* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #870 / Revived #090 on 2024 12 18 *

Members 611 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 5:53 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 5:53 p.m.

@minniev has written:

@Rich42 has written:

Reading Nook

This is a corner of our family room. I was intrigued by the shape of the light pattern on the lamp shade.

Brilliant morning sunlight was coming through the window just out of the frame to the left. The scene was actually much more contrasty than it looks here. Everything was much more in shadow and that brilliant shape on the shade was all I really "saw" and wanted to capture. The rest of the scene "wasn't there" to my eye.

I couldn't get close enough to isolate and frame just what I wanted because of the way the furniture was arranged. I had to include a lot of image that I thought was irrelevant. I figured I'd just crop a lot in post.

When I brought the image up in ACR the first thing I noticed was the light pattern on the wall to the right as an extension of the shape on the lamp shade. I thought that was cool, and that the two made a good composition.

Then I couldn't ignore the dominant red of the leather chair.

Then the other elements of the scene.

The pattern on the lamp shade just receded. And this "domestic" composition asserted itself.

In the late afternoon and evening, this is my wife's favorite corner in which to read.

Rich

@Rich42 has written:

Reading Nook

This is a corner of our family room. I was intrigued by the shape of the light pattern on the lamp shade.

Brilliant morning sunlight was coming through the window just out of the frame to the left. The scene was actually much more contrasty than it looks here. Everything was much more in shadow and that brilliant shape on the shade was all I really "saw" and wanted to capture. The rest of the scene "wasn't there" to my eye.

I couldn't get close enough to isolate and frame just what I wanted because of the way the furniture was arranged. I had to include a lot of image that I thought was irrelevant. I figured I'd just crop a lot in post.

When I brought the image up in ACR the first thing I noticed was the light pattern on the wall to the right as an extension of the shape on the lamp shade. I thought that was cool, and that the two made a good composition.

Then I couldn't ignore the dominant red of the leather chair.

Then the other elements of the scene.

The pattern on the lamp shade just receded. And this "domestic" composition asserted itself.

In the late afternoon and evening, this is my wife's favorite corner in which to read.

Rich

Thanks for including your own thought process in formulating the image. I think taking the time to do that helps us all. This image is both simple and complicated. It has too much in it, not enough in it, and just the right amount in it, depending on what a viewer is motivated by and looking for. Love the rich muted colors and the effect of light and shadows at a slope. I see the non-scene area as a sort of half frame and I like the effect.

Minnie has summed up my response perfectly, so I will only add that I too wondered about cropping something off the bottom, but scrolling down to hide the bottom quickly showed that doing so spoiled the balance of the composition, and the original version was far superior.

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PeteS

Members 611 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 6:12 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 6:12 p.m.

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@RoelHendrickx has written:

@MikePDX has written:

@Andrew546 has written:

@MikeFewster has written:

@caspar has written:

@MikePDX has written:

I appreciate this discussion, as it helps me clarify my own feelings about this image. I fully understand the point Caspar made about wanting something in focus within the frame to give an anchor point. Other comments in another forum were similar.

For me however, and I would emphasize that this is a personal preference, that in-focus area takes away from the sense of motion and action I was trying to achieve. My sense is that the "primary" horse is in focus enough for us to understand that he is the main subject while still giving that overall sense of speed.

Thank you for replying Mile. You hit the nail on the head with your comment about personal preferences. There is no right or wrong in cases like this. We edit images according to our own personal preferences and tastes and viewers enjoy them or not according to their personal tastes. It goes without saying that personal tastes and preferences between creators and viewers do not always match exactly.

In this case sharpening the horse's head and neck a little does not take away any sense of motion or speed for me. It actually enhances it overall with the more in focus raised hair on the horse's neck giving a stronger sense of motion and speed overall.

This is another of those visual literacy discussions. The added sharpening to the closest horse, especially along the mane, looks weird. The out of focus in the image isn't caused by lens blur, it is clearly motion blur right across the shot. If anything, the closest horse ought to be the most blurred. Focus sharpness is appropriate in some images to take the eye to a subject. but usually this is in images that have an eveness of colour tone and so we need the relative sharpness to do the work. Here, the horse selected for sharpening, using Topaz I presume, is the closest horse and stands out from the the rest of the horses a little because of the tone. There is no need for any sharpening of that horse. The movement is clearly the point of the image. Freezing the movement of that horse makes it the subject in a very unnatural way and is counter to the whole point of the image. The result jars in a way.
Incidentally, Hello David/Dan again. Even moderate text profiling shows these posts as being the same person as Dan and this is a very Dan like edit. Would you like to share with us the Caspar/Dan transformation?
And another reminder. The whole point of this thread is to post as well as critique others. You need to post an image each week to participate.

