* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #781 / Revived #002 on 2023 04 12 *

Of course you should share photos like this here. In My Never Humble Opinion (and this is very much strictly only my opinion) we are discussing images. The image is the outcome of the original capture and your fun with it. In this case, I felt that the processing was interesting with plenty of potential but I didn't feel it added to my response to this iparticular mage. I can see that with different subject matter the PP might be highly appropriate. Again, I stress, this is only my response. Others may feel differently. It's what discussion here is all about. Should you choose to play further with the processing, I'll enjoy watching what you do with it. I might think it works, I might not.
Actually, I found your throw away shot, using what I assume is the same PP, to work better. As you note that it isn't for critiquing, I will leave it at that.

Welcome to the weekly critique thread, a long tradition on DPR but undiscovered in its former remote corner! We hope you'll spend time with us regularly and offer your feedback on photos posted, as well as sharing your own.

Your duck (a type we don't have in the US South) is indeed tack sharp and properly exposed so you accomplished your goal. The blurred reeds you used as a blind do take up more real estate than is optimal. It sounds like your duck is as uncooperative as the young alligators I met this afternoon, who would only stay sat upon their log if I stayed behind the cypress trees. In these situations we suspect we may not get optimal shots, but we gotta try. Do take Mike PDX's advice to heart, he is a very good wildlife photographer. I'd encourage you visit the duck again to experiment with placement of the reeds. Look for a V shaped opening that will give you an unobscured view and put that lens right into the opening. Try shooting through the reeds as you have but closer. Try having the blurred reeds in different places on the frame. You will find a formula that suits you, but it won't always work. That's the trouble with birds. They are skittish, quick and disobedient. I have discarded many thousands of shots to prove it.

Indeed, why not? Sometimes I'm not sure which I really enjoy most, taking the photos or playing with them in LR, PS and the assortment of plugins I've acquired. On this section we welcome images shot traditionally or shot creatively, or processed traditionally or processed creatively. As you know, not everyone cares for that particular side of photography and they are welcome to tell us that. But let's not ever let that spoil our playtime. I enjoyed your first submission even though I had no idea how you did it. This one I see evidence of using the threshold controls in but I'm not sure how threshold achieved the first one, maybe the mix of that and curves? Keep playing!

Like many B&W shots, it pays to view this one large. Then we pick up on the textures and gradations of tone that B&W needs. Here we get further details, otherwise easily overlooked, like the face of the subject and the plastic bag and legibility of the street sign.
I feel that there are a number of things working together here. The graffiti, the man, the face on the wall at the rear. Importantly, they are connected to each other by numerous lines, the gutter edge, the road markings, the verticals on the fence, the shadow edge. The man's bag suggests shopping and that he's a resident. The grafitti and the peek over the fence- maybe not the top end of town but gentrified. The large face suggests multicultural. It isn't a cry of pain and protest but pride and optimism. You could feel good about living here.
A great choice of frame for a B&W. The thin white line emphasizes the sharpness of the image.

My first reaction was "why bother"? The plane seemed too small and the sky/clouds not dramatic enough to get interest. The positioning of the plane almost dead centre didn't inspire. Then it started to get at me a little, possibly because this time next week I'll be doing a long haul flight and be somewhere south of Doha. As such, I'm feeling very flight aware. It's a long flight from Adelaide to there and for most of the flight, it is featureless above the ocean. Suddenly the sky and those distances feel enormous and a plane can feel very small indeed in all that air and clouds.
It might not do it for everyone, but for me at this moment, yes, this image resonated.

Appreciate the thoughts, kinda had a similar feeling, which is why I posted it. The dead center is by the necessity of the Len's Baby Spark. This was a total throwaway shot out the passenger window, but upon post inspection, I noticed several things; I miraculously hit focus, it had a bit of that tilt-shift feel, and I made a very large object, feel very small. It felt kinda like a toy, and with the dreaminess of the lens design, it took me back for a moment to those childhood dreams of flight and using my car to travel along the same path as the airplanes that flew overhead as I played outside.

