There is just so much to do !

Digital photography has opened up so many possibilities it is very hard to keep pace these days. Especially for some of us 1/2 Centenarians. I think I manage to keep up to date, I am computer literate, I use a Mac, and a PC, so won't go down the obvious route. I work in a medical physics environment, so new technology doesn't frighten me.

I used to develop my own B&W photos in the 70's and 80's, never got round to colour printing.

Now I take pictures without film.

But this is where the problem starts.

It seems the possibilities of what you do with that captured image are endless, where do you stop, you can now tweak and tweak until you go mad.

I recently took a few pictures of my nephew and his friend with the K10 and Sigma 105, I liked the image that came straight out of the camera, just cropped it a bit and you can see it below,






I was then trawling through some web sites and came across a tip to make your pictures look a bit more "Rock & Roll" (?). Anyway, tried it and loved the new image. I'm now tempted to go back through my back catalogue and tweak them all. But then again I may come across a NEW tip and have to start all over again !!!
Here's the tweaked image, it may not be to everyone's taste, but I do like it.






I would be interested to get your opinions ?


The tip was from this web site, which is well worth a look and is very Pentax orientated,

"Saw this little trick today - this is a three-step post-process. 

(1) Copy background layer, make it type 'Screen'. 

(2) Copy Layer 1, make it type 'Color Burn'. 

(3) De-saturate Layer 2."


http://www.pbase.com/carpents/equipment


What do I do now, take more pictures or just tweak the ones I have ?

Don't all shout at once, of-course the answer is take more pictures !!!!!

what you're doing now looks like fun, experiment and learn and enjoy.
the next step (if you want to push your work to an entirely new level) will be to pre-visualize the end product, BEFORE you pick up a camera.
with an image/look/style in your mind before you shoot, the results will almost always be better.
from simple:


to complicated:


and everything in between.

for example your (ecellent) images above, imagine that effect, done on an image where you had the kidz dressed up for dancing, in a disco/nightclub type setting, or as street punkz with attitude...get the idea?

Galoot, the look you have is interesting and different but I suggest using it sparingly. it seems to be a high contrast 'tweak' and may not be suitable for many of your existing images (not that I know what you have, just an assumption) and if you were happy with them as they are then there is no need to tweak them now.

Don, I have read a lot of your posts and seen a lot of you pictures, all I can say is you must have at least 36 hours in your day in Winterpeg, I don't know how you fit it all in !!!
The pictures are fantastic, and your imagination shows no bounds. Each post you make is encouraging the 'rest of us'.

Can I come for a week's tutorial ?

I could probably acquire a taste for Moose roast ? ( Maybe not ), but I couldn't keep up with your work load !!!!

You have a very individual style, keep it up and keep giving me things to copy sorry shouldn't have said that !

I am a stay/work at home parent.
visators welcome....at your own peril.....there's lotz of kids here....they're everywhere....I think they want the house....I may pack up and move out when they're not looking....
javascript:emoticon('')

"I have seen the enemy!!! and they are small...."

to - 'justgetoutandride'

I know, I just got a bit excited, what I was trying to say, was that I normally use photoshop for cropping, lifting levels, contrast etc., not much more. I don't "experiment". This simple tip showed me another route, one I might sometimes wander, but it may have opened a path to many other routes.

Don, nice compositions. Only to bad you took the worst Dutch beer

Blonde beers
Kriek
Ooh and those 7-12% Trapist beers that are so rich and dark