Sable Island at sunset

What is the photo of; Where was the photo taken

Sunset on South Beach, Sable Island

When was the photo taken

8 Jan 2006 16:45

Why was the photo taken

Another incredible sunset on Sable Island. The clouds and the light reflecting in the water caught my eye

Why was this composition chosen

I wanted to get the most from the light reflecting in the water on the beach. I used that stretch of water as the focal point and to guide the eye into the photo. The clouds were stunning so I included more sky than I normally would. The clouds also appear to lead the eye further into the photo.

How was the photo taken

1/40 sec at f5; ISO 100; Focal length 22mm; used IS on the lens to reduce camera blur; shot in RAW

How was the photo processed

Simple processing. Much of it was done in Camera RAW (levles, curves, saturation) and the same were tweaked in PS. Some cropping to remove a little of the sky and some of the beach to the right. I included twice as much sky as beach to get a nice balance. Finally sharpened.













Sable Island at sunset


Damian

Portrait Assignment: the scores so far

Here are the average scores for the three portrait entries for Ivan and myself, scored by only Ivan and myself. I have not included Grant because he has not completed the assignment yet and hasn't scored all of the entries. So Grant, it is all up to you....

Ivan

Impact - 7.7
Composition - 7.5
Light/Colour - 8.0
Technical skill - 7.8
Originality - 7.7

Overall Score - 7.7

Damian

Impact - 7.0
Composition - 6.8
Light/Colour - 7.3
Technical skill - 7.0
Originality - 7.0

Overall score - 6.7

So, Dr Lidgard is behind the Critical Eye by one whole point and scores consistently lower in all of the rankings. Ivan' scores are fairly consistent among the rankings with light and colour holding the highest score. Mr Lidgard shows more variation amongst his scores suggesting room for improvement.

Dr Lidgard

Final Portait Entry

Final one from me.

What is the photo of - Kate and I

When was the photo taken - Christmas 2004

Where was the photo taken - Our (then) living room

Why was the photo taken - wanted to try to produce an intimate shot, with a studio feel

Why was this composition chosen - wanted something close-in and with a warm personal feel

How was the photo taken - taken at arms-length, settings not sure

How was the photo processed - original image was converted to black and white. Selected a black from my hair (eyedropper tool) and painted in a black background that we could merge into. Dodged the highlights (eyes, shirt) and Burned the mid and shadow tones, to get a more dynamic black and white image. Both original and final are shown to allow assessment.

Original Image

Manipulated Image

What you should NEVER do with Photoshop...

Chaps

I came across this montage image while doing some other clean-up work of my overly-full C:drive. I took the picture of the (famous) painting in Chicago, and I put myself in it, watery reflections on the cobbled stones and all. I tried to make myself look a bit oil-painterly, using a filter in Photoshop, and resized and toned to fit in. Clearly, it needs to be more oil-painterly, but I am quite pleased with the reflection work. This was done by copying and pasting another version of me (cut out from another image), rotating it to lie in the right orientation, darkening down with levels, then using the blur and smudge brushes, bending the reflection to follow the contours of the cobbles. Finally, I lowered the opacity and, using a mask, subtly made the reflection fade out naturally. Interesting to get your comments...
Ivan