DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
History
History
A Shrubbery


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Image Grain (Advanced Editing IV*)
Camera: Canon PowerShot A520
Location: Outside
Date: Oct 21, 2005
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/640
Date Uploaded: Oct 23, 2005

N/A

Statistics
Place: 254 out of 274
Avg (all users): 4.4309
Avg (commenters): 3.5000
Avg (participants): 4.1759
Avg (non-participants): 4.8082
Views since voting: 618
Views during voting: 262
Votes: 181
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0


Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
11/02/2005 10:15:32 PM
Hi from the Critique Club!

I viewed this image at a few different resolutions and have some observations to share. First, I think this is a great subject. There is a lot of detail and texture just waiting to be brought out in the image. I think this image has a lot of potential with a few processing changes. I actually downloaded the image and applied a few and was amazed at how good this really is.

First, composition/perspective - the subject sits right in the middle of the shot with the only thing to offest the balance being the small sign (?) on the left. I will assume this is not a full size crop and my first suggestion would be to off center the subject just a bit. Apply the rule of thirds. A tighter crop of the top - less sky - would also help this image. But your placement is great - it makes the tower appear taller than it really is. Nice job on that.

Lighting - all natural obviously. But it appears flat. The sky is a little bland compared to the rest of the image. Again a tighter crop on top would have eliminated that and made your subject stand out even more.

Color - the stones in the tower have a lot of natural variation that would stand out more with some processing (below). But the balance is good. Not too much green, but enough to make the browns of the stone give a good contrast.

Processing - when I said it appears flat I was referring to the processing mainly. This image has a lot of good tonal qualities that just have not been brought out. A look at the histogram for this image as you have submitted shows a nice bell curve with only a few abberrations. Moving the black and white levels to be within the slopes of the curves brings out so much more detail and color alone. With the tighter crop this would have made it 'pop'. After the levels, a slight adjustment of the contrast would emphasize the tonal differences in the stone that would make your subject really stand out. Going even further and applying a slight adjustment to the saturation would really make it stand out. Some sharpening to emphasize the stone detail and you have a fantastic image.

As for the challenge...I think after the processing you could think about adding the image grain. This could be done in a number of ways - adding noise, adding film grain (not available in all editors), using any number of filters/actions for PhotoShop or other processors. But if the processing is done first, the grain would add to the image as it already appears 'old'. Another idea to try would be processing it in black and white or even sepia tones.

Overall a nice image that just lacked the post processing that would make it pop. You seem to have a good eye for the capture and subject matter.

This image has a lot of potential and you should in no way be discouraged by its performance in the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
10/28/2005 11:35:09 PM
An interesting structure. I wonder how this would look as a completely sepia toned image? Also, it seems to tilt slightly to the left. If rotated a bit clockwise to straigthen the horizon, and changing it to sepia - it would give a greater old world kind of feeling, which I think it has the potential to do.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/28/2005 09:03:52 AM
Too centered and the lighthouse at this angle appears to be leaning away from you. The colors make this look very flat.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/25/2005 08:57:32 PM
Needed to make the image more contrasty and the color is definitely very flat. If you can get a polorizing filter for your camera, it would have added more color saturation and detail in the sky.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/24/2005 07:33:35 PM
I think this would be better if it were off-center.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/24/2005 12:22:35 PM
Good subject - but IMHO it need to be moved out of the center of the image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/24/2005 10:44:19 AM
i like the subject but the overall photo is dull, shouldve darkened it up a little or dodge & burned the grass to make a better impact.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/04/2025 02:42:01 PM EDT.