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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 73: Body Language >> Challenge 73: Eligible > Do Not Distract! (*)
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23-JAN-2005 Gayle Knowles

Do Not Distract! (*)

Australia

Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel ,Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
1/125s f/4.5 at 27.0mm iso800 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time23-Jan-2005 10:23:28
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 300D DIGITAL
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length27 mm
Exposure Time1/125 sec
Aperturef/4.5
ISO Equivalent800
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modecenter weighted (2)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (1)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Rod 29-Jan-2005 04:45
Well I'll be buggered I could have sworn that was the shot:-( I wonder which shot it was then, I'm sure it was a hand shot with the thumb & forefinger really blown. Unless I was just wishing it had so you wouldn't win:-) Well done on the mag win too, that's really something. I'm sure they will be ringing me when I get me DSLR...........telling me to stop bothering them:-)
ctfchallenge29-Jan-2005 04:34
Rod, regarding the potato shot, it's exactly the same one. I never played with the highlights and they were never blown. That photo was published in Oct. edition of Camera magazine and it printed perfectly. There were certainly bright spots caused by the sunlight, but no data loss.
Gayle
Rod 29-Jan-2005 03:34
Nugar I don't think we're on the same page here. I've already stated I see no problems with this shot, Lonnit raised the blown highlight issue for this shot & I disagreed. My remarks to Gayle were in response to her saying she cared less about blown high lights after seeing a water fall shot full of blown highlight. When Gayle posted her potato shot here in the posh challenge there was a blown highlight on the left hand which ruined the shot for me. Gayle has posted that same shot in the mini challenge this week minus the blown highlight. That sort of blown highlight is what I'm talking about NOT this shot. Re read the comments below:-)
Nugar29-Jan-2005 01:17
I totally disagree with you Rod. Well, not totally, totally, but totalish. There are moments, just like this, where the range of light from darkness to light is just impossible to take right, so if you expose for the highlights the dark becomes to dark, and if you expose for the shadows, the highlights wil be blown. Either way, the feel of the moment will be lost. So unless you make some digital blending, you will end up getting either end wrong. And digital blending is graphic art, not photography, right?
Tom28-Jan-2005 16:17
Great image! That's exactly how I feel when I'm into something I like, drives the wife crazy!
Rod 28-Jan-2005 12:56
Don't forget Nugar the skill of working in any medium is to work within the limitations of that medium. Making excuses about the limitation of the medium doesn't wash. If the lighting is too harsh then you come back & shoot it when the lighting is more suitable. I find nothing wrong with this shot though.
Nugar28-Jan-2005 00:18
Gayle, I should say that I agree 100% with you about the inevitability of some blown highlights. And I cite again the reduced dynamic range of digital. In this shot, which I think is just perfectly captured, if you'd tried to control the nose highlight, the whole picture would have appeared too dark. As it is is perfect.
Rod 26-Jan-2005 19:14
I don't know what the technical description of a blown highlight is but the hand in this shot looks fine to me. It's the glowing atomic whites that I have problems viewing. I will have to check out some of Kens work, I've been in a photographic coma for over 25yrs & have some catching up to do:-)
ctfchallenge26-Jan-2005 12:56
Rod, I am not "accepting" blown highlights. I am accepting that occasionally they are inevitable, given the lighting situation and the small amount of time allowed for the shot. I accepted long ago that my ham-fisted attempts to repair them in Photoshop just made them worse...so when they happen, they happen.
The photographer was Ken Duncan, by the way.
Gayle
Rod 26-Jan-2005 10:45
Gayle, I don't know what direction you want to go in photography, but accepting blown highlights because a commercial photographer sold a shot for thousands of dollars disturbs me. If I was you I would take my guidance from Ansel Adams NOT a commercial photographer.
ctfchallenge26-Jan-2005 08:08
There is no solution, Lonnit. I have found that there are times when a photo presents itself and you do the best you can with the skills you have, in the short space of time you're allowed (10 seconds in this case). This is a one off shot....I will never get the chance to shoot it again and even if I could, I would do it exactly the same way.
On the subject of blown highlights, I recently saw a large print offered for sale by one of Australia's leading commercial photographers. It was a water fall, slow shutter speed, silky water effect. Most of the water was one big blown highlight. The price tag was in the thousands...and it had a big red SOLD sticker on it. Since I saw that, I care less about blown highlights than I ever did.
Gayle
Guest 26-Jan-2005 03:38
Ok Gayle, they're not blown to white, which would be fully blown, but they are partially blown to yellow. That blaring light is tough. So you're really pushing the envelope. I just checked the histogram and it is slammed up against both sides. So what would be the solution to shooting this without slamming the histogram to both ends? ~ Lonnit
Guest 25-Jan-2005 17:51
You’ve delightfully captured an experienced craftsman at work... I really like the lighting, more specifically how the shadows augment the lines in his face and wrinkles of his shirt. To me this illustrates his aged experience with his work. Brian
Canon DSLR Challenge24-Jan-2005 22:35
Lonnit, I didn't touch the skin tone. In fact, the only thing I did to this photo apart from resize and sharpen was to clone out a small blue reflection on the wall behind him.
I don't think the highlights are blown....not according to the histogram anyway. They are just very bright and unavoidable with such direct lighting.
Thanks for your comments!
Gayle
Guest 24-Jan-2005 22:29
"facial oils pooling from the heat"... nice graphic description, lonnit, of something i didn't even notice. and just after my lunch no doubt. :-)

Gayle- i like how this shot is lit. focuses the eye on the subject.
ctfchallenge24-Jan-2005 19:45
Great shot, love the lighting. Nice when they light themselves, huh? LOL! I've got 2 little comments though - the hand and the nose... blown hightlights. It looks though, like perhaps you tried to scam in a little skin tone on the hand to cover it up. ;) The nose though was the facial oils pooling from the heat of the light, so the shine blew out. Very nice capture though. :) ~ Lonnit
alexeig24-Jan-2005 18:33
Great portrait, Gayle. I love the light too
Rod 24-Jan-2005 10:25
This shot is far better than the off topic one you took down:-)