Comments on photo theme #143

[billz]

Post your comments to this thread. Link back to theme #143 (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38897).

Bill

[Byron Gale]

Bill,

Now that looks like a door I'd like to pass through! :p

Byron

[billz]

Byron - If you do ... try a pint of the Hammerhead, it's a double hopped pale ale. You won't be disappointed.

Bill

[kim2900]

Steven - the question begs..... which one are you? :twisted:

[Red Sky]

Kim- Um, I'm the one across the street, holding the camera. Is this a slanted question?

[kim2900]

Steven, not at all! I just figured you for a "leather wearing kind of guy." I was just going to say that you were really stylin! Now I'm disappointed!:(

[Red Sky]

I may like leather, but fairy wings is soooo 1990's. Give me some credit, Kim!

[kim2900]

You're right, Steven. Sorry! I'm just glad you weren't the one in the dress. That guy doesn't have the legs to pull off that little number.

[Red Sky]

Now that dude (?) was strange! I tell you though, the photo opportunities were amazing! I'm going to the Bi-Valve Bash next weekend, and I doubt the oyster can compete with this!

[lisabee]

Steven,

for a moment, I wondered if they (the people in your shot) had just heard about last week's theme :eek::D.

Great shot!

Lisa

[mljrbg]

Thanks Bill and Lisa for a fun topic for this weeks photo shoot.

Mary Lou

[lsweeney]

Kim, what you've discovered is the door leading to the Secret Office Break Room. Beyond that door is a mecca of free vending, comfy lounge chairs and unlimited Wii games.
You've wondered why it so often seems that you're the only one in the office doing any work?
Here's your answer!
Now that you know, it's time to demand your rightful access!

[kim2900]

Lorri! There's a Secret Office Break Room? :eek: Well it all makes perfect sense, now! The staff's mysterious, but simultaneous, weight-gain, the well-rested look on their smug-little faces, and why some of them suddenly and without warning start singing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" while playing air guitar.

Now where's the dang door-knob???

[lsweeney]

Kim, there is no door knob.

Simply slide this week's paycheck under the door and you'll be admitted.

Don't forget to endorse the check; I don't want to have to go through THAT hassle again with the bank.

[billz]

This has turned out to be a really popular theme!!! Good stuff folks.

Steven - Yep, I'll bet there's a door in there somewhere. Great shot and a fun take on the theme.

Ellen - Sorry about the pigeon poop, but you really got a nice shot for your efforts!

Clara - That's a very interesting shot and a great door. I'm guessing by the title that it's to an old church. Care to share the story of the building?? And your HDT image is great ... the depth of the bricks really stands out.

Rob - I love the lines. Great shot as always.

Sharon - Cool shot ... and interesting that a jewelry box has a door!

Mack - That's just fabulous. It's a fine doorway and I'll bet Don can spin a yarn or two. I hope you get to see him again too. Congrats on a great image.

Christell - Fun shot of the doors. I half expect Mr. Ed to poke the door open.:)

Ted - What wonderful textures! I like the color palette very much as well. Nice entry.

Kerriann - Long time no see!!! Your Lego doorway is great ... and yes, a bit different. Nice to see you again.

Val - Nice shot of the church doors ... and 4% for a home loan isn't too bad!!;) The Arizona memorial shot is quite touching.

Lorri - Great picture! Thanks for the warning about not walking into the doorway ... it looks like it would hurt.

Mary Lou - Nice interpretation of the theme!

Sepiana - Another nice theme interpretation. You got a nice, clear shot too!

Al - Welcome to the photo themes!! Your treatment worked very effectively. Nice entry.

Keep them coming folks ... there's still some time.

Bill

Kim - Yep ... that really is an ugly door. But I love your shot of it. You'll be able to use that in all sorts of good projects!! Good catch.

Tony - Those are great! The composition is great fun and it's a fine use of the theme. I personally like the tones in the second image better. Enfuse is a LightRoom plug-in right??

[TonyW]

Tony - Those are great! The composition is great fun and it's a fine use of the theme. I personally like the tones in the second image better. Enfuse is a LightRoom plug-in right??

Bill: Thanks - this was my first try using bracketed images from the camera and I did do it using the Lightroom Enfuse plug-in. Enfuse itself is an open-source command line program and I'm not good with those but the Lightroom plug-in makes it very easy to use. There's also Tufuse which I believe uses the same pixel blending algorithms and I saw somewhere that the latest Photomatix is using it too. As I understand it it's HDR without the intermediate HDR file creation and tone mapping back to a useable image. As a result it's very quick - those 3 exposures as RAW images took less than a minute to blend. Don't know if there's a Photoshop/Elements plug-in available that does it but you would have thought it would be possible to do it.

