Weekly Photo Challenge: Weight(less)
Posted on January 9, 2016
Before & After: Sunset
Posted on January 8, 2016
Sunsets can be highly dramatic subjects, but they can also be the devil’s own work to get right, because the sun itself is almost inevitably over-exposed and leaves everything else devoid of detail.
Before
This photograph was taken at dusk, looking over the giraffe enclosure of the nature reserve on Sir Bani Yas island. Capturing it was pretty much a case of point and click – the sun sets very quickly so close to the tropics. As it stands, it’s not a bad image, but I thought it would be interesting to see what could be done in the way of post-processing to improve it.
After
- Although it works reasonably well with the sun slap bang in the middle of the picture, I cropped so as to put it on one of the classic ‘rule of thirds’ intersections.
- In the process, this also eliminated much of the dark foreground, which didn’t contain anything of interest. It also brings to the fore the bare silhouetted branches that are the really interesting element of the image.
- Hovering the magnifying glass in Lightroom’s Develop mode over the brightest part of the sun’s disc confirmed that it was completely blown out, with all three of the Red, Green and Blue readings at 100%, or as near as makes no difference. Moving the Whites slider all the way to -100 actually reduced this figure to around 75%, which is at least some improvement.
- I also played around a bit with the Orange channel in the colour palette top provide a warmer overall cast.
By the way, did anybody else spot the bird sitting on the branch (at about 7 o’clock if the sun was a clockface)? I didn’t see it at all until I’d completed the editing.
The two towers
Posted on January 8, 2016
The headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are in a building comprising two towers, about 35 storeys high, linked by a spectacular atrium. Here is a detail (sorry Cee, not the whole thing):
Perspective
Posted on January 7, 2016
Four images that demonstrate the theme of perspective for Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge this week:
This detail of an old dhow drawn up on the waterfront in Abu Dhabi contrasts with the modern skyscrapers in the background.
Still in Abu Dhabi, this aircraft was flying over the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque when I happened to be there.
The red and white striped windsock at the Blond airstrip is a striking image in itself, but so is the drone behind it.
From a photographic perspective you can debate whether it’s the baby or the cake that’s the subject of this picture, but there’s only one subject that my grandson was interested in on his first birthday.
Thursday Doors: Venice
Posted on January 7, 2016
Continuing last week’s theme of decrepit blue doors, this battered-looking specimen is to be found on the island of Burano in the Venetian lagoon.
And here are a couple more from Venice that I’ve used in previous posts:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle
Posted on January 2, 2016
This image of a chandelier in Dubai Mall, taken from directly below, has circles in abundance; the design is almost fractal.
Saint-Emilion
Posted on January 1, 2016
This week’s Black & White Photo Challenge from Cee is for ‘Any kind of bricks or stone walls, roads or walkways’.
All present and correct in this image, taken in the village of Saint-Emilion, one of the centres of wine-making in France’s Bordeaux region.
One Photo Focus: January 2016
Posted on January 1, 2016
For the January One Photo Focus we were given this image by Laura Macky of Laura Macky Photography
It’s an excellent photograph as it stands: a well-composed image of an interesting subject. There seemed little to be gained from tweaking details like saturation; that would be more likely to detract than to enhance. So I decided to take just a part of the whole and turn it into something different.
The angle at which the boat is beached provided some interesting diagonals in the superstructure, so I cropped tightly into the subject itself. Although I like the colours in the original, I felt that it would also work well in black and white. A bit of work on the sliders brought out more detail in the peeling paintwork, giving it a more ‘weatherbeaten’ look.
Lessons learnt
Posted on December 31, 2015
This week, as part of her ongoing Compose Yourself Challenge, Cee Neuner has offered up five of her own photographs for participants to offer a critique and, if they choose, edit themselves. I like to think that I can take it as well as dish it out, so although it seems a little churlish to ‘have a go’ at the work of someone who does so much for the photoblogging community, I’m going to take up the offer. It’s at times like this it’s important to remember that there’s all the difference between critique and criticism.
As Cee points out, all five of these images are straight out of the camera, with no post-processing whatsoever. In my view, there’s something that can be done with three of them, although with ‘Coloured Chairs’ and ‘Taxi Cab’ I’d just be inclined to press ‘delete’ and move on. Perhaps they illustrate Cee’s dictum that you should never take just one photo.
As for the others, I’ve done my own editing on them and present the before and after side by side, with a few notes on what I did and why.
Marina
- Photography 101: Horizons should be horizontal
- The setting sun is blown out, and the rest of the image is underexposed. I cropped out the left hand side to eliminate the glare and also whatever it is at top left (it surely isn’t the subject).
- Moving around the sliders lightened the remaining image, bringing out more detail in the foreground as well as enhancing the colour of the sky.
Red Umbrella
Anything red is pretty much guaranteed to make a good subject (as well as the classic foreground object), but in the original the umbrella is a bit lost somewhere in the middle, so I cropped it to put the umbrellas in the left third of the image, and also bring out the diagonals of the wall and pavement (sorry, ‘sidewalk’). A bit of punch from boosting Clarity and Vibrance and I think you have an interesting image.
Doors
- This is a fascinating door, although I think the image would work better if it was taken from directly in front (a problem I always have) as it’s impossible (at least within my limited abilities) to get all the verticals in the image properly vertical. I’ve straightened it as far as I could.
- I also cropped to remove the distractions on the left side.
- The picture was obviously taken in bright sunlight so looks a little washed out. I adjusted exposure by -1 stop and played around with the tone curve to increase contrast and detail, and also enhance the colour of the door.
Thursday Doors: Bonnefont
Posted on December 31, 2015
As a special end-of-year treat, this week Norm suggests we recycle a previous post. So here’s a door I used last year for a WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge on the theme of Endurance. You can see why.
The hamlet of Bonnefont is just a few miles from here, but with about 30 houses its a sprawling metropolis compared to here at Tranquility Base, which can muster ten permanently occupied and half a dozen holiday homes.
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