Beamer ,

Thanks for the comment.
The problem that I had framing this shot, is that it on the outer edge of town.
If i included anything else, it did not have the secluded feel to it.
Also to re-shoot i would have to drive 1.5 hrs SE to get to the area.
I have the original somewhere that may be a wider shot ....

Interesting subject... difficult to photograph due to lens distortion...Might need some adjustment in PS.

imagenature,
Actually was just noticing the barrel distortion after i posted this.

I like the subject - reminds me of David Plowden, of whom I just met at a photography lecture. Amazing story teller, so much so that one could fall in love with grain elevators, such as yours!

www.davidplowden.com/archive/index.php?page_name=r...

I suggest trying it in black and white, since there aren't any interesting clouds in the shot anyway. I bet you get some amazing texture and tones from those cracks.

KerriDoodle,

Thanks.
that suggestion might actually make a huge difference on this picture.
Expect a new rendition later!

PhotoDaniels,

Thanks for the comment.
Really funny as they fixed the issue by re-sodding that part. So then it was no longer brown but a dark green for the explicit part!
I did not get other angles when i shot it. Last time i went by it was still visible so i will see when i go by again!

Funniest part of the whole thing, this was shot from the Mormon church across the street.

KerriDoodle ,

The hill and house used to be owned by J.R Simplot, the potato billionaire. His company is the one that invented the frozen french fry.

The governor still has yet to move into the house as they are renovating to make it not only a private house but also to support his public functions.

The hill is actually used to ice-block all summer and in the winter you see people sledding and snowboarding down if there is snow.

I bet once the Gov moves in, there won't be any more sledding!

Sorry if I insulted you about your user name - not sure how you pronounce it, but if you read it real fast, well, you get the idea...! :0

All I can add is that this is like a gift that just keeps on giving. I particularly like the way the shot not only captured the theme, but elicited responses that also fit perfectly - brightened my day, thanks!

This almost made me pee my pants!!

KerriDoodle,

No offense on the name.
It has actually been a running joke to see how many people get it...
This is not the first time i have used it:
web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.mikeock.net

boyd,
Glad you liked it!

diezel99,

So my vision was correct?

I went and looked this weekend and it is still visible.
They filled the brown spots with sod but the sod is of a different variety of grass. That makes the outline stand out even worse.
I went to take some shots, and there was a family ice-blocking down the hill.
did not think it was appropriate to shoot that with the family playing right next to it!

I meant to say drag the background layer to the "create new layer" icon at the bottom of the layers palette, which will create a background copy. Sorry if I was unclear.

Laurie, thanks for explaining it, I think more of us can use it in the future :)

Very cool tutorial.
Will have to add that to my back o' tricks!

Thanks a-lot for the suggestion!

I agree that this version is much better than the first - I like the change in contrast and it helped plump up the colors.

I understand Laurie's suggestion, but hers feels a little too dark for me. Perhaps someplace in between the two.

KerriDoodle,
I agree w\ your statement that it should be somewhere in between. To me the last version looks a bit dark.

Ok here is the rundown.
This was shot in June of this year.
These are my grandparents.
This was a shot before they entered the party for their 50th anniversary.
The car is the transport to and from the event.
This is actually one of my uncle's cars and they thought it would give the part a nostalgic feel.
So, MMeye, you were real close!

Side note:
This was featured in the local paper under their 50 years later theme.
This was also entered into the Western Idaho Fair and received and Honorable Mention in the Portrait category!

Really nice. I love the old car. I agree with the exposure on the faces. Over all, Great job.

Thanks for the comment.
I really wish the faces were better but what can i do now!

I like the picture, I like the theme. It goes back to another time. It could just be my monitor but it looks like the picture was taken through a screen. There is a texture there. The old B&W polaroids that I remember, and this reminds me of one of those, were sharp as tacks.

tzirlott,
I added grain/noise to it to bring out the feel that I was looking for.
That is what you are seeing.

Thanks all for the feature!

Thanks Pixim and Bastian.
I am still wondering on how to portray these lonely lights.
I am glad the the compositions are getting better!

I may get around to re-shooting this soon as it is in my alley!

I wonder what it looks like in b&w....
I like the composition. I can wait to see the re-shoot!

PhotoDaniels,

I don't have a re-shoot yet but a re-work that i will post here shortly when i am allowed.
B/W might be a good idea here!

I like the basic composition. I like the feel this gives. What bother me is I think there is some perspective distortion on both the vertical and horizontal planes.

