our tasking was to make this woman as flattering as possible without crossing too many ethical lines. (Where is that line anyway? )

After (Click the image for full size PSD)


Before (Click image for original JPG)


Thanks for any comments or tips. If you don't want to clutter the thread, PMs are great.

[Perfecting_Zero]

Hi Turtle:

Honestly, I prefer the "before" shot. But I must admit my bias toward naturalistic, available-light photography.

I know that there will be others who can better evaluate how skillfully/competently you applied the various tools in Photoshop. I only offer my impression that the final results of Photoshop, exemplified in your "after" image, feel (to me) glossy, artificial..., even romanticized, if you will. Indeed, if it can be true that the life-worn "edges" of personality can be discerned, traced-out in a close study of our faces and skin, then, for this viewer, you have "rubbed" them away in a digital haze of manipulation.

Regarding photographic portraiture, I suppose that, ultimately, I am an advocate for a more judicious and transparent use of manipulation -- whether digital or analog.




Best,

Z

[turtle]

Thanks for the feedback. I personally agree with your take, however in this case I have no choice but to comply with my assignment. When I get paid to correct images from clients I really have to follow their wishes if I expect to get paid too.

The good part is that your impression "...glossy, artificial...., even romanticized..." is really what I was told to produce. Something to minimize her skin issues and allow her "hidden beauty" to be seen.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Schnauzer]

yeah the before shot pwns the photoshopped one

[thegeriatric]

Originally Posted by Mac+ Finally got down to sorting out some old rolls of film. Here are some shots from China that I took in 2005. Shanghai skyline Lama Temple Monk

Love the Shanghai skyline, any chance of a larger version? would love to use it for my background if that's possible/ok. Cheers.

[Ryan]

(click for big)

I'm not posting this photo because it's good, but rather because I'm completely lost on how to correct the colors. When I print it, the brush appears somewhat purple (the photo was taken at dusk, with my back to the sun, so I suppose it should) but on screen it looks brown. The sky is also darker on screen.

Is this just a matter of calibrating my monitor (which I'm never able to do successfully) or something else?

BTW, the original file is RAW, so I can make any adjustments I need to that.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Ryan (click for big) I'm not posting this photo because it's good, but rather because I'm completely lost on how to correct the colors. When I print it, the brush appears somewhat purple (the photo was taken at dusk, with my back to the sun, so I suppose it should) but on screen it looks brown. The sky is also darker on screen. Is this just a matter of calibrating my monitor (which I'm never able to do successfully) or something else? BTW, the original file is RAW, so I can make any adjustments I need to that.

The differences in how your monitor and your printer present the colors are definitely a matter of calibration. However, as far as I'm concerned, the bigger problem with the photo is its white balance. I would try playing around with decreasing the color temperature.

[turtle]

Ryan, I think chucker is right on with this one. I hope you don't mind, but I played a little with your image and made a quick adjustment to the WB to help with the color cast.


Dusk is one of the hardest times to shoot without custom setting the WB to get the correct levels. I like your image too BTW.

[chucker]

Indeed, that's very close to my idea of what the image should be like.