[Curious]

comments for what they are worth. oh and i’m using FF on an uncalibrated straight out of the box LG 23″ LED monitor.

best sky, SilverStag best building, ennuipoet.

but in either case the building is too orange. while i understand that early morning and late afternoon (just after the sun is over or going over the horizon) brings out orange in my film experience it isn’t that pronounced. haven’t shot enough early or late with digital to know/see the effects. and when i was printing film you could really mess with the orange to suit taste. one of my nicest looking landscapes was cliffs at laguna beach, ca but just slight tweaks of the filter pack produced results from great to meh.

so while i was writing this i opened IE8 and then saw NoBigDeal’s version. 1) FF and IE both are pretty orange 2) NoBigDeal’s version of the building looks closer to what my memory says early morning buildings look like.

as far as the shadow goes my best guess in the ennuipoet HDR is closest to what you eye sees but probably not what gets recorded on the media.

in any case YMMV 🙂

[Curious]

OK

[Curious]

“Burning” = Adding exposure in the traditional darkroom.
“Dodging” = Removing exposure by blocking light in traditional darkroom practice (making a positive from a negative image).

My use of the terms is in the frame of reference of a traditional analog darkroom. 40+ years of experience dies hard.

Since we are actually working on a positive image, it may be technically correct to reverse the terms, or find new terms of art for new media. (‘Screen’ and ‘Multiply’ come to mind. 🙂 )

man i hate to do this but …… ok we agree on the terms in that burning adds and dodging subtract exposure. now in PS7 even working with a positive using those tools has the same effect as a darkroom does when using a negative to create a positive. in other words if i use the burn tool on an area of the image it gets darker.

my objection was to the use of those terms when applied evenly to the entire image. while it’s been 30+ years since i was in a darkroom last to me those terms denote spot treatment. and yes it can be a large spot 🙂 i too have added/subtracted exposure to 1/3 of an image.

IMHO you stated what you did better when you talked about over or under exposing the entire image. i have underexposed negs that have to be printed with more exposure as compensation. that is a gross over simplification but i hope you understand it.

[Curious]

Every one of the operations described above are easily performed in a traditional darkroom by a photographer of average skill.

please bear with me while i nit pick. having some darkroom time i’m taking issue with your use of the terms “burning” and “dodging”. i was taught and always used those as spot treatments. and in my copy of PS7 the use is the same.

now your over and under exposures applied across the entire image do match the farktography rules. i’ll leave it to others to comment on the use of layers.

[Curious]

glad for the second part of the description because i only have one prime lens and it’s for my film camera. this one is going to take some thought.

[Curious]

I think #1 tends to take care of itself. If you’re that concerned about stats that you enter anything just to keep your stats up, I think you’ll quickly find that it’ll have the opposite affect. It’s better for most stats (except recent top ten most votes and similar) to sit out than to enter a dog that drags down your average standings and votes/entry.

while what you say is true i was speaking more along the lines of dragging the entire contest(s) down. it’s less likely in farktography but is/was a big problem in photoshop contests. slapping looter guy on a water “O” may get votes but sure doesn’t raise the bar. and unfortunately in some ways stats tend to reward that because vote totals don’t reflect the time spent or skill of the participant.

BTW all i’ve said is background and in no way is meant to be argumentative nor detract from your efforts.

[Curious]

I also feel that the emphasis on not missing contests produces an awful lot of placeholder entries, that are just there to make sure that stats are maintained, which I feel is a detriment to the whole effort people make. I know I’m guilty of it at times.

i don’t think about stats except when reminded of them like here. i do however enter meh like i did tonight. there is little chance that my autumn shots from south louisiana will compete successfully with ones from a northern climate. but i wanted to play with you guys and it’s only once a week.

i also occasionally enter photoshop contests and hang out in the PSAEF where the stats debate rages heavy. two schools of thought there; 1) what you said re entering to maintain stats and dragging the whole effort down and should be abandoned, 2) there are no prizes, fabulous or otherwise, so the stats are a means to keep score over time. IMO stats are interesting but shouldn’t be obsessed over. if you start obsessing about your standing the fun goes away fast. and given the nature of the fark voter what the hell can you really draw from them?

