Me and my shadow.

Lucky capture cause I usually don't take the camera out of the bag

when the sun's directly overhead.

Looks like the sun couldn't get more over head than that. Great image - All 4 bikes airborne.

This would be a good shot if it wasnt overworked in photo shop.. I suspect there may also have been a little cutting and pasting going on here :) The shadows are overdone they are jet black and there is a lot of blur around the outside of the riders. The area where the ground meets the trees is over brushed from the repair tool or clone/heal brush and also some trees are in focus and some are "smudged. Forgive me If I am wrong it might well just be my screen.. but I don't think so..

If this is the original then the post processing has been over done.. Regards Peter

Great image.

I would have to agree with the comments above. This would be a great shot, except the photoshop work is so hasty that its totally obvious to me that you've cloned a lot of objects here. The shadows aren't natural either. You have to use care when cloning so you don't noticeably repeat the patterns. One thing that may help as well would be to use selections in order to create new layers...that would eliminate the problem areas around the bikers where the clone tool hit them as well...blurring the edges. I'm curious to see what this picture looked like before all of this PS work was done. I believe it was a nice attempt, and I wonder if you could actually be happier with the original in this case.

I've got a big smile on my face right now. I love the fact that "I got caught in the act" as you both pointed out. Everything you have mentioned, the hasty and sloppy use of the clone stamp, the over darkening and contrasting of the shadows, each and every one of your observations is true! I was actually going through my files to cull them and almost deleted this one when I noticed the shadows. So I had second thoughts, because I saw the shadow thing happening for the first time. But it didn't work for me unless I isolated the four riders with their shadows from what was an extremely busy background. And I didn't really have time to do it right, so I tried to fake it and got caught which is probably the more important reason I respect Photo.net and it's members. Thanks guys for reaffirming my faith in mankind. By the way, I've attached the original so you can see the mess I tried to shortcut unsuccessfuly.

Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!! Great shot...congrats...LJ

I have breathed a sigh of relief.. I was concerned that I had been a bit harsh.. Considering how much you managed to lose with the clone brush its not suprising that it shows up so much.

To be honest, although there is a lot of stuff in the background on the original I prefer it.. It must have taken you quite some time to clone it all out..

I need to have my faith in Pnet restored perhaps it would pay for me to do something similar out of 16 photos submitted only 4 have any comments on them... I live in hopes.

Regards

Peter

Good to hear from you again. It nudged me to check out your portfolio to see what you've been up to lately. You are, indeed, a visual artist and the work keeps getting better and better. I've learned something from this little experiment - I've decided to leave cloning to the scientists who cloned the sheep Dolly (I think that was her name). As they say, no pain no gain. Regards, Bill.

I did the cloning and manipulation in a little over a half hour, which shows in the shoddy results. And I agree that, after all this, the original is looking better and better.

Well, I too felt as if my comments were too harsh. I actually felt stupid immediately after leaving that comment and checking out the rest of your portfolio. Now I see why this attempt didn't succeed...all your other shots are awesome without any sort of PS work like this!! Yeah, I think there are more subtle ways to make this better. I can see how you like the more simplistic approach (meaning, most of your shots don't have any kind of clutter), and I think in this case you could have settled for a little more clutter than you're used to, just to avoid the obvious cloning. I don't know...if you don't mind, I may experiment with your original, because I think it has plenty potential. If you're up to it, could you upload a larger file for me to start from since it would require some detail work?...if you don't mind of course. Otherwise, thanks for sharing, and I loved the rest of your portfolio!

Original is much better. Do you have any problem with dust on sensor after shooting this scenes? Best regards, vf

Vladimir. Interesting you should find this old shot, thanks for the interest in my work. In answer to your question regarding dust - yes, it could be a problem, but I'm very careful. The key is never changing lens near the track. I only do this in my truck with the windows rolled up. I also keep a microfiber cloth handy in my back pocket for wiping the outside of the lens and camera clean after every series of shots. I also check your work often, because I know I'll find interesting and unique results. Regards, Bill.