About photography Number 3

[Grandad]

Agree with you about celluloid Z...and with some nice Agfa paper...great tonal range.

I think you have mentioned previous experience with darkroom work...dodging and burning with your hands, and cut outs on pieces of wire

[Bullet Magnet]

Yes, those were the days Grandad.

3 trays of Chemicals and my Zeist enlarger ! you could create some great effects as you said. ( and compensate for under exposer)

Colour reversal ( slides) were a bit of a dark art, I never did like having to expose a partially developed film to light, just didn't seem right somehow..

I will try to venture into the loft and dig out some of my photo's for the forum.. I also have some drawings somewhere, many happy hours spent the old 4B pencil and cartridge paper..

[Horus]

Just resurrecting the thread about taking pictures of water.
I took the following set of pictures using a normal digital camera, set on auto, set to macro focus and mounted on a tripod for stability. I also set the delay to 2 seconds to steady the camera after clicking, the method I used was to let droplets fall into a glass of water and hope to catch a good shot.
As you all know the resolution and detail of a picture posted on here loses a lot of detail and sharpness, but the one that I have enlarged of the crown of water rising up and starting to curl at the top looks really great if seen in better detail as a photo and not with this limited resolution.

[bigken]

Love this topic , been having a play around in Lightroom 2(colour to b&w) with some snaps, thought i stick them on for you good people to give it to me straight

First of a local church St Leonards (said to be the oldest living building in Manchester)





Next the statue of the Declaration of Arbroath





and here is one i took last yr at "Blackpool" (nothing to do with B&W)

[Kiya]

I've tried to take water pictures but all I get is a blur must keep trying & like Horus I probably need to use a tripod.

Bigken love your pictures especially St.Leonards it gives it that Gothic feel.

[Kiya]

Here is my attempts of waterdrops using Macro & with no tripod , the 1st 1 looks like a crator & the 2nd 1 the waterdrop seemed to hit the water & bounce up again.

[Grandad]

Ken, glad you are joining in with this topic. And also glad you are open to comments. We are all like that and take comments as objective, even if we don't agree.

I like your reversal of St Leonards Church to B & W. It is a personal thing but I tend towards a higher contrast in mono because I think it adds more drama. I also look for a full range of shades from black to white in each image. I have always loved Ansell Adams and many of his pictures are dramatic in their contrast.

I took the liberty to copy your pic, cropped it a little and turned up the contrast. As I said, a personal thing, but I find it a stronger image.



PS. Ken, the Blackpool pic is a stunner......haven't been there for 50 years.

[Grandad]

Here are a couple for you to pull to pieces......was sitting on the steps down to the water at The Nile Palace a few weeks ago and took this and a few others at water level.

Original pic.


And the B & W version. (Contrast should have appeared stronger but got lost in transmission)

[LovelyLadyLux]

I'm just back from holiday and took 1843 photos! Will try and shrink a few and post them on here BUT in the interim I do have a question....about editing -

I was in Trinidad attending a Hindu wedding. Now that I'm back I'm going to print off a few photos and send them back there and am trying to make the photos look as professional as possible. I have Corelle Paint Shop Pro 2. Some of the photos I want to 'fix' are portraits and the subjects are dark skinned but when I use the makeover tool and blemish remover it tints everything for a caucasian......Does anybody know how to modify the makeover and blemish remover to work on dark skin?

I've figured out how to add back ground lighting and some of the special effects but am having a devil of a time with skin tones and removing blemishes......

[LovelyLadyLux]

BTW I love your stronger contrasts Grandad. That runs to my taste too. I tend to gravitate to 'stronger' photos and pictures. Photos that are bold and make statements.....

AND Horus - I love you water drop pictures! I still don't have a good tripod but I can really see the need to using one.

I took the advice about setting the timer and have figured out how to do that - just need to tripod for steadying.......

LOVE this Topic!!!!!!!!! AND everybody here is really SOOOO Creative too!

[Grandad]

Welcome back LLL.....1843 pictures in a week Sure you weren't switched to video???

Hurry up and sort out some nice colourful ones for us to see.

I'm a bit of a happy bunny today, after beginning to wonder if I had chosen a dodgy dealer my new Nikon arrived today. Lots more buttons than the old bridge camera and what a joy to get a proper viewfinder again.

I have gone back 10 years to when I last had an SLR...can't wait to get out and start learning all those buttons.

[Bullet Magnet]

And if you cant work the camera Grandad, get the Grandchildren to show you how it works.. They'll have it sussed in 30 seconds flat !

[bigken]

It does look better grandad with the contrast turned up you've not been to blackpool in 50 yrs, so you won't have seen the big tower they have built there then , so did you go for the D5000

1800 shots LLL, you'll have to get some on ur flickr site

[Grandad]

Yes, the tower was there Ken....they were just painting it for the first time.
Cheeky b***er

I did get the D5000...the clincher was the hinged screen. Just working my way through the manual, it has some very neat features and the P, A, S, and M modes are much easier to use than my last camera.

Will delay posting anything until I have something that I am happy with.

Unlike LLL, I have found how to SWITCH OFF the movie mode and take one frame at a time.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I think I'm getting carpal tunnel of the Right index finger!! ;) BUT absolutely EVERYTHING was sooooooo interesting! And I didn't want to miss 1 thing! (Actually lots of the photos I took were portraits and there were 500 guests at this wedding so the # of shots added up fast)

Actually I didn't really enjoy taking portrait after portrait. Got boring and while the photos are all OK there is nothing too special about posed people. Am much more into other shots AND I DID get a beautiful butterfly sitting on a flower! That was my TROPHY shot and I'll get it on here soon!

