I will c&c your work for you. Beginners welcomed

[anthonydamario]

 

[RauschPhotography]

This one has been bothering me like none other! It rattles my brain what to do about it. Thanks, and I really do look forward to seeing what you can do with it!

 

[fast eddie]

Sure, Ill take some tips!

Here's one:

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

Out standing Dwayne! Thank you so much, my wife will love these!
We wanted them to be black and white for the wedding so you covered that well for us. Of course that is if you will allow us to use your edited copies at our wedding.
Thanks Again!

No problem at all Ross, I am glad I could help. Of course you can use the
edited photos you are oringinator of the work.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

this is a great idea dwayne, thank you i appreciate it.
this shot was taken at upper canada village, a mid summer day
but no sun which i feel is lacking in this image.

how would you add some 'sunny' quality to this shot?

thanks again.
wim

good

-great butterfly (black swallowtail)
-good off center placement of the butterfly
-great light coming through the butterfly's wing
-exposure is right on
-very good detail and contrast

nit

-colors are a tad over (personal choice)
-butterfly is getting lost with the other flowers (DOF flowers are bit of a distraction)

tweak

-cropped the photo a bit tighter to get rid of some DOF flowers and
placed the subject to 1/3 rule

-desaturated the colors (personal choice)

-healed out all DOF flowers (this takes several passes with the tool
because of the size of flowers)

-put the photo through NR software to smooth out the BG

-lighten (dodge) the flower
-lighten (dodge) the light coming through the butterfly's wing

-added selective color saturation to just the flower
-added selecitve color saturation to just the orange spots on the wing

-added selective USM (sharpening) to the center part of the flower
-added selective USM (sharpening) to the lit wing

-used the midtone slider and whitepoint slider in (levels) to set final exposure

Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[pauliec]

Dwayne, you've done some great work in this thread and have provided fantastic feedback! I was wondering if you could give me some comments on this one... thanks so much:

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

good

-good off center placement of the subject (just a tad tight to the edge)
-nice spot type sidelight
-nice green color
-exposure is right in the lit areas

nit

-uninteresting subject matter (I don't know if the light will be enough
to grab the viewers attention)

tweak

-using an old software program I have thats has special effect filters
on it. I chose a distortion filter (sphere or wrap). This will bend
the photo and add some interest to the subject. (personal choice)

-dodge (lighten) the green little hill area

Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

This one has been bothering me like none other! It rattles my brain what to do about it. Thanks, and I really do look forward to seeing what you can do with it!

good

-good comp and works well here
-exposure is about right
-good contrast
-very nice flowers

nit

-colors are a tad over, blue channel is clipped in the histogram
(personal choice)

-DOF to shallow (no enough in focus @ f/5.6) a tripod will work well
for this type of subject and to get into that f/11 to f/16 lens aperture
range for a more in-focus shot, Note this can't be fixed in pp only
in the field

tweak

-desaturated the colors (personal choice)

-healed out the dark spot in the upper right corner and the water drop DOF in
the bottom left (distraction)

-lighten (dodge) some of the petals

-put the photo through NR software not for noise but to soften the
image a tad

-toned down the contrast a tad to add an airy feel to the image

-added a tad of selective USM (sharpening) to the water droplet and hairs
in the center of the flower on the right

-used the midtone slider and whitepoint slider in (levels) to set the
final exposure

Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[Bambi]

thank you so much for doing this Dwayne!!! I appreciate it.

Here's mine (I chose it because I actually edited 7 times in total to get the final product) :

 

[rcsmyth]

I 'd really like to see your edit on this one. thanks Dwayne

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

Sure, Ill take some tips!

Here's one:

Has any work been done on this photo ? Because if not your Nikon D5000
is perfectly dialed in and don't change a thing on it !

good

-very good off center comp (just a tad to close to the left edge and top)
-great detail (can see the fabric in the hat)
-great colors, hat and skin tones (perfect)
-great contrast
-great DOF
-exposure is right on

nit

-eyes are a tad soft (camera's auto focus locked on the front of the hat
no big deal as you can cycle which focus point you want by moving the
thumb arrow pad on the back of the camera next time in the field or
just fix it in pp with USM sharpening)

-sticker under hat and stray hair on the right could be healed out (distraction)

tweak

-added a tad of selecitve USM (sharpening) to just the eyes

-healed out the sticker under the hat and the stray hair on the right

Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[fast eddie]

Sure, Ill take some tips!

Here's one:

Has any work been done on this photo ? Because if not your Nikon D5000
is perfectly dialed in and don't change a thing on it !

good

-very good off center comp (just a tad to close to the left edge and top)
-great detail (can see the fabric in the hat)
-great colors, hat and skin tones (perfect)
-great contrast
-great DOF
-exposure is right on

nit

-eyes are a tad soft (camera's auto focus locked on the front of the hat
no big deal as you can cycle which focus point you want by moving the
thumb arrow pad on the back of the camera next time in the field or
just fix it in pp with USM sharpening)

-sticker under hat and stray hair on the right could be healed out (distraction)

tweak

-added a tad of selecitve USM (sharpening) to just the eyes

-healed out the sticker under the hat and the stray hair on the right

Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

Thanks Dwayne, You Rock!

Nope, no editing, I wanted to send it untouched to get a baseline. I thought it was pretty dialed in, but good to hear from someone that knows.

Thanks for the comments, tips and encouragement. I'm just getting back into photography and excited to capture people, places, and things as I see them.

Peace
Ed

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

Some photographers watching might be asking how you do selective enhancements.
Most editing software programs have selection tools in different shapes and
adjustable sizes. There is also a freehand selection tool called marquee tool.

You select the type of tool (shape) and then select the area (size) you want to
enhance. Then go to the edit menu list and pick the enhancement you want to
make to just that area. Dodge and burn can be done this way also (lighten or
darken a selected area, powerful stuff).

Just make sure the (feather or blend or air brush) feature check box is checked on
so all the enhancements will blend together nicely with the rest of
the photo.

Also healed out and clone out mean the same thing. You are getting rid
of blemishes, trash or in my own work stray branches.

Nikon Capture NX2 does this all in one step making it very simple and a
powerful way to do selective type pp. I am not affiliated with Nikon in
anyway.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes

 

[fast eddie]

It was cool to have you critique and I look forward to posting more photos here for critique in the future, but I have a question for the pros:

Is it best to show a raw un-edited version of a photograph and look for ideas on improving the picture TAKING process, or and edited version that shows your vision of the scene?

My question comes up because I have been a graphic designer for 18 years and am proficient at PhotoShop and can make pretty "Blah" stuff look great. But my idea for critique here is to get the best capture I can, to start with an amazing foundation that might not need much help in post.

That's not to say I am against or do not like to tweak and embellish after the fact (I do), But what is the preferred submission for critique?

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

It was cool to have you critique and I look forward to posting more photos here for critique in the future, but I have a question for the pros:

Is it best to show a raw un-edited version of a photograph and look for ideas on improving the picture TAKING process, or and edited version that shows your vision of the scene?

My question comes up because I have been a graphic designer for 18 years and am proficient at PhotoShop and can make pretty "Blah" stuff look great. But my idea for critique here is to get the best capture I can, to start with an amazing foundation that might not need much help in post.

That's not to say I am against or do not like to tweak and embellish after the fact (I do), But what is the preferred submission for critique?

Great question FE !

The "art of seeing" will benefit an image no matter
what stage it is in. I have no preference if the photo is edited or
not edited. I let the posting photographer decide that.

Take care,
Dwayne Oakes