Photos taken by Pentax cameras for tech. discussion - Season II

[Anthony Lee]

Anthony, digital is not film. Digital output from DSLRs is made to be malleable, whereas for film, e.g. Velvia, a heavy amount of saturation is inherent, etc.

Your photos are currently still looking very washed out with a very flat look, even Auto Levels will help a bit with that. I know a lot of people have issues with "post processing" and all that, but photography is essentially about the vision, not about how little or how much you did in post.

Appreciate your input. I am a very lousy PP guy and just began learning CS5. Tami is a white cat with some light ginger color on her face. The only thing outstanding about her is her eyes. The photo was taken with her against a very light grey background and white floor. I shot at f1.4 and this A 50f1.4 has very poor contrast at f1.4. At CS5 camera raw, I pushed the contrast level to the limit and add some degree of fill black, tone down the white clipping and fill some light to her face. So, except her little shade of ginger and her eyes, the photo was practically about white and light grey. I really do not know what else I could have done except to shoot at f2.8 instead of f1.4. I processed the photo in camera raw in prophoto RGB and convert to jpec in sRGB. At CS5 photoshop, I then cropped the photo to remove all the flat area because there was nothing except the light grey wall, and then gave it a 30% smart sharpening. Please let me know what else I can do to this photo to improve on it and I will greatly appreciate.

 

[edutilos-]

Appreciate your input. I am a very lousy PP guy and just began learning CS5. Tami is a white cat with some light ginger color on her face. The only thing outstanding about her is her eyes. The photo was taken with her against a very light grey background and white floor. I shot at f1.4 and this A 50f1.4 has very poor contrast at f1.4. At CS5 camera raw, I pushed the contrast level to the limit and add some degree of fill black, tone down the white clipping and fill some light to her face. So, except her little shade of ginger and her eyes, the photo was practically about white and light grey. I really do not know what else I could have done except to shoot at f2.8 instead of f1.4. I processed the photo in camera raw in prophoto RGB and convert to jpec in sRGB. At CS5 photoshop, I then cropped the photo to remove all the flat area because there was nothing except the light grey wall, and then gave it a 30% smart sharpening. Please let me know what else I can do to this photo to improve on it and I will greatly appreciate.

Actually I personally do not like the composition, but that aside, here's what I would have done;

Curves (80% of the job is done here, with something akin to levels to prevent the whites from looking so murky):

After which, Vibrance up 15%, Saturation 5%, and selective noise removal to clean up the image (because I'm working with a relatively small size here). Comparison below ( please let me know if you want me to take it down):

(Left before, Right after)

 

[xtunbox]

Drop by Upper Seletar Res after work to catch the sunset.



Upper Seletar Reservoir (12Aug2011) by xtunbox, on Flickr

 

[Anthony Lee]

Actually I personally do not like the composition, but that aside, here's what I would have done;

Curves (80% of the job is done here, with something akin to levels to prevent the whites from looking so murky):

After which, Vibrance up 15%, Saturation 5%, and selective noise removal to clean up the image (because I'm working with a relatively small size here). Comparison below ( please let me know if you want me to take it down):

(Left before, Right after)

Thanks. You have a done a much better job. I looked at the original raw and did some slight curve adjustment like you suggested and it now looks better. About composition, this is the original uncropped version. How would you have cropped it or leave it untouch?

 

[machiavellian]

bad composition is bad composition. You can't save it. The face of the cat somehow blends with the body. Bad composition, wait I already said that.

 

[detritus]

bad composition is bad composition. You can't save it. The face of the cat somehow blends with the body. Bad composition, wait I already said that.

people post and share for tech discussion and critique so perhaps its good if u can share how to improve the composition?

i also know how to say poor compo, under-exposed, not sharp, etc etc... so what? must be constructive mah...

 

[JinG14]

bad composition is bad composition. You can't save it. The face of the cat somehow blends with the body. Bad composition, wait I already said that.

can u show me what is a good composition?

