February Photo Assignment - Discussion Thread

[discinque]

Don't mind in the least - and thank you for the heads-up. I've made the adjustment myself and will post it as a reply to my original on the other thread.

Originally Posted by chrishoggy

I think this months (the first) assignment is all about testing the waters. We don't have rules as such, so they can be made up as we go along. I think being edited in photoshop is OK, as this is all part of the processing. I only have a Finepix S3000, and that is more or less a point n shoot camera. Without photoshop my images wouldn't be worth showing. I have made a few modifications to the camera, with filters, lenses and flash redirection, but thats about it's limit. There are very few manual settings, so I just find work-arounds to get what I want out of it.
IMHO , as long as it stays and looks like a photo, and it's not over-edited, it's OK .
This is my quick retouch of your image (hope you don't mind )

[chrishoggy]

Well I messed up a bit. Thought I was in the discussion thread, not the assignment thread. So if you want to delete/move my posts to Gary in Assignment thread, feel free CJ

Now back to why I popped in . Just took these this morning, so thought I would post them here, plus add my macro spiders web as my entry for the assignment.

First is a wider shot of the frozen spiders web, that I shot with my DIY macro lens for the assignment.

Second one is the tree I spoke to Gary about, it's an odd looking thing, with these bright red cones on. The reds look blown out in the image, but that is exactly how it looks in real life

[discinque]

Wow Chris, very very nice. I like the color and the feeling of peaceful morning quiet. I also love that you're able to create great photos with tools on hand. That you don't need to spend $1000's to recreate what you see.

[discinque]

CJ, I love the concept - nice to see nature isn't as fragile as we sometimes believe. Without knowing the options you had... looking at the picture I would love to see the face of the flowers - if you could still have the dead vegetation in the background - or even framed in a way to make the contrast of living/dead more stark.

[Gary Richardson]

Nice shot Chris, the web almost looks like a shattered window, or the ice in a frozen puddle when you've stamped on it.

Anyone know what kind of tree that is? I've never seen cones that colour before.

[platscha@cs.com]

Boy it has been a long time since I have been on Retouch Pro, so much has changed, for the good but of course this was always a great site.
I started here to ask a question if anybody was doing dedicated infrared work on this site. First off found this great thread on photography and the challenge, great fun. So here is my question, anybody doing digital infrared here? I recently had my D70 converted to a dedicated infrared and sure could use some help and support.
Here is the info on the pic I am sharing, it is the life guard towers at Huntington Beach State Park, California. It was taken with a Nikon D70 converted IR, custom WB on gray card, ISO was 200, f16 125s shot in raw. PP was channel mixer method. Nature here is bright sunshine even in winter, it might sprinkle tomorrow which will be exciting, there were many people swimming and surfing on this beach today at 4:30 in afternoon. Sorry to have mentioned that to those of you in bad weather. So the nature of things here is sunshine.

[Janet Petty]

I'm not a really big fan of IR but have seen some amazing stuff over the years. Now that digital has entered the picture, "doing it" in Photoshop is easy. I admit to have digitally created IR with success. If you want the how to, I can provide info.

On the other hand, check out http://www.photosandphrames.com/ . My two friends who have this site do a lot of IR work with a dedicated digital camera. I'm sure they would be willing to chat with you.

Janet

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by platscha@cs.com

Boy it has been a long time since I have been on Retouch Pro, ...

...anybody doing digital infrared here? ...

Here is the info on the pic I am sharing, ...

Platscha, it HAS been a long time, nice to see you again!

I have an Olympus C2100 UZ (UZI) which didn't need conversion to do IR (at lower resolution than your D70, of course), and I have done some IR also. Between you, Janet and me, and our collective links to others (Daniella from DPreview/PBase always blew my socks off with her IR work) ought to be able to give support.
Daniella: http://www.pbase.com/zylen/infrared_with_dimage_7
Another IR link: http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/images-infrared.html

Platscha, if you want to submit an image to this month's Assignment "Nature at Work", please post it in that thread. Hope this gives you another reason to visit us on a daily basis.

[platscha@cs.com]

Thanks CJ, yes a long time, I did put a photo in the thread just for fun.
Judy, thanks for the information, I know how to do IR effect in PS as a matter of fact I have tried several methods as well as using Nik effects but so far I have never found one that is really the same as true Infrared, close but not the same. I do have a dedicated camera so need to learn how to better utilize that.

[CJ Swartz]

The voting thread for February's Photo Assignment is open until 10pm MST tonight.

Thanks to all who have submitted entries for this first-time event. I'm very interested in your ideas about doing anything differently, doing it the same, doing something else, etc.


*** Breaking News *** The votes have been counted and the results are in!

1st place -- discinque

2nd place -- Chris (chrishoggy)

3rd place -- Janet Petty and Gary Richardson

[CJ Swartz]

Congratulations, discinque!

Congratulations, Chris, Janet and Gary!

Congratulations to all entrants -- you were the FIRST!

[Gary Richardson]

Congratulations to discinque for winning this months contest, and for setting an interesting new challenge for March.

Thanks also to CJ for setting things up, from little acorns .........

Now, if only I hadn't cleaned away the mould that was growing on my window sill yesterday !

[Janet Petty]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Now, if only I hadn't cleaned away the mould that was growing on my window sill yesterday !

Mold? Too funny. I'm going to have to clean the cat hair off mine. I have the perfect idea. The only problem is getting the subject to "pose".

Janet