The tech stuff and the circumstances have been covered in detail. Then there's the image you caught. As duck shots go, it isn't great. Too many things partially blocking our view and let's face it, there are a lot of bird/duck photos we have all seen that catch dramatic moments and have that bird desirable bird feature, high feather detail. What you have here however is a visual that expands on your story. Because of the out of focus reeds, the viewer participates in your stalking and capture. I like those reeds because they suggest that they are closer to you than the duck. You are the one doing the hiding. Consider the change in interpretation if the reeds had been almost in focus.
If chasing wildlife was easy, where would the achievement be?
PS, I like blueheelers. The Australian outdoors dog. Seems an appropriate choice for your signature.

I just thought I would add, in case you're interested. I wasn't familiar with this species of duck so I looked it up. I suspect that duck is a female, and that there was probably a male somewhere close by. If so, this behavior could be her "come hither" look. Was it mating season perhaps?

Before thinking about the photo, was this taken in Australia? The silhouettes of the trees look exactly like what we refer to as Australian lace. 4wds, driving on the left? If so, this isn't one of your usual locations Kumsal.
I can't escape the Australian connections this image releases. The warm sunset clouds have to make you feel good. The strong horizontal lines, clouds and trees, suggest landscape. The vehicles are centre stage and cannot be ignored. Because there are a couple of them, it feels like a group activity. Coming towards us rather than receding- suggests returning.
Q.E.D. A group of friends coming home after a great day in the Oz bush. That's a tired and satisfied sensation I have had many times.

Thanks for the heads-up on colour space. I will pay attention to this in future.
Re Boardwalk. Low angle sun bringing to the textures and the grain lines in the timber. It didn't interest me until I enlarged it as much as I could in the central area and looked at a smaller section. Your image is very sharp so it held up well to this treatment The closer up detail and especially the nails/wood were immediately more grabbing. I enjoyed examining the fine details like this whereas in the original the diagonal lines dominated without seeming to take me anywhere.

Port IJmuiden, Entrance from the North Sea.

Dear people, On the one hand I am glad that this thread is being continued, but on the other hand I find the thread confusing. The repetitive photo of each participant makes me feel chaotic and less personal and too expansive. For example, this week I didn't find the starting point of this thread!
I hope there is someone here who can add more lines to this, so that the thread feels a bit more personal like the thread was at Dpreview so and becomes a bit more compact. This is a thought with the happy knowledge that the thread will continue after Dpreview's discontinuation, for which thanks to everyone who contributed to its continued existence.
Last week I had another medical operation (No.8), so I am still not fully present here.
My greetings to everyone and see you soon and let me enjoy the many wonderful entries.

Lou

Hi Lou,

The photo certainly succeeds at portraying the busy harbour entrance, with boats and ships travelling in all directions.

Yes, the thread is not as easy to navigate as it was on DPReview, but the DPRevived team are working hard at improvements, and adding a threaded view is one of their top priorities. We were accustomed to it at DPReview, but it is not so common elsewhere. In any case the team are confident that they will be able to implement threaded view, but not so confident of when that will be, so in the meantime we make do as we can.

Sorry to hear that you are still undergoing operations and hope that you recover soon enough that no more are necessary. In any case we look forward to you taking part when you can.
Pete

I was interested in your conversation with Mike F about the lensbaby Spark you used here, as I have considered getting one to play with, and have held off wondering if it would end up in the back of the lens drawer for lack of use (I have made such purchases before). So I'll be interested to see what you will do with it.

The image is more interesting than at first glance. The tiny plane in the distance is quite sharp, and reminds the viewer of the absolute magnitude of sky, and our privilege in this era of riding in it, something our great grandparents could not have imagined. We know how big such a plane is, and the scale is a reminder of the awe we ought to feel. The inherent blur produced by the lens makes the plane more clearly the subject.

The saturation of the blues is overmuch for my taste, especially in the upper half of the frame. I don't know if this is a lens byproduct or an editing choice but I would have to tone it down some to bear it. But always, artistic choice..

BTW, welcome to the Wednesday thread.

We are all grieving the loss of the threaded view we had on old DPR, but we are trying to figure ways to adapt to this forum style. Now that DPR is gone, no photography forum uses that excellent formatting tool. The DPRev owners are trying very hard to find a way to incorporate it here. We hope they are successful, but will carry on the best we can in the meanwhile, and we will pass any discoveries about how to make it less chaotic to read/respond on to our participants.

