A few pier shots - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

02/20/2005 11:43:18 PM · #1

A few shots from the pier in Malibu, CA. It's been unusually rainy this year, and the grey/cloudy skies are a pleasant change!

Canon EOS-10D, EF 28-135mm, 1/45s @ f/16

Canon EOS-10D, EF 28-135mm, 1/60s @ f/16

Canon EOS-10D, EF 28-135mm, 1/45s @ f/16

Comments/suggestions/critique all appreciated - thanks!

Mal37

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

02/21/2005 09:11:13 PM · #2

I love the dramatic sky in the third shot, but I might try a different crop. My eyes can't decide weather to focus on the pier or the beach. Could just be tired though. Great work.

parrothead

Canon EOS-40D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

02/21/2005 09:14:41 PM · #3

I like them all!! I wish I was there! My only nit pik was that on the second one, that fence at the bottom really draws my eye there. I love the tones that you used. Nice!

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/21/2005 11:33:40 PM · #4

It does not have dramatic clouds, but here is an image of the Santa Monica Pier I took a few weeks ago. I don't get to the coast often and understand why they are fascinating subjects for photography.

There are other images of the pier in this PBase gallery:
//www.pbase.com/azleader/laarea

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/21/2005 11:42:11 PM · #5

Originally posted by strags:

A few shots from the pier in Malibu, CA. It's been unusually rainy this year, and the grey/cloudy skies are a pleasant change!

Canon EOS-10D, EF 28-135mm, 1/45s @ f/16

Comments/suggestions/critique all appreciated - thanks!

I like this one best. Might need tiny CCW rotation, or may be an illusion. I'd like a little more contrast, or some selective dodging on the buildings and surf to get it a bit whiter.

I agree a small crop from the bottom (bringing it close to a 2:1 panoramic) would focus attention on the pier.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

02/22/2005 12:24:08 AM · #6

Hard to add more than what's been said.
I'm such a sucker for B & W shots like this. Left ya comments.

Here's the only Pier shot I have taken that I care for:

Oceanside Pier

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/22/2005 12:27:08 AM · #7

My fourth-highest photo ...

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/22/2005 01:12:22 AM · #8

Thanks for the comments and suggestions - very helpful.

GeneralE, nickp: I'll try a crop as you suggested - the 50/50 composition does break the rules somewhat, but I didn't want to sacrifice the detail on the beach. Others have also suggested some contrast/curve work, so that's definitely something else to try.

Parrothead: I think that's the reflection of the pier, not a fence :)

stdavidson, BradP, GeneralE - those are all great shots! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

peecee

Canon EOS-5D

02/22/2005 01:35:43 AM · #9

I like the 1st one, very sharp.

one of my pier, shots very similar angle.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/22/2005 02:29:17 AM · #10

^^^^^
That's an awesome shot... incredibly sharp and vivid. Nice work!

Here's the last one after some cropping and mixer/curve tweaks... better? worse?

peecee

Canon EOS-5D

02/22/2005 02:38:53 AM · #11

Looks ok, but my monitor here at work is not up to it.Am I seeing things or is it slightly noisier?
I like the choice of b/w.

peecee

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/22/2005 02:42:13 AM · #12

Another one of the same pier, different viewpoint.

Lytham pier

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/22/2005 03:43:42 AM · #13

Originally posted by strags:

^^^^^
That's an awesome shot... incredibly sharp and vivid. Nice work!

Here's the last one after some cropping and mixer/curve tweaks... better? worse?

Better, I think. Might still want to play with some dodging/burning on this one -- it's a suitable image for that kind of work.

02/22/2005 04:13:59 AM · #14

Strags,

Your third shot is by far the strongest, potentially, but it has problems with both cropping and rotation. CCW rotation of perhaps half a degree would help a lot, try it. The cropping problems are a little tougher to deal with. The picture really wants to have the foreground diagonal, so the more pnaoramic crop isn't really helping IMO. A crop in from the left edge to make the framing more conventional would help, but then you'd lose the bright spot upper left.

Looking at the original crop, clearly you trimmed somethign from either the bottom or the top of the original shot. If it was from the borrom, just try adding it back on to move the pier up to the top 1/3, I'd think.

Then work with levels and a little higlight dodging to give it more snap & pop and you have a winner.

Robt.

02/22/2005 04:35:10 AM · #15

Here's a quick take on it. Rotation, crop from left and bottom, curves. Hard to work with at this low resolution; could be done much better from the original.

Robt.

Message edited by author 2005-02-22 04:35:59.

02/22/2005 11:21:17 AM · #16

Thanks - this is all enormously helpful. Here's one with the previously cropped bottom put back in, rotation, neatimage, curves, etc...

While we're on piers, here's the picture I'm most pleased with (Venice Pier):

Message edited by author 2005-02-22 11:26:05.

02/22/2005 12:04:30 PM · #17

That's MUCH better Scrags. Now can you give it some pop, bring the whites up so they sizzle a bit? Something like this, maybe?

There are problems with the dark area under the pier, but I'd have to work from the original to fix them.

Robt.

Message edited by author 2005-02-22 12:29:34.

02/23/2005 12:35:28 PM · #18

Here's my last attempt for now... I selectively adjusted the levels on the ocean and the sky. I didn't feel comfortable pushing the highlights up quite as far as in your example... but, as you suggested, the higher contrast definitely helps.