A series: Athens Meat Market

[Angelica Oung]

Meat markets in Greece are incredible places. The market in Athens is very much a traditional market, with butchers wielding giant cleavers and shouting 'orieste! orieste!' to attract the attention of buyers. At the same time, it is so clean it is almost antiseptic. The butchers wear white coats, and the halls are brightly lit with oversized bright white incandescents. Of course, it's piled high with meat in every direction, but the smell is faint -- comparable to smelling a package of supermarket steak through the cellophane package.

Sorry I'm so wordy. I write for a living and words just kind of spill out of me. But of course the images are the important thing, and any C&C be it relating to technical issues, composition, concept or style are very welcome. Cheers.

1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Angelica,

You are so prolific! You have just joined OPF and you are already treating us to many nice pictures, thanks .

I know that you were in Santorini for a wedding. Did you stop by Athens for an extended visit, or do you actually live in Greece?

This meat market is like many I have seen throughout the Mediterranean coast, there is one in Barcelona, one in Rome, one in Marseille, one in Istanbul - although Istanbul is not exactly on the Mediterranean itself.But I come from there so I could not resist the urge to mention it anyway ;-).

The second and third pictures are nice. But if you ask my honest opinion, just that, snaps that is. The 3rd is also out of focus it seems.

The 1st has more potential, did you try cropping differently or playing with exposure and contrast? Or maybe in B&W?

I don’t see the 4th picture, did you post one?

Cheers,

 

[Angelica Oung]

For some reason, the fourth didn't load. I'll try and edit my post.

Actually, I was only in Greece for nine days. But since I bought my Pentax K10D on the eve of the trip and I haven't used anything but a point and shoot for about six years I had a lot of pent up urge to take pictures!

Yeah, the first one is my fave as well. I haven't tried to crop it. How would you suggest going about it? Just isolating the man a bit more?

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...Yeah, the first one is my fave as well. I haven't tried to crop it. How would you suggest going about it? Just isolating the man a bit more?

Here is an attempt by me.

Cropped a bit, corrected WB (but keeping the warm sphere a bit), LCE, highlights, shadows, levels, small amount of smart sharpening, et voila ;-).

So, what do you think? BTW, did you shoot RAW or JPG?

Cheers,

 

[Angelica Oung]

Ha, nice. Subtle crop, and I love how the sheen in the meats are brought out. Do you use photoshop to process? I don't have photoshop. I use Toyviewer for crops, resizings and some manipulation.

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole RAW vs jpeg deal. I think I'm shooting in jpegs, but theoretically my camera is capable of shooting in RAW, or even both modes simultaneously. RAW contains more information, no? At this present point in time I don't really know how to manipulate that information, but maybe I should start shooting in RAW just so that when I do I'll have the option. Are there any disadvantages to shooting in RAW?

One last question, is there a web-based tool for applying that copyright thingmabob?

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Ha, nice. Subtle crop, and I love how the sheen in the meats are brought out. Do you use photoshop to process? I don't have photoshop. I use Toyviewer for crops, resizings and some manipulation.

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole RAW vs jpeg deal. I think I'm shooting in jpegs, but theoretically my camera is capable of shooting in RAW, or even both modes simultaneously. RAW contains more information, no? At this present point in time I don't really know how to manipulate that information, but maybe I should start shooting in RAW just so that when I do I'll have the option. Are there any disadvantages to shooting in RAW?

One last question, is there a web-based tool for applying that copyright thingmabob?

Yes I also use PS, but this one was processed in Lightroom only.

RAW is the better option if you are serious about photography. As you said, even if you don't know how to use it right now, you'll eventually get to know it someday. And when that day comes, you'll regret that some of your best shots were only jpg and not RAW. So my advice is, if you have the room on your memory card, shoot RAW+JPG simultaneously. Use jpg now, might need RAW later. The only disadvantage of RAW I can imagine is that it requires some additional tools (RAW converters) and certain know-how to convert them properly.

That copyright was autoMagically generated by Lightroom, but I'm sure some web tools must have that as well. Just don't know which ;-)

Cheers,

 

[Angelica Oung]

Thanks, Cem.

I think I'll take your advice and shoot in both RAW and jpg. I'm paranoid about lost pictures (have had memory card inexplicably go blank on me before) and so empty out my memory cards long before they fill up anyhow, so room is not a big issue.

I did find a watermarking webtool. It is non-ideal in some ways but you can't beat the price (free)!
Here's the site: http://www.watermarktool.com/

And here's a demo:

 

[Ray West]

Hi Angelica,

If you are pc based (I don't think it works on the mac) then probably the most useful imaging type software you can get is here - http://http://www.irfanview.net
and it is free - no payment, no adverts, just provided by a generous guy from Bosnia . It will allow you to add text, crop, etc, and has numerous plugins. You may be able to see your raw (exif ) information - it works for canon, and Nikon, don't know about Pentax.

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Greece

Angela,

I am just back from Greece as of 3 days ago. When glanced at your Acropolis shot, I had to think before I read the thread - did I post that?! Ah, Jet lag. Nice shot!

 

[Angelica Oung]

@ Kathy,
Wasn't Greece just magical. I remember thinking on the flight out that I can't wait to be back...and see Turkey too.

It is a problem with acropolis shots. I took my share and then realized, it's nothing thousands of photographers have done before me, and much much better too. Despite the depressing thought I'm really glad I did -- they are wonderful to photograph.

@ Ray
Thanks for the tip. I'm on a Mac right now and I love it. But as my company will subsidize the purchase of a laptop I think I'll get a PC too because (especially here in Taiwan) so many things don't work for the mac.