[davidreilly3207]

Recently had the attached the attached photo declined. Thought it was pretty good shot. What do you think?

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Last edited by davidreilly3207; 01-08-2011 at 10:46 AM. Reason: show photo

[enoeske]

ppg doesn't accept images with giant watermarks on them

[SpecialK]

I love airplanes (just got back from an airplane museum visit) but the shot seems a bit flat and, though nice, it not really "wow"-worthy. The cropping is a bit unusual for either the circular cowl or triangular prop.

[birdman59]

B17 engine????

[davidreilly3207]

There was no watermark on the copy I uploaded them. Yes, B17

[Miguel]

It's an OK shot, but nothing for a portfolio--which should be one of the standards for PPG.

Little of the historic nature of the airplane is obvious to most non-flight folks. And to reiterate, the crop is a little disconcerting as it removed some "wholeness" from the frame. The inner workings of the engine are also too dark so you lose that point of visual and technical interest.

M

[CWyatt]

I'm not interested in PPG, but out of interest, why do you think the photo is very good?

[n.ramkarran]

I like the composition. I think it works to show the complexity and beauty by concentrating attention to the detail that makes the whole. But while the composition is good, the lighting is flat and uninteresting and it throws me off to see what appears to be the photographer reflected in the chrome. In order to increase the drama of the shapes and textures I would try this in monochrome.

[thoughton]

As others have said, it's good but not strikingly memorable. I also find the reflections of you and the red shirt guy to be a bit distracting.

I'm not interested in PPG, but out of interest, why do you think the photo is very good?

In the interests of accuracy, he didn't say "very good".

[atupdate]

I agree with Miguel that the inner workings of the engine need to be brought out. This image also works well as a B&W.



Tim

[ll_coffee_lP]

- Submit again as a b/w image with selective dodge/burn in the engine area (like Tim has shown).
- Clone out the junk on the chrome propeller cap so that it only shows ground, sky, plane beside this one, and shadow on the ground. Darken up the this planes shadow on the cap as well. The eye is drawn to this area and all I'm seeing is the photographer and bits of things.
- Guassian blur the wing on the left a bit to keep attention on the propeller and engine.
- Gradient the sky in the top left hand corner by making it very dark and brilliant white (i.e. as if a polarizer was used).

Doing this will draw your attention to what you as the photographer were trying to convey as being the main focus point. Get rid of the distractions and suck the hell out of the viewer on that gorgeous engine!

Just my (c) (c)'s.

c[_]

[atupdate]

- Submit again as a b/w image with selective dodge/burn in the engine area (like Tim has shown).

Just my (c) (c)'s.

c[_]

Actually, instead of dodge and burn, here is the technique I used. All processing done with PSP.

Here is the original I used to show this technique in another forum.


1) First,I made a duplicate layer and desaturated it using Hue/Saturation/Lightness



2) Then I changed the B&W duplicate layer to a negative.



3) Then change the blend mode of the duplicate layer to Overlay and change the Opacity to approximately 50-55%. Different photos will require a different Opacity setting but generally it will fall between 40-75%. I used 100% Opacity on the OP's image for this thread.


Now merge the duplicate layer into the background layer. The image should look kind of washed out. Don't worry, now I'll show you a technique to bring a little pop back to the image.


4) To give the image some pop, I use a double USM process shared by benjikan.Benjamin Kanarek post processing method | PentaxLife

Here are the settings I used. The first USM action was Radius @ 0.3, Strength @ 250, and Clipping @ 0. The second USM action was Radius @ 50, Strength @ 12, and Clipping @ 0. After you run both USM actions, duplicate the layer and set the blend mode to Soft Light and adjust the opacity to what looks good to you (I used 100% opacity on this image and on the OP's image).


This duplicate USM layer can also be desaturate and the opacity decreased if contrast and saturation are too strong.

5) Once you flatten all the layers, you can now tweak the image using layer or curves if you desire. I used a slight curve adjustment on the OP's image.

6) Convert the image to black and white. I used Channel Mixer with a setting of Red 30 - Green 59 - Blue 11.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Tim

[atupdate]

- Clone out the junk on the chrome propeller cap so that it only shows ground, sky, plane beside this one, and shadow on the ground. Darken up the this planes shadow on the cap as well. The eye is drawn to this area and all I'm seeing is the photographer and bits of things.
- Guassian blur the wing on the left a bit to keep attention on the propeller and engine.
Just my (c) (c)'s.

c[_]

I cleaned up the propeller cap but left the wing alone (guassian blur with the watermark is not pretty)



Tim

[davidreilly3207]

Thanks for all the advice.

[benjikan]

Recently had the attached the attached photo declined. Thought it was pretty good shot. What do you think?

I would have accepted it..I would have done a bit of PP to pump up the blacks.