Tony

PS: If someone knows how all these different exposure merging approaches relate to each other I'd be very interested to know. Most seem to originate in this paper (http://research.edm.uhasselt.be/~tmertens/papers/exposure_fusion_reduced.pdf) but I get lost in the maths and the Laplacian pyramids ;)

[GPLarge]

Thanks for the comment Bill. Theese challenges are help me learn elements faster than I thought possible.

Al

[GaryK]

Tony

As soon as I saw "abstract" on the first page I knew I was in trouble.:D

Oddly enough I did manage to get through some of it, although the examples of the Appalachian Pyramid didn't seem to have any correlation to the output (output seemed the same as the darker input).
I obviously missed something.

One thing I have to say is, I was not too keen on the outside examples. They all seemed a tad underexposed to me.:confused: The ones of the indoors shots were fantastic though.

[mljrbg]

Gary, now you have peaked my curiosity. Since I am so new at this I would like your, or anyone else's, input on what I could/should have done differently. I have a Nikon D80 and I have to confess :o that I always shoot on auto (much to my husband's dismay!!)

Thanks.

Mary Lou

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1fTO...UzLc_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1fTOV9N74ckX5laM1mFsYZGdgtUzLc_thumb.jpg)

[GaryK]

Mary Lou

I am definately not an expert. I just love to play and practice.

Your door shot looks great to me.

What I was referring to with Tony was the link he posted.
Quite a bit over my head. Heck... if I only read what I know, I'll never learn anything new.:D

Don't feel bad about shooting in auto. The newer cameras are doing a great job of capturing the exposure for most images with little input from the user.
If you are just starting out with thinking about changing some settings, why not bracket your shots. I'm not sure where the settings are on a Nikon, but I am sure it won't be hard to do.
Bracketing means you actually take three shots (at least on my canon) at three different exposure levels, all still done automatically.
Then when you get back home to view you can see how the different settings give a different look to the picture.
Definately not something to do at the kids birthday party, but for sure something to try for the challenges.

[mljrbg]

Gary, thanks for your input. Help is always welcomed. I will look into bracketing.

Mary Lou

[billz]

Mary Lou -

I have a d80 as well. If you need some help with brackets, shoot me a quick pm and I'll try to help get you started.

Bill

[mljrbg]

Thanks Bill. I'll let you know.

ML

[TonyW]

Bill: I guess I should have asked you :). I thought I knew how to bracket on the D80 but it would only take one shot - had to sit at that kitchen table reading the manual for a while to figure it out. I could only get the three shots by putting it in continuous shooting mode - the manual isn't too clear on that - still not sure if there's a custom setting I don't have right somewhere but at least it worked and shot off the three Shots at -2EV, 0 and +2EV varying the shutter speed.

Tony

[billz]

Tony - That's the way I figured it too. Set it on manual (or aperture), three exposures at -2, 0 and +2 and set continuous shooting. Great minds!;)

[Byron Gale]

Yes... after you dial in your bracket mode (hold the bracket button and spin the rear wheel to pick mode, the front wheel to pick bracket "size"), you have to be in continuous shooting mode to have it take a burst. Otherwise, you have to manually release the shutter for each bracket step. Watch the top LCD for clues as to what's going on.

[TonyW]

Watch the top LCD for clues as to what's going on.

Thanks Byron - must remember to take my glasses next time - had enough trouble reading the manual :D Those little bracket icons are a little hard to distinguish.... It was the click three times I was missing - I guess I assumed it would do that automatically but apparently it only will in continuous shooting mode.

[Sepiana]

Bill,

Thanks for the comment. It's really nice of you to take the time to comment on each and every entry.

I really enjoy this challenge -- keeps my eyes wide open (looking around to take shots according to the theme) and makes my brain work overtime (trying to come up with something different).

[TonyW]

Gary: I've been there too ... but don't tell anybody ... and you wouldn't want to use HDR because someone might be able to see where you were and then you wouldn't be able to deny that you'd been there. The secret stays with us :D

Tony

[GaryK]

Tony

How long ago?? It has really started to fall apart since the "reconstruction" stalled.
Ben got a really cool shot of a ghost?? there a few years back with my first 1.3 mp digital camera.
Ok, maybe not a ghost,:) but something that was not in the viewfinder when he snapped the photo.
I'll have to see if I can find it somewhere.

The old Dynamo is just about a mile down the river from there.

Were you looking for a cache? I havent noticed any in that part of town although it would seen like a prime spot.

[TonyW]

Gary: Can't remember when it was but it sure looked familiar :D I bet Ben photoshopped the ghost just to fool you....

[Bamagirl]

Bill, thank you so much for your nice comments each week. They mean a lot to all of us.

That door belongs to the church where my husband's grandmother is buried. It was built before the Civil War and the building is in remarkable shape. Homecoming there was a wonderful thing, but most of the old people that we loved so much have passed on. Unfortunately, they took their ability to prepare fresh corn and fresh peach cobbler with them.