Oh, it was abuse you wanted? You should have said so. :-)
On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, Bruce, for looking, and for your very helpful comments. > > You are right; it is not such a valuable image that I should spend a > lot of time on it, but I need the practice, so perhaps I will anyway, > as a learning exercise. > > While this is not the last frog in the world, or the last of its > species, he is a special frog to our family, it was my last chance to > capture an image of him this season, if not forever. He invaded our > pool, and kept returning, despite several efforts to remove him and > take him to a more suitable location. After three captures, in which > we released him in the woods, then in a local creek, and finally on > the banks of a river, he returned yet again. > > I was taking our dog out at 7:00 AM, while my wife went to check on > the pool, since she was expecting a guest. She called out to let me > know that "Kermit" had returned. I ran to get my camera, and my flash > unit (which was out of batteries). The dog of course was excited when > he saw the frog, and kept getting in the way. I also grabbed our > butterfly net (used to scoop things out of the pool), so we could > catch the frog and deport him once again before the pool was closed > for the season (which was done earlier this week). > > Once I discovered my flash batteries were dead, I tried to use the > internal flash, but that merely reflected off the surface of the > water, ruing the image entirely. I then tried to switch to Macro > mode, then to TV. Somehow, apparently, in my haste, and without my > glasses, I managed to change the ISO to 12,800, which even I recognize > is a bit of overkill, since the exposure was 1/1250 sec. EGADS. > That, and the fact that the frog was on the steps, in 6-8 inches of > water, made it a bit tricky (<g>) to get a decent shot. All the time, > my wife is warning me that I'm already late for work, but she wants me > to catch the damn frog before it dives to the bottom of the pool, > where I will never be able to capture it. > > In any event, that's my story, and I'm sticking with it! > > Now, my wife wants to see the picture I took of Kermit on his last day > as our pool guest, so I had to try to salvage one of the 3 frames in > which it is at least identifiable as an amphibian of some sort. After > all that, I couldn't resist sharing the result with all my PDML > friends. Actually, I had anticipated abuse rather than the helpful > comments and suggestions that I have received. What a group! > > Thanks again, > > Dan > > . > Dan Matyola > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola > > > On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Bruce Walker <[email protected]> wrote: >> Dan, nice looking frog, but if it were me I'd not put any more time >> into it. You already stated what weakens it: soft and noisy. So I'd >> just set it aside and get another shot, particularly under better >> lighting conditions. >> >> Now if it was the last frog shot you were ever going to get, the last >> member of its species or something, then I would use multiple passes >> of unsharp filtering to increase the local contrast to make the frog >> appear sharper. On each pass you reduce the Radius and increase the >> Amount slider. Then I'd use a noise reduction plugin to reduce the >> artifacting that running many unsharp filter passes will create. The >> setting values need trial and error, and it could take hours of >> experimenting to get right. I'vd done it as a learning exercise and >> also to rescue a shot of a deceased pet (oof eyes in particular). >> >> If it was an environmental shot that included more interesting >> elements, then the issues with the frog wouldn't be so important and >> you could work on the overall shot to improve it. >> >> >> Can you mount a flash in an umbrella or softbox and have it ready to >> setup outside quickly? Even an LED flashlight would be an improvement. >> >> >> On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Daniel J. Matyola >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Thanks, Frank. >>> >>> I like the photo, but is it far from what I want it to be. I posted >>> it here for comments, so I could get some ideas of how to make it >>> stronger before I put a lot more time into it. >>> >>> There are a few things about the image that make it hard to work with: >>> >>> It was taken early in the4 morning. The frog was in the shade. The >>> frog is under several inches of water in my pool. Since the pool >>> filter was off all night, there are a lot of bits of pollen, dust and >>> hair on the surface of the water, that detract a bit from the enlarged >>> image. Therefore, the ISO is extremely high, and the focus is not >>> quite sharp enough. >>> >>> I had to play around a lot in PS with levels and contrast to make it >>> even slightly presentable. I intend to start all over again, perhaps >>> in LR4. >>> >>> BTW, the background is one of the steps into the pool. It is >>> patterned and a bit rough, in order to make it less of a slipping >>> hazard. >>> >>> Thanks again for your helpful comments. >>> >>> Dan Matyola >>> http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 8:30 AM, [email protected] >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Very cool! What surface is it walking on? Almost looks like a mattress or >>>> something? Whatever it is I think it really adds to the photo - not so >>>> strong as to distract but visible enough to be a subtle yet interesting >>>> element. >>>> >>>> Very good photo but two little nits: Might crop a bit off the top and an >>>> even tinier bit off the left to get the frog a bit more off-centre and >>>> make the photo a bit more dynamic. >>>> >>>> And I find the photo a bit dark, but since I am looking at it on my >>>> android you may take this criticism as worth a grain of salt. >>>> >>>> All in all, though, a wonderful photo! >>>> >>>> cheers, >>>> frank >>>> >>>> "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -- >>>> Christopher Hitchens >>>> >>>> --- Original Message --- >>>> >>>> From: "Daniel J. Matyola" <[email protected]> >>>> Sent: September 27, 2012 9/27/12 >>>> To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]> >>>> Subject: PESO: Frog >>>> >>>> http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=16474954 >>>> >>>> Comments are invited. >>>> >>>> Dan Matyola >>>> http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola >>>> >>>> -- >>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>>> follow the directions. >>>> -- >>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>>> follow the directions. >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> >> >> -- >> -bmw >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
