Trip to Ried Park

vipgraphx · Feb 9, 2012

I took many comments from previous posts into consideration in these photos. I decided to go the park this afternoon to try to hit the golden hour and practice composition. I found this spot where I decided to put my focus on. Processing is somewhat different from other postings as I am trying something different. CC as always!

1)

park 1 a cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

2)

park3cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr3)

park2cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr4)

park4cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr5)

park7b by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

EDIT Just added

6)

tree cropped 1 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

7)

structure cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Edit Added more:

8)

rock path cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

9)

lake cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

And one HDR shot of my two of my boys. I have 3

the other was at the dentist. With this shot I did an HDR 3 exposure and then I brought into photoshop and masked out the skin with another untouched exposure so I did not get the funny looking skin.

10)

kids cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

and thats all folks the other photos I got were not as good as I would like so they stay unprocessed and will see the trash can...

Cheers!

that1guy · Feb 9, 2012

these sir are top quality HDR images... however the bottom 2 lack a little detail in the trees

maybeshewill · Feb 9, 2012

Nice work, I do like them, but something feels off. I'm not sure whether it's the composition or just some of the photos just aren't great places to shoot? The last one is my favorite of the lot, and the first one is my second favorite. The composition seems to be best in these two.

vipgraphx · Feb 9, 2012

that1guy said:
these sir are top quality HDR images... however the bottom 2 lack a little detail in the trees

Thanks. I no it sounds like an excuse but I was going for this look. I was trying to mix in what I really saw. The sun was bright and there was a lot of shaded area. Where it was shade it and the sun was blocked out it was kinda dark but what I could have done was perhaps bumped up one exposure really high and masked out those areas. I had 7-9 exposures per image and I may try to see if I have a light enough one to mask in. I used a few more - exposures than I normally do to try to get these right.

maybeshewill said:
Nice work, I do like them, but something feels off. I'm not sure whether it's the composition or just some of the photos just aren't great places to shoot? The last one is my favorite of the lot, and the first one is my second favorite. The composition seems to be best in these two.

Thanks as well - Not sure what feels off but when you figure it out please post. Always trying to work to get better!

Majeed Badizadegan · Feb 9, 2012

Well typically I wouldn't spend the time to cc more than a couple images but I know you've been working hard towards improving composition so I'll briefly give you my thoughts with a focus on that.

#1 probably a little more water and a little less sky here. Looks like your POV is low to the ground which is nice for this image. Try to get even lower if possible, when shooting reflections of still water. The rocks make for interesting subject and the clear water has endless reflection opportunities.

#2 lacks a main interest. I like the processing and the framing of the sunset in the trees but as a sunset shot the busy park behind it really is a detriment. Also, leaves are visibly blurry in spots on this one.

#3 lighting is soft and nice. Background of the mountains is very nice. Wish you'd shot this direction more as it makes for a much nicer background (distant mountains vs busy park). the POV is way too high here, feel like I'm looking down at a scene instead of immersed within it.

#4 although the foreground bird is a nice compositional element, especially balanced with the sun in the image, the overall extreme ghosting and/or lack of sharpness in the trees kills the shot. I can see why you like this picture, but it's too flawed as compared with the rest of the set.

#5 nice comp and colors. I like how the rocks are a leading Line to the sunset. Sky is grayish/dark.

#6 nice sun glint, beautiful definition, lighting. Roots are highly interesting. The tree naturally frames the palm trees and water. Really busy background hurts this shot. Seeing vehicles and people really creates tension in some landscape shots.

#7 very interesting subject . Great lighting. Good comp. Id like to see some more foreground/background separation since the trees really don't add much and the busy park is distant but still a distraction.

Hope this feedback is useful.

vipgraphx · Feb 9, 2012

Rotanimod -

Thanks for taking the time to critique. Its hard when there are handful of pictures.

1) I will keep that in mind with water reflections when the shot permits.

2) Hmmm I really liked this one, but I can see what you are saying park is real busy for this angle. The way the sun came through as I was walking just was stunning. It was windy and hard to remove ghosting with the tree leaves. This is a reason why it would be nice to have a camera with more than 3 exposures bracket. I used about 7-9 shots on all these photos and when you have to take the time to adjust the exposure it makes a huge impact on the motion in the sky and especially leaves...I am seriously thinking a full frame camera with more allowable bracketed shots!! But,,,$$$$$$$$

3)This was another favorite...who am I kidding they all are my favorite :lol:

I thought I did a good job with the thirds..forground is interesting middle is interesting and then you can see the background . Now that I look more I can see maybe if I was to angle the camera up more and set my tripod in the water it might have worked out. I had to set my tripod on a huge rock..

4) I would have like to have more detail in the trees. I needed a higher exposure and mask it in but once again the wind was not working with me. When I used ghosting in photomatix it came out better but the best. I may try something on this one and see if I can not get it better...I just love how the bird is looking into the sun!

5) I masked the sky and used another exposure to make it a little dark to draw focus to the sun and where I wanted your eyes to go.

6) Unfortunately this is the same tree as in number 2 so same background :er:. But I took it because I like the carvings of peoples name in it. One the full size you can really see and read the names and yeah the sun was nice.

7) Yeah this I as not sure about posting as it was one of my least favorites but I thought the composition was not bad. I liked how at this angle the sun reflected on the opening making it glow.

Well over all I think I learned that the golden hour can make foe some beautiful shots and moving around and taking more time helps...You know what the say when life throughs lemons make lemonade. I say this because allthough the park was busy If I had not taken the time to take these shots I would not have learned and I also learned a little more about lighting and needing those added high and low exposures to get a better range not just -2,0+2 works with everything.

KmH · Feb 9, 2012

Anyone who has been there will likely know where Reid Park is, so you might as well put your location in your profile.

I shot there from 1990 to 2005.

vipgraphx · Feb 9, 2012

bump for more photos:thumbup:

Joel_W · Feb 9, 2012

Over all a really nice set. Picture 1 is my personal favorite. It would have been just that much better with more water and less sky. The picture with your two boys is outstanding, as you worked around that horrid HDR skin tone issue we always see. Sure wish you could have pulled off these shots without all the cars and people in the backgrounds, but it is, what it is.

vipgraphx · Feb 10, 2012

Joel_W said:
Over all a really nice set. Picture 1 is my personal favorite. It would have been just that much better with more water and less sky. The picture with your two boys is outstanding, as you worked around that horrid HDR skin tone issue we always see. Sure wish you could have pulled off these shots without all the cars and people in the backgrounds, but it is, what it is.

Thanks Joel_W! Yeah shooting at the park or anywhere public for that matter is not easy. I waited for folks to move but new ones kept coming. At some point you just need to take a freeegen picture and move on. Sometimes thats the beauty of it is taking a picture where there is life and movement, in fact when is there not people at a public park? . I agree on the cars and what not and if I had to choose between the people or cars it would defiantly be people the cars are dead weight in the photo.

Oh and by the way my son has a funky smile..Kids are funny like that they don't know how to smile. I was taking the photo and asked them to stay still for a second so had to hold his smile and it looks funny the more you look at it...

Rephargotohp · Feb 10, 2012

I think you did a good job of getting more different perspectives to your shots.

The only one I would have tried something majorly different was number 3, I would have tried shooting that with the camera in portrait orientation. I think it would have made a better image to carry the viewer into the background with out the trees looking cut off.

Good work