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Michael Lloyd
10-25-2008, 01:44 PM
This little Cypress tree isn't alive anymore. I think Katrina killed it. I've been trying to catch it at sunset and so far this is the closest that I've gotten. I think I should clone out the power poles in the background. I did the best that I could with toning the sun down. It tends to be a little overpowering though :D

EOS 1DsMKII
70-200 f2.8L IS @ 70mm

1/125 second
f13
ISO 100

Chris Starbuck
10-25-2008, 02:28 PM
Michael,
Well seen & well composed. You have both the sun and the tree in ROT positions, and your viewpoint is high enough to almost completely eliminate mergers between the tree and BG elements. Perhaps cropping down from the top to place the horizon nearer the thirds position would be stronger; I'm kind of ambivalent about that; I think it may make the sun a bit less overpowering, but I'm not sure. I think the sun's exposure is fine as presented. I suppose you could try an HDR in this sort of situation, as long as you can shoot fast, but to really tone down the sun you'll need to span more than the usual 4 stops - maybe 7 or 8. I agree about losing the power poles; and the two buildings on the horizon as well.

Michael Lloyd
10-25-2008, 06:04 PM
Thanks Chris,

Here's a shot just before I got to the little cypress. You can see it to the right of the road. The road that I was on is very busy and as you can see there is not place to pull over. You literally have to stop on the middle of the highway :D so it's a fairly rushed shooting situation and there is not always time to stop.

Roman Kurywczak
10-25-2008, 06:40 PM
Hey Michael,
tough location judging from the road......but nicely composed in the short timeframe. I might take some off the top as chris suggested.........but you may also want to play with a bit more saturation ..or even a tobacco filter. The poles and building gotta go!...........very simple composition......yet very effective.

Michael Lloyd
10-26-2008, 11:48 AM
I'm having a heck of a time getting rid of the power poles and oilfield tanks in the background. So far I've made the image much worse than it was... not exactly what I was looking for :) Anyone know of a good technique for getting rid of small bits of clutter that are close to a dark edge?

Roman Kurywczak
10-26-2008, 11:55 AM
Hey Michael...............take the original jpeg..........blow it up to about 500%.....using magnifying glass.....image will look super pixelated............clone stamp is much easier to use near the edge...........healing brush will fix rest of stuff........just don't get too close to darks.
Let me know if it works.

Robert Amoruso
10-28-2008, 11:34 AM
Michael,

I agree with Roman, getting on a pixel level wil allow you to clean it up easily.

You might try some different crops. I did one square with the top cropped off and liked it. Good positioning on the tree and sun.

Michael Lloyd
10-28-2008, 09:50 PM
Roman- that was so easy a cave man could do it :cool:

Robert- I really like square crops though I don't do them much...

Here's the result of ya'lls suggestions...

Roman Kurywczak
10-29-2008, 02:38 PM
Nice job Michael. Tree became more prominant.