minicucci

One way or another, I've always had NYC as an influence of variable size. Growing up in rural Connecticut, NYC was Gotham, pure and simple. As a remotely-sited professional, a place for meetings, taxis and helicopter quick exits. I moved to the city on the day Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor and lived first hand the changes from the Dinkins administration. I was there on 9/11 and saw the very best of the city on that day and in the weeks that followed. Now I visit on a bimonthly basis…intervals that allow a heightened sense of the changes in the city's pulse.

 

Through all of the past years, good times and bad, the underlying, raw vibrancy of the city never changed. Now it has. Subdued is the best word, I think. The city is really quiet, which is of itself disquieting. There are no smoker exiles cutting deals by public doorways. Sidewalk traffic is sparse. Everything is muted. As though another shoe is yet to drop. It does not strike me as fearful. Just waiting. The city waits.

Helen:

 

First, I envy you your trip to Antarctica. For a photographer, it must be nirvana. Your seal shots are terrific.

 

A couple of suggestions on this one:

 

1. I'd suggest a tighter crop, as in the attached example. As presented, the strong water line bifurcates the image a bit too much, so I'd place more emphasis on the foreground to rebalance the image but you could just as easily go the other way.

 

2. Judging from the water line, there is a slight CCW tilt that should be straightened.

 

3. Bringing the color balance a bit more to neutral will help emphasize the gorgeous blues/cyans.

 

4. Boosting contrast within the midtones only will bring the details of the ice into sharper focus.

 

Nice shot.

Larry:

 

I've attached an alternate version of your shot, with the suggested crop and (uh-oh) an inserted sky, as well as a big boost in midtone contrast. I think the differences are striking.

 

For dealing with midtones, I'd encourage you to read Tony Kuyper's tutorial on luminosity masks here:

 

http://www.goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html

 

You'll notice that Tony spends extra attention to using the basic midtones luminosity mask as a means of fine tuning contrast. I'd further encourage you make a donation and download the actions for use in CS4, although you can make them yourself. Tony's photography is outstanding and his content of choice is much like yours. (I also recommend all of his other tutorials, especially saturation masking.)

 

Re editing colorspaces, I myself work in ProPhoto but I always convert a web-copy of the image to sRGB to accommodate anyone using a browser that is not profile aware. It just takes a second.

I like it, Bulent!

 

I think the bold use of contrast here works well with the visual theme of the image, although I would not mind a bit more fill light in the shadows.

Larry:

 

A couple of thoughts on this one.

 

First, I think the image would benefit from a crop that takes out about 1/4-1/3 of the right side, so that the lower right image edge meets with the diagonal line of the bottom rock flow. As presented, the upper right rock profile leads the eye right out of the frame.

 

Second, the warmth of the colors is lovely but so intense that it is tending to mush together the delicate variations of hue. This is not an argument for less saturation but rather for more color separation. I'd also boost mid-tone contrast.

 

Third, that sky, which is almost single-note monochromatic, detracts from the majesty of the imposing rock (IMO). I'd be tempted to sub in another with a high quartering sun but I realize that this kind of compositing is anathema to many. Still, I recommend that you try it just to see the difference in the image that it makes.

 

Finally, just a note that your mages (I've looked at two) seem to be embedded in the Adobe RGB colorspace. Your web-version images will look better if you convert them to sRGB.

Thank you both for your comments. Here's an alternate version, which I might like better. (Haven't decided.)

Bulent:

 

This is a beautifully balanced image. Almost every image element has a counterweight element that brings equilibrium to the whole. The tree and it's long shadow, the expansive sweep of sky and the rolling slope of the land, everything is in rhythm.

 

To my eye, the tonal values of the snow are bit dark and would benefit from a slight lift in localized EV. I'd also think about cloning out some of the more prominent footprints along the bottom, as these tend to draw the eye more than is optimal.

 

Finally, this image strikes me as an excellent candidate for very restrained split toning as a means of enhancing depth. A touch of cool in the shadows and warm in the highlights (whether done in a toning curve or as a duotone/quadtone) might further round out the balanced dimensions of the image. I'm not a really big proponent of toning as I often think that the selected "tones" are garish compared to the mono elegance of B&W but this image might be the exception.

Thank you, Bulent and Jack.

 

I wasn't going for surreal here but I can see how you'd think that. There's an entry porch just to the left (and out of frame) that was well lit and that is the source of most of the exterior light. I liked the odd arrangement of the hoses/facets/outlet on the right, almost as if it were a flower arrangement and it balanced well with that out-of-its-mind decorative globe. But the star was supposed to be that little glimpse of Christmas tree and Christmas lights, all inside and away from public view.

Another sub-zero degree day shot.

 

The plant is an Aspidistra or Cast Iron Plant. Jack, you'll be interested to know that it is native to the Eastern Himalayas, Taiwan, China, and Japan. Grows slow and can take very tough conditions. This one is more than 20 years old.

Thank you Jack & Gunnar. This is the shot you look for on a minus zero degrees day.

 

Here's a quick shot of the painting itself (by Michael Palmer, of course).

Jack, as always, you are too kind. I probably should have titled this "Smokers Table".

 

My sisters both populate their respective yards with these faux palm trees. (Both are beach maniacs.) To an extent, it is a family signature. The trees always make me smile but never more than in the dead of winter.

 

I've been in a dry spot for the last several months, meaning I still take pictures but most of them are trash so I do not post them. It's not clear yet that I'm out of it. I've always found it easy to get in the "zone" when shooting but that sense is elusive right now and I miss it.

