Opinions Needed

[kalgra]

Ok here is a better example of what I tried to explain above. Same image all cropped at to different degrees. This time I did retain the same ratio however. But you can see how you can still crop an image and technically display them the same size.

 

[jjmcd123]

Ah, yes I see. It's very interesting, I never really knew about these fundamentals.

Out of curiousity: how many megapixels are those images? They look amazing

 

[kalgra]

There were shot on a Canon 70D which I believe is 20mp but even at half that there is still plenty of room to crop within reason.

 

[jjmcd123]

Just did some quick googling and found that a canon 1200d @ 18mp is 500usd while the canon 70d is over 1300ish.

Why the difference in price?

haha, sorry btw for pestering you with questions

 

[table1349]

@gryphonslair99 ah, I wasn't aware of a video section. I think I may check it out.

DSLR Video Discussion

 

[kalgra]

No worries ask away just be warned I dont have all the answers.

I think $1300 seems high to me. I want say i payed closer to $900-1000 but in any case it just comes down to features. I originally bought the 70D for its video capabilities for my wifes business as well as taking stills. Are you using the 1200D? The difference would most likely be in things like auto focus capability and things like an articulating screen on the 70D

 

[jjmcd123]

No I'm using the lowly 1100D (I got it second-hand for a bargain) which only has 12megapixels.

Yeah, I think I' m going to upgrade to an 1200D when I get the chance. I think the added megapixels with more attention to post will really help me up my game.

 

[jjmcd123]

@kalgra

The pics below are the pics which I like the most and am the most proud of. They are completely untouched. What do you think could be better in both the actual photo taking and any potential post work?

BTW, when I say proud, I don't neccessarily mean on a technical level, but more on in a storytelling way that I managed to capture a truth to the area.

 

[kalgra]

I really like some of these you have selected. I put my own take on them to illustrate some of the things I was talking about. I hope you dont mind. If these were mine this is some quick and dirty post work that I would personally do. You may not like it but as I said before I think it will show you some of the things I was referring to.

 

[Didereaux]

@kalgra @kalgra thank you for such detailed, engaging and honest advice/feedback!

I never thought about the idea of how awkward it would be for viewers to critique the photos in video format until now.

I also appreciate the pointers you gave regarding the principle rules of photography. As someone new to the craft I prefere to work on my instinctive intuition as opposed to principles. I often find myself rebelling against rules of form throughout my other art (I am primarily a screenwriter). Although, having said that, it's always best to learn them (the rules) like an amateur and brake them like a pro.

One issue I have, and this is a wider question regarding photography - you mention faults within the images which could be cured using croping. If I crop an image wouldn't that alter the size of the file and thereby make it smaller than the rest of the photos and give the collection a disjointed look? Also, you mention how an adjustment to the colors in post would have a greater affect in shots that appear "flat". I took all the pictures in the natural lighting of the day and did no work to them in post: is alteration in post considered an "ethical" way to take photos? Isn't the point of photography to capture the true essence of the world, or is digital 21st century photography more akin to a painter? Where an artistic result is more important than reality? Have I stumbled into an ongoing artistic philosophical debate?

Overall, though, thank you for your time and engagement

When you have finished all your post processing and are ready to export to printable form then set your export to a given size on one side (that allows aspect ratio to remain). Dead simple.

 

[jjmcd123]

@Didereaux

simple for someone who's been a member of this forum since 2013. I should think as much

 

[jjmcd123]

I really like some of these you have selected. I put my own take on them to illustrate some of the things I was talking about. I hope you dont mind. If these were mine this is some quick and dirty post work that I would personally do. You may not like it but as I said before I think it will show you some of the things I was referring to.

Wow, I really like the affect these had. What processes exactly did you use (if you can remember)? I'm guessing more sharpness on the lambs; sharper lines for the horses as well as contrast(?); and sharpness and contrast on the hill.

What program did you use?

 

[kalgra]

You know something that occurred to me, I went back and watched your video again and compared to the images you posted. A lot of my critique about things being cut off in weird ways may not apply to your actual photos. The video format you chose is doing that. So the tips of buildings and some of the other things I mentioned were probably not that much of an issue. The video just made them look that way because the video is cropping your images in unfavorable ways.

The edits I made were made in lightroomCC and for the most part were simply leveling the horizon, dropping the highlights, raising the shadows, adding a touch of contrast and clarity, I changed the white balance a bit too the cooler side then bumped saturation just a smidgen to pop the colors. I sharpened the over all image then increased luminescence a bit to smooth out the grain.

For the little sheep I added some cropping to give them a stronger presence and added a radial filter right over the sheep to brighten them up and help to draw the eye inward on them as well as add some details back to the black face sheep. This may seem like a lot and maybe it is but after you spend some time in lightroom or any other photo editing software for that matter you start to develop a work flow and learn what works in certain situations. All these images seemed to be taken on the same day with similar lighting so I was able to spend about 5 minutes adding some basic edits to one image then just told lightroom to apply those same setting to the other two images then took a couple more minutes to add a few changes that were just specific to the individual image like leveling the horizon, cropping, and adding the radial filter.

Im still learning post editing software myself. And there are probably others here that could have done 10x better with less. These images were in jpeg format but with the raw file I think a lot more could have been done with the sky to tease out more detail in the clouds and I think some other elements could have been pushed further without making the photo look too unnatural. Some will probably say the edits I put on your images are to the unrealistic side and I would agree but that is my style and my own self expression that comes out when I want to help express the way an image makes me feel. The wannabe painter in me if you will. The edits I made to the sheep "to me" express the playful and youthful emotion your photo made me feel. So while the sky may seem too fluffy and blue an the sheep a bit to bright I felt that it gave the the image of more child like, happy and youthful presence.

This is one of the things I love about photography. Sure its awesome when you can nail a photo in camera and some are really good at that. I imagine as a photographer becomes more experienced and well connected with their gear this becomes easier to do. I cant tell you how many of my own images were just so so at best and once I added some of my post work they became one of my favorite pieces. I dont think post editing in unethical, I simply think is just another medium to explore in the world of photography.

 

[jjmcd123]

Again, thank you for your engaging feedback. Joining this forum has truly made me think deeper about photography and thank you for being so kind with your time