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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests 12-07-2022, 05:29 PM  
Today is cold ...
Posted By astonm
Replies: 16
Views: 387
I would like to nominate this photo
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests 04-01-2022, 04:27 PM  
Should I jump or should I stay?
Posted By astonm
Replies: 24
Views: 318
I would like to nominate this photo
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 03-01-2022, 10:50 AM  
Thematic Post-Processing Challenge #406
Posted By astonm
Replies: 14
Views: 756
Brrrrr!
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 02-25-2022, 03:22 PM  
Thematic Post-Processing Challenge #405
Posted By astonm
Replies: 23
Views: 1,279
A bit of tidying up, turn on the lights. Some minor decorating.... Looks much more cheery and inviting. And definitely safer! BTW... was that gum or bird doo down the center? LOL Not cleaning it all off. The blank ceiling and floor area perfect for adding copy.
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 02-09-2022, 10:41 AM  
Thematic Pp403
Posted By astonm
Replies: 16
Views: 1,051
I usually don't mess with "super crops" - but here's a try
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 01-30-2022, 03:20 PM  
Thematic Post-Processing Challenge $402
Posted By astonm
Replies: 26
Views: 1,264
Thought we needed another b&w
ps - did you happen to have a date for the challenge ending ?
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 01-05-2022, 11:15 AM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #399
Posted By astonm
Replies: 20
Views: 1,085
Not sure what happened with the last challenge, but I really enjoyed the entries that were there! Great job.

For this one, went with a little extra texture in the sky to harmonize with the rest of the scene. A bit of old fashioned gray-layer dodge & burn, and a bunch of perspective tweaking to try to get that "bowl" - "down to the river" thing going.

Beautiful scene - I can see sitting there with a thermos full of hot coffee and just taking it all in.
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 12-09-2021, 10:04 PM  
Thematic Post-Processing Challenge #396
Posted By astonm
Replies: 26
Views: 1,055
... and you thought there would be no entries... be careful what you wish for !!!

I was playing around with PS Neural Filters again.... is anyone else out there sorta creeped out about the "landscape mixer?" it was soooo eerily effective on this one - There was a little more PS to it than just that, but IF it works, it does some pretty crazy stuff!! enjoy.
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 12-01-2021, 12:30 PM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #395
Posted By astonm
Replies: 29
Views: 1,053
too easy... that stude again, a 1960 ish nash rambler american, a pair of 1970's Rover P6's , and another monza. (always loved those rovers! I had a brit repair shop a long time ago too LOL)
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-30-2021, 11:03 PM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #395
Posted By astonm
Replies: 29
Views: 1,053
what cars ?

back row L to R:
white car - 1980 toyota tercel,
grey car - thinking late 1980's olds cutlass ciara (weird back window)
blue door - pretty sure its a saturn - maybe geo?
maroon minivan - 1990 ish Olds Silhouette/chev lumina/ pontiac trans sport
broken windshield car - ??
black headlight peeking out - late 1970's chev monza
far R - lime green two-tone job - 1955 Studebaker Commander 4dr.

and yup to the Hudson ID.

(LOL, my auto parts/service days in the 1980's & 1990's is finally good for something in this century LOL !! whoo hoo!)
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-30-2021, 11:18 AM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #394: Mandrill at the Phoenix Zoo
Posted By astonm
Replies: 13
Views: 1,181
Sorry about the delay. Had a much busier Monday than I had anticipated. So... let's get to it !

******************************
noelcmn: great job of honing in on the eyes. While I know that it's a "photography sin" to not have the subject's eyes looking at the camera - I thought this gave a bit of mystery to the photo - what is she looking at ?!? Love how the hair turned out in the second photo, but the eyes are great on the first.

tuggie76: One of the reasons I picked this photo was all of the great textures in the background. You really embraced them wonderfully in all three of your entries. The color tones in your second photo are great! (I think it helps make the critter pop - she was getting a little lost in the b&W) Very nice. Great job of getting that tree "off the grid" too.

Michail_P: Good balance of crop - better view takes advantage of that backwards glance pose. (my bad that there is nothing there for her to look at.)

Kerrowdown: great job with the colors here... I like the way the caption works with the electrifying situation. Hahaha!

xs400: more wire-theft - I hope you got top-dollar at the salvage yard!. I like the framing of your crop. Her colors and hair look great.

jmacias: A tall crop - I like it ! First pic - Exceptional job of dealing with the weird grass. Really helps the scene. Very nice. Second photo ---- whoa! Trippy! A work of modern art.

stevejo: portrait time. Looks good !

************************************

In reviewing these it occurred to me that PS has those new "neural filters" - smart portrait in particular. I gave it a quick test, thinking it might fix her gaze. Alas - it apparently will not "find" a critters face. Bummer. (I just may have to amuse myself to see if it can be hand-done without breaking my brain LOL)

I'm giving winner of this round to tuggie76 & the color photo. I like the way it used the entire scene.
A firm runner-up to jmacias first photo.

Thanks so much to everyone for participating !