 

[tsammyc]

8-legged visitor :bsmilie:

GXR + A12 50mm Macro

What flash were you using? Am still trying to get a compact macro setup

 

[detritus]

What flash were you using? Am still trying to get a compact macro setup

on-board pop-up flash with folded A4 paper as diffuser.

imo, the whole point of having a compact macro setup is to keep it small and "organic". it won't do everything that your DSLR + 1:1 macro lens + ring light + flash-gun can do. but it'll get the job done with some compromises.

it defeats the purpose to attach tons of ding-dongs on a small camera right? :bsmilie:

i've seen some very good macro pics taken with an LX5 with raynox and a piece of paper attached as a diffuser.

 

[tsammyc]

it defeats the purpose to attach tons of ding-dongs on a small camera right? :bsmilie:

i've seen some very good macro pics taken with an LX5 with raynox and a piece of paper attached as a diffuser.

Agreed. I wouldn't put a full sized flash on a small camera, but M43 and NEX have compact flashes, which are usually a little better than popups.

 

[edutilos-]

Thanks. You have a done a much better job. I looked at the original raw and did some slight curve adjustment like you suggested and it now looks better. About composition, this is the original uncropped version. How would you have cropped it or leave it untouch?

Hi Anthony,

Composition is not about cropping here, actually this is a very top-down perspective, you can imagine it as being a 2m giant taking photos of everyone else, you will have a sense of disconnect when you look at the photograph.

When I shoot cats, I get down to their level, and I wait for a good moment. You will often see me "worshipping" the cats because I want to be as low as them, haha.. Actually the moment is quite good here, it is a thoughtful look, but the topdown perspective has the disconnected feeling, along with the cat's body forming part of the bokeh - these are the 2 main flaws in the composition here for me.

But I'm no cat photography expert... I just like to play with our furry friends and take some snapshots of the memories of the "friends" I make here and there all over Singapore.

 

[detritus]

Agreed. I wouldn't put a full sized flash on a small camera, but M43 and NEX have compact flashes, which are usually a little better than popups.

i suppose you can invest in them if you see a need.

i already have a heavy-duty setup for the K5. this one is for those times when i don't want to bring anything heavy. so my philosophy for this setup is to make do with what's on board.

the only "extra" i attach to the camera is the EVF. but that's really small so not much extra weight involved.

 

[stuck]

Some test shots from the Samsung FA35 f2 clone. Probably my sharpest lens beside the DFA50 macro (thanks Darren!). All shot wide open with my fav model.

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

Some test shots from the Samsung FA35 f2 clone. Probably my sharpest lens beside the DFA50 macro (thanks Darren!). All shot wide open with my fav model.

You're welcome, nice doggie shots there!

 

[Anthony Lee]

Hi Anthony,

Composition is not about cropping here, actually this is a very top-down perspective, you can imagine it as being a 2m giant taking photos of everyone else, you will have a sense of disconnect when you look at the photograph.

When I shoot cats, I get down to their level, and I wait for a good moment. You will often see me "worshipping" the cats because I want to be as low as them, haha.. Actually the moment is quite good here, it is a thoughtful look, but the topdown perspective has the disconnected feeling, along with the cat's body forming part of the bokeh - these are the 2 main flaws in the composition here for me.

But I'm no cat photography expert... I just like to play with our furry friends and take some snapshots of the memories of the "friends" I make here and there all over Singapore.

Appreciate your comments. Tami sleeps with me, sits on my tummy when I watch TV and can sit on the floor staring at me sometimes for 15 to 20 minutes until I respond. I have taken thousands of photos of her, and for this particular shot, I was testing the A 50f1.4 at f1.4. So, some shots had her nose in focus and the rest very blurry, but this shot got her eyes in focus. It was a f1.4 perspective and I could not go down to her level as I would not have the balance to focus and shoot with a manual focus lens. Thanks once agin for your insight.

 

[pinholecam]

Some test shots from the Samsung FA35 f2 clone. Probably my sharpest lens beside the DFA50 macro (thanks Darren!). All shot wide open with my fav model.

Beautiful looking dog.
Looks a bit feminine. Its a he or she?

