2009.07.14 "Purple" discussion

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited July 2009 in Lifestyle
Snark: Awesome in every way. I have no critique

Dras: Your composition is incredible! That's so fucking cool. The white balance is way off though - picture is way too hot. What's supposed to be purple is more red than anything. Regardless, I'm in love with the photo.
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Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Mine's way too contrasty. I went too far with post.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I started with this:

    2009.07.13.Purple.ORIGINAL.jpg

    and obviously cropped it quite a bit. In post I played with levels and added the border
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    How I setup:

    purple_setup.jpg.

    Fan for the hair, floor light, direct flash, crazy purple makeup, an old abstract painting as a backdrop.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Dras - big fan of the game theme, and I like the organization. Agreed that it's a little warm, but we talked about that already.

    Prime, I liked the color a lot, but you did end up washing it out a bit. Her hair ended up green by the end. Still, good for you getting a live subject, and again, I really like the killer background.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Great shot from shwaip - has a fantastic old-timey rainy day feeling to it. Very nice.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Shwaip: The color is right; definitely looks like a gloomy rainy day. Great white balance.

    I wish it popped more though; maybe even the background needs to be a bit more vibrant to bring out the purple in the flower.
  • KoreishKoreish I'm a penguin, deal with it. KCMO Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I agree with Prime. The background is a bit to blurry, if it had harder lines that flower would be jumping out of the screen.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I tried not to do to much with post processing - and the changes i can make with picasa are pretty limited. Yeah, i can definitely see that more 'pop' would be better.

    I do wish i had a slightly larger DOF - the edges of the flower are out of focus a little. It was just a bit too dark when I went to take these photos - any smaller aperture would have been difficult to hand hold - and I was actually in the roundabout and a car was on the way...
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Nemikan: With a bit of post processing, notably contrast or increasing black, that would be perfect.

    The idea is very creative. Nice entry!
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    In retrospect, I should have submitted this one instead

    <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/icrontic/3719780192/&quot; title="Chelsey by Icrontic.com, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3719780192_33bb981d55.jpg&quot; width="500" height="417" alt="Chelsey" /></a>
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    BlackHawk: very cool composition. In post, perhaps a little more saturation would have brought the purple out more. The DoF and contrast are great though.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Thanks. I had already increased the saturation but didn't want to over do it.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    BH - I'm kinda distracted by the telephone poles in the right half of the image - they're different enough from the rest of the background to draw my eyes there, but they're out of focus so it's distracting. Also, the large white sky in the upper left draws my attention away from the flower.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Mondi: Maybe it's my monitor or my shitty eyes; I'm failing to see purple in your otherwise awesome photo. I believe that may be a wine glass? If so, is it filled with wine?

    I'm beginning to think I need to calibrate my monitor if other people say that the light behind the glass is purple, cause on my display it looks red.
  • Nate_LapTNate_LapT Ferndale MI. Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    it has a hint of purple to it, but its too dark in general to tell, I checked on two monitors.
  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    It is indeed a a glass of wine.

    This is an interesting question - the image was definitely inspired by the color purple, and even has purple(ish) elements in it, although I purposely shot it dark because it was way more interesting that way. Should we be more literal with the themes or can we just use them as a starting point - I mean, if I'd shot a field of sunflowers I can imagine there'd be some contention, but should the image really have to be a strict interpretation of the title?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    No, not at all. If the theme inspired you to take that particular shot, then that's all the purpose of the exercise is; I just wanted to make sure that I'm seeing it right, mostly to make sure my monitor is not all bitched up. It's old as shit. :D
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    CB, I like what you did there though I think your shot could benefit from more depth of field. I would love to see what the shot would look like with all the flowers in focus. I think that would probably be the landscape mode on your A610.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    CB: This is nothing personal, I'm not a fan of the "selective desaturation" photo style. That's just a personal preference. I do like the angle and composition; I would like the photo a lot more if it were entirely colorized.

    Chris: Awesome photo.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    primesuspect wrote:
    CB: This is nothing personal, I'm not a fan of the "selective desaturation" photo style. That's just a personal preference. I do like the angle and composition; I would like the photo a lot more if it were entirely colorized.

    prime, i don't see how you can draw a line between the desat'ing that cb did and how much you can change levels and contrast like your photo. It seems to be an arbitrary line. CB's looks potentially more "natural" as you can still see some green in the leaves. (personally, i don't really like either effect).
  • chrisWhitechrisWhite Littleton, CO
    edited July 2009
    Thanks Prime!

    I agree with you, you should have posted that other shot, it's much, much more awesome them the one you did post. The only thing I'd think about would be to tighten up the composition a little so your photo fits more into a rule of thirds instead of a line almost below the middle.

    Here are the defining lines in your piece:
    20090715-ens2997hqn8pcx4yuidamtyj4b.png
    Checkout this crop:

    20090715-cftn2q57j1fc2h2466p1pnanyt.png
  • chrisWhitechrisWhite Littleton, CO
    edited July 2009
    Dang it, I had responses to everyone else almost types up and FF crashed. I need to head home but I'll add my thoughts later, not ignoring anyone :)
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    hot
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    shwaip wrote:
    prime, i don't see how you can draw a line between the desat'ing that cb did and how much you can change levels and contrast like your photo. It seems to be an arbitrary line. CB's looks potentially more "natural" as you can still see some green in the leaves. (personally, i don't really like either effect).

    The specific effect of turning everything grayscale except for key elements; I see it a lot in child photography (a black and white baby holding a yellow flower, etc.) and I feel the effect is over used and contrived at this point.

    I just don't really like it, that's all. It's a completely different effect from changing levels and overblowing contrast.

    I don't like my entry either, but then, that's the purpose of this exercise: to become a better photographer :)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Chris: Even though I know it's "technically" correct, with the rule of thirds, I prefer my cropping over the "proper" one.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    ReyRey: VERY NICE.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Yes, I really like yours reyrey - the non-purple in the frame really makes the purple pop out.
  • Nate_LapTNate_LapT Ferndale MI. Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    how about a reversed grayscale photo :P the ONLY thing b/w should be the object
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Rey, looks great. You definitely have an eye for composition. I always find it hard to make sensible composition out of a jumble of elements.
  • chrisWhitechrisWhite Littleton, CO
    edited July 2009
    primesuspect wrote:
    Chris: Even though I know it's "technically" correct, with the rule of thirds, I prefer my cropping over the "proper" one.

    I can totally understand that and I don't think it's any thing more then guidelines, I mostly just felt that there was too little interesting space above her head and your eyes got trapped up there instead of focusing on her eyes.
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