acrobatx's photo52 - week 10 - Chemistry

Welcome to the forum and the 52 Acrobat. I am sure you will enjoy both.
Iain
 
Thanks for the merge. I did the first one but then I thought it might be best to add 2010!

Quick question if anyone can help....

- Where's the best place to go to get the topic each week? I imagine there will be a single place but, again, I can't find it!

Thanks for your initial encouragement. I had better get on a take some photos!

Cheers
 
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The weather has been terrible this week so I've had to dig out a photo from the summer.

This is a picture of the Ottawa Locks, part of the Rideau Canal. Each summer hundreds of boats pass through the locks with the only way to get through being to wind the locks open and closed. Hopefully this counts as mechanical!

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Welcome to the 52 Jonathan. A nice scene for your first submission and says mechanical to me without a question. Not too sure about the processing on it though, what did you do to it? It's almost like a selective sepia which I'm afraid isn't doing a lot for me.

Hope the weather improves next week for you.
 
To be honest I was just messing about but I like the solid reflection look of the water. The lighting was pretty dark and the original doesn't look too great so it definitely needed something. You're right though, it looks a bit strange! Perhaps I'll have another go.
 
I've kept the contrast up a little but now it's just black and white. A bit cleaner. An improvement?

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Perhaps a bit dark but it's a definite improvement for me in b&w.
 
Welcome! Looks much better in B&W... not overly fussed on the first version you posted and there was a lot of odd looking bits in the background hills especially.
 
Hi Jonathan, I also prefer the B/W one although I would probably brighten it a little. The processing on the colour version does not look quite right to me. I am pleased to hear that you are also experiencing bad weather. It is not just us!

Jenny
 
Hi Jonathan, welcome to the 52's. The B&W for me... and yep, it says mechanical.
 
Another vote for the B&W version :)

Welcome aboard!

Ian.
 
Hi Jonathan and welcome to the 52.

Overall I'm going to agree with the majority and say I prefer the B&W.
There is something special about the water in the first one though . . . it's just that the tones in the rest look a little bit odd. Maybe worth persevering and playing with it a bit more :shrug:

Definitely on theme for the week and a nice composition too.
 
I like the composition of this, I think it works well. I'm not actually sure I prefer the mono version as I like the sepia tones in the first image (I think the blue areas are making it look a bit odd though); the b&w version looks a bit flat to me. It's a good fit for the theme though :)

Oh, and welcome to the 52s :)
 
Welcome Jonathan.

I prefer the B&W version - a little too much noise in the first and not too keen on the 'colour' of the hills and sky.
 
Thanks for your feedback everyone. This is pretty much the original image but lightened just a touch. I'm finding it difficult to brighten it up anymore as it was taken at dusk and artificial brightening looks a bit silly. I'd welcome any suggestions on how to brighten it and still make it look realistic.

Jonathan

 
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Okay so nothing says play to me at the moment like our six month old beagle puppy, Simon. After what feels like thousands of shots, I've settled on this one as he was having a lot of fun at the time and is staring at the ball very intensely.

The original photo is a slightly wider shot and I wanted to make him appear on an all white/cream background. I tried this in photoshop but quickly got frustrated; the automated tools wouldn't do it and doing it manually (with the lasso) was taking forever and I couldn't get it close enough in some places. If anybody has any ideas I'd really appreciate some help.

Jonathan

 
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I agree with trying to get the background changed, the shot of the dog though is very good, nice detail. I would imagine it was difficult with a playful puppy to get him to sit still...
 
Cute puppy and nice shot. I do not like the cut out at all - you could try blurring out the background in your original image as I think that would work much better than the cut out.
 
Okay, fair enough. What's the best tool to blur the background of the original? I'm new to the processing part of things. Thanks.
 
Jonathan, I see what you mean... I really like the puppy in the image. The cut out seems to have him just floating... make a selection of the background (try using select by colour, click on the objects in the background, and holding the shift key down select some more.) you may have to deselect a bit of Simon using that. Try and avoid selecting the floor on which Simon is laying though. Then use filter, blur, lens blur, and have a play with the settings. This seems to give the most natural looking blur (to my eyes at least), as if you'd shot with a wide aperture setting for shallow DOF.

I didn't adjust my Play image in photoshop, I blew out the background at the shooting stage by pointing a flash set to blinding power (it's only got 3 settings) at the wall but from beneath the shot (in effect from behind).
 
Certainly fits the theme but as you say background is distracting.

It isn't easy to change so much in a shot without it looking odd as you've found out.

Perhaps it would be easier to reshoot the picture outside on some grass or tarmac?
 
After I've moved to the country, a beagle would be my choice of dog. Lovely portrait, he looks like he's concentrating hard not to let the ball get away. The background's not too distracting for me and I'd hold off on trying to cut it out or it could just look worse. Natural photo in natural environment :)
 
Awwwww!!!! :wave: Hello Simon.
He is absolutely gorgeous.

TBH I don't mind about the background that much because you have such a beautiful subject - and I far prefer the one with the natural background than the cut-out edit (sorry, but that one just looks odd to me :()

I understand what you're saying about wanting the background cleaner though. LadySue had the same issue with her dog shot in the 52 a couple of weeks back.
I'm afraid that this is the type of Photoshopping I'm useless at, so I'm no help at all with the fiddly cutting out bit.
As John said above, I find it much easier to get the effect you're after in camera by manipulating the DoF at the time of taking the shot.

Background aside (which doesn't bother me too much anyway) it's a lovely shot. You've got the focus on his eyes and the lighting on his coat looks perfect. You've also caught a great expression on his face :thumbs:
The only thing I'd like to change would be to get a bit more brightness into his eyes to really make them stand out a bit more.
 
Week 10 - Chemistry

I'm not very happy with this one but struggled a little with the theme! We went to a 'Sugar Bush' today which is where they make maple syrup here in Canada. Unfortunately it was raining so quite drab and there wasn't much going on in terms of making the syrup. I should have got a shot of pancakes with the syrup on them but by the time I thought of that, I'd already eaten them!

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Well done for getting your shot in Jonathan. Whilst I can see what you've done here, it's not doing a great deal for me. Other than I never knew they tapped the tree like that :) Perhaps losing the middle image and tagging your pancakes on the end would have been good, but hindsight is always full of bright ideas, definitely worth going back just for that shot ;)
 
Thanks for taking the time to look Darren. I know, the shot doesn't do a lot for me either! Better luck next week eh!
 
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