New Era Potato Chips

[Edward Bussa]

A piece of Detroit / Michigan nostalgia ...

This picture was taken after sunset with a DA 14mm f/2.8 mounted on a Pentax K10D. I used "Lens Correction" in Bibble, but I'm dissappointed with the results. I haven't learned to use the correction features in Photoshop yet. So that is my own main criticism of the photo.

Critique please! I'm here to learn!

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My "Nostalgic" version:

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

A bit of color

Actually, I like the composition. Because of hte wide angle, you have some distortion, but, that doesn't bother me. The age of the barn and silo with the peeling paint tells me it's of a bye gone era.

Something I learned recently is that photographically, we want things a bit off center of reality in much of our images. So it make it somewhat more artistic, I would probably pop the color a bit in post processing and crop some of the left out. I am learning Photoshop, but for this, since I shoot Canon, I would use Zoom Browser - it works great for those minor adjustments.

 

[Edward Bussa]

After I posted this, I started thinking about "nostalgia" and what that might look like - sepia came to mind right away but I don't think that'll work for this one.

I'll see what I can come up with!

 

[Asher Kelman]

After I posted this, I started thinking about "nostalgia" and what that might look like - sepia came to mind right away but I don't think that'll work for this one.

I'll see what I can come up with!

Nostalgia, I miss it!


It's not what it used to be!


I love it your picture. Where is it? I think it's wonderful. Any more like this? Any with more landscape around it?

Yes there's more work to do. Send me a file if you wish!

Asher

 

[Ray West]

Hi Ed,

In what way are you disappointed? ( a short question, hoping for a lengthy reply ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[Edward Bussa]

In what way are you disappointed? [...]

Specifically from my post, I was just disappointed in the "Lens Correction" provided by Bibble. The lens correction tool in Bibble correlates the lens id from the EXIF to its own database of lenses to decide how much correction to do. This leads me to believe that should straighten those verticals... Perhaps thats too much to ask nearer the center of the lens, I don't know.

Also, I was enroute when I stopped for this picture. If I had gotten there 15 minutes sooner, the light would've been punchier.

Hopefully I will revisit this subject again, now that I know it is there in Portland, MI.

 

[Dave New]

A lens correction program will only correct for lens defects, like barrel/pincushion distortion. It doesn't correct for perspective issues, caused by not having the sensor/film plane parallel to the barn surfaces, vertically and/or horizontally.

You can use a perspective correction in many programs, like PS, to correct for the vertical distortion, which is what most folks find objectional. That way the barn and silo won't look like they are leaning away from you.

There is a great chapter on this in Ansel Adam's seminal book, "The Camera" that explains quite clearly what the effects are that you are seeing here, and how to compensate for them. Ways to correct for this in the field is to either use a camera with "movements" (a view camera) or a tilt/shift lens on a 35mm-type body. Another option is to level the camera and use a wide-angle lens to capture all that you need (including probably a lot of foreground you don't want), and then crop the picture to the framing you originally had in mind. Wide-angle lenses will bring their own special 'distortion' issues, though. Another option is to back up quite a bit, and use a telephoto lens to flatten and frame the view.

You can see that there are many ways to approach this in the field, and/or tweak things to your satisfaction afterwards in the dark/dimroom.

 

[Ray West]

Hi Ed,

I'm not too sure if what you wanted was something like this

If it was, then in cs2, Edit-transform-distort. First copy the image, and make sure it is small enough on the screen to be able to drag the corners of the frame around. If you use perspective instead of distort, it only works on one direction, you get a squat building. A better answer, imho, is use a telephoto and stand well back. ;-)

Lens distortion is to correct for lens distortion, barreling, ca, etc. Original straight lines should be straight. It does not/can not correct the viewpoint, the relationship between camera position and the object, afaik. By their nature, all automatic perspective corrections based on a single image, will be flawed, since the photo is in the 2d domain, the third direction is only mapped on as coloured shapes, and as far as the software is concerned, it looks exactly the same as artifacts in the other plane.

If this was not what you meant, than I'm sorry if I got it wrong.

Best wishes,

Ray

edit while I was producing this materpiece, I had 3 phone calls, so Dave Got his reply in first - still two for the price of one...

 

[Edward Bussa]

Yes, I knew there was a tool in Photoshop to do this. I was expecting Bibble to do this for me - I was mistaken and for exactly the reasons you and Dave stated.

I played with the color again (and corrected perspective in Photoshop), so here is yet another variation:

Asher, did you have any luck with the DNG I sent?

 

[Charles L Webster]

I guess I expect the lines of the silo to converge, and to me it looks unnatural to have them parallel. The lines of the barn converge, tipping my eye off that this is a wide angle shot, yet the silo doesn't. Disturbing to my sense of balance. I do like the desaturated version, but the post processing has left the lines of the barn against the sky with halos and funny edges. I like the idea, but frankly prefer the first version as being "more like what I expect." Maybe if I hadn't seen that one first...

 

[Edward Bussa]

Charles,

I had the same sense of disturbance when I viewed Ray's post. I decided not to correct it quite as much in hopes of preventing this disturbance. Also, when it is corrected, certain parts get stretched and blurred, so I quickly did some outline sharpening in Photoshop - that might be what produced the funny edges.

 

[Michael Fontana]

I did exactly what Ray did, as I didn't see his proposal, cause it takes a while to be loaded from the server.

The question to correct or not correct the perspective depends what you're looking for:

Should your shot tell something about the building, in a architectural language?

If yes, the lines should be straight, as the walls of the barn are straight, and only the lens angle, or the lack of a shiftlens makes it looking that way.

If you look rather for UW-effects, your version is correct.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yes, I knew there was a tool in Photoshop to do this. I was expecting Bibble to do this for me - I was mistaken and for exactly the reasons you and Dave stated.

I played with the color again (and corrected perspective in Photoshop), so here is yet another variation:



Asher, did you have any luck with the DNG I sent?

I have just come out of anesthesia for a dental tooth implant into the bone of my upper jaw, so the striped orange and yellow barn and the trumpeters flying in pink Cadilacs around it seem pretty good to me.

I must admit I have problem with Walter Crankite posing with a pitchfork and a Lady from Sunset boulevard looking at her engagemet ring, like Rockwell was there! Right! I'm not that gullable.

Hope fully the drugs will relase me eventually up and I will climb out of this huge hole in the clouds and download the DNG! Tonight is Thanhausrer in the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. It's an opera set in the XXX racy modern style with naked dancers so it will be pretty had to sit through.

In fact I migh need some extra doses just to stay there!

So I'll work on the image later. Meanwhile, please guys post images in each section, from weddings to architecture to macro so we have the best pictures to talk about. This picture is one!

Asher

 

[Edward Bussa]

Keaton, Kidman - My Life

I caught a clip of the movie My Life and there is a scene where he is narrating to a video camera while playing old home movies.

The family in the movie is having a picnic near Detroit and on the picnic table along with the rest of their picnic supplies is a big container of New Era Potato Chips that looks just like the silo in the picture!

I feel more connected to michigan's past because of this silo.