Not sure that I agree with Jim. I like the look of the water here. I also think this could be a bit darker and the light entering left could be toned down a bit to better balance the frame. Beautiful colors.

Quite lovely. The light here is very rich and well captured. Excellent color. The proportions of the compositions are spot on.

Thanks for your comment.

 

To get to your question, I've attached the two, tone-mapped output files from Photomatrix Pro (before any PS edits) along with the finished file without the B&W conversion. The two tone mapped files were composites of 3 exposures each, one stop apart. The final file was stitched with PTGui. There's a screen grab of the layers panel for the final file also attached.

 

Tone mapping editors are perfectly able to produce very natural looking files if used with moderation. In this instance, the light was soft and dynamic range was within the scope of a single frame. However, there were a lot of textures in the shot that would need a fair amount of micro contrast to standout, so I used the HDR approach more as a means of stacking images to reduce noise and accentuate detail than to increase apparent range (which we all know really means compressing range).

 

This is what is currently fascinating me about HDR files. You can get to a higher plane of more robust image quality (digitally) with carefully stacked images. It does not need to be about cartoonish tone reversals where all that should be dark is light and vice versa.

 

In terms of getting to a more film-like appearance, I've taken to using soft-light blurs in varying opacities to add depth and dimension. This is simple a stamp-visible layer, set to soft light bend mode and blurred using Gaussian blur by a pixel radius of 5-15. For this image, opacity was 65% and pixel radius to 8 but I'd also set the blend-if sliders so that the effect was restricted to the middle tones.

Jack:

 

I think Gordon has it right. This version with the original, tighter crop. And I say that as one who has delved in the cartoon arts :)

 

Nothing like photography by committee.

Very nicely done. The colors are excellent and the capture of the wet boardwalk is just one of the compelling details.

 

There does seem to be a slight CCW tilt.

Steve:

 

Strong composition but the light here seems to be repressed. Tones are limited to the lower two-thirds spectrum and there is no ostensible "white" to help balance the eye amidst all the grays and blacks.

 

It appears to me that the light quality was "hard" and I think that quality should shine through in the image. I'd push up the EV but keep the hard contrast that befits this light. Example attached.

 

Notwithstanding the above, strong image.

Shawn's right that there is another image within the image with a different crop but here I like the airiness of the square crop and the magnificent range of grays.

Steve:

 

This is marvelous! Strong, simple composition, well framed. Rich tonal gradations. Bold geometry to the shot with perfect cleanliness of line. No nits from me. Well done!

Shaun:

 

I think it would be fair to say that not doing any dodge/burn would be the exception for me. If you use Photoshop, take a look at my 8/26 response to Jack McRichie here:

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7685718

 

This lays out the work sequence for another image but the important part is the part about using luminosity masks to control localized contrast and tonal ranges. Tony Kuyper offers an excellent tutorial here:

 

http://www.goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html

 

These self-feathering masks allow you to have total control over the tonal qualities of your images, assuming you begin with a halfway decent exposure. If you use PS, using the masks will teach you a lot about post processing.

 

With regard to this image, most of the tonal work was done in the B&W conversion. I've attached a copy of the original color raw file. The colors were bold, which allows for equally bold conversions using calculations. In this case, I created a stack of alpha channel conversions and then masked in the best parts of each one.

This one has a few smeary areas because it was taken through the engineer's windshield but the print is charming.

Steve:

 

I found this barn in Stepney, CT. It is gone now. Collapsed of its own weight or bulldozed, I know not which. They are building a strip mall there now. Enough said.

 

If you have the time, go prowl around northeastern CT. There are still a lot of working farms (dairy, mostly but fields cultivated for silage) as well as many old ones. North of Litchfield is also a rich area. Utterly gorgeous country in a classic New England sense.

Thanks, Shaun. Few even notice this shot and I am glad that you did.

 

These stairs are at a train station and the tunnel goes under the tracks so that people can switch sides for trains going in different directions. What caught my eye, other than the geometry of the railings and lights was the subtle but wide ranging color gamut of this humble space. People rarely notice the richness of the colors here. I know I never did.

Steve:

 

If you are near New Haven, by all means visit this park (as well as the Port itself). I've never been there in summer, when it is busy. In winter, you have the place to yourself. There is also a delightful carousel-ballroom building that is rich with photo opportunities.

 

And thanks for your comment. I appreciate it.

 

Pat

Shaun:

 

I read your comment in the PN Help forum and ambled over to take a look at your photographs. Nice portfolio.

 

This most recent upload caught my eye and I thought I would share my observations with you.

 

First, I really like the lines and composition. I'd prefer no boat in the background, of course, but wildlife shots can never be fully planned. The perfectly straight lines of the floating dock and surrounding waters offer a panoply of color that is beautifully captured. Focus on the little egret is dead-on, with excellent exposure. Capturing the bird's head within the "dark" of the boat's hull makes this portrait standout.

 

There are three things I am not fond of, all of them post-processing items. First, the heavy back frame seems tight and claustrophobic to me. Second, the lighting is pretty flat across all of the tonal range. Third, the yellow color caste (which is likely natural) mutes the other colors and makes the egret appear a bit dingy. Also, given the caption, the yellow feet seem to me to be lost in a sea of yellow tinting.

 

I'd suggest different framing to give the portrait an airier feel. You might consider toning down the yellows generally but adding a bit of yellow saturation to the feet. Finally, using a small bit of burn & dodge throughout the image would add some interesting lighting variations and make the egret pop as the center of interest. (All of these suggestions are MOO - my opinion only.)