I don't quite feel comfortable making a PAD yet, but I'm still trying to find one decent picture a day. I's getting easier so maybe I'll commit to a PaD Blog sometime. Anyway, here's todays... no macro so I'm using the 14-45. Just weeds in a rather uninspiring paved driveway. -Gary
"Just weeds" doesn't quite cover this one, Gary - they're beautiful and "jewel like" is an apt description. I love the water droplets. Nice going!
Lovely image. Given weeds are just plants growing in the wrong place, I'd like some like those in my driveway!
gary the "presence" of the leaves,and droplets.... and the hydrophobic nature of the droplets and pools is so stunnng and crisp . the exposure and contrast is also finely seen, and frankly im stunned by the sheer visual quality here , but since you raise the issue of editing photo here on the forum with such conviction, ill take a stab with a worded suggestion rather than try my clumsy "elements" to make the point ....... .[ also, personally , id ask you first:smile: ] what troubles me here is the almost perfect centrality of the surface tension pool of water dead center , it stares at me like an eye and i cant help thinking that moving it a bit away from dead center would not make the image stronger .., wiser . of course ,there are times when having the first seen element of an image dead center is the best call , but i think that this is not for every image , and i wonder if your image would not benefit from moving that pool off of dead center too. but the image is still very good as it is , and reminds me of what my ep1\gf1 is capable of in terms of image quality and sheer punch. cheers
Thanks for all your nice comments, it means a lot, really : ) Cosina, I have the utmost respect for your work and I would be honoured for you to show me your treatment if you get time. I think it would be very educational. Hmmm, I really should change my sig to explicitly grant tweaking rights ; ) As regards IQ - The image in original looked bright and a little washed out. For the PP I was a little lazy and didn't do any cropping. I did however use a Clarity and Soft-Wow in Lightzone - just to sharpen, draw the greens deeper and bring the highlights out. Sometimes, even nature needs a little help -Gary
gary, understand i have zero post process skills, really all im suggesting is is a crop [ wasnt sure if your orig had room at the edges ..] if you think my humble suggestion has merit then make it happen , you would be able to do it in 10% of the time it would take me... id would like to see it with that central element less centered, perhaps a crop to off center that element , will offer no improvement it would be interesting to see
Big thumbs up. Really nice. If we're going to armchair compose, I'd say next time considering moving the droplet down and to the left, leaving more out-of-focus area in the upper right. But that it nitpicking.
Thanks Mat Okay, a quick test chop ... A little more 'thirdsy' I guess. I think I'd rather bring the larger in-focus pool down to the lower right a little to a 'thirdsy' position but then zoom in a little to have the second pool sit right-of-centre to counter-balance. I'll definitely play with the composition a little tonight. But, to be honest, I'm just thrilled that you guys liked it : ) -Gary
gary i think having the other large 'pool' is integral to the sucess of your image at this point the original is better imho.
ok gary , ill play if you promise not to laugh........ a tiny bit of desaturation and a bit of crop to decenter the focusded central pool now gary ,in the interest of fariness , i give permission to adjust one or two of my images in the gallery , any one except portraits please , what id really like to see is improvement in the photos of the firefighting photos , which im less than happy with
Yeah, I thought so too... I edited the above post to say as much. I guessed at a more balanced thirdsy composition... like this... Better ? edit: LOL - we are playing leap-frog with the posts : ))) We had a similar idea for the more 'balanced' crop although I do prefer yours as mine is, on reflection, a little too tight. I like the desatch although I might be just a touch less aggressive with it (personal preference I guess) Thanks for the input Cosina : ) Definite improvement. -Gary
i thought de saturation would help but on that point i feel your greater saturation makes for a better photo at the end of the day , looking at them side by side , i like the more saturated one better ..... , also im not thrilled wiith my crop either but decentralizing the focal [ not focus] point has some merit, but i supect a better crop awaits and it remains a powerful image,even if you leave it as you first presented it here
No, I think you've pretty much nailed it. The crop is far more balanced this way. I think the large droplet in a rather 'thirdsy' bottom-right position leaving the second drop right-of-centre has great merit. I might desaturate just the tiniest bit too, although it is going into a portfolio of flowers which are quite vibrant already... so I do need some strength of colour for this image to compete well with the rest. -Gary
Gary, I think the original composition is just fine. Sometimes I think that deliberately bowing to the rule of thirds is a mistake. If it naturally falls into place that's great but to deliberately contrive it can result in a contrived looking composition. If every photo we took was a perfect example of the rule of thirds wouldn't they all start to look a little boring? Your picture is a wonderful example of making an ordinary subject look fresh and interesting. The only reservation I have is that maybe it's just a tad oversharpened, but that usually comes down to personal preference. I really like it. :smile:
