Thanks for a serious criticism. I don’t have a pro editor so as a Muppet I fly by myself. I shoot in RAW. It’s the nearest to old film one can get. Film has had it’s day.
I use the camera as a means to express myself. Any image you see here has my stamp on it.
What’s your proper name? I can’t be arsed writing Rhymes With Plague every time….If you don’t tell me otherwise I’ll call you Eric.
Be honoured, it’s only because you write so well that I dedicate a post to you.
Well, I think this is an HDR isn't it? I like crepuscular rays.
ReplyDeleteMaria, yes it's HDR. Many of my pictures are.
DeleteAdrian, just turn it into an acronym like everyone else ~ RWP :). I think you may have over reacted to RWP's comment yesterday, but who am I to comment on over-reaction in the Blogasphere. But very glad you posted the original so we could appreciate what the original image was like, and amazed at how much you improved on that DOOM and GLOOM through digital manipulation. I am just mentally going through the process of doing the same in days past in a dark room.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I am over the top for much of the time. In days past it would take hours and with no real guarantee of success.
DeleteI struggle with similar issues in my photography. I don't like a lot of the stuff that over enhances and makes it too romantic, too technicolor. (I think you hold back from doing that). At first I avoided HDR, but like you I think that sometimes those shots are closer to what the eye sees than the single exposures are. I guess we want the photos to feel genuine, and I think yours do. Jean
ReplyDeleteJayview, HDR has many problems. It does soften images. One way around this is to triplicate a siRAW converter pull one of them two stops and push the other by a similar amount. I know that any image is just that. They are all a distortion of reality with the possible exception of archival copies of paintings and some very carefully produced micros and macros.
DeleteHI Adrian I agree with yu when people do not add their proper name, it's as if they don't really want us to know it!! Anyhow, I am glad you put the original one for us to see, now of the 2,I do prefer the one you doctored. I think photography is an art form and as such you as the photographer have the right to make improvelments as you see fit (unless it is in a competition and you are restricted to do so). Like any art form, then the viewer can see and take different things from the picture. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteMargaret RWP, doesn't hide behind a nomme de Blog. In general I agree with you. The internet is an odd environment. I could quite easily be a thirty year old transvestite, living in a mansion in Wigan.
DeleteMost competitions worth the name wouldn't mind manipulation. If it's over done then the image isn't going to win anyway.
I think the result is excellent.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day HDR is almost as old as photography itself. Just take a look at the 1857 Sky and Sea photos by Gustave Le Grey. Of course with modern technology this is much easier but as you say it is about using the camera and computer as a tool to capture what the eye can see.
Mark, I did toy with the idea of wet plate photography and am aware of Gustave and the other pioneers. In his case I suspect the reason he shot Contre Jour was to get exposure times that allowed the sea to remain sharp. I find his work more curious than an effective portrayal.
DeleteThank you Adrian. I have said before you are an artist. Thank you for showing us part of the process.
ReplyDeleteDavid, had you seen me the evening before last you would have been in no doubt that I was an artist. My brother-in-law said exactly that.
DeleteI bet it wasn't exactly that!
Deleterhymeswithplague - maybe you are honoured by a visit from William Hague ;)
ReplyDeleteDigital cameras, even expensive ones, have their limits especially with a mixture of deep shadow and bright light. They cannot reproduce the range our eyes see - let's face it - the brain adjusts and refines what we see. The processed one is great. I had a similar problem with last night's beautiful Sunset - the camera couldn't cope with the subtleties of colour tints.
I can remember when I used to print my own b/w negs it was sometimes necessary to dodge certain parts of a scene to make it more realistic.
John, he can keep William Hague.
DeleteIf it were easy then I suspect I'd lose interest. I suspect the sensor filters are to blame rather than modern sensors. Lieca took them off for many years but I believe they are back on the M9.
I forgot this when you were discussing the colour on your Fuji. Lens filters which you already use are possibly worth pursuing further.
I never dodged and burned but I did experiment with stacking transparencies...with a mind boggling lack of success.
Your pics are just so beautiful, A ... You are a true artist ... where are you now? Don't want to lose touch with you ... Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteCat, I'm on a hill just outside Kinross. I'll do pop by your blog but oft times I don't understand it.
DeleteThis a great before and after Adrian and realy shows what can be done given the time and the skills.
ReplyDeletepeter
Peter, time isn't the problem....it should be. I may start posting forty eight hours after I process. It would give me time to reflect.
DeleteThis takes about five minutes.
Dat is groots wat een moment zo mooi die stralen dit is puur genieten.
ReplyDeleteHet is enjoyement voor mij. Ik ben blij dat je het leuk vindt ook.
DeleteWell, I am honoured, Adrian (see, I even spelled it the English way in your honor, er, honour). The name's Brague, Bob Brague (well, Robert, really, but no one who really knows me calls me Robert. No one who knows me calls me Eric, either, but you can be the first if you like. I'd be honoured. Truly.)
ReplyDeleteBoth images are wonderful, and if the second one is more like what your eye saw, then more power to you, I say! Use all the digital tools and mechanical enhancements that are available to you, just don't let the final product be as far removed from reality as one of Salvador Dali's paintings. That's all I'm asking.
You have an awesome blog, sir.
Bob, every year I feel I have to justify my images. You were the catalyst so thank you.
DeleteI wish I were a Dali. I'm more of a Dalek.
I often go too far with processing. It's good to have people keep me within some limits.
This, Adrian, is one of the cases where even I would have used HDR. How I would actually see the scene would probably be somewhere in between the two but (at the risk of you accusing me of being too sycophantic I think they are both very evocative of the emotion I feel when I see them. I sometime think that I don't actually see the detail but the emotion that an image generates.
ReplyDeletePS I could have told you rhymeswithplague is Robert although I'd have difficulty knowing him as Bob. That's the trouble with Blogland relationships. Eric? Nah!
Graham, in an ideal world I would wait for the light to come to me. It wasn't going to happen here.
DeleteEarlier in the year I was watching a proper film crew and it was an education. Three lorry loads of equipment. They could turn night into day and probably visa versa. I often wish that I'd gone to college after school and been taught the basics. Then gone into the film industry.
Now be careful, I don't want to be pacifying a flock of Erics.
You and pacify sound rather oxymoronic to me.
DeletePS It wouldn't be the same if you were a pacifier. Rather like you posting unprocessed photos wouldn't be the same.
DeleteGraham, okay let's wind up the Erics.
DeleteGraham, okay let's wind up the Erics.
DeleteGraham, okay let's wind up the Erics.
Delete