Sep 09 Contest – Exposures

[T Paul]

September 09 Contest – Exposures

This month’s contest is from our very own Doug Nelson:

On a recent trip to my local arboretum, I came across a beautiful vista: a dramatic sky over a beautiful green meadow filled with hundreds of vibrant flowers. Knowing the exposure range was beyond my camera's ability to capture, I took two bracketed exposures and planned on combining them later into one image that matched what I remember seeing on the day. But, I didn't have a tripod with me, and the vibrant flowers ended up being a lot smaller than I remember.

Your assignment: without adding any outside elements, combine these two raw files into one image that combines the best of both. Special emphasis should be placed on the flowers.

The goal is to combine the images to create the best image by working with the two images provided. So you should NOT duplicate flowers to create a new field of solid flowers. But you can crop the image, enlarge as necessary, clone to clean up lines, pump up the colors or contrast and so forth.


Source Images: Photos by Doug Nelson:

The images are uncompressed RAW photographs. These are large files and will take some time to download.

Contest RAW Images
Image 1
Image 2

For those that have slow downloads, here are the photos as JPEGs
Image 1
Image 2

New to the contests? Please review the FAQs


Prize: Nik Silver Efex Pro, donated by Nik Software

Prize Description: Silver Efex Pro Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs. For the first time, all the advanced power and control required for professional results have been brought together in one convenient tool.

THE RULES:

1. Contest will run from 1 Sep to 23 Sep 2009. Deadline for entries is 5pm (Central Daylight Savings Time).

2. I will not answer questions concerning the rules. Interpretation of the rules is as important as execution.

3. Tasks:

• Combine the best elements from the two raw files to create a single image
• Do not add any outside elements
• Remember to place special emphasis on the flowers
• This is not a photo art contest. The image should remain as a photograph.
• Final image must be exactly 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high (landscape format)

4. When you submit your entry put your username in the filename (ie: tpaul.jpg). This is so users can save the images to a local directory and remember who did what--important when it comes time to vote.

5. Post your entries to this thread. Links will not be accepted. Please restrict your comments, questions or discussion to the Contest Discussion thread. Inappropriately placed posts will be deleted.

6. Only one entry per person. You can change your entry up to the deadline.

7. Voting will run from 24 Sep to 30 Sep. Only those with entries may vote.

8. Voting:

• Submit the 5 best entries (by artist name) in order, starting with your favorite.
• You cannot vote for your own image.
• Once you have voted, do not change your votes. The votes are tallied as them come in so any changes in the votes may not be reflected in the final results.

Finally, please remember that this is a friendly contest and suppose to be a learning experience. Tips and suggestions to help others are highly encouraged. Also please don’t limit your comments to just the top 5 when you vote. Most members are eager for feedback about their images, so remember to help each other out.

[MiningArt]

Another look.

[friiskiwi]

my attempt

[igot2pman]

my try,

-Keven

[Ruzzez]

A field with some flowers

[dcarr]

Thought I'd give it a try. Been a long time

[chas18052]

gave it a try
Chuck

[0lBaldy]

Combined images

[bdeephoto]

OK My turn.......

[lkroll]

Went for a fake HDR look. Hope you like.

[brianclark4]

My attempt.

[CathyH]

Hello, here is my version of a field of wildflowers. Good luck everyone.

[Lorraine]

There are such nice looking entries.

Here's my try.

Lorraine

[Cupcake]

Here is my try on this picture.

[lazze_gurra]

I´ll keep mine close to original.

[daitri]

well here is my shot

[RhMaMoL]

My very first contest entry, hope you like it.

[Veralisa]

Everybody's looking good.

[aartist]

Here is my entry for the Sep 09 Contest.

[anka]

This is my result
anka.jpg

[LonK]

A Field of Dreams

[Kraellin]

oh boy, did i ever have to restrain myself from doing photo art on this one

[viecode]

that's my try, but i'm not sure if cloning tree from left to right can be considered as "introducing external elements", in case i'll remove it

[johndiablo]

Had some spare time, hope you like it!

[T Paul]

Great job to all the entries.
This is a great skill to have as a photographer!

And the winner is....

CathyH

Prize: Nik Silver Efex Pro, donated by Nik Software

Prize Description: Silver Efex Pro Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs. For the first time, all the advanced power and control required for professional results have been brought together in one convenient tool.