Been a few SI's since I have managed to submit something.  I
reckon this turnout was a very clever mandate and there's some
great shots submitted.

The opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I'm never right -
just ask my wife.  So take them with a grain of salt.  :)

Walter Banks 1: I'm not going to criticise the composition.  I am
a terrible bird photographer and whenever I attempt it I only
increase my respect for the true bird photogs and how they get
flattering shots, nice poses etc.  The focus/dof looks good and
separates nicely from the bg as best as can be expected
considering.  In post-processing I'd probably up the saturation a
little.

Walter Banks 2: I'm liking it.  Screams "more saturation" to me
also.  I really want to see those rich Autumn colours that we
just don't get here.  Quite like the framing.  Agree with
Calvin's comment about the white float in the water - that should
be easy to clone out.

Tony Cooper "Biker": Wonderful.  Really pops.  I'd like to have
seen him facing the camera, and maybe with the cigarette lit and
blowing a little smoke.  And B&W.  But don't want that to take
away from the shot you took, it's wonderful.

Tony Cooper "Fountain": Not sure.  Bit busy for me.  At first I
thought it was an exercise in HDR, because the exposure looks
extremely well handled for both the inside and outside subjects.

Tony Cooper "Watering Can": I like the textures, but apart from
that not my cup of tea.  Probably because I'm crap at this sort
of still life composition and not sure what actually makes a good
one, so please don't take that the wrong way.

Tim Conway: Colourful, well exposed.  But the composition and
subject just doesn't excite me.  Not sure how I'd tackle it,
maybe a different angle and different height so it's not the same
perspective that you'd expect to see?

Tim Conway 2: Aww, the sunflowers look sad.  They should be
happy, heads held high basking in the sunlight!

Tim Conway 3: Now we're talking.  Love the colours.  Needs more
contrast in the processing, though.  Oh, and how good would this
look with long exposure on a tripod giving that water a smooth,
ghostly/milky look.  Yeah.

Bret Douglas 1: Now that has pop and contrast.  What do you
reckon about the branch bottom left?  Distracting?  Maybe blur it
a little?  Might balance the reddish top right.

Bret Douglas 2: Not big on these sort of shots, so can't offer
anything to add to it.  Sorry - I reckon they need some real
character and emotion to carry them off, and these guys just
don't seem to be offering it.

Bret Douglas 3: Great detail.  I'm looking all over the shot to
see what I can see - you don't normally get this close to one of
these birds, so it's intriguing seeing the detail.

Paul Furman 0035226: I want to like it, and have taken similar
shots myself. But I always get home and look at them on the
screen and think they need something more - dewdrops on the web,
or a bit more randomness, or a trapped fly... something.

Elliott Roper lighthouse lens: Interesting.  Finding it
fascinating to look around the lenses and also the frame.

Russell Durtschi "Fall Vista": Love it.  One of my picks for this
mandate.  Who cares about the blown top left.  That's the sun, we
know it's bright.  :)

Russell D "Fence": Like this one too.  The colours - man we just
don't see them here.  Not quite punchy though, more contrast?

Russell D "Old Barn": Like it, but as Calvin said - probably too
centred on both axes?

Savageduck 1: I just don't have an eye for these sort of shots.
You do.  The B&W treatment really suits it too.

Savageduck 2: I like this shot much better than the other, but
don't like the processing as much.  Reckon it'd look better with
just the grayscale treatment, not so much contrast.

Savageduck 3: Like the colours and textures, not sure about the
composition.  Looks like a fun place to take some shots, though.

Elliot Roper "Barse Ackwards": Trippy.  Like the idea.

Bob Coe 1: I get the idea of the green treatment.  If you're
going down that path, I reckon I would have desaturated the whole
shot and just made his shirt green with selective colouring.

Bob Coe 2: Sorry, just doesn't work for me also.  And giving a
red tinge didn't make it better IMO.

Bob Coe 3: Clever.  Had me fooled at first, and I work with
architecture for a living.

Martha Coe 1: Sorry, Martha.  The story is cool, and good timing
getting the seagull, but at first appearance you don't notice
that and it looks a little like a snapshot.  I hate saying that,
sorry.

Jim Kramer 1 and 2: Man I'd love to get that close to some cool
birds.  Second shot has a little more punch.

Lonely Petal 3: Simple, but I like it.

Marfa Courthouse: Exposed well, but doesn't grab me.

Alan Browne 2: Kinda like the neutral colours.  Could be one of
those food pictures you see hung in kitchens.

Alan Browne 3: Like the idea.  Reckon to pull it off, you'd want
the whole leaf in focus maybe?

Alan Browne 4: You guys and your awesome Autumn (Fall) colours.
Makin me jealous.

Runner 1: I get what you're attempting, but just doesn't grab me.
Reckon you'd want even more motion, or none at all.  This is
kinda in between.

Runner 2: This one I like more.  Would really top it off it the
ground was crisp - were you using a tripod?  Or trying to pan?
Maybe touch faster shutter to stop that foot on the ground and
make the other foot more obvious that it's a foot in motion.

Sunbathing: Hehe.  I got this one immediately - bodies lined up
on the beach.  I like the concept.

Bowser 1: Colour, colour, colour.  Like it.  Well composed.

Bowser 2: Nice colours again, I have this thing at the moment
about longer exposures and getting the water smooth/ghostly.

Bowser 3: Hahah.  Like the comments/story.  Great shot.  But your
cheerleaders are overdressed compared to Bret's  :)

DogEvaRUn: Whoah, blur, noise from boosting exposure.  Small dog
like that, get down to ground level.  At it's head height or
lower.  Give a perspective of a small dog that we don't see every
day - that'll add interest.  Get it running towards you, lay
on the ground, use very fast shutter speeds and see if
you can capture it "flying"  :)

MJWyllie: I like it.  Captures the mood and moment.

Jasmine Strand: Simple, but I want to see something more
interesting in there for some reason.

--
Troy Piggins

She was recovering after an encounter with one of our windows
sitting in a tree with natural beams of light. (look at the shadow
of her beak) She sat there posing for 10 minutes or so before
leaving apparently unhurt.

Float, I agree. I do like this image. Not as good color this year
but a reminder still that in a month or two I will be able to walk
to the other shore.

I have a lot of problems knowing how much saturation to use,
there is a fine line between just right and pastel that I have a
hard time achieving.

Thanks for the comments.

Walter..

news:20091026180922@usenet.piggo.com...

Good apples, too.

I wish. From my vantage point, there was no chance for a tripod,
unfortunately. Agree totally on ghosted water, though.

Perv.

;-)

news:20091026180922@usenet.piggo.com...
Thanks for you comments.  I appreciate them.  I agree except that #3 was on
a tripod and if I would've used a longer exposure, the geese would have been
blurred since they were swimming across the frame.

Thanks, Troy. There was some funky light stuff going on.

Not sure what you mean, "more contrast?" Do the colors need to be bumped
up a bit?

Right-o, see my comments in Calvin's thread.

Thanks,

Russell

Are you using Photoshop?  Ever try processing the image in LAB?

Open the file, go to Image>Mode>Lab Color.  

Then Image>Apply Image and then change the Blending Mode from Multiply
to Overlay or Soft Light.  

You'll be amazed what this will do to the colors.  

If you like this, go back to Image>Mode>RPG and save-as a .jpg.

I usually do this on a second layer because sometimes I'll reduce the
opacity a bit if the colors are a bit too bright.  Reduce opacity of
the layer, flatten the image, and then save-as .jpg.

I also apply Luminosity Sharpening instead of the straight Unsharp.

Try Unsharp Mask at 125 Amount, Radius 1, and Threshold 3.  The go to
Edit>Fade Unsharp Mask.  This sharpens the detail but doesn't affect
the color or give the image halos.  I've got this set as an Action
linked to a hotkey.

(Not my inventions, by the way.  Learned from Scott Kelby)

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

* Russell D. wrote :
<snip />

Sorry mate.  I don't know what I was talking about.  Just had a
look at your image again, and it looks cool to me.  Must've been
the monitor I was looking on?  Sorry.

--
Troy Piggins

news:20091026180922@usenet.piggo.com...

I know what you mean, something's not quite right is it?  I couldn't quite
pin it down myself but maybe you're right that completely sharp would work
and lots of motion blur would work but in between is just disturbing.

No tripod and a stupidly long shutter, all completely within my control, mia
culpa.

This is another shot I've had in mind for a long time.  The very open
mandate this month gave me the opportunity.  I was going to shoot bacon in a
pan but we had a late summer hot day and ended up cooking over a camp fire
down the field.  Ordinarilly I'd have used my 300mm lens and kept well back
but as that's been Sigma'd (a term I've sadly come to understand) the
longest I had was 70mm which meant getting a little too close for comfort.
I really like this shot myself as it turned out very much as I'd intended.