~~Laurie :)
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-21-2021, 03:59 PM  
Thematic Post Processing Challenge # 393
Posted By astonm
Replies: 11
Views: 754
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-21-2021, 03:58 PM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #394: Mandrill at the Phoenix Zoo
Posted By astonm
Replies: 13
Views: 1,181
Thanks so much to noelcmn for choosing me in the last round. :lol:


I found this Mandrill lurking about on my hard drive while I was moving a bunch of archive stuff around. Old one from a trip to the Phoenix AZ Zoo several years ago. Some nice textures in there. See what you can do with it.
Let's give it a full week - Monday the 29th we'll see who wins! (Cyber Monday - better this than shopping! )

Downloads :
PPC394-Mandrill.DNG
PPC394-Mandrill_jpg.jpg



************
For the next host:
The mediafire website is: mediafire.com
The login name is: ppchallenge@tmphillips.com
The password is: postprocessing

**************
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-21-2021, 01:17 PM  
Thematic Post Processing Challenge # 393
Posted By astonm
Replies: 11
Views: 754
Thank you ! The magic crystal ball is a fun idea :)

I'll dig around and get something going tonight or tomorrow. See you all soon...
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 11-13-2021, 02:58 PM  
Thematic Post Processing Challenge # 393
Posted By astonm
Replies: 11
Views: 754
Missed a couple of challenges - this is an awesome picture to come back to - Thanks ! And wow, that's a cool toy - I want one!

most color/light adjustments in ACR - I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really liking the new masking filter stuff in ACR. Tried to deal with the sky banding with some PS texture filters, instead of the classic "add noise".
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 10-26-2021, 12:29 PM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #390: Water Lily & Dragonfly
Posted By astonm
Replies: 15
Views: 1,081
Wow! lots of entries this time - all very nice, too.
We've got both sides of the photographic / painterly fence to consider here. This took a lot of coffee to do! :lol:

*****


xs400: great job of keeping this photo mostly as-is, while correcting the scraggly background. very nice & clean. Love the bubbles at the base of the flower. Sort of a blend between an oil background w/ photo subject.

Kerrowdown: Just the flower. Nice job of getting the damselfly (thanks stevejo!) in there - I know the wings would be tricky if doing some masking. Nice effect with the blue toning on the petals - very transparent. Looks good.

LittleGidding: Fun entry - movement & pattern in there. Loving the creamy white you have. Points for originality! (now I'm wondering how this would look in a circular pattern?!)

Fdooch: This is gorgeous! Very "painterly" Soft, yet still precise. I'll be extra picky and say that I wish the little bubbles were still on the bottom of the flower. But I can live without them. Great color tones as well.

stevejo: Thank you for the bug tip! I always thought that dragon & damsel were just interchangeable lingo for the same critter. Never really gave it much thought. Know I now it's actually "a thing." Very nice tight crop view on the flower.

mariwalt: the only pink toned one in the batch. nice crisp detail on the damselfly. I see smooth shadows/vignetting on the left side, but maybe a bit of roughness on the right. I'm not sure what program you are using, but try playing around with your brushes a bit. There may be a "softer tip" in your tool kit. Also - sometimes if I'm stuggling with edges I'll start with a really low opacity and gradually move it up, building up "layers" - even varying in brush size a little - you might find some secret sauce to get good transitions in there. (think like you're painting!) Overall, though I really do like it, and I think pink was an excellent route to go!

tuggie76: you did something to get that terrible grain out of the water without totally doing dark. It was very daring of you, and it seemed to work. Nice, very accurate version of the photo. Good job.

jmacias: another nice nice version, this time with the darker background. I know it was a hard one to deal with!

noelcmn: making that little blue guy a STAR !!! I seriously wish I had a better shot of him for you to blow up - sorry :( - But you had fun with what you had to work with - I think the composition of your first one would be super cool on a big print. Thanks!

DW58: great to see another PNW'er join the Post Processing challenge - welcome! We've got another nice entry here - dark backgound showing off the flower. I'm liking the way the bug shadow is doing it's thing in this one. Looks good.


I wasn't looking for this going through the entries, but in the end it struck me that leaving the petal shadows really "grounded" (watered??) the flower. It really reminded me that the thing is ON the water. I found myself more drawn to the entries that left these reflections in. You guys really made it a tough call. All the entries had certain elements that shone. I finally had to balance out all the different categories - composition, scene cleaning, background noise, little details... et c.

Giving this to xs400 as the winner for this round.

and Fdooch as the solid runner-up. This entry was so beautiful as well!

thanks everyone :)
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 10-18-2021, 12:09 PM  
Thematic Post processing challenge #389
Posted By astonm
Replies: 15
Views: 1,076
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 10-18-2021, 12:08 PM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #390: Water Lily & Dragonfly
Posted By astonm
Replies: 15
Views: 1,081
Thanks again to Fdooch for choosing me in the last round :)

For this round #390 - I've got a mildly cliché photo for you to work on. While out at a small lake recently I spotted this little blue guy (a Tule Bluet? - I'm no bug expert!) atop a pretty (yet still classified as a "noxious weed" around here) common water lily (Nymphaea odorata)

Of course, my camera was set on a high shutter speed, as I really wasn't out there to photograph flowers. I got the shot, but anything in the dark range didn't fair so well. Yeah - It's a little chunky there in the shadows.