Glad you found the "OFF" switch Grandad! I gotta find where that switch is too!!!!

AND - (as always) I have a question. Any suggestions on Flashes? I actually do not have a flash other than what automatically come on on the camera. Any recommendations about a good flash? I've started thinking about saving for a flash but wouldn't mind some suggestions as to a good one for a Nikon DSLR.

[Horus]

OK Lovelyladylux, saying as you were so complimetary about my water drop pictures, I will try to answer your question

I was in Trinidad attending a Hindu wedding. Now that I'm back I'm going to print off a few photos and send them back there and am trying to make the photos look as professional as possible. I have Corelle Paint Shop Pro 2. Some of the photos I want to 'fix' are portraits and the subjects are dark skinned but when I use the makeover tool and blemish remover it tints everything for a caucasian......Does anybody know how to modify the makeover and blemish remover to work on dark skin?

I've figured out how to add back ground lighting and some of the special effects but am having a devil of a time with skin tones and removing blemishes......

1. open your selected picture in the main window.

2. From the ‘Home’ list on the left of your screen choose ‘Retouch & Restore’ the others in the list will be ‘Get Photo’s’- Adjust- Collage- Text & Graphics- Effects- Print & Share

3. After you select ‘Retouch & Restore’ you should see another menu that contains another list such as ‘Fix Redeye- Skin Smoothing- Makeover- Scratch Remover- Cover Flaws- Object Remover- Colour Changer- Fade Correction- & Selections, choose the option ‘Makeover’.

4. You will now see a vertical list of tool icons, hover your mouse over the (probably) eighth from the top in the list and on a fly-out it should say ‘Makeover-Blemish Fixer Tool’

5. After clicking on this icon your mouse pointer should change to a double circle with a cross in the centre.

6. Place the ‘cross’ over the blemish and left click your mouse once only and that should remove the blemish.

Note that the colour should be the same as your photograph colour, due to the fact that the area between the inner and outer circle will be selected as the colour for retouching the blemish area of the picture. The area of the inner circle will be filled with a colour blend based upon the outer area and centred around the ‘cross’, so it should not be possible for it to past a colour that is different to the subjects own facial tones.

Tips: If you hover over an area of your photo, then hold down your ‘Ctrl’ key, you will see a small window of the colour you will be pasting.

Also as the area you select for filling in the blemish will change depending upon how large your selection circles are to start with, be sure to change the circle sizes accordingly by holding down your ‘Alt’ key and pushing your mouse forward or backward to change the circle sizes.

To clarify, imagine that your selection area was mole just under someone’s chin. If there was a shadow line under the chin and you clicked on the mole to remove it, you may also be selecting a very dark area as part of the fill colour. So it would make sense to reduce the circle size to a small area around the mole as this colour would be a better match.

Another option is to use the ‘Clone’ brush and again keep your selection area small but only use a low level ‘Opacity’ setting, say around 25%. Then select a similar skin colour area by right clicking your mouse then move over the blemish area and left click as many times as you need to make a good colour blend. You should also play about with the 'Opacity' level when using the 'Makeover' tool as described earlier.

Hope this all makes sense and that I have understood your question correctly.

[Horus]

OK, not everyone’s cup of tea, but here are a few colour variants of a rather nice shelled snail that I came across whilst out on a walk today and I spotted it on a nice mossy log. As sometimes happens, I had not taken my good camera with me (unusual for me) and had to take the pictures with a poor quality mobile phone, so a bit of tinkering with the pictures was required.

[LovelyLadyLux]

:(:(:(:( Hooooooorrrrrruuuuuuuuussssssssssss :(:( I've printed and followed your instructions but I'm stymied at #1 cause nowhere do I have a "Restore and Retouch" feature on my Corel Paint Shop Pro #2. On #2 down (and I've searched all through this program) I do have Makeover but clicking on this does not elicit another box or tab to come out. I is simply "makeover" and I can blot white skin and fix a pimple but that is as much and as far as it goes.........

Maybe I'm missing something I do thank you for all your efforts of typing out all those instructions for me. I've got 'em and am still looking and searching but so far no cigar..........

[Grandad]

Thanks H for yet another useful sheet.....I have printed it as well

I am building quite a library of your guidance notes and I needed them yesterday when trying to remember how to duplicate a layer.....it's a failing memory thing you know

I was playing with a bundle of coloured pencils and made this with 7 layers of the same image..

[Horus]

Glad that it helped Grandad
Nice manipulation of the pencil picture

LLL, soryy that it did not work for you can you confirm your version? As it was a recent purchase by you, I assumed that you had 'Corel' Paint Shop Pro PhotoX2 Ultimate or do you have some earlier version?

You should still be able to get a similar result by playing around with the 'Clone' brush option and making sure that you adapt the brush size so as not to overdo or underdo the selection area (practice makes perfect). Also use the 'Opacity' button to ensure that the cloned colour is not too stark when you paste it in, much better to do several clicks in the same area to increase the density of the colour. Finally make sure that your cloned area is a good match for the repaired area, it does not always follow that the area you select for colour is adjacent to the patched area, you may need to select the forehead in order to match the chin.