Uniting my passions

[sleahy73]

I?ve been lurking for a while, reading as much as I can, when I can. Man, you

can learn so much from these threads. For as much as I have been reading and

learning, I figured it?s my turn to share something. I have posted in the past,

revealing my apparent ignorance, so I thought I?d post something I actually do

know something about - saxophones.

 

I bought a K10D last October while on a trip to NYC. It was an upgrade from my

K100D I bought a little more than a year earlier, and I haven?t regretted it

for a second. From the instant I took the first few shots I was in love. It?s

fun, I guess, to speculate about the newest technology/next camera, but I can?t

keep up with all of this stuff. I just want to take better pictures. (Having

said this, I have to admit that I sit and stare at the B&H lens ads at the back

of photography magazines, drooling like it?s pornography? and is there a way to

permanently disable e-Bay on my computer? ? Very dangerous for my pocketbook.)

 

While I have been out taking pictures, I haven?t had time for much editing

lately, as my job has been keeping me pretty busy these days. So I haven?t had

much time to keep my gallery up to date.

 

I took this picture (and several others) for an e-Bay auction. It sold in a

couple of hours, but I guess that's irrelevant. I was kind of proud of this

picture, so I took some time out recently to work on it a little.

 

Anywho, I guess I just wanted to share a little something. I posted to the

critique forum, but I haven?t ever gotten anything useful from any of the

photos I?ve posted there. So, if you have a comment/critique, please feel free.

Or, for that matter, post a shot of your own, if you feel like sharing.

 

Sean<div></div>

[sleahy73]

Lemme try again...

[sleahy73]

Ok, I'm not real bright...<div></div>

[sleahy73]

Here's a color version.<div></div>

[sleahy73]

Yeah, I didn't sleep much last night - working on a project...

 

Sorry for the rambling, too.

 

Ok, I'm done posting. ;)

[mc2imaging]

I like it in black and white better. I *might* bring the shadows up just a hair for a print, but overall pretty good. I don't have an EXIF data reader at work, what were your particulars (Lens, f/stop, shutter, ISO, etc...)?

[mc2imaging]

<i>"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."</i><P>

- Charlie Parker<p>

 

Replace 'music' with 'photography;' 'horn' with 'camera' and I think the same is true.

[miserere_mei]

Matthew, Photography (with a capital "P") *is* and art, after all :-)

[mc2imaging]

my refusal to use 'caps' stems from my artistic 'rebelling against the capitalist establishment' tendencies...

 

that is also why i use too many periods... use 'em or loose 'em...

[a few images]

Looks real nice! I prefer the color version, it adds warmth and I like that.

[mc2imaging]

When I was in high school, I was a bass player in jazz band. I have a lot of sax pix

somewhere (all b&w). This is all I have available right now. Just something to help the

color/b&w debate...<p><center><img

src="http://71.158.200.250/miscimages/imgp1451.jpg"></center>

[sleahy73]

Nice shot Matt, the color/B&W really brings attention to the sax.

 

Yeah I really slaved over the channel mixer for the B&W version. Making it brighter brought out over things in the image I didn't like, and I didn't want to invest too much more time just then. I'll probably go back to work on it before I try to print it.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Here's the info:

 

K10D

Tokina 28-70mm f/2.6-2.8 @ 70mm

f/2.8 for 1/40

ISO 1600

AV Mode

PEF RAW

 

Thanks again.

 

Sean

[miserere_mei]

Sean, I was going to ask you how you converted to B&W, but you just answered that. OK, so here's my opinion of your B&W: I don't like it. And here's why: You killed the shine. The colour shot has these beautiful reflections that you've muted when converting to B&W.

 

If you have Photoshop CS3 I would recommend using the "Black and White" command, which I find so much better than the "Channel Mixer":

 

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-cs3-black-and-white.html

 

Or maybe just using the Luminance channel would do. In any case, keep the shine, Sean! :-)

[sleahy73]

Thanks Miserere,

I think I see what you're talking about. I'm still using CS2. I took a quick shot at it by converting to LAB mode and keeping only the Lightness channel - is that what you mean by "Luminance"?

 

Anyway, it think the results are better, you're right. What do you think?

 

Thanks,

 

Sean<div></div>