Chromasia
- This topic has 35 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated Mar 14, 2008 at 10:48 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
Hey guys –
I’ve been playing on a shot with Dave from Chromasia.com, which is probably the best photoblog on the internet.
and worth the cost considering what you pay for some of the magazines down at Barnes and Noble.
and especially when you consider that at about 75% of those magazines seems to just be advertisement space, be it legitimate or de facto…
Typical deep fried Photoshop stuff! I think it has more in common with painting than photography.
Its photography as a excuse to use Photoshop. Looks phoney, manipulated and superficial as hell to me!Zach, I wrote this out once and for some reason it didn’t post ..ARRGGGGG ;D If you have CS3; reselect the masking layer that has the image of the flyfisher in it only. Once this is done, open “select” folder and scroll down to “Refine Edge”. In there, chose contract and feather at 3, press enter. With the image still selected, select the eraser tool and remove the halo around the subject. Once that is done: Duplicate the background layer and then duplicate the masking layer that has the flyfisher in it. Select these 2 new layers and merge them, then place this layer under the masking layer that has only the flyfisher in it. Select the masking layer, that only has the flyfisher in it, and reselect the subject with the outllne of it (you can also put the curser on the icon and press ctrl and enter once to reselect). Once the subject is selected (outlined) again, click onto that new layer that you just merged, it should still have the flyfisher outlined. Reopen the “Select” folder and scroll “inverse”, then go back and open “Refine Edge” again. This time slide over to the “expand” side and then set the “feather, contrast and smoothness until the edges look more natural again. Remember to turn off the masking layer that only has the flyfisher in it as it is setting on top of the layer that you just worked on and will cover it.
Hope that helps and hope that it made sense 🙂
I personally like these images and it is the direction that photography is going in, especially for commercial photography. I personally prefer the Exposure blending techniques as they really do help to make the images pop but also help to get much closer to what the eye sees. IMHO, the future of professional photography is in the software and how well one uses it or how great their personal graphic designers are. Don’t get me wrong, a great photograph must still be captured first but it is the digital  darkroom that bakes the pastries 🙂
I think that this aspect of photography is exciting and may ultimately re-define what a “normal” photograph will appear to be.
Having looked at the same picture on the photoblog I can see what your trying to do. Add a little more drama to the sky warm things up ad some contrast etc. For what its worth I can tell you what I think I would have done with the same image. I would have used Nikon Capture NX to work on the NEF to start with setting the black and white point first and then using the U-Point technology in Capture NX I would have made control points to lighten the foliage and bring out some blue in the sky and lighten the shadow on the guys face add some warmth using the warmth filter and brush it on at a percentage of strength that didn’t look out of key. The cool thing about NX is you have super fine control. I don’t think your picture is bad it is what was there. The issue is how can you enhance and polish the image not recreate it by heavy handed use of Photoshop.
I would encourage you to look into Nikon Capture NX and the Nik filters for Capture NX and the excellent instructional material available on Nikon’s site as well as at http://acmeeducational.com/versace/nx.html
Take a look at what Nikon legend behind the lens Vincent Versace is doing with NX Photoshop etc. I think he among the many digital gurus out there has a really good grip on being first a photographer and then image editor. His “Why To Book” Welcome To Oz about Photoshop was selected one of the best photo instructional books of the year.
Atlanta based Pro Kevin Ames http://www.amesphoto.com/training.html also has a great book on Photoshop and Lightroom, The Digital Photographer’s Notebook: A Pro’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Bridge. Maybe you can find something in their approach to photography that would benefit you, I did.David –
Believe me, I am not looking for reassurance as to the quality of the original – it’s a perfectly adequate shot that is sitting on a photo editor’s desk in a final publication lineup right now.
Hmmm.
I work for a big range of clients and almost without exception they don’t like heavy post on photos – a lot just want the raws now days.
(Man, does that save time !www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Nice shot BTW – love the low & wide angle on fishing stuff .. .
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
In response to questions I’ve asked about preferred formats and post processing. The Art director of a magazine Ive been communicating with prefers to receive both the RAW and a low res JPEG for preview purposes. My guess is they use the jpeg to quickly assess the RAWs potential. He’s informed me once he decides to use an image he turns it over to his staff of 10 to process it to their specifications.
It makes sense really. Even at the simplest levels of processing sharpening for example is largely dependant on the print size. So if for example I were to “optimise” a full res jpeg that sharpening I’ve done would most likely not be the amount applied to a small insert or even 1/4 page print and being a jpeg (if thats all they) I’ve handcuffed them to an extent with regards to further or reducing sharpening.
As for the digital darkroom.
I too beleive that in the not too distant future the *stars* will be people whos processing skils are a cut above. Already, theres a world famous photogrpaher who employs a graphic artist to do all his processing for him. So chances are any digitial images of his that you see, were shot by him but processed by a professional GA.Times have changed.
Yeah I do Zach, in more ways than one.
I was taken aback when he told me he has a staff of 10 GAs to turn images that are selected for print to. Being a complete and utter neophyte at this I wasn’t prepared for that (amongst other things) when I asked about my freedom
Zach, I think we are finally seeing software tools like Aperture, Lightroom, and Capture NX and filter sets like Nik ColorEfex Pro for Capture NX and Nki Viveza for Photoshop that work for photographers and help avoid BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA IN PHOTOSHOP. I don’t shoot a lot of small format I use a medium format back on a medium format and a view camera most of the time. I recently did a job where I shot maybe 100 plus images run and gun. I rated them in Aperture did some color and exposure tweaks which I lifted and stamped the settings from 1 image to the entire group under similar lighting lighting conditions output a web gallery and a set of 1/2 scale jpegs it took me maybe an hour. If I were using my Nikon I would of done the same thing in Capture NX and delivered a NEF or TIFF that I felt good about. Shooting digital you pretty much have to take responsibility for a lot of variables that you didn’t have to in the past. I use to deliver a chrome or a print and a invoice. With these programs all your editing is non distructive and you can go back and adjust things in the future. Photoshop is great software I us it every day but I strive to keep effects and enhancements as transparent as possible.
There has been a long history of manipulation in photography. I once saw a straight print of Moonrise Hernandez by Ansel Adams and it was a real eye opener. Its still one of the great pictures ever because his vision and interpretation of the subject was so great that you never really thought about what was done in the darkroom you just kind went WOW! Whether commercial or a fine art type image I would ask myself is this something I want to put my name on? Thats a pretty good test.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.