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Home » Forums » PhotoShare » Comment & Critique - Live, Backstage, Promo, etc

Jeff Healy @ The Robin, Wolverhampton UK

published by emt on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 10:59am

Some with the nifty some with the 28-105.

1 - support Ian Parker

2 - basspleyer for Ian Parker

3 - I'm thinking of doing a totally different crop on this. (Healy Band)

4

5 - This kid is 14. When he was 12 he jammed with John Mayal. Oh yeah - he could play!

6 - I just love the expression on their faces. A junior 14 year old so in tune jamming (for the first time) with Healy who's done this for years.

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Comment & Critique - Live, Backstage, Promo, etc

Submitted by Tsukasa on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 11:45am.

I find 1, 3 and 5 are most succesful from this set. I noticed that eyes are closed on most pictures, except 3.
1 is ok, sharp, light is ok. Perhaps second guy could be cloned away.
2. Seem not too sharp, and contain some irrelevant details (eg light atop the guy)
3 is ok, eyes are open and some emotion on the face
4. better have open eyes I think.
5. Cute boy :)
6. The problems that it's not sharp and got some unneeded ghosts near the mic of second guy (ghosts from the left seem oke).

Askar Ibragimov - middeneaht.deviantart.com

Submitted by Rene Damkot on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:19pm.

#1 is okay, but I'd crop a bit off bottom and left (yep, through the guitar)
#2: Motion blur and/or OoF? Also needs a crop. (top&left)
#3: Nice, but not too sharp I think (focus in front, at the arm)
#4: Nice. Maybe crop off a bit top and left, to loose the XLR.
#5: Nice kid, nice expression, nice guitar, not too nice crop & BG.
#6: Very nice expression on the kid, almost copied by Jeff, but I would have liked to see Jeffs guitar, and at least one of the subjects in focus, instead of the drum kit...

Submitted by emt on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:54pm.

1. Geesh! I'd have to clone out the rack behind him as well.

2 - Thanks guys. I agree about cropping it better.

3 - I'm thinking of doing a landscape crop on it. it is actually shot in portrait. It is a totally different picture that way and the facial expression really comes off.

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Submitted by Rene Damkot on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 5:03am.

#3: Not the elbow, more the wrist erea.
Doesn't appear to crisp somehow, and I thought the wrist appeared sharper. Might be due a lack of hair on the rest of the arm gives the wrong impression..

You could try this for web sharpening...

Submitted by emt on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 8:03am.

Thanks Rene. Checked the link. I'm realizing that my eyes are f*cked regardless if I'm wearing glasses, lenses or not becauuse I see very little differenece, if any, in the pictures in that link.

I tried the filter on 3 and didn't like the end result, really.

Anyway - here it is again in a different crop and with an ever so slight smart sharpen added.

I'm also not happy with what happens with the colors in the image taking it from LR to CS3 back to LR and export it. Strangely it was better exporting it out of LR than CS3 which completely destroyed the image.

I'm starting to get to the point that if the image isn't sharp enough out of the camera don't try and fix it. Sometimes sharp pictures can take away mood and feel. Technically correct images do nothing for me. Images that capture a moment or mood do a world for me.

I'm also noticing that my quest for the perfect sharpness and all the pixelpeeping I'm doing is making me lose my mojo. I need to get back to just shooting because I enjoy it and not worry about the result. That is when I get the best result. Now that I worry about it I see my style changing and my work deteriorating.

/E

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Submitted by Rene Damkot on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 7:10pm.

emt wrote:
Thanks Rene. Checked the link. I'm realizing that my eyes are f*cked regardless if I'm wearing glasses, lenses or not becauuse I see very little differenece, if any, in the pictures in that link.
I tried the filter on 3 and didn't like the end result, really.

Why not? (Just curious)
It can increase noise in some cases... Also I thought it was 'too much' by default, so I adjusted it a bit...

emt wrote:
Anyway - here it is again in a different crop and with an ever so slight smart sharpen added.

I like the crop. Nice.
Does not look sharp however. (sorry) Might be motion blur, might be front focus...
Would you mind sending me the raw? I'm curious...

emt wrote:
I'm also not happy with what happens with the colors in the image taking it from LR to CS3 back to LR and export it. Strangely it was better exporting it out of LR than CS3 which completely destroyed the image.

Strange. Like what?
First though is: color management issue... Colors should not change one bit when going from LR to PS and back (unless you change them in PS on purpose obviously).
I wrote a long thread about CM on POTN (here). Quite a bit of reading, but if you skip most of that, there are a few images which show how Photoshops Color Settings should be set up).
If you've got questions, mail me: I still have 11 days left on the LR trail ;)

emt wrote:
I'm starting to get to the point that if the image isn't sharp enough out of the camera don't try and fix it. Sometimes sharp pictures can take away mood and feel. Technically correct images do nothing for me. Images that capture a moment or mood do a world for me.

While I agree (and tend to be too 'technical' if I don't stop myself) I prefer both technical *and* emotional.

emt wrote:
I'm also noticing that my quest for the perfect sharpness and all the pixelpeeping I'm doing is making me lose my mojo. I need to get back to just shooting because I enjoy it and not worry about the result. That is when I get the best result. Now that I worry about it I see my style changing and my work deteriorating.

Your style should not change because of pixelpeeping and a 'Quest for the Holy Grail sharpness'. It can help to get you better images, by learning from mistakes however.

Then again, I agree a technical spot on image can be pretty bad if it doesn't offer anything else...
I've said it before: Technicalities are just that, and relatively easy learned...

Submitted by emt on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 5:51am.

Thanks again.

I'll send you the raw. PM me an email address.

I think I've calibrated my screen hundred times. I have not changed any settings in PS or LR for color management. All I noticed was a HUGE difference in color when exporting to web out of PS CS3 and not so much out of LR.

Pixel peeping shouldn't change my style. I know what it is I'm doing wrong. I never used to think when I was shooting before. Now I think too much. I'm too tense, too much on the hunt for the perfect picture, too focused on getting the job done and forgotten about "going with the flow".

I need to stop thinking. Something I keep telling (the young up and coming) musicians, as it interrupts the flow.

I shall continue reading up on post processing and get better at that and go back to my old mindset and look for stuff I would want to have on my wall. If it comes out tack sharp - great. If not - I'll still like it.

And yes - I am aware I have a lot to learn. 2 new lenses in the span of three weeks and all the pointers I've gotten from here and POTN - it is a lot to digest.

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Submitted by Rene Damkot on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 7:16am.

emt wrote:
I think I've calibrated my screen hundred times. I have not changed any settings in PS or LR for color management. All I noticed was a HUGE difference in color when exporting to web out of PS CS3 and not so much out of LR.

Aha, I think that explains it: When you export a file from LR to PS, it is in ProPhotoRGB color space by default. If you don't convert to sRGB before saving for web, you will gate a *massive* difference, because ProPhotoRGB is *huge* compared to sRGB. Colors will appear flat. Like this

LR exports to web as an sRGB file I presume. That's one thing that is rather silly about PS: You'ld expect that 'Save for Web' converts to sRGB by default. Yet it doesn't....

If you convert to sRGB in PS before saving to web (or save as jpg if you want to keep the EXIF in), you'll be fine...

I only pixel peep to see what went wrong: *Why* is that image OoF? If the answer is: "Because you focussed on the microphone, silly", then I know I have to watch out for that next time. Not that it always helps, because I find the 'stop thinking' all to easy sometimes ;)

Sending PM

Submitted by Rene Damkot on Thu, 05/24/2007 - 10:51am.

The 'Focus" topic has been moved to Equipment.

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