Your challenge this round is to see if you can find an amazing "Best Free Wallpapers" - or "Corporate Hallway Space Filler" worthy sort of thing amongst the mess.

Have Fun - Learn some new tricks !

I'll close this up on Monday Oct 25th - just in time for the next winner to hop on the Halloween band-wagon :)

Download: PPC_390_Water_Lilly.DNG/file

************
For the next host:
The mediafire website is: mediafire.com
The login name is: ppchallenge@tmphillips.com
The password is: postprocessing

**************
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 10-17-2021, 10:58 AM  
Thematic Post processing challenge #389
Posted By astonm
Replies: 15
Views: 1,076
Thank you so much! It's hard to imagine what was went through to even get this picture. Amazing. I car hear that water roaring now :)

I really tried to keep it as natural as possible. Like you, I used a variety of tools - I find myself doing most of the corrections in ACR first - using PS for touch ups and maybe some correction masks/layering. (In this case a b&w conversion layer, converted to a luminosity layer masked to help the water & sky really did the trick). There were a few spots of water mist that just wouldn't correct out well... so... "If you can't beat them, join them." I actually added a touch of extra mist over the central rocks and tree to just help blend that spot out. I tend to use NIK mostly for targeted contrast adjustments, and I really like their framing options. Of course, it helps to have a lovely picture to start with!

I'll dig up something for the next round, should be up by tomorrow.

thanks again!
Laurie
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 10-11-2021, 10:28 AM  
Thematic Post processing challenge #389
Posted By astonm
Replies: 15
Views: 1,076
I hope your travels were quite therapeutic. Like this river - finding the beauty in quite murky, yet very powerful waters.
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 09-27-2021, 05:13 PM  
Post-Processing All aboard for Challenge 387!
Posted By astonm
Replies: 11
Views: 708
This just sort of happened all on it's own. Can't stop a freight-train, eh?!
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 09-25-2021, 11:55 AM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #386: deHavilland Beaver R/C
Posted By astonm
Replies: 17
Views: 1,253
This was fun to watch. Followed him for a while.
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 09-25-2021, 11:31 AM  
Post-Processing Post-Processing Challenge #386: deHavilland Beaver R/C
Posted By astonm
Replies: 17
Views: 1,253
let's call this closed... back in a bit with the results.....

---------- Post added 09-25-21 at 11:53 AM ----------

First - thanks to everyone for participating! I'ts always fun to see what you come up with.



Kerrowdown: This is very nice indeed. You cut through any distractions, and conveyed three important elements - lake, airplane, & movement. I like the big empty on the left - leaves anticipation of the "where it's going" story. Love the color toning too! ( I might have to steal this idea for a web banner!)

mariwalt: nice, straight-forward interpretation. Looks very good.

Little Gidding: Zoom! you really narrowed in on the "movement aspect!" Nice effect. Fun!

*note - for everyone who "flipped" - yeah... I'm going to ignore the niggling bit of the letters. That's asking a lot to correct for these quickie challenges. We couldn't have lucked out and had symmetrical markings, could we? M8VUH0 etc... LOL.

stevejo: more action! What a great idea. Good job of getting that motion blurred before final "splash down." Tells a story of "where it's been"

Pelto: Another great minimal entry. It really brings out the splash of the water. Love the darks you chose.

jmacias: nice natural flip version. Good job.

Michail_P: Again with some nice color toning. It was hit & miss that day - mostly harsh sun. the lake couldn't decide if it was going to be blue or green. Your version makes the most of it. Even not straightened, this make the illusion it's getting ready to take of. (which it was, actually)

tuggie76: oh, yes! A tad more tweaking on the eagle reflection & I think we could sneak that one into NatGeo! Thoroughly enjoying your entry for two reasons - a) I love the whimsical nature of this b) I personally love to see when folks work on "expanding your horizons" with PS techniques. Learning new tricks really helps understand the program. It totally pays off when doing some "serious" photo work.

xs400: nice simple version. The toning adds a nod to the history of the airplane - they've been around for about 75 years, and still a favorite for bush pilots around the world.

*******
Great job everyone on your entries. It makes it fun to host when we have so many nice versions.

For the winner: Congrats to tuggie76 this round! Excellent bit of creativity.
Runner up will be Kerrowdown for the simple elegance of his version.

PS: It was noted that the eagle pic was over the top - We actually DO have many bald eagles (along with assorted hawks & turkey vultures) up here in the PNW, specifically ones living out at our flying field. That photo could have actually happened. I've seen some pretty big birds go after the planes, as well as flocks of swallows playing tag with a few!)
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests 09-25-2021, 10:29 AM  
Knife Edge
Posted By astonm
Replies: 7
Views: 172
"Knife Edge"
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 09-17-2021, 09:09 PM  
Thematic PP Challenge #385
Posted By astonm
Replies: 16
Views: 1,129
I fibbed. Not tomorrow. Got it done right away ! Enjoy.

Post-Processing Challenge #386: deHavilland Beaver R/C - PentaxForums.com
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