StarDestroyer.Net BBS

IMG_0446 bw

Photo altered to B/W through a colour filter in a program. It looked better not blown up, the clouds are rather clipped.
IMG_0412_3_4Enhancer

IMG_0462

Fat pidgeon eating.
IMG_0448

IMG_0421

IMG_0411

IMG_0392


Face

Apalonia beach has a large house on the shore made out of salvaged scrap, stones and junk. (It's also where the mosaic walls are from)
IMG_0383_4_5Enhancer


IMG_0493


IMG_0498


IMG_0507

IMG_0380_1_2 HDR


Bonus:
Hanukkah lighting


Thoughts, comments, critique?

Excellent stuff

That B+W shot is particularly sweet, with the clouds and sea there - looks like something from the 1930s

And that damn pigeon looks like its smiling!

Burak Gazan wrote:Excellent stuff

Thanks

And that damn pigeon looks like its smiling!

The thing had enough trash/food/pretzels on the sand to justify its gluttonous joy

That last guy had better not get too close to that menorah, lest his Wookiee-like arm carpet be set ablaze.

Also, the 'fat pigeon' description is certainly appropriate.

IMG_0412_3_4Enhancer
I think you went a little too far with the HDR effects on this one, there's practically no visible shadows anywhere on the photo even though you have a bright sky with visible sunbeams. It just seems a little too obviously processed.


IMG_0448
Same as above, except it's more obvious. It looks like a movie set where someone's shining a bunch of spotlights on the cliff, the lighting doesn't look right. The cliffs are way brighter than the sky which is confusing to me. Again, think subtlety.


IMG_0493
This one's probably the most "real" looking of the bunch. Lighting's good, you have nice shadows & contrast, good work.


IMG_0380_1_2 HDR
Same as the first couple, except on this one I can work my Photoshop magic and get back to where I think it should be.

Original


Edit


Note the contrast in the water, particularly near the rock on the right of the picture. There's not enough contrast to my eyes in the original which makes the waves & water look "flat" and washed out. I also like the deeper bluer skies with more contrast in the clouds, though unfortunately I pushed the reds a little too far so some clouds have a bit of a reddish tinge and the sand is also a bit too red.

The sand is very off, yeah (I tried to fix the WB there and the Neutral colour, but it didn't help that much in the HDR). Your edit looks better than the original (Your edits aren't ALWAYS improvements . Just rather often ).
The clouds and skies have been horribly yellow and grey, I haven't gotten a decent shot with the clouds in ages. (Though that might be due to dust on the sensor. My cleaning attempts prove fruitless, so i'll need to find the cash for a profesional cleaning/rant).

Aerius wrote: IMG_0448
Same as above, except it's more obvious. It looks like a movie set where someone's shining a bunch of spotlights on the cliff, the lighting doesn't look right. The cliffs are way brighter than the sky which is confusing to me. Again, think subtlety.

What are you talking about? 448 has Loads of shadows under the rocks, it was in a patch of sunshine, hence the strong golden light all over it. (compared to the rest of the beach)

DEATH wrote:What are you talking about? 448 has Loads of shadows under the rocks, it was in a patch of sunshine, hence the strong golden light all over it. (compared to the rest of the beach)

Ah, I see. Still looks kinda weird though. The foreground looks like the sun's coming in from overhead, there's super sharp shadows which is what I'd expect from bright noontime sunlight. However the dullness of the sky and sea would point towards late evening, except late evening would have more reds in the sky. Overall it confuses me, and looks like someone setup a bunch of spotlights to light up the rocks. I don't have a solution for this other than "screw reality! let's make it totally surreal!"

aerius wrote:

DEATH wrote:What are you talking about? 448 has Loads of shadows under the rocks, it was in a patch of sunshine, hence the strong golden light all over it. (compared to the rest of the beach)

Ah, I see. Still looks kinda weird though. The foreground looks like the sun's coming in from overhead, there's super sharp shadows which is what I'd expect from bright noontime sunlight. However the dullness of the sky and sea would point towards late evening, except late evening would have more reds in the sky.

It was afternoon on a cloudy rainy day with a patch of sunlight hitting that area, hence the odd background and sunny foreground. (As I said ).

Overall it confuses me, and looks like someone setup a bunch of spotlights to light up the rocks. I don't have a solution for this other than "screw reality! let's make it totally surreal!"

Hmmm, that's inferior to the original. (Nice blue skies though).
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/314 ... 0058_o.jpg
You have a flickr account? since when . Add me (ddofer88) .

DEATH wrote:You have a flickr account? since when . Add me (ddofer88) .

Since my normal webhosting got too messy and ran out of space. And there's all of 2 pictures there, plus I still have to setup all my folders for future use. So maybe next year, depending on how lazy I am.

Well, I finally figured out what was going on, the picture has a case of vignetting which was making the lighting look so weird to my eyes.

Original


Edited



I went into Photoshop and loaded up the lens distortion filters, then dialed in some reverse vignetting until the rocks were at a more or less even looking brightness. This leaves the corner & edges of the sky too bright compared with the rest of the sky, so I had to burn it in a bit to make it look less obvious. After that I used the curves to drop the contrast a bit to make the edits less obvious and help with the harsh shadows in the foreground.

It's a pity you live 2 continents away from me, otherwise with your l33t photoshopping skills, my astounding photographic skills, and your wife as a model we could make millions! .

I thought I saw vignetting [=edges of the photo being darker than the middle] when taking the shots, although I didn't notice it in this shot. It does look better now.
I wonder if engineering schools also offer photoshop for photographers classes... Probably not, ah well!

DEATH wrote:It's a pity you live 2 continents away from me, otherwise with your l33t photoshopping skills, my astounding photographic skills, and your wife as a model we could make millions! .

You might want to keep your day job since this is as revealing as my modeling gets.

J wrote:

DEATH wrote:It's a pity you live 2 continents away from me, otherwise with your l33t photoshopping skills, my astounding photographic skills, and your wife as a model we could make millions! .

You might want to keep your day job since this is as revealing as my modeling gets.

I can work with that . (See the other "Portraits" thread).
I don't get paid for my day job anyway .