Hangin at the Ski photo-Shop

On Mon, Aug 11, 2003 6:40 AM, Yort wrote:
....
Or, try this variant:
....
Of course, since its mine, I like it better than the previous two
versions, but what do people think?

Cool! Your version is the best, for sure. I am pretty amazed you could do
that with a compressed file. The sky looks awesome. Off to experiment with
yet another tip...

Thanks,


Mike...

--
Littleton, Colorado (reply to msaemisch at yahoo dot com)
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem

On 12 Aug 2003 03:25:08 GMT, "Let Mikey Ski It!"
wrote:

Yup! Shoot and learn. I think you need to send me that new lens. Grumble
grumble.

$1600 bucks!

It better be as good as all the reviews say it is.

What the hell. As many pics as I shoot, the savings in film cost
alone has already paid for the cam...and will probably pay for this
new lens by the end of the upcoming season.

But if doesn't snow worth a ****, I'm screwed.

Hey, did you upgrade your camera to firmware 2.0? If not, I can help.

Yea, I got it from a link provided on the Nikon SLR Forum.

I probably didn't really need 2.0...but I figured what the
hell...better keep up with the Jones's.

Now, if I can just get my powder breathing subjects to "STOP LOOKING
AT THE CAMERA" !!!

-Astro

---
x-Vertigo
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/02-03/index.htm
---

On 12 Aug 2003 03:20:01 GMT, "Let Mikey Ski It!"
wrote:

Cool! Your version is the best, for sure. I am pretty amazed you could do
that with a compressed file. The sky looks awesome. Off to experiment with
yet another tip... Thanks,
Mike...

You are quite welcome. Once you get into the routine, correcting
photos with this procedure can be done in under a couple of min and
almost with your mind in idle and the clutch in.

For yucks, I quickly did the same sort of correction on your 2nd
photo:

Befo
http://homepage.mac.com/saemisch/Temp/DSC_2697.jpg

After:
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VgDYAv8axrWMHb1wVdK59TJ6cm5nCzNFJfsgrTpnN*3bd101x 54MOPjGP1UkK8gS5YF3KbPnsqYgDyOlUMY7QejKCzuzWt9h14P Zqizov3CUX!pcbe1QFyKg2lCoACXN/SkierInOpenTrees#2-Tfix03.jpg?dc=4675434182663395420

Because I intentionally rushed to see how fast I could execute this
procedure, I'm not 100% happy with this version ... the one-piece came
out a bit too neon blue for my taste and I overcooked the highlights
in the foreground snow. OTOH, you can certainly see a lot more color
and details in the branches as well as in the pow that the skier is
kicking up.

If I had taken a few more sec, I probably would have been a bit more
careful in my final levels adjustment and not had the burnt-out snow.
Solving the problem of the overly saturated blue takes just one more
quick correction:

a) Roughly copy the skier from the original;

b) Past it (correctly aligned) into the corrected image on a new
layer. Feather the edges of this object by 4 or 5 pixels.

c) By adjusting the transparency, you can go anywhere from the
original to the 100% modified version. My guess is that somewhere
around 25% original would be pretty good to tone down the neon-blue.


Here's one of my own images (Steamboat at night) that was done in the
same general way (ie, tweaking the highlights and shadow areas
separately), but the different areas were not selected by the
procedure I described above. There was so much contrast in this scene
that I actually had to take two separate exposures (about 5 or 6
stops apart) and blend them in Photoshop. The exposure for the mtn
required something like a 4 min exposure @ f/5.6 because the moon was
only a thin sliver on this particular night.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TADMAssVxyKqhvGct51HBq0RWn1RPMHGp5fAaOPUaxbbgCrMe qydTOltL7WKi7JDRU7vgdjykERrrtjaQxuVwAmfCQAKP1PlS8M YkH3vReKuX58b*OCoYw/s408d-$-500x800.jpg?dc=4675382620767221989

Finally, here is an image (Copper fm I-70) where the areas for
photoshop correction were selected the same way (ie, a negative mask),
but the opposite correction was used to completely darken the shadows
and give a full silhouette effect, whereas in the original, some
detail could still be seen in the shadow areas.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TADMAsoVYyJjF8puQ08KKcUTB1T4KDoHcKp2qPoSkD1N9RF8g MYv0E8t10dz1uqdYuLoeCZ*SagcwQBB*8A!Gk5c1pdL8sC3pJp qlkobbBZ8qUm2GnkdsQ/s404b-$-460x800.jpg?dc=4675382620470896287


Ain't fotons fun?

Yort

(Bruno Melli) wrote in
:

In article ,
Chester Bullock writes:
And here I was thinking my next purchase would be something like Eric
Meyer on CSS. Well, maybe I'll buy two books now instead of one...

Add a third one: This one is all about color correction. I haven't
had a chance to really get into it but looking at the before/after
pictures it has everything you'd need to fix
color/contrast/saturation/cast issues with pictures:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...60728037/sr=2-
1/ref=sr_2_1/103-2855580-6662232

bruno.




Damn you bruno...

If you and Mike really want to have some fun with your cameras, take a
look at http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/index.html and start making
'super-compositions' of your photos...

Also some good stuff at http://robertdfeinman.com/tips/index.html

I really didn't need another hobby...

