[Royce Howland]

Some from Jo'burg:

Went to a lion park yesterday and was in awe at the majesty of lions, and the cuteness of the cubs:

Great wildlife photos with the Z. The lion cubs in particular adorable!

[mikeSF]

Thanks for the comments on my Moraine Lake photo, Rick, Thomas & Mike.

Rick, my up-front HDR process is different than how I suspect most people use HDR. I'm not using the technique for a visual look, especially not an obviously surrealistic one. Rather I use it to generate a neutrally-toned intermediate file with a very full tonal range from shadows to highlights, great micro-contrast, and low noise. Consider it analogous to a neutral conversion of a super-RAW file, one that samples a much higher fidelity range of the scene's light. I mainly use a Windows-only app for this starting point these days -- Oloneo PhotoEngine. Oloneo makes it very fast and simple to get to a well-rendered file. I used to use Photomatix, and still do go back to it on occasion because it has some strong areas where it beats PhotoEngine; but it's a bit more work and slower to get to my preferred neutral starting point with Photomatix. Many other apps could be adapted to my type of approach, and I've looked at several of the other popular apps out there. But they're all slower and more work so I don't use them. Increasingly, my type of approach will be possible with little more than Adobe Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw within Photoshop) now that they support loading and working on some 32-bit HDR file types.

Once I have the neutrally-toned HDR file rendered back down into a 16-bit TIFF, I finish it in Photoshop using some layer blending but primarily curves work. Not dissimilar to Tony Kuyper-style luminosity masks & curves, but a bit more custom than that. I do very little colour adjustments in general, and when I do it's as often as not (as in this case) that I'm desaturating certain colour channels or hue ranges to make sure I retain a largely photorealistic (but still creatively interpreted ) rendition. My goal is a final image that looks like it could be from a single frame, but with a full tonal range that's as rich as I'd like in detail, and free of noise or other obvious processing artifacts. I half-jokingly say I often go to a lot of work to make it look like I don't do much work in post...

The Topaz filters I use most heavily are DeNoise and Detail, occasionally Remask to get a good initial selection in a particularly tricky area. I have most of the Topaz bundle but rarely use the others beyond these 3. My B&W work in particular isn't done with a filter, but rather manually in Photoshop.

The Z is proving to be killer, but the D remains eminently usable too. It's a win either way.

this is fascinating, thanks for sharing your technique. I am not sure I understand it, but the results say everything.

[managger]

My several albums after 645Z testing

http://fotkidepo.ru/?id=album:53915
http://fotkidepo.ru/?id=album:53916
http://fotkidepo.ru/?id=album:53917
http://fotkidepo.ru/?id=album:53919

[s-tet]

An inner yard of a building (Rome, Italy)
Pentax 67
SMC Pentax 55mm
Ilford 100 Delta

Attached Images

 

[marcusyoung]

a crop of the 645z images



marcus

[s-tet]

Pentax K5
SMC Pentax 67 100mm macro
Pentax 67 extension tubes (1+2+3)
Pentax 67 Lens to Pentax K-mount Body Adapter

A bird feather.

[Richard Longseth]

Thanks for the comments on my Moraine Lake photo, Rick, Thomas & Mike.

Rick, my up-front HDR process is different than how I suspect most people use HDR. ……………………………………………...The Z is proving to be killer, but the D remains eminently usable too. It's a win either way.

Royce, thanks for your comprehensive reply. I appreciate the detail and your willingness to share. My understanding of your comments would be to first produce a neutral file with rich tones with Oloneo PhotoEngine, Photomatix or other software. Then Photoshop with curves and layers, Tony Kuypers luminosity masks, or similar processes. Be very careful with color. Do final finishes which might include DeNoise or adding grain.

I think what is wonderful about your image is that you are well constrained with your processing and achieved your goal of a realistic yet artistic rendition.

Also, it's nice to see Moraine Lake represented in a way other than the typical iconic views. Well done and thanks.

Rick

[itshimitis]

Some Great White Pelicans in a bird park in Johannesburg having a good splash about:

Pentax 645Z FA 120 f/4 macro:

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

[texandrews]

s-tet, that first monochrome image of the doorway in Rome is my idea of a great image.

[Royce Howland]

... My understanding of your comments would be to first produce a neutral file with rich tones with Oloneo PhotoEngine, Photomatix or other software. Then Photoshop with curves and layers, Tony Kuypers luminosity masks, or similar processes. Be very careful with color. Do final finishes which might include DeNoise or adding grain.

Yes, that's right on.

I think what is wonderful about your image is that you are well constrained with your processing and achieved your goal of a realistic yet artistic rendition.

Also, it's nice to see Moraine Lake represented in a way other than the typical iconic views. Well done and thanks.

Thanks for the kind words!

[gofour3]

An inner yard of a building (Rome, Italy)
Pentax 67
SMC Pentax 55mm
Ilford 100 Delta

Nice shot, like the tones.

Phil.

[itshimitis]

A tighter crop of no 2 from the previous series:

[mikeSF]

a crop of the 645z images



marcus

this is lovely! love the detail and colors.
Who knew the 645 does macro? i am slightly joking, but need to give it a try myself as your pic is inspiring!

[marcusyoung]

this is lovely! love the detail and colors.
Who knew the 645 does macro? i am slightly joking, but need to give it a try myself as your pic is inspiring!

Thank you, mike.

This was shot at max magnification more more than 1:1, 120A macro with additional tube 3 attached. with flash on.

Tripod used as the set up was heavy as well, more than 2 Kg.. Building up my muscles as well..haha..


marcus

[sceneeast]

The Great White Pelicans what ISO and shutter speed did you use? Thank Bob