Still Dead

abraxas · Aug 11, 2007

The latest victim in my effort to learn photoshop.

ernie · Aug 11, 2007

cool picture but i think it'd work better with the branches behind the cross instead of in front of it

abraxas · Aug 11, 2007

Thanks for the comment. If it rains this fall I'll be going back in the spring for the flowers. I'll see what I can do.

Pretty cool forgotten little cemetery. I've shot this grave three times now. I'm starting to feel like a relative.

marinaw · Aug 11, 2007

There's quite a lot of noise in the sky, but I like this image a lot. Love the smaller, leaning cross in the background.

abraxas · Aug 11, 2007

marinaw said:
There's quite a lot of noise in the sky, but I like this image a lot. Love the smaller, leaning cross in the background.

I noticed that on the full-sized version. Thought it went away when I resized it. Guess I need to clean my monitor.

& Thanks!

tpe · Aug 12, 2007

I really liked the reflections, but i am not so sure about the effects in this, the gradients between black and white look too severe, if you selected a region and looked at the histogram i bet it would look like a very steep sided mountain range with gaps in, ie at there is a lot of black, then a gap then a lot of mid, then a gap and a lot of white, but the bits in the middle dissapear, it makes it look kind of dirty to me, otherwise i like the pictre and subject very much.

tim

abraxas · Aug 12, 2007

tpe said:
I really liked the reflections, but i am not so sure about the effects in this, the gradients between black and white look too severe, if you selected a region and looked at the histogram i bet it would look like a very steep sided mountain range with gaps in, ie at there is a lot of black, then a gap then a lot of mid, then a gap and a lot of white, but the bits in the middle dissapear, it makes it look kind of dirty to me, otherwise i like the pictre and subject very much.

tim

I think I boned it up on this one. It came out alright for the cemetery index on my site, but other than that it's just trying to change a photo that didn't want to change- it was just too happy and sunny for me.

I wanted to illustrate this:

What histories of tragic struggle with fortune and of defeat there are written in California! How many young men, for whom still fond hearts of sisters or mothers beat lovingly in vain, have fought the battle of life here unsuccesfully, and have died, as men know how to die, in solitude without a murmur or a groan.

-- Charles Loring Brace
The New West, 1869

Aside from doing the usual experimental fooling with artistic filters, I tried layer masks with the gradient tool (?- pushing buttons). I desaturated and reduced the opacity to let color through.

I like the composition, but it's a crop from a horizontal. For some reason, 95% of everything I shot up until last fall was in landscape format.

Back to the graveyard

Thanks Tim!

Seefutlung · Aug 12, 2007

learning photoshop notwithstanding ... I'd go B&W or sepia ... that drab ugly sky blows it for moi. I really like the shot and the location but (the big but), I'm not to happy with the composition. You really seem to be pushing the left side ... I'd crop on the right to at least center the cross ... the bush is of lesser importance ... the fact that you can see the branches says "uncared" you don't need to show all that much bush. What's going on behind the second smaller cross ... looks like some bad dodging on the bush? Sad to think after all this time that those people are still dead.

Gary

Gary

abraxas · Aug 12, 2007

Seefutlung said:
learning photoshop notwithstanding ... I'd go B&W or sepia ... that drab ugly sky blows it for moi. I really like the shot and the location but (the big but), I'm not to happy with the composition. You really seem to be pushing the left side ... I'd crop on the right to at least center the cross ... the bush is of lesser importance ... the fact that you can see the branches says "uncared" you don't need to show all that much bush. What's going on behind the second smaller cross ... looks like some bad dodging on the bush? Sad to think after all this time that those people are still dead.

Gary

Thanks Gary. I'm not sure what happened in the back there. I think that's where the two layer masks came together. You make some valid points. I'm thinking I should head up that way and reshoot with the new machine.