wreckdiver1321
Senior Member
Brilliant shots Jake.
Jake's Backdoor Hippie-palooza, 2014 Edition
- Thread starter BackdoorArts
- Start date
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
What? :eyetwitch:
I cover my eyes :hopelessness: then I look again.
:eek-new: Whoa. This is so......................................
It is very rare that a photo has this type of an impact on me. I don't see in 3D like most people. My reality is that when looking at something, the scene is flat like a photograph. Yet once in a blue moon I come across a photo such as this which appears more lifelike than if I were to view the scene in person. I've never been able to 'see' the 3D images in those Magic Eye calendars either. There is so much depth to this that it appears to be 3D to me. :applouse:
This is so............breathtaking! :eagerness:
Now for a technical question if I may. This is shot at 95mm with f/8. How did you achieve so much DOF since it was taken with a telephoto length? Wide angle shots tend to be much more sharp than telephoto shots because the actual diameter of the aperture is so much smaller. How in the world did you make this sooooo crisp?????????
Wowzer!!!I'm having trouble taking my eyes off of this because it looks so real!
I'm glad you like the photo. I stumbled on this place this weekend and went back this morning. This was taken on a very bouncy bridge, and to get it clear I had to shoot on self timer with a 20 second delay taking 2 photos, because the first photo would still show the effects of the bridge recovering from me walking off after pressing the shutter button (press, walk smoothly off the bridge, wait a full minute while making sure no bears were coming, go back and check the exposure).
Here's the original photo and I've desaturated and darkened all the areas that really aren't in focus, or close to in focus...
The rest is all a product of sharpening and detail extraction. I used Perfect Effects 8's Dynamic Contrast filter to boost the details. This does a great job of making small things pop, and yes, it can fool you into thinking out of focus areas are less soft. To sharpen I applied a High Pass Filter to a duplicate layer (pixel radius was likely 2.0) using a Vivid Light blend mode, adjusting opacity to make it as natural looking as possible. I find that using the high pass method (either with Overlay or Vivid Light) gives a much more pronounce sharpness, though you have to play with the radius depending on the various levels of detail. I'm using this much more now in place of Unsharp Mask, which I used to use all the time.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Continuing on about sharpening and detail extractions, here are a series of 3 exports of the above photo from a quick re-edit. You can see how the each of the adjustments impacts the overall sharpness of the image.
Image 1 - Light Level Adjustment Only
Image 2 - onOne Perfect Effects 8 Dynamic Contrast Added (Neutral Preset)
Image 3 - High Pass Filter Added (Radius = 2.0 pixels) with Blend Mode set to Vivid Light
In the original I obviously did some additional edits, but this will give you an idea of just what those 2 things will do. I believe Perfect Effects 8 was available for free for a while, but I'm not sure if it still is.
Image 1 - Light Level Adjustment Only
Image 2 - onOne Perfect Effects 8 Dynamic Contrast Added (Neutral Preset)
Image 3 - High Pass Filter Added (Radius = 2.0 pixels) with Blend Mode set to Vivid Light
In the original I obviously did some additional edits, but this will give you an idea of just what those 2 things will do. I believe Perfect Effects 8 was available for free for a while, but I'm not sure if it still is.
Thank you for all the info, Jake. It is rare that I see something so lifelike so I really appreciate your detailed explanation. I can count on one hand the number of times I see something in a year that appears to be 3D to me. Your photo is truly incredible. And you are brilliant not only as a photographer but also as someone who so generously shares knowledge. We are fortunate to have you here.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Monkey Balls
Not necessarily an editorial comment.
Not necessarily an editorial comment.
sonicbuffalo_RIP
Senior Member
love your pictures, Jake....the waterfall was beautiful....Thomas Kinkaide quality....
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Wow, been a long time since I posted anything. It's been a week of trying to capture something that doesn't seem to want to be captured - at least not from anywhere I can put myself.
In the meantime, I was able to get these...
In the meantime, I was able to get these...
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Found at the scene of the crime...