[Curious]

I will admit I am not very good at setting up for themes like the music theme coming up. I still have exactly no pictures for that one.

i struggle with some themes but that one had ideas just popping up. one is shot and i’m happy with it. the other two aren’t shot yet and i’m not sure how they will turn out. can i convey the title? yes. do so in a visually interesting way? we shall see.

[Curious]

And I hope you didn’t interpret that list as trying to shame anyone or inforce hierarchies of any sort – it’s all meant just for fun.

lists quit being fun when i fell off the top ten all time vote getters 🙂 that BTW was some time in the age of the dinosaurs.

i’m of two minds about stats. participation lists are interesting. vote total rankings don’t mean much since so many variables go into a person voting. my opening comment was meant to say what you did in that^ quote. i have no idea if folks post shots they know are meh just to enter or if they think their every entry is great art. and what i think is of no importance since it’s the voters who get to decide.

all of us have some ego involved in these contests and want to do well. but we all know, in our heart of hearts, that there are times our best efforts get ignored for one we slapped looter guy on. or the farktography equivalent of that. besides which there are no prizes fabulous or otherwise.

so to summarize if creating a list make you happy please do so. and we will take what we want from it each to his/her own ends.

[Curious]

thanks for doing that.

these comments are ONLY about my entering and thinking. i can not and do not mean to speak for others.

i want to enter each week but have come to the conclusion that entering a meh or three really isn’t participating. and over the years, and especially lately, i’ve got picker about what i enter.

if you look at my entry/vote totals compared to many others you can see the voters also want me to make more of an effort. fortunately for me some things in RL have resolved themselves leaving time to spend on taking good photos and not snapshots. time will tell if i capitalize on that 🙂

[Curious]

i have a flickr pro account and for $25 it works for public sharing. i don’t find the latest revision all that great. i really dislike their photostream thing but ennuipoet (i believe) says he has his in sets and collections and that works well for him. i do have some sets but a lot of what i have is just random stuff. perhaps a set of random is in order.

as i told you i really like the flowers and the snow. with your lighting you got better DOF than i have on my macro flowers.

[Curious]

got two props today and will pick up the third tomorrow. two of my three planned shots will be mildly amusing i hope. one is going to be killer. when i first looked at the prop i was disappointed — then i looked again while picturing what i plan. killer definitely.

the voters may not agree but that will only demonstrate their failure to appreciate great talent.

did we decide on hints? titles? linking to the song on you tube?

[Curious]

I have a set of Opteka tubes, short $$ like 79 bucks. They work just fine. Hunt’s wanted to sell me a set of Kenkos for $165.00 I laughed walked out and bought these from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-Focus-Extension-Digital-Cameras/dp/B0038ZORB2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1274059799&sr=8-11

i paid $167 for my Kenkos and love them. this is the second set i’ve had. one for the minolta 7D and now a nikon set for the D3000.

auto focus with all three can be iffy but with any two or just one it works great. that said manual can get even sharper shots.

[Curious]

Well I’m not sure exactly what constitutes “artistic”

“Something that is intended by the creator to produce an emotional response in the audience.” (Seems like as good a definition as any….)

and this is why i decided to fore go tonight’s contest. nothing i have really speaks to me in that way. and if not me then most likely not the voters either.

[Curious]

quick follow up. soosh suggested i look into photo.net as a place to perhaps unload my darkroom struff. haven’t done that yet but i did find this thread that ties in here. it’s about scanning large format film and has the usual film vs digital stuff but also much more, i found it interesting. and scary when you look at some of the prices quoted. not really a place for the weak of wallet.

of course all this will become moot when i win the powerball and get one of these 50MP beauties

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