Squawk's 52 2010 - Week 15: single (I'm back)

I feel your pain.

I just wish Photoshop, Lightroom and Photomatix all ran seamlessly on Linux. Got a test install of Ubuntu 9.04 on an old laptop and I flippin' love it.

Hope you get things back to normal soon!!

Ian.
 
Because you've fallen behind yours is the only 52 I can comment on yet (I'm a few weeks behind too) :lol:

Really nice set you've got here. Love the first play, love the mechanical shot, and out of the rest I really like the last street shot you linked (old man with street in the BG). Nice work, keep it up! :thumbs:
 
Week somethingorother: Single

Well I'm back and 52 ing :D At long last photos have started to flow, though I now have a few weeks to catch up on. To be honest I haven't even looked at catagories gone by, I'll do that in due course in order to catch up. But for now, single

Candiate 1
swan_sunset-1-2.jpg

This one should be fairly obvious, it's a single swan. I didn't actually set out to capture this one as part of the 52, but when it presented itself I figured it would be rude not to.

Candidate 2
52_single-1.jpg

This one was planned, a single malt whiskey.

The swan pic is essentially as it came out of the camera, lovely colours going on in the sky due to all the ask I think. The whiskey photo has been given a bit of a tweak with a "300" preset in lightroom, with a couple of adjustments added aftewards for the vignette and saturation.

As always, comments appreciated
 
lovely photo, good DOF, nice and sharp (and good choice on the drink)
 
I always find close ups of people eyes very interesting for me :thumbs:

The first of the three for play stands out as for the composition/angle and DOF.

Love the Swan shot with the colours from the setting sun, too many whiskey drinkers on here :D although as its Glenfiddich I'll let you off.
 
Love the swan. Moody, dreamy colours and perfect composition.

The single malt one almost works, but I feel it's a little unclear where the focus should be. It looks like you've focused on the bottle on the right, but the top part of the label looks oof.
 
Nice shot the swan, i would be tempted to crop the reeds to left of the swan out though.

As for the whisky - popular choice it seems ;)
Same issue for me, about focal point, I would prefer the glass as apposed to the bottle, nonetheless great shot ;)
 
The23rdman said:
Love the swan. Moody, dreamy colours and perfect composition.

The single malt one almost works, but I feel it's a little unclear where the focus should be. It looks like you've focused on the bottle on the right, but the top part of the label looks oof.
Click to expand...

dade_f said:
Nice shot the swan, i would be tempted to crop the reeds to left of the swan out though.

As for the whisky - popular choice it seems ;)
Same issue for me, about focal point, I would prefer the glass as apposed to the bottle, nonetheless great shot ;)
Click to expand...

Strange you should both mention that, my first attempt involved focus on the glass rather than the bottle and I didn't like. This might be one to experiment further with perhaps, though I'm now inching towards the swan shot as a keeper anyway. I think I need to work on a slightly better composition in order to get focus to work properly, as you say it's probably on the wrong part of the bottle as it is.

Thanks all for the feedback.
 
The only problem with the crop is you loose the detail in the top which I think is important overall, would it be better just to clone out the reeds?
 
foggy4ever said:
The only problem with the crop is you loose the detail in the top which I think is important overall, would it be better just to clone out the reeds?
Click to expand...

Very possibly. I have had a quick go with gimp to see if I can get rid of it with limited success thus far, it looks a bit naff to be honest. I might have another play with it shortly.

I've also had yet another go at cropping it to remove all detail from the top, leave it somewhat isolated.

52_swan_cropped2-1.jpg
 
My PP skills aren't that good yet I've also had a play trying to remove the reeds, I think you sensor might need a bit of a clean as well ;)
 
Third option, a different image along the same lines (I have numerous ones).

52_swan_new_image-1.jpg
 
Welcome back James !

You're going to hate me for this after you've gone to all that effort with new versions and different crops, but it's the very first original crop of the swan that does it for me. (sorry!)

I think the composition is near perfect in this one - not too tight and not too distant and IMO you really need that bit of detail right at the top to add interest.

I agree that the reeds at the left are a (minor) distraction. But if you were going to do anything to address it I'd go with cloning them out rather than re-cropping.
 
SarahLee said:
Welcome back James !

You're going to hate me for this after you've gone to all that effort with new versions and different crops, but it's the very first original crop of the swan that does it for me. (sorry!)

I think the composition is near perfect in this one - not too tight and not too distant and IMO you really need that bit of detail right at the top to add interest.

I agree that the reeds at the left are a (minor) distraction. But if you were going to do anything to address it I'd go with cloning them out rather than re-cropping.
Click to expand...


There's always one isn't there :bang: :D

I'll see about having a play when I have some time, probably worth it to get that image just right. Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback.
 
I like the isolated swan in post 173 best - beautiful colours and silhouette and for me is better without the distractions.

The whisky shot is promising but I don't like the reddish colour of the whisky and find the very pale streak of the background a bit distracting. It's a good concept - just needs a little tweaking IMO.
 
Welcome back James... I'm afraid to say that I'm with Sarah on the original crop ;)... The single malt shot is good, and works too
 
Hi James. Another 'new' thread for me.

I like the colours in the swan shot. Prefer the original but without the reeds on the left.
 
I don't really find the reeds distracting on the first shot. The colours are brilliant.

Great choice of single malt but I would have to echo other comments about the focus and composition. It is a good shot as it stands but perhaps focussing on the glass rather than the bottle would be better. Also moving the bottle closer to the box to lose the light patch between them. This may mean more attention to lighting in order to keep the seperation but I feel it would be worth the effort.

Andy
 
Right, so the consensus opinion is that there is no consensus. b****r... Some thinking time required. I can't reshoot the swan shot (well, I can, but I'd have to be lucky), but I can redo the whiskey so that might be a plan.

Thinking cap back on me thinks, thanks all.
 
I have to agree 100% with Sarah's comments. Saves me having to type it out :) It's an idyllic view and the original composition works the best. Just needs a careful clone of those reeds rather than a crop. Very nice image though.
 
More people saying the same thing...

It is a stunning shot of the swan. Lovely rich warm colours.

After looking at all the crops you did, I think cloning out the reeds from the original shot is the only perfect fix. They are only a minor distraction though.

Looking forward to more in this thread. Missed you while you were gone.

Ian.
 
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