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
"Monkey Balls" is a pretty nice shot!
Pat in NH
Pat in NH
I must say I learn a lot from you, Jake. Monkey Balls. They don't look like any.....never mind. I had to do a Google search as I only knew of these as gumballs. I had a neighbor who spray painted these gold then glued them onto a styrofoam cone to create a mini Christmas tree.
The sign is nice, too! Isn't it amazing that the sgins are made from such a reflective, honeycombed material. I always thought they were flat yellow--not textured.
Nice to see you post.
I had to do a Google search as I only knew of these as gumballs. I had a neighbor who spray painted these gold then glued them onto a styrofoam cone to create a mini Christmas tree.The sign is nice, too! Isn't it amazing that the sgins are made from such a reflective, honeycombed material. I always thought they were flat yellow--not textured.
Nice to see you post.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Here's a shot I've been trying to get right for the last week. I need a decent 10 foot free standing ladder to do what I want, and the ability to carry it 1/2 mile to where I need it to be without the cops towing my car from the roadside (I came this close to a ticket for an abandoned vehicle last trip). It's not what I envisioned, but in trying to find something else from what I did get I think I came up with something I'm pretty happy with.
Just no commitment!
Fantastic shot Jake, I guess you wanted more height for the composition but what you got really works.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Just no commitment!
Exactly - a deeper field of wave on wave. Unfortunately, this is behind a 7 foot electrified fence, 20 feet off the road and a long way from anywhere I can park. There are other shots I can get from locations that are more accessible, provided I get permission from property owners (I know I wouldn't want to find somebody standing on a ladder in my backyard taking pictures, even if they're facing the other direction). But that would be straight into the fields of cells. I liked the rhythm of the side shot here. This was on a 4 foot freestanding ladder, and I have shots that I took with a remote holding the camera on a monopod, and nothing was even close to framed the way I wanted, not to mention that the thought of the D800 and 70-200mm falling forward into an electric fence on a windy day didn't sit well for all sorts of reasons.
Any chance somebody could drop you off and pick you up when you get the shot? I have done that in the past. Somebody to hold that ladder sounds like a good idea as well!
NICE!!! Err...umm...what is it? I'm assuming it is some type of solar panel although the only ones I ever saw were small, rectangular panels in Burlington. They were attached to street lights--not such a free-form object as this.
I like the leading lines into the photo. Plus I like the square grid in contrast to the curvy, sensuous lines the tops of the panels create. You definitely put thought into this composition!
Err...umm...what is it? I'm assuming it is some type of solar panel although the only ones I ever saw were small, rectangular panels in Burlington. They were attached to street lights--not such a free-form object as this. I like the leading lines into the photo. Plus I like the square grid in contrast to the curvy, sensuous lines the tops of the panels create. You definitely put thought into this composition!
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
It's possible, but the size of the ladder I'd need is still open to debate, and the exact location where it would work best is something I won't truly realize until I'm there. What I'd love is a motorized cherrypicker that I can drive up and down the fence line, but I don't think that's happening. LOL
NICE!!!
I like the leading lines into the photo. Plus I like the square grid in contrast to the curvy, sensuous lines the tops of the panels create. You definitely put thought into this composition!
Solar panels, yes. A field of them popped up 10 miles from me some time last fall and I just spotted them. I've been planning on participating in the DEDPXL monthly assignment which has to do with lines and shapes, and when I saw these I immediately thought of this month's assignment. The fact that you saw precisely what I was going for means that I managed to get what I was after. And yes, I thought about it a lot, including making 3 trips to the site to get the shot. It was worth the effort, though I still didn't think I had anything until I spent some real time in post on this one. I took my own advice in the HDR thread - 5 image bracket from a single shot did it.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Different day, different angle, different edit...
I really like this. It looks almost surreal. Nice job.
wreckdiver1321
Senior Member
I like this shot so much I faved it on Flickr too. Very cool grab. I love the lines and the wavy look.
Vixen
Senior Member
I like both versions
. How big are these banks of panels? Looks like there are thousands of panels