Cool Shot (Jason and Wendy, Cameron Highlands)

Simple color adjustments in LR2 to bring out the mood in photo.


A: Here's the original, shot by FingerOnShutter boys.




B: Here's one that's has been thru a selective desaturation process in LR2. Not a complete black and white, with some contrast boost, and some pink and red retained. Also, its been cropped a little bit to fit the mood that I'm going for.

This one now hangs as a canvas print in my room.

Photo credits to John Ling and Jason Wong of FingerOnShutter.com. Thanks guys for the photo I'll cherish the most from our long trek up the HILL!!

Christina

First studio shot after a long long time. Actually, my only real studio shoot.

I want to show the transformation from 'Odinary' to the 'Extraordinary'. The series will start off with the Original Raw converted Jpg with default setting, followed by one with basic post processing applied. This will then be futher enhanced in CS to bring out, I hope, the best of each shot.


Christina - Original Jpg from RAW




Christina - After basic post processing in LR.




Christina : Final output from PS, enhanced with a simple 'Softlight' overlay.


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Christina 2 : Orignal Jpg






Christina 2 : After basic correction in LR






Christina 2 : Final output from PS, enhanced with a simple 'Softlight' overlay.




Christina 3: Original Jpg (from Raw)




Christina 3: And here's one after a bit of clean up in LR.




Christina 3: Final Copy after 'Soft Light' treatment in PS.


Shooting in a studio is Contemplative more than anything else. You start out with the 'END' in mind, and do the shoot to reach that final picture that you already plan. The final product is only as good as what you set out to achieve, and the more details one put into thinking about the end product, the better the outcome is.

Its like preparing for war, firstly, know your enemy (your final composition), and then choose your weapon (lenses) and technique (lighting) most likely to crush that enemy.

Dancing Fingers

Dance of the Fingers : Pianist at the Majestic, Melacca.

Shooting Info:
Canon 5D MK II
EF 85mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2 @ 1/100 ISO1600
AI Servo targeting the fingers.

This is a straight up shot converted from RAW with WB corrected (point on key board and watch face, yeilds the same WB). I like the way the 85L 'mood' up the photo. Under extremely low lighting condition, the 85L's about the only lens apart from the 50L that can manage decent shutter speed to 'stop' movement.

If shot at f/1.4, the resulting shutter speed would had been 1/80 or thereabouts instead of 1/100, introducing more motion blur. Or the ISO is futher boosted above ISO1600, adding more noise.

At ISO1600, noise is noticeble from the 5D MK II files, especially in the smooth 'bokeh' area. I wonder how the Nikon D700 compares under similar condition?




100% Crop, Sleeve


100% Crop, Fingers, a little soft due to finger movement. Higher shutter speed will help get a sharper shot, but also means shooting at ISO3200 @ f/1.2.



On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best), this photo is probably a 4, maybe a 3 depending on which angle its been looked at. From a creative point of view, i'd give this one a 3, for getting the angles right, and not make the hands looked like they've been amputated. Technically, this shot is only possible using the 85L, again, no big deal, its more about the equipment than the photographer (question, could some one using lesser equipment shoot something similar? ... its possible! yeah, that gives this shot an even lower score.). But being there, and shooting the pianist for a full 1 minute to try and grab a creative shot and nailing the exposure ... maybe this qualifies for a 5. LOL ... 'angkat sendiri'.

Trapped

Here's a twist on the standard Landscape shots.


Original : Jpg conversion from Raw

I spent two days cooped in a room at Holiday Villa in Ampang. This scene right out of the window made a mockery out of the whole situation ... in the pursuit of 'career advancement', we give up the simple and extrodinary things in life. Just out the window, the whole wide world, welcoming, open and free. Inside, stiffling, droning ... tell me something that I dun already know!


100% Crop: Here's a crop from the finished photo. Shot thru colored glass, using the EF 20-35, its not bad in terms of details.







Trapped : A Twist on the Ordinary.

The finished photo, with the colors, contrast, the lines and asymetry, I hope conveys the extrodinary in everyday things. Futher, the different colored glass on the window adds variety to the scene, which also says, sometimes, we can look at the same thing and gives it different meaning. And

Contrast the OUTSIDE to what's inside ... its just black. To the eyes, we still see some colors on the inside as we 'see' what we want to see, but to the camera and for all objectivity, its just bland and black. Life's quite the short story to be penned indoors.
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Shooting Information:5D Mk II
Evaluative, +1/3 ev
EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 25mm
1/200, f/4.0 @ ISO200 D+

Photo is finished in LR 2.4, sky portion given a slight reduction in exposure and brightness using Adjustment Brush.

Overall brightness, vibrance and clarity given a slight boost, about 50%.



PS: I probably have to learn how to do masking better, there's a noticeble halo around the buildings. It could also be due to 'size reduction' from the full res 5DMKII file. I'm still trying to find out. Using 'Bicubic Smooter' produces much better results than 'Bicubic / Bucubic Sharper' in reducing the 'halo'. Its horses for courses, the usual downsampling recommendation is 'B Sharper', but in this case, too noticeble 'halo'.


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Ares Jones : First Portrait

Here's one photo that I did way way back when I first got my first DSLR, the Canon 400D. Messed up the exposure big time. This is not one of my better shots.



Orignal JPG : Camera : 400D, 1/160, f/1.8, ISO800, Jpg

So, the dilemma arise, cause I'm gonna treat this shot as a 'once in a lifetime' shot. And its crap. Throw it away? or Save it? Why did I ever used Jpg?

Here's the result after some 'intensive care' measures done to bring the jpg shot to life. Some tuning, really some tuning later in LR, here's the end result. I've a few version of this one floating around. But this version's the latest ... LOL.



100% Crop



Ares Jones : First Portrait

Does it work?

Note: Shadow toning done : enhance gold / yellow feel.


Ares Jones : Original Version (2007)

Here's one that I did a couple of years ago, for comparison sake.

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Sunset in Lumut

A superb place for watching the sun go down is the town of Lumut in Perak. I shot this one fine evening in last year with the Canon 40D paired with the EF 85mm f/1.2 L II.


Original: Here's the original from the RAW file (def conversion using LR). When I was there, I remember vividly the scene as more vibrant, more 'explosively orange' and more 'feel'.

The above original file lacks punch. For landscape photos, nothing sucks the life out of it more than the lack of punch or 'omphh'. The real scene was more vivid, more vibrant and much more dramatic. The sea was glittering from the last rays of the setting sun and the sky was literally on fire!

So, to perserve that vision and making a landscape shot, a little help was need ... just a little from Light Room.




Sunset in Lumut : The sky was on fire!
(Canon 40D, RAW, 1/50, f/5.6, ISO 100 with EF 85mm f/1.2L II)


The original was tweaked in LR: +1/3 Exposure, a touch of fillight to POP up the middle parts of the scene (literally) LOL, blacks +7 to counter the fill light in the shadows and dark areas, some clarity, vibrance and saturation to taste. 3 application of graduated filter, one from the bottom up to the horizon to bring out the sparkle in the sea (exposure +), one from the top left and one from the top right, to add a little -exposure and a little drama to 'frame' the scene. And a little luminance noise reduction, cause even at ISO 100, there was noticeble noise in the back gound area.




100% Crop: The 40D (aided by the superb 85mm 1.2) is good, very very good actually. Even with this difficult scene, the fine details of the boat was preserved. I bet with a little more 'PS' in CS2, even more details can be extracted. But that's defeating the purpose ... maybe.

Shoe Laces - Magic with Lightroom 2.4

We did a trip back in Dec 08 to China, a two week trip. It was an R&R trip and the plan was to do a bit of 'travel' between Shenzen and Guangzou, with a day trip to Hong Kong. With lots of 'in between hotel travel' expected, and loads of walk around, and also with stepig AirAsia's strict weight limit, I went for the two weeks trip without the notebook. Relying only on 10Gb of CF cards, I decided to shoot only JPGs.

In a way, shooting JPGs is very much like shooting 'Slide' film in the good old days. Slides and Jpgs have very limited exposure lattitude. The exposure and White Balance (especially) have to be close to 100% correct. Overexpose the image, and the highlights are lost forever. Under expose, and the blacks are gone. Get the white balance wrong, and the correct colors for the scene can never come back.

In that sense, it was quite a good way, a really good way to learn 'old skool' photography, and at the same time, get really 'intimate' with you camera.

Anyway, I digress. LOL ...

Below is an Original Jpg, shot with my 40D.

Shoe Laces - Original Jpg : Underexposed is an Understatement.
Shooting information:
Canon 40D
Program AE (This mode is pretty good for a 'general walk around mode'. Its a compromise between being stuck either at a shutter speed or aperture that can't work).
Evaluative Metering (1/13 @ f/4, ISO640)
Tokina 12-24 f/4
Standard Picture Styles


Shoe Laces : Taking a walk in China, the best way to see the sights and hear the sounds.

The above is tweeked in LR 2.4. Exposure is increased 2/3 of a stop, recovery is at +7, and fill Light at 36 (quite high). Brightness is also increased by +21. What's interesting with LR 2.4 are the two new tools, the graduated filter and the adjustment brush. The graduated filter is used to retain the top right part of the photos, where there dark sky is accented by the flare from the street lamp. and the Adjustment brush is used to bring back the floor detail on the lower right corner of the photo (this part was completely blown after the Exposure and Brightness Adjustments).

Vibrance and Clarity ... adjust to taste, with some luminosity NR (quite a lot) thrown in.

Overall, this photo is a good representation of our 'major' activity for the two weeks in China. There were loads of walking ... and shoe lace tying ... but it was all worth it. I love the place. And i'd go back there again for another 'tour', perhaps a longer stay will be nicer still.

It also goes to show, that Light Room is a photographers best friend when it comes to making quick 'digital dark room' type adjustments. For those times when layered edits are needed, there's Photoshop CS, but that's a whole different ball game!