I snuck my camera into the Walking With Dinosaurs show, that is currently on tour, bringing only my 70-300, and my 35mm 1.8 lens. I was hoping the lighting would be better, but they were going for the "filtered through leaves in a jungle atmosphere", creating some bizarre shadowy patterns, as well as some crazy red/orange displays over the predatory animals.
It was a fantastic show, and I highly encourage others to see it, should the chance arise.
As for entry fitting challenge description, i think that it shows our interest in the past, our curiosity of what happened before us, what can we leave behind that we have learned of our planets history, and ultimately how we came to be the dominant lifeform on the planet.
Details on the image:
crop
duplicate layer x3
topaz adjust for exposure on one layer (70% blend)
topaz denoise for 2nd layer (70% blend)
topaz clarity for 3rd layer, to enhance detail on feathers (80% blend)
resize
[Sep. 3rd, 2014 09:36:29 AM]
So, scoring on this is slightly lower than i expected. I wonder if it's due to the cropped out tail on the Raptor.
The reason it's cropped out is because the "narrator" is standing in a really bad place and if the tail is there, he's there (you can still see his feet in the top left corner). I felt that they might be more likely to go unnoticed than the legs of the actor in the suit (which do blend as much as you could hope for in the situation), and that by cropping the feet out it would lose too much of the tail and be a more "wonky" looking shot.
The tail is implied, and the body on the ground shows the tail, so for the "time capsule" component, it is still showing the full aspect of the body as these creatures existed, millions of years ago.
Statistics
Place: 34 out of 39 Avg (all users): 5.1948 Avg (commenters): 5.0000 Avg (participants): 4.6818 Avg (non-participants): 5.4000 Views since voting: 793 Views during voting: 200 Votes: 77 Comments: 5 Favorites: 0
This photo does well with the unique take on the Time Capsule challenge theme and there are some very positive things going for it technically. Considering your notes, I'd imagine you were using the 70-300 hand held and with a shutter speed of 1/80, this is a really sharp image. Add ISO 6400 to the mix and this is really a terrific demonstration of a steady hand and good noise reduction processing. But the scoring wasn't where you expected - BTW, I'm one of the 5's.
There are a few things that detract from the subject matter for me. First is the composition- primarily the the awkward tail crop as you noted above. I also would like to see a bit of opening up in the shadows and highlights - the brightest spots are in the background at top of the frame and draws my attention away from the subject, while the detail of dino faces are lost in the shadows. The change in color temp (from different areas of the scene having different gels in the theater lighting, I suspect, also creates a split in color temp just above the midline.
Based on the limitations you had to work with, it's a good representation of a moment in the performance, but not a knockout photo. It fit the challenge theme and made me think about what you were conveying and on that level, it worked well.
Thanks Don, i was hoping this would score higher, i guess the masses decided that only landscapes and currently living species are worth preserving, and the fact that we have been able to discover so much about those who came before us, while speaking to our own desire for knowledge, does not merit value in a time capsule about the planet (despite the fact the dinosaurs inhabited it far longer than we have!) :p
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for the record, would the people who voted this between a 1 and a 3 please stand up and take a bow, and let me know specifically what about the entry irked you so much? I have no intention of backlash or retribution, i just truly want to know what about this image you found so heinous.
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