Framing and composition

[Adsos Letter]

I often fail to really consider everything in the frame, or how my image is composed when looking through the viewfinder. Of all of the ways to compose this image I managed to place his head directly in front of one of the very few spots which matched it for color and size. (let us lay aside the fact that I also shot from a normal perspective; I'm dealing with a herniated disc in my neck, and getting up and down can be very painful at times...please, stop laughing...):

[url=https://flic.kr/p/CZXh3R][img][/img][/url]

Processing in B&W helped ameliorate the problem but I lost the cool over all color of the figure, and turned it into a different image, without the pop of the colored image:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/CAWmq3][img][/img][/url]


[url=https://flic.kr/p/CAWmmA][img][/img][/url]

[NV Whino]

1. Mask his head and darken the area behind.

If you have Photoshop, use an airbrush with a large feather and low opacity. Go over it until it looks right.

But what a great piece of art!

[Adsos Letter]

3. That's a good idea.

I have to get in and learn Photoshop. I have it bundled with Lightroom but I had trouble using it, and got frustrated with it. There is a brush function in Lightroom, but I can't seem to set it properly.

There are several mailboxes over here that were made by the same artist. Different subjects, but same general idea. One of these days I'm going to take an afternoon and drive around and photograph them. I'll make it an OP.

[alfredo]

2. I like the cropped version.

[Adsos Letter]

4. Me too.

I was really pleased with how sharp it was. I used a Nikkor 85mm without VR and, as unsteady as my hands are these days with the herniated disc thing, I have had some trouble getting consistently sharp images, even at faster shutter speeds.

[alfredo]

6. I have four bad disc in my neck. It's the weakness that causes unsteady images.

I have in body stabilization, so lens choices mean little. My next camera will have 5 Axis stabilization. So all I have to worry about are my cataracts and Macular Degeneration.

I can't wait to see just how good the monochrome is in the new Olympus Pen F. It uses Tri X emulation as an option.

[Adsos Letter]

9. The D7100 doesn't have it.

I manually focused for this image, so maybe that is the answer. Most of my Nikkor lenses have VR.

The disc is making it difficult because of the pressure it puts on the nerve that runs down my left arm. When it goes off it really affects things. I've been putting up with it since October, so the muscles, etc., in the left back/shoulder/arm are pretty jacked up. Getting a steroid injection on the 5th, so that should help. Hopefully.

[alfredo]

10. They doing any traction and stretching exercises?

[Adsos Letter]

12. The PT had me doing some stretches, twists, etc.

They thought it was a blocked nerve in my back. After three MRI's (#1 was middle spine, #2 was because the radiologist saw something that concerned him in #1, and #3 finally showed the bulging disc in the neck) they stopped the stretches and sent me a portable cervical traction device. It helps but things have gone on so long now that everything back in that upper left quadrant is thoroughly jacked up. Can't wait for the shot.

How do you deal with yours?

[alfredo]

13. Traction, then stretches. Now it's pretty much stabilized.

[Mira]

5. SHARP photos - in more ways than one

The color in number one trumps the b/w of number two (if you will pardon the expression) but in the third the crop is so good and the b/w needs no color.
Excellent.

[Adsos Letter]

7. Thanks, Mira.

I used manual focus on the 85mm prime. I think I often get sharper images that way. I think I must have had all of the settings right for this one, though.

[Mira]

8. You surely did have them right

the truly amazing sharpness was the first thing I noticed before studying the details.

[Adsos Letter]

11. It was an 85mm prime

1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100...plus Lightroom.