photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment
Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 121: White / technically flawed (hosted by Katherine Kenison) >> Challenge 121: Exhibition > edit image
previous | next
June 9, 2006 Carmen

Looking Out,
Looking On
by Carmen

Overlooking the ruins of the WTC site

I found this to be a very moving scene and still like the picture even though it turned out blurry.

I had taken the 717 in to have the holo-focus feature fixed shortly before I left for New York.
Unbeknownst to me, whatever they did while it was in the repair shop (aside from not fixing the holo-focus problem) caused the camera to take mostly fuzzy shots during the whole trip - especially on any subject at a distance.

It's in the shop again, but I'm not sure I can ever rely on it again. Having said that, it has been a fantastic camera and I've certainly gotten my money out of it. I'm a little surprised that I didn't manage to kill it a long time ago.

added:
Here's what the people are looking at, and where the reflection of the flag is coming from: http://www.pbase.com/image/62711023


other sizes: small medium original auto
comment | share
Carmen02-Jul-2006 23:37
Well, blow me down. Thanks, Franky! Challenge 121 turns out to be a timely topic for me...
To answer your question, yes I did try to improve it in Photoshop. I adjusted levels and sharpened (and it did help some). Here's a link to the unedited (except for size) original: http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62823327 As you can see the "fix-it" results that I got were quite contrasty; a bit of a "the cure is as bad as the disease".
I did try Focus Magic, and I have to say that the improvement is noticeable. It will never be perfect, but thank you! - there are definitely some other pictures that I took that I will wipe the tears off of and try and rescue from the trash bin.
Here's the Focus Magic altered shot (I did add sharpening on top of that; it made a slight, additional improvement):http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62824367
For good measure, here's the one with the straight FM filter (no sharpening): http://www.pbase.com/corvidae/image/62824363
Franky2005 02-Jul-2006 19:41
Carmen, very nice shot,except of the blur of course. Did you try to improve it in post processing? There is still a lot you could do I think, with software like Focus Magic (I am not related to them, but you could try the demo).
Katherine Stanback's Photos30-Jun-2006 09:07
Great capture! Many of the people seem to be looking up and to the right - I wonder what they're looking at? I really like the vague reflections of buildings and the american flag that can be seen in the windows.