• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

How to fix this?

R

Rachel Foster

New member
There is something I like in this image, but there is (obviously) some things terribly wrong with it. I'm having difficulty pinpointing what to correct. I want to save those elements that intrigue me (the pattern of the webbing, the dark and light interplay, the shapes and light reflection) but I want the problems eliminated. I'm just stuck on exactly what those problems are.

web1.jpg



Rebel XTI, ISO 800 (that was an error; thought I was at 400); 1/1600, f/5.6, 250mm (I was under a bridge shooting up).
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Thanks, Nil! B&W was the first thing I did.

web2bw.jpg


A lot of times I have a hard time seeing an image clearly if it's different from what I was trying to capture. I don't know what seems off for me with this one, but that's likely a factor.
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
Quite expressiv, that shot, Rachel!
Some very raw and some very fine things in the same pict.

I fear, when trying to make it better, technically spoken, you' ll wreck it up.

The first version, with that little brownish color, I like it best.
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Thanks, Michael. Image manipulation is not my strong suit, that's a given. I did crop it a little, and went to elements to fiddle with a layer (hit the contrast and brightness a touch).

Maybe I should print it and just let it sit for a while. There is something there I definitely like. I wish I could put my finger on what is bothering me.
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
Rachel

visually, the right bottom shifts to the left, maybe, that's your worries.
I'll upload a little correction for that, soon.

But it has a straight, direct impact on the viewer!

Good idea, print it.
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Ah, a tilt that's awry! Possibly. Thanks, Michael.


Not related to this image, but while I was out shooting this morning (just before I got this) I was pondering where I was photographically one year ago. I literally did not know my ISO from my aperture. OPF has been with me on this amazing journey. I have come a long, long way. And I'm grateful to the members here and delighted to be part of this community.
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
okay, this, should make the entire image a bit calmer; diagonals bring some dynamic in, and have to be balanced.

What do you think about that one?
© Rachel

rachels.jpg
 
N

Nill Toulme

New member
I'd like to see you experiment with some different crops. I have a sense there's too much weighty black to left and down, but then again that might be what's providing the dynamic tension I feel in the image. Here's a go at a different crop that addresses that concern, but I won't say it's any better:

web2bw.jpg

You might also try some different rotations.

Nill
 
M

Michael Fontana

pro member
Interesting

Nill, we kinda tried the same with different tools:
You balanced while cropping the black (which I actually like) at the left, meanwhile I added some white at the right...
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
I'm going to print the alternative versions, the first, and this one

web2copycrop.jpg


and then let them sit a week and look at them.


I tend to use a LOT of negative space. It gives me a feeling of "breathing room."
 
N

Nill Toulme

New member
Yes. I think that's CA, and it was brought out when you boosted the color in the second iteration. You can see it in the first version, but your PS efforts really emphasized it. It's what's producing the cyan/magenta coloring in the web also (but that's kind of cool).

There's a tool to fix it in PS CS3, under Filter/Distort/Lens Correction/Chromatic Aberration.

Nill
 
G

Gary Ayala

New member
I really love what you saw ... the web, the shadows and triangular splashes of light ... IMO, what you are missing is a central/primary focal point ... your are missing is the spider. Without a spider, the web is empty, without purpose.

Gary
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Thanks, all. I also liked the first one better even though the second one corrected whatever was niggling at me. Now I need to figure out what that was.
 
nicolas claris

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
hmmm
we do come to a deep philosophical question and I fear that some won't like it in a photography forum;-)!

"... To do is to be." Sartre
Click to expand...

I agree that the contrary : to be is to do… is most difficult…

Then, if not, do we need to do? I guess we need to be, to be able to do…;-)
 
N

Nill Toulme

New member
Those of you who are old enough must remember this one:

"To be is to do"--Socrates.
"To do is to be"--Jean-Paul Sartre.
"Do be do be do"--Frank Sinatra.

(All, I am told, courtesy of the incisive mind of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)

Nill
 
G

Gary Ayala

New member
Nill Toulme said:
Those of you who are old enough must remember this one:

"To be is to do"--Socrates.
"To do is to be"--Jean-Paul Sartre.
"Do be do be do"--Frank Sinatra.

(All, I am told, courtesy of the incisive mind of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)

Nill
Click to expand...


(thought I'd toss you a soft ball)
 
R

Rachel Foster

New member
Cropping is an issue for me when it comes to landscapes. I want to go right to the point of interest, eliminating everything possible. For instance, with this shot

033-1.jpg


I want to zoom in as close as I can. Even this one has too much "extra" for my taste.

040-1.jpg


The issue I'm working on is "how much?"

This is what I gravitate toward.

closecrop.jpg
 
N

Nill Toulme

New member
Someone has said somewhere something along of the lines of, photography is the art of removing everything from the image that is not absolutely necessary to tell the story.

Nill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top