Since you are pointing the camera up, you can not get the sensor plane vertically square to the frame. This is understandable since the lamps are above you. But I also see horizontal perspective distortion The camera is tilted left (or right) to the plane of the subject. I think this would be better if there was only one plane of perspective distortion .

willie_901,

Thanks for the suggestion.

This is another thought that will be taken into account when i re-shoot!

it looks rainy but the colors more after sunshine... nice!

This is a pretty scene. I think it could benefit from a little more contrast to give it some pop.

I would love to show you what a little contrast could do for this image. Let me know if you would like me to send you a quick simple edit.

You can contact me through my blog.

Laurie,
I will work up another in a bit.
Have to wait for the 24 hr period to expire before i can upload!

Ahhh..I am looking forward to it.

Laurie,

Repost is here:
www.vazaar.com/user:mikeock/photos/id:19434/

For my personal taste there is a little too much blur in this image, nothing seems to stand out and this makes the image over all a little to flat.

creative666,
I can understand what you are saying.
Little problem getting the shutter speed high enough to freeze while capturing these cars as they fly by!

Gotta agree with creative666. The motion blured car makes the background stand out.

The leaves in the top right corner are distracting, too.

The fuzziness in contrast with the leaves actually gives me the illusion that the car is floating, which I think is kind of cool.

sgresnic,

Thanks for your comment.
Glad you liked it.

I didn't see the other one... This one, though, is really good. I like how the backgound tones are with the white of the flower. The dof is wonderful. However, I would have the flower a little bit more off centre.

I like the grainyness of the picture. You can almost picture in your head what the original colours must have been like. Very nice.

cutebutstupid,

Thanks for the comment.
Yeah i think it needs moved a bit off center also!

TheAntipode,

Thanks for the kind comment.

i dunno, i'd kind of like to see something done with the whole in the leaf next to the flower...composition wise i think that's something that is too different to let blend into the background. maybe dodge it, highlight it somehow...? i'm not sure, it just strikes me as carelessly distracting right now, like that's what my eye gets drawn to...maybe it's just me

raphshap,

Thanks for your comment..
I thought the hole was a bit distracting but you are the first to mention it!

Flower is sharp to my eyes as the noise around it,
dont know if it due to compression of crop, focus is good on the flower.
grain not sure if intentionnal.

I like the innovative perspective we usually go for the center but you whent for the petal.

All, thanks for the comments.
I will touch this up and post a new version with more of a contrast between the flower and the background.
Sharpness was achieved by shooting a raw file.
Processing it to a 16bit tiff and then running a noise reduction and then sharpening script after re-sizing.

The grain/noise was brought into the shot by shooting in raw.
Not sure on the best technique to remove most of it so other than a basic noise reduction i left it as is.

Ok its a raw file my suggestions would be as follows
1-If youre using PS make adjustement as little as possible on the raw file, use recover if overburn area (in Red) show not more than 50% ,transform it in b/w (i have other options if this doesnt work)
2-open it ( my set up is jpeg 600 dpi), then make an unsharp mask (first)
3- Apply reduce noise (after) if needed (Raw file dont bring noise your iso on camera was probably to high)
4- Make any size adjustment needed for publication.
Hopefully should work
let me know

So i do have some questions on your process.
On number 2 you say to do an un sharp mask first.
In my experience, when i sharpen then resize, the sharpness is not what i was trying to achieve at that point.
on 3. you say the raw file should not bring in any noise. The reason i think that there is more noise in the raw is there is no post processing in the camera happening. Usually if you do a jpg, it post processes and removes most of the noise.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but those are my thoughts!
Thank!

Sorry but i can't get the picture here. The condom co. its the motive to make the picture? Sorry, i can't get it again.

palves ,
The reason that i shoot pics of the condom shop, is that it has become a major tourist attraction.
This was not on purpose but people in the US are usually not as open about their sex life as in other countries. This is the only dedicated condom shop that i am aware of in this area!
Hope this helps!

Well. It's nice that you like the sign, but this doesn't make it a good photograph. There isn't even an interesting composition. It's just a whole lot of unintersting dark space and a little condom store sign in the conter top.
I would try to make an hdr-image creating an interesting atmosphere.

Bastian,

That is a good point.
This was my first attempt to capture the sign and was happy the sign was caught with no blown out areas.
I will look into trying your suggestion!

I wish you good luck.