I understand the conversation here but...

You both seem to be treating the image as an absolute and therefore the levels of blur/sharpening are also absolute and are seen as absolute. And so by adjusting their levels you cater for preference.

But this misunderstands the nature of an image and is little more than photographers trying to define and quantify the image by their own technical understanding and metrics.

But this is a highly abstracted image. It relies on memory to recognise the subject and as such personal memory and expectation play a large part in in determining what and how you see this. Further to this, and in exactly the same way you both try to define the image by the level of sharpening/blur, the viewer tries to define/attach a meaning to the way the image is abstracted simply because we need an exact answer. It is not the exact level of sharpening/blur that controls this process but our own memories and how far we find the level of abstraction believable and how easily we can attribute an absolute meaning to the way the image is abstracted. And so we "see through" the abstraction by adding that recognition, it is not and does not need to be in the image, it needs to stay in the viewers imagination. By thinking and trying to add an "exact level of blur that defines" you try to make the image absolute, make the image fit your individual imaginations. And by doing so you make it relevant to one preference rather than understanding that it's the ambiguity that allows the many different interpretations.

It's not the image that's absolute but the viewpoint, the image itself is quite plastic.

I'm sorry, but I haven't actually taken any photos this week except a reference photo of the wiring on the extractor fan when I replaced it, which looks a little like a roundabout and as a ticket in to this discussion is a little thin, but...

Personally, I find the blur a little too much and abstracts past real believably. Though the image should work really well smaller on a smart phone, it should go down a storm. The colours are great, but the balance needs a little off the left which gives a coherent group, and I would brighten/reduce contrast of the background to bring the horses forward (I include the foreground as well as it is "background tho the centre of the image). Please accept a humble, and subtle edit on the promise that I'll post another image in this series of threads as soon as I take one.

Best viewed as the thumbnail below:

P.S. Broadband borken, replies will be sporadic...

Andrew's reply is very interesting, and his definition of the viewer's response to an abstract image is consistent with my own. I would only comment that, as a trained engineer, my first response to any image tends to be a literal one. That is something that I've been trying to overcome in my journey down the abstract rabbit hole. And I might add it's quite a challenge. 😄

Very very VERY interesting thoughts and discussions on this image.
There is little I can add, and definitely zero on any technical aspects.
What I can add, is a gut feeling.
However much is real, fake, abstracted, processed or manipulated in this image: it works.
I am transfixed by the thought of this group of horses rushing past me, through some marshland in the Camargues or somewhere similar.
I am totally in.

Agree with what Roel says about this excellent image, which had the power to spark the interesting comments and alternate takes which followed.
I have been experimenting with showing movement recently, and know how difficult it is, and can appreciate the success of this one. Having a sharp(ish) portion as a pivotal point of the image can be helpful, but even totally blurred images can work well, although they usually require more work for the viewer to understand what is going on. Adding sharpening to this is tricky, because a very sharp section next to a blurry one just doesn’t look right, and would need to be carefully restricted and feathered, so actually I wouldn’t bother.

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PeteS

Members 611 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 6:15 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 6:15 p.m.

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I’ve tried to photograph butterflies in flight, but found it difficult, or even impossible, to find the in the viewfinder, let alone get one with outstretched wings! So well done indeed.

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PeteS

Members 611 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 6:26 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 6:26 p.m.

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@ArvoJ has written:

@Bryan has written:

@RoelHendrickx has written:

@caspar has written:

@minniev has written:

My Mississippi Style Currier & Ives

This image is long on emotion and short on technical merit. After my husband developed some medical issues, I drafted my grandson, just turned 13, to help me get a tree. We went out Sunday in the rain, chopped down this raggedy little cedar, and Jack hauled it home over his shoulder, with Zeke romping at his heels. I only had my phone but had to preserve the moment.

Very nice family memento and I hope your husband recovers from his medical issues. Phone camera photos can also be enhanced/recovered to a large extent when there is no severe clipping. Hopefully recovering the sky and other highlights a little more might make the photo even more memorable in the future.

While I think a good job was done on recovering the detail in the sky, I still firmly prefer the original.
The more bleached out look, is to me more fitting for this classically beautiful location.
It is more timeless, and less like an HDR-inspired promo photo for a holiday retreat on booking.com.

The house is the real main character here. Boy and dog are extras: they are the temporary pawns on the board with the house as undisputed queen.

It's almost a shame because his editing skills were good. He just always seemed to take it too far - often beyond what might be plausible...

Or maybe not far enough - some of his ideas, advanced further, would make pretty artistic result; for me he often stopped in half-way.
But enough of him.

I absolutely prefer original here too - it creates pretty strong feeling of history, which is totally lost in edited version.

