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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 150 - NO PP >> Challenge 150 - Eligible > 6th Place "Plowing" By Sueanne
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08-JAN-2008 sueanne

6th Place "Plowing" By Sueanne

Lancaster, PA.

Out for the day on a warm day of 68*F, stopped to shoot this Amish plowing his fields.
(His fields are next to a 'development house' - the farm lands are getting scarce as business are taking over.

Canon PowerShot Pro 1
1/1000s f/4.0 at 40.5mm full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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ctfchallenge13-Jan-2008 16:24
What a great contrast between the farmer/plow and the modern house! Good catch Sue Anne! :-) CJ
sue anne13-Jan-2008 02:57
Thank you Penny.
ctfchallenge11-Jan-2008 18:45
Well, I like the muted sky. It suits the picture.
And I keep coming back to this photo, by the way.
Penny Street
sue anne10-Jan-2008 23:41
Sorry John,
I tried it and couldn't do anything - in fact layers, I got lost in the very beginning of your instructions. :( I think I can just stick to my usual pp workflow....
sue anne10-Jan-2008 20:31
Thank you very much John,
I saved these two sections and will try it out. Thank you very much for the detailed steps. (layers are not my speciality. :) )
ctfchallenge10-Jan-2008 17:45
If you want to see the actual mask being painted off/on the picture itself then to this. While you have the adjustment layer and its mask highlighted, then go to the channels palette. You will see RGB, r, g, b channels but also you will see your additional channel. If you turn it on with the "eye" next to it, you will see (unless there is no mask yet) a red translucent mask over the top of the picture. This is their interpretation of the mask on the drawing. They have to let some of the drawing though to let you see what you are doing. Click the eye to turn it off after you have applied the mask. Now you have applied a correction to only a part of your picture which is a valuable thing to know. Don't forget to flatten the image (combine the layers) so that it can be saved as a jpeg ... saving as a copy of course until you think what you did is satisfactory. John
ctfchallenge10-Jan-2008 17:34
Sue Anne, if you have photoshop then add an "adjustment" layer like curves or contrast. Only look at the sky while you are ruining the rest of the picture because you will add a mask to protect it. After the layer is there, go to the layer palette and highlight this layer. Go to the bottom of the palette and choose the layer mask or you can do it from the layer menu. Now on the layer palette you have your adjustment layer and a white mask next door to it. Every thing in white gets the full adjustment ... which is everything right now. If you have the mask highlighted (little highlight ring around the box) then you can do ctrl-i to invert the mask to all black. Now you see that nothing is "adjusted". So whatever is black doesn't get an adjustment and whatever is in white does. Gray gets 50% adjustment. Starting with a black mask, select/highlight the mask, and use the brush tool to paint the sky part white (full adjustment). You do this by painting directly on the picture but with the mask highlighted. If you painted too much then just black it back in. Every time you let off the paint brush you will see a little painted on the mask. If you painted something else by a mistake (you didn't have the mask selected) then undo works fine. John
sue anne10-Jan-2008 12:34
Thank you.
Cat - well I was concentration on getting the horses/farmer on focus and yup forgot all about the 1/3's rule.
John, not good at layers to just fix up the sky part. Not sure how to do that...
sue anne10-Jan-2008 12:34
Thank you.
Cat - well I was concentration on getting the horses/farmer on focus and yup forgot all about the 1/3's rule.
John, not good at layers to just fix up the sky part. Not sure how to do that...
ctfchallenge10-Jan-2008 04:00
A horse drawn plow with a modern house and modern park in the background. Perfect execution. -COAmature
Guest 09-Jan-2008 22:14
Beautiful Sueanne! I like this a lot! And who said centered horizon is a big no-no? BS. Show them this example. This is just, simply wonderful.
-Cat
ctfchallenge09-Jan-2008 16:22
Nice one Sue Anne. I was thinking we should have a contest on catching anachronisms. You have a beauty here especially if its name were something about old/new. If I were to PP this shot, I think I would add a little (not much) more contrast using a layer mask to only bring out the little bit of that blue and cloud in your January sky. But I would leave the sharpness where it is because the soft sharpness lends a peaceful mood to the shot. It is so peaceful that I would be laying in a hammock between those columns watching him. John
ctfchallenge09-Jan-2008 15:15
Very picturesque - Debi
ctfchallenge09-Jan-2008 07:03
This has the feel of an old painting, very well done Sue Anne!
~Brent
sue anne09-Jan-2008 00:59
Thank you Julie and Penny.
Since the last time I was here, more developments and stores going up. Its not such 'Country' anymore in Lancaster, sorry to say.
ctfchallenge08-Jan-2008 23:14
This make a real statement.
Maybe you should blow the photo up and hang it at the local real estate office.
Penny Street
Julie Bird08-Jan-2008 22:09
Sueanne, this is a great image. I like the blue and yellow near the centre of interest. Julie