Saturday at the Beach

Wish my lens was better (blame the equipment!) or I knew how better -

it would be nice if there was more detail. Your comments and

suggestions are much appreciated.

Amy... another very nicely seen scene.

Thanks again, Hashim!

Right or left or run away? The picture is well partitioned and tells a story that I know well - I have developed a strong dislike for those public sun-burn places.

Technically I would wish that the man down there was not cropped, but one can live with it. Further on, I know it is a matter of taste, but what about a bit more contrast? See attached file. I would like to hear other people's opinion on this issue.

Looking again after some time on what I have done to your picture, I think it is good. The shadows are much deeper and become part of the story. Other thoughts?

Michal - Thanks for the feedback. I am often afraid to add too much contrast to a photo - thinking that at first it looks good, but might be like candy... I do like the high contrast on your version though. The only thing I'm missing is the brilliant white of the sand. I tried adding contrast, similar to yours, but keeping the whites and couldn't quite get it - though may play around some more.

 

As for the crop - yes, I know. I was leaning against a rail, and if stepped back further, the rail was in the photo. I do have a bit more of the guy's feet, but the original crops it right on the edge of his heel - thought this looked better. And on the upper edge, again, had no more room.

 

I am wondering about the lens you use - thinking of purchasing one. That would give me more room here, yes?

Amy, there are probably zillions of possibilities to have more contrast without loosing textures in highlights (if you don't want to) and perhaps the way I suggest is not the best one but you may be interested anyway:

1. copy background as the second layer
2. on the new layer use Gaussian Blur (not too high value)
3. set the new layer as "Overlay" (I don't use PS but GIMP but assume it is very similar and the name is the same or close to it)
4. copy once again background as layer Nr. 3
5. on the new layer use "Unsharp Mask" - value hard to predict, needs some experimenting
6. set "Overlay" with this new layer
7. copy once more the original background as layer Nr. 4
8. (now it comes) invert this layer (you get a sort of negative)
9. Gaussian Blur on this layer
10. set this layer as "Overlay"
11. toy a bit with the opacity setting of all layers until you are satisfied or you find you hate the result and you trash your work completely, call me bad names several times consecutively and you go back to where you were before.

It is nothing that I invented, only combination of several techniques described in PS/GIMP cookbooks on the internet. Instead of steps 1-7 different technique may be preferred - like curves, it all depends on what you want to do and what picture serves as the base. Also insted of "Overlay" you may find different option better with some of the layers. On the other side, in some cases, when there is no problem with the highlights, the step Nr. 8 is not needed, of course, or only very little of it (low opacity value). Or you may want to exted your control over the picture by using various "masks", for example.

About the wide lens: most street photographers use something like 28mm lens on 35mm cameras (which is equivalent to approx. 18mm lens on your Canon). Anything winder than that is like a ride on a runaway horse or a 4ccm motorbike - 103 degrees of space to control and you have to be very VERY close to the subject to get anything interesting. So think about your needs and personal style first. Otherwise I must say the Tamron lens is good, I am very satisfied, but there are also other options (Canon 10-22 or the very new 10-20 Sigma lens which I never tried but looks good, has got the USM/HSM silent motor and is cheaper).

Michal - Much thanks for the detailed steps - you've encouraged me to learn more about PS. I didn't really follow all of that, but liked the gist of it, so tried a simpler approach (selected sand, created new layer, lightened, added contrast and unsharp mask to orig. layer). I think it works and don't see any problems - but perhaps you or others will? Replaced displaying photo... Think its a stronger image.

Again, thanks for the lens info. I think your warning is insightful, as I am shy with the camera (pretty obvious, huh?). But I love wide-angle shots and have always loved wide-angle shots and have always wanted a wide angle lens. (Well now, there you have it.) Perhaps, for the sake of art, I will learn to overcome my shyness. If not, there's always ebay.

 

If I had a wide-angle, set to the furthest length, just a tad wider than this, would it not have worked for this photo?

Amy, I am glad that you have found my last contribution useful in some way.

About the lens issue - if taken with different lens, the photo would have looked differently, it would have been a different photo in fact, wouldn't it, but whether better or worse, it is very hard to tell: I don't know the place and don't know what was available on the scene at the moment you were there.

Check your e-mail for some more technically oriented remarks. Regards MJ

I think it is a nice image mostly due to the perspective.