You have given us a classic Lou-Holland-Ships-At-Sea image, well caught and nicely composed with three ships of different types angles at odds with each other so that the eye moves naturally from one to the other left to right. The red flag is a nice piece of color contrast. Well caught.

Thx heaps everyone. I appreciate the camaraderie and critique.

Mike, there was a thread in News and Discussions or Photography Discussion forums about installing plugins for different browsers to view exif data. For example Exify is the one for Firefox. Once installed it is a simple right click on the photo / select the option. Eventually pics here will have an overlay similar to DPR. I know because I was supposed to be doing it but been too busy. I think someone else had something working briefly.

f/2.8 is wide open for me and down to f/8. So I definitely had some scope to increase or reduce blur. I could have moved down the bank and stood up getting me closer to the reeds, perhaps by half (roughly 3 metres down to 1 or 2).

I use P mode with ISO set (easy enough change if I wish). Then I may adjust aperture to get a depth of field or if need be, a fast enough ss. On my camera recommendations are not to go over ISO 400 (noise starts to be an issue). Those shots were at ISO 400 and I probably could / should have reduced it because ss was around 1/2000. I am just beginning to get into pp - that is a much bigger learning curve...

You are correct. The male has a distinct white eye. I was referring to a "him" but I got it wrong... I just looked up their mating season - Sep to Dec. The predominant bird here is what we call a wood duck - nothing special. But I have noticed there are a few other species.

Thx minniev, I was on the DPR Panasonic Compact Talk forum last few months. It hasn't quite taken off here yet but may do. So I am glad to find these open threads.

I took maybe 30 shots of that duck. I included the first one because it was the sharpest and the light on his black bill showed that nice grey sheen. There were a few others where he was full view between the reads but just a tad less sharp. The second one was clearly less sharp but I included that one because it was interesting to see him flex his wings. I wasn't a bird / wildlife follower although I love nature. But now I have a camera I want to catch them all - because I see so many fantastic shots here and on DPR. There are a few shots somewhere here by a member named nzmacro. He got a swallow flying really close to the water bending his head backwards looking at a small fish he just missed. Great shots by themselves but to top it off the reflection in the water was excellent too. [edit] This Week Through Your Eyes 2023.04.01

Hi Mike, as someone else said, it's not going to get a cover on National Geographic... and I know that. As you say, the reads were far closer to me than they were to the duck. If ever I get the chance again, I will certainly try to get a better depth of field. I took some shots of a black swan a few weeks ago way across the dam - just way too far away for my 600mm zoom and therefore very poor detail. He disappeared for a few days but was back there today when I took the dogs for a walk. I know swans are done and dusted but just for me I would love to catch him close.
I got my camera to take some decent pics (phone doesn't cut it) of the Australian Cattle Dogs here at a breeder's place, after I fell in love with their nature. My sig pic is of one I have since taken on as my own. I have a few interesting pics (to me at least) of some of the dogs so will post a few.

To be transparent, I'm working with the original 5.6 only, and it's attached to a Viltrox, on a Lumix G9. For how little I paid for it, and the frustratingly difficult process it can be, I am absolutely shocked at how it reminds me of the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 50mm III at f/0.95. Lens is super limited, hard to use, but holy crap, when it hits, the look is such a unique magic look. I need to work on the photo, and I'm biased cause it's my wife, but this photo of her I took with this lens is my new favorite photo ever. There's one on ebay right now for like $50 - I would be happy at this price, but one little thing I've noticed. I've used this lens on two cameras now, the Lumix G9 and the Fujifilm GFX 50sII. Boy does that m43 sensor lend itself so much better to making this effect pop. So, keep that in mind. IDK how it would look on full frame, but it shined so much better on that smaller sensor. Maybe if my monitor was calibrated it would be better colored, lol. The over saturation in the corners is likely due to vignetting though.

Overall, I don't think you can put this lens on a camera and not find something to frame in that sweet spot. Not that it's always going to be perfectly executed, which is why I really recommend smaller sensors - faster FPS so a higher chance of getting that critical focus shot.

Some others for your amusement. Same setup. Lumix G9, Viltrox.

Like I may have already mentioned in the Adapted lens talk part of the forum, I really love this shot. Excellent use of that device. The tones and smooth transitions are a pure joy to behold and create a nostalgic feel, very fitting of the subject.