This was a good case study showing the difference between what is technically possible and the mood or style the author is trying to convey.
There is a subdued winter feeling, but also a feeling of optimism, as Lumber Jack and Zeke the dog bring home the tree for the centrepiece of the enjoyable Christmas festivities, which will shake off those winter blues.

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Sagittarius

Members 727 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 6:36 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 6:36 p.m.

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Thank you Pete and Bryan.

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PeteS

Members 611 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 6:37 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 6:37 p.m.

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@RoelHendrickx has written:

@PeteS has written:

Behind the Painted Smile

This was taken in the Samurai Museum in Berlin, which is a great place to visit, even if you only have a passing interest in Samurai and Japanese history. It is also the best museum I have ever visited in terms of its use of modern multimedia to provide explanations and background information to the exhibits.

Pete

A composition is deep blue and golden orange.
What could possibly be not to like then here?

Well, I like the diagonal formed by the bottom of the row of exhibition cabinets.
But I am not sure about the half object that is half visible and half obscured in the second box.
If you had shown only two boxes, I would definitely consider cloning out that second object (although I almost never clone).
But the fact that you also show the third box and that it is seemingly empty, helps me cope.
It's like a story now, of objects slowly fading in oblivion through space and time.

The critiques have been useful and show that my photo is a complete failure!
The photo shows a smiling face in the first showcase and a devil mask in the second. As the title implied, I was trying to show the evil being that can be a threat to happiness or even be behind an apparently innocent person. I wanted the devil mask to be peering out, almost hidden, which would make the devil more sinister. However, I seem to have hidden it so well, that nobody even recognised what it was, and Roel even suggested I should clone it out! Oh well, back to the drawing board.

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AlanSh

Forum Admin 2965 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 7:57 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 7:57 p.m.

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I thought I'd posted something about that and that I found the picture scary.

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Fireplace33

Members 1139 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 10:22 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 10:22 p.m.

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@PeteS has written:

@RoelHendrickx has written:

@PeteS has written:

Behind the Painted Smile

This was taken in the Samurai Museum in Berlin, which is a great place to visit, even if you only have a passing interest in Samurai and Japanese history. It is also the best museum I have ever visited in terms of its use of modern multimedia to provide explanations and background information to the exhibits.

Pete

A composition is deep blue and golden orange.
What could possibly be not to like then here?

Well, I like the diagonal formed by the bottom of the row of exhibition cabinets.
But I am not sure about the half object that is half visible and half obscured in the second box.
If you had shown only two boxes, I would definitely consider cloning out that second object (although I almost never clone).
But the fact that you also show the third box and that it is seemingly empty, helps me cope.
It's like a story now, of objects slowly fading in oblivion through space and time.

The critiques have been useful and show that my photo is a complete failure!
The photo shows a smiling face in the first showcase and a devil mask in the second. As the title implied, I was trying to show the evil being that can be a threat to happiness or even be behind an apparently innocent person. I wanted the devil mask to be peering out, almost hidden, which would make the devil more sinister. However, I seem to have hidden it so well, that nobody even recognised what it was, and Roel even suggested I should clone it out! Oh well, back to the drawing board.

With your short description here of the evil one lurking in the background behind the smiling face, the image becomes really quite good. I wouldn't call it a failure!

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Fireplace33

Members 1139 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 10:25 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 10:25 p.m.

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Very colourful!
...speaks of warm and sunny times

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Fireplace33

Members 1139 posts

Dec. 23, 2024, 10:31 p.m. Dec. 23, 2024, 10:31 p.m.

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@Rich42 has written:

Reading Nook

This is a corner of our family room. I was intrigued by the shape of the light pattern on the lamp shade.

Brilliant morning sunlight was coming through the window just out of the frame to the left. The scene was actually much more contrasty than it looks here. Everything was much more in shadow and that brilliant shape on the shade was all I really "saw" and wanted to capture. The rest of the scene "wasn't there" to my eye.

I couldn't get close enough to isolate and frame just what I wanted because of the way the furniture was arranged. I had to include a lot of image that I thought was irrelevant. I figured I'd just crop a lot in post.

When I brought the image up in ACR the first thing I noticed was the light pattern on the wall to the right as an extension of the shape on the lamp shade. I thought that was cool, and that the two made a good composition.

Then I couldn't ignore the dominant red of the leather chair.

Then the other elements of the scene.

The pattern on the lamp shade just receded. And this "domestic" composition asserted itself.

In the late afternoon and evening, this is my wife's favorite corner in which to read.

Rich

The image works quite well. As usual you've found a nice place with both light and shadow elements and made the best of it in your image.
The texture on the light stand looks good.
A cozy corner.
Incidently, we have a vaguely similar duck statue at home, maybe I can find a nice place to take a shot of him ;-)