Theme: Ice chandelier

[Hazel Grant]

Taken during one of our ice storms this past winter. Cloned a small bit out. Original was almost BW but I desaturated it to complete the look. Nikon D7000. 300mm. 1/180, F5.6, iso400.

[Dennis Bishop]

Ice storms are a mixed blessing. Images like this is one of the good things about them. (Maybe the only good thing . . .) I very much like the shapes and contrast between the ice and foreground branches. Were it mine, though, I'd be inclined to blur the background more to make it smoother and to diminish the impact of the background branches.

[Paul Lagasi]

You know Hazel, this was one of the only winters I can remember in a long time that we never got any Ice Storms (freezing rain as we call it) all winter. A few missed us by a few miles, though. Nice image, make me cold looking at it, good work. Dennis gives good tips above. Well done.

[Nancy Bell]

Nice overall grainy texture to this, enhancing the sharp, cold edges and feel of ice. The b&w works well. Thinking about Dennis' comment about the bkgd branches...I would consider cropping in from the right so the main branches extend right to the edge. That might balance those other blurred branches, which I like.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the b and w, and the way the branches in the bg echo the main subject. Nicely done Hazel.

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks for the comments. I'll work on the background and try the cropping idea.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous and well done! I love this sort of image -- not something we get out here.

[Anita Bower]

I think this works really well in monochrome, allowing us to focus on the shapes. The shapes on the left mimic the "chandelier" and add interest. I wish there was a bit more of the left area and designs which would throw the main feature out of the center.

I'm noticing noise in some areas of the bg but not others. Not sure how that happened. I'd prefer it all smooth.

[Hazel Grant]

I have reworked the background. Yes, Anita, I did, when reworking it, notice the noise I had not noticed before. Not sure why it happened. Not a big crop. But I did some work to soothe it out. Hope it works better.

[Anita Bower]

I like the second crop. Still see patches of noise. What denoising program do you use?

[Hazel Grant]

Therein lies the problem, as they say. All I have right now is Photoshop. Need to get a read de-noise program. What do you use?

[Dennis Bishop]

Therein lies the problem, as they say. All I have right now is Photoshop. Need to get a read de-noise program. What do you use?

My current real camera (as opposed to the iPhone) doesn't give much noise even at super-high ISOs. When I need to correct for noise, I have pretty good luck with the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop CC 2014. I tried it out on your image and completely removed whatever that is. However, I'm not convinced it is noise. Maybe it was weather-related???

[Anita Bower]

Therein lies the problem, as they say. All I have right now is Photoshop. Need to get a read de-noise program. What do you use?

Good comment by Dennis. My camera produces noise at ISOs above 400. I sometimes use the noise reduction in the RAW converter, which you probably have with your photoshop if you shoot RAW. I have been very happy with Topaz DeNoise--easy to use and quite satisfactory.

[Hazel Grant]

Yes, I shoot in raw. hadn't thought about the possibility of weather related noise. could be that since it was a cold, snowy day. Might check out the Topaz. My real camera is a Nikon D7000. Maybe it is like Anita's re noise.

[Hazel Grant]

Dennis (and others). I have been considering going to the CC. Right now I have PS C6. Has anyone made the shift from 6 to the CC to notice a big difference? Apparently teethe Camera Raw Filter is one positive.

[Anita Bower]

Yes, I shoot in raw. hadn't thought about the possibility of weather related noise. could be that since it was a cold, snowy day. Might check out the Topaz. My real camera is a Nikon D7000. Maybe it is like Anita's re noise.

I think your camera produces less noise than mine. I have a Nikon D300. I use Elements 10 for processing, not CC.

[Dennis Bishop]

Dennis (and others