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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 150 - NO PP >> Challenge 150 - Eligible > Leaf
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05-JAN-2008 Rod

Leaf

Backyard Brissie oz

Canon EOS 350D ,Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
1/160s f/4.0 at 28.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Rod 08-Jan-2008 20:55
Thanks a lot Scott:-) Could you set your camera on Raw plus Jpeg & just use the Jpegs for entering this challenge. We like to see new faces & picys:-)
Guest 08-Jan-2008 15:56
Being that I can't upload in this challenge ( only shoot in raw) I must admit Rod that I am very impressed with the your results.... Congrats
ctfchallenge08-Jan-2008 03:06
Good exposure Rod - I'd probably have made it too light and lost the details! :-) CJ
Guest 07-Jan-2008 22:51
Very Good Image. I tend to use Photoshop 'way too much. Lessons learned here are well taken and hopefully will improve thought process. Thanks for the tips and information.
Rod 07-Jan-2008 20:17
Thanks Jano & Kiki:-) Yes I always PP me picys Jano, I try to get the in camera stuff right & then polish it up in Photoshop. It seems most of me picys get a small curves adjustment, a dodge & burn & an unsharp mask. We really don't get a choice with digital to use shots straight from the camera as they're not sharp & tend to blow the highlights too easily. What I don't really like is trying to create a picy in Photoshop from an average looking picy because camera skills are more important to photographers & Photoshop skills are more important to Graphic artists.
ctfchallenge07-Jan-2008 07:50
Beautiful reflections in those drops.- another perfect exposure.
-k2
janewigginsphotography06-Jan-2008 22:21
Another good one... no wonder you don't pp... i pp...do you pp? :) Don't know how i missed this one, but wonderfully done. jnao
Rod 06-Jan-2008 22:18
Thanks Kelly & Cat:-) I think the main area for improvement in our digital cameras is to get sharper picys. The AA filter in Canon cameras soften the image quite a bit. The main area I've got lazy with when taking a picy is knowing I have the clone tool if needed. In me film days I had to really hunt around the subject to make sure there were no distracting elements, now I just shoot the best angle & clone out a wire etc................But I am getting old & frail:-)
Guest 06-Jan-2008 15:19
Aha! Who needs pp. Right? I consider the use of photoshop to be meant for doing something above and beyond what a camera can. Like special effects, merging, elaborate enhancement etc, which are not possible via the camera. But what bugs me is folks depend heavily on PP for even the mundane tasks, which they should get the camera to do it for them in the first place. Do it right the first time :) Well done!
-Cat
ctfchallenge06-Jan-2008 13:12
Great greens Rod! And nicely sharp! - Kelly
Rod 05-Jan-2008 21:01
Thanks Lonnit & John:-) And thanks for the info John it's very helpful. Yes lonnit posting these picys does hurt when we know they could look so much better but the topic has created a new way of looking at things & makes us work a lot harder wiv the camera.
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jan-2008 19:40
Yeeesh... I'm aching to fix the curve on this! Would probably be a nice shot if it were finished! Grrr! ~ Lonnit
ctfchallenge05-Jan-2008 18:24
Oh ya, nice rich wet saturated cucumber-like leaf shot. John
ctfchallenge05-Jan-2008 18:22
For heavens sakes, don't use nearest neighbor, the simplest worst algorithm in the world. See this wonderful article if you want to learn the high level details without the math.http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-resize-for-web.htm

Look at the great test pattern they did half way down to see the extra "lobes" some of these algorithms give. Remember every picture pixel (especially bright ones) in the original will be generating some of these by-products in pixels a few hundred away. This behavior/math is the same as it is in electronic filters.

My recommendation is to choose bicubic sharp if available when downsizing and bicubic smooth when upsizing which put a little extra kick in the math. If you get moire patterns due to a complicated grid which reinforces at the lower resolution then you will have to choose normal bicubic or even bicubic smooth which may be just to soft for you. Remember that every time you send a picture to a screen and ask for full size the rendering software is using some algorithm. That is why I use Irfanview because I get to configure it to re-sample the image using the best algorithms so that I see what was intended.

John
Rod 05-Jan-2008 08:22
Thanks Brent, Neo & Lee:-) I think close ups tend to look sharper than distance shots without PP. Also experiment when you use Image size in PS it's set on Bicubic & John said this softens the downsize too much. In the box is Nearest Neighbour, Bicubic smoother & Bicubic sharper etc so I used the Bicubic sharper option which was better than Bicubic on me small Jpegs.
ctfchallenge05-Jan-2008 04:50
well done Rod.
theFly
Guest 05-Jan-2008 02:48
Nice one Rod. These SLR shots are going to be tough for my unprocessed G6 images to compete with, but I always love a challenge.
ctfchallenge05-Jan-2008 02:17
Looks good Rod, but I thought it was a cucumber at first too :-) Your settings seem to be working well, I'll have to maybe try shooting small too and see if the further downsizing they need doesn't soften them as much.
~Brent
Rod 05-Jan-2008 02:12
Thanks Penny & Tommy:-) I've set the camera on Parameter one which ups the sat & sharpening a notch. I normally shoot wiv Parameter two. I can't see much of a difference in AV mode. What I'm doing is taking a meter reading in AV mode & say it's 100sec at F8, I then put it in manual mode & under expose say about 200sec at F8 or to taste by looking at the LCD after shooting. All three picys here were done this way & are quite under exposed to get that richer dark look. I'm also shooting at small Jpeg 2mp so the shots don't get overly soft from downsizing..
Guest 04-Jan-2008 22:41
It looks like a cucumber. A very wet cucumber. Nice photo.
Penny Street
ctfchallenge04-Jan-2008 22:32
Ooooo! Perfect out of the camera. So who needs pp anyway? Any tweeking of camera settings? Really elegant shot; the water pattern overlaying the leaf patterns is beautiful. -tv