--
Chester Bullock,
Tenxible Solutions - Tangible, Flexible
Website Hosting, Design and Marketing
http://www.tenxible.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you really own your domain name? Find out
with our free domain name research report.
http://www.tenxible.com

AstroPax wrote:
"Let Mikey Ski It!" wrote:

Yup! Shoot and learn. I think you need to send me that new lens. Grumble
grumble.

$1600 bucks!

Where did you find it for $1,600?!? My toy gland got seriously enlarged
reading about that lens. Have you received it yet? What do you think?!?

But if doesn't snow worth a ****, I'm screwed.

I bet it will. If it doesn't, send it to me.

Astro, have you done much tinkering with White Balance? After just reading
a few articles, it sounds like we should be experimenting with this to see
which handles snow best. I also have an 18% grey cloth but have never used
it.

Mike...

--
Littleton, Colorado (reply to msaemisch at yahoo dot com)
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem

Yort wrote:

... You are quite welcome. Once you get into the routine, correcting
photos with this procedure can be done in under a couple of min and
almost with your mind in idle and the clutch in.

Yort, I am afraid my level of Photoshop knowledge is insufficient to
recreate your process. Could you add a few more details on each menu/action
you take in each step? Thanks! (I am using PS 7).

I suppose you could set up a Photoshop action to speed things along?

For yucks, I quickly did the same sort of correction on your 2nd
photo: ...

Very nice, again. I need to learn this process.

Ain't fotons fun?

Yes!

Anyone else have some tips to share?

Thanks,

Mike...

--
Littleton, Colorado (reply to msaemisch at yahoo dot com)
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem

On 16 Aug 2003 13:40:09 GMT, "Let Mikey Ski It!"
wrote:

AstroPax wrote:
"Let Mikey Ski It!" wrote:

Yup! Shoot and learn. I think you need to send me that new lens. Grumble
grumble.

$1600 bucks!

Where did you find it for $1,600?!? My toy gland got seriously enlarged
reading about that lens. Have you received it yet? What do you think?!?

Mikey,

Actually, I paid exactly $1,649.95 for the USA model from B&H Photo.

I procure all of my gear from B&H because they are fast and reliable.

Obviously, I could have purchased the grey market version for less,
but if I'm gonna pay *that* much for a lens I think it's prudent to
get the 5 year Nikon USA warranty. Especially for a lens that has so
many switches, servos, gizmos, etc.

A few pics of this monster mounted on my D100, w/tripod:

http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_1.jpg (38k)

http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_2.jpg (53k)

Anyway, the thing is awesome. It's my first AF-S type lens. Talk
about a *fast* auto-focus.

Not too heavy, not too big, and it just happens to produce some rather
high quality, sharp images. Yup, I'm thoroughly convinced that half
the battle is with the glass.

However, as we well know, the real test will occur when I start
shooting during a nice Alta dump...big snowflakes, flat light, fast
movers.

But if doesn't snow worth a ****, I'm screwed.

I bet it will. If it doesn't, send it to me.

On second thought, I *will* find some snow, regardless! Even if I
have to jump on the old Tele skis. But for that to happen, I would
have to be really desperate.

Astro, have you done much tinkering with White Balance? After just reading
a few articles, it sounds like we should be experimenting with this to see
which handles snow best. I also have an 18% grey cloth but have never used
it.

Yea, I think you might have something there. Guess it's time to start
tinkering with the WB, but I'm not exactly sure where to start. Let
me know if you have any good ideas.

The most I've ever done is simply set it at a +3 EV.

Also, seeing how skiers sometimes move erratically, I think I'll try
Dynamic-area AF vs Single-area AF.

Man, I can't believe it. My old film Nikon is gathering dust, big
time. I feel sorry for Kodak.

-Astro

---
x-Vertigo
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/02-03/index.htm
---

AstroPax wrote:

A few pics of this monster mounted on my D100, w/tripod:
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_1.jpg (38k)
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_2.jpg (53k)

BIGGGG F SCHWINNNNNNNNG !!!!!!

You are hurting me, Astro. Must have must have. Oh baby.

I am really curious to see how that VR works for skiers where you might be
tracking the camera slowly.

Yea, I think you might have something there. Guess it's time to start
tinkering with the WB, but I'm not exactly sure where to start. Let
me know if you have any good ideas.

The article I read talked about not setting it to Auto, like I do. It said
it works well sometimes but the camera does not always guess correctly.
They talked about experimenting to see which you like best (like setting it
to flash, or tungsten) and/or setting it manually (or shoot raw where it
does not matter). I plan to experiment soon. Maybe this is a way to get rid
of the blueish snow.

Mike...

--
Littleton, Colorado (reply to msaemisch at yahoo dot com)
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem

AstroPax wrote:

A few pics of this monster mounted on my D100, w/tripod:
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_1.jpg (38k)
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_2.jpg (53k)

Neat!

Hmm, why the scalloped edge on the shield? Is that something new?

Geesh, I've been out of it for a while. I'm still using a Canon AE-1P

Mike

On 18 Aug 2003 15:40:05 GMT, "Mike Yetsko" wrote:

AstroPax wrote:

A few pics of this monster mounted on my D100, w/tripod:
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_1.jpg (38k)
http://www.xmission.com/~hound/astro/cam/70-200_2.jpg (53k)

Neat!

Hmm, why the scalloped edge on the shield? Is that something new?

It makes it easier to reach in with your fingers and remove the lens
cap without removing the lens hood.

But I'm still waiting for a design that works without having to take
off the ski gloves.

-Astro