 

[detritus]

Appreciate your comments. Tami sleeps with me, sits on my tummy when I watch TV and can sit on the floor staring at me sometimes for 15 to 20 minutes until I respond. I have taken thousands of photos of her, and for this particular shot, I was testing the A 50f1.4 at f1.4. So, some shots had her nose in focus and the rest very blurry, but this shot got her eyes in focus. It was a f1.4 perspective and I could not go down to her level as I would not have the balance to focus and shoot with a manual focus lens. Thanks once agin for your insight.

thats so sweet you have a fantastic relationship with your cat. i love cats but my family is not keen to keep pets.

agree that its very challenging to couch down to the cat's eye level to compose in the manner edutilos suggests. i've struggled with that posture myself and its no fun. :sweat: its very tiring on the back and thighs.

another alternative is to find an opportune time when the cat is comfortably settled on a higher surface, like a couch, or a chair. that way, you can take an eye-level shot when half-kneeling instead of proned down.

my personal preference for cat shots is to step down rather than shoot wide open. all the pentax 50mm lenses benefit from being stepped down for optimum sharpness. i may even under-expose slightly if i have to, and then bump up exposure, brightness and fill in PP.

this gives me better flexibility than getting a perfectly exposed shot on the camera when the conditions do not allow for it. i'm not that big a fan of high ISO shooting even though the K5 excels in that area.

 

[Anthony Lee]

thats so sweet you have a fantastic relationship with your cat. i love cats but my family is not keen to keep pets.

agree that its very challenging to couch down to the cat's eye level to compose in the manner edutilos suggests. i've struggled with that posture myself and its no fun. :sweat: its very tiring on the back and thighs.

another alternative is to find an opportune time when the cat is comfortably settled on a higher surface, like a couch, or a chair. that way, you can take an eye-level shot when half-kneeling instead of proned down.

my personal preference for cat shots is to step down rather than shoot wide open. all the pentax 50mm lenses benefit from being stepped down for optimum sharpness. i may even under-expose slightly if i have to, and then bump up exposure, brightness and fill in PP.

this gives me better flexibility than getting a perfectly exposed shot on the camera when the conditions do not allow for it. i'm not that big a fan of high ISO shooting even though the K5 excels in that area.

I have 2 cats, Tami & Tomi, both are almost white. I communicate with my cats not through eye-to-eye contact but through meowing, especially Tami, different meowing for different responses. They are now 7 years old and are truly part of me. Normally, I will shoot them at f2.8-f4 with the A 50f1.4 and that's simple but a F1.4 lens has to be used at wide open sometimes, otherwise I will just use d kit lens. Like most of your macro shots which I tried to do but gave up as I could not crouch low as I will faint sometimes, so I gave up. Cheers.

 

[stuck]

Beautiful looking dog.
Looks a bit feminine. Its a he or she?

haha that's the first time somebody's said she's feminine looking... she's usually such a prude! but i guess she doesn't have the blocky head that the male goldens have.

 

[detritus]

I have 2 cats, Tami & Tomi, both are almost white. I communicate with my cats not through eye-to-eye contact but through meowing, especially Tami, different meowing for different responses. They are now 7 years old and are truly part of me. Normally, I will shoot them at f2.8-f4 with the A 50f1.4 and that's simple but a F1.4 lens has to be used at wide open sometimes, otherwise I will just use d kit lens. Like most of your macro shots which I tried to do but gave up as I could not crouch low as I will faint sometimes, so I gave up. Cheers.

i don't suggest that you try to couch low for macro. i try not to do ground-level subjects free-hand because i seldom can pull it off properly - i have to compromise on stability and composition and i end up with aching thighs, tired back and very dirty clothes.

the strain on my thighs causes me to walk like a cow-boy afterwards and the shots are usually thrown away - a lot of effort with very little to show for. i can imagine how it must be a much greater strain for you. don't do it. its not worth the trouble.

most of my macro shots are done at eye-level when i have to shoot low, i usually use a tripod with a horizontal center column, such as this wolf spider. they build their nests on the grass:

in using a fast prime, i agree that F1.4 provides some flexibility in low light conditions and provides the DOF that we cannot achieve with a kit lens when shot wide open but i don't fancy using them wide open all that much. i prefer to see it as a lens that i can use to achieve pin-sharp IQ at F1.7 or F2 which the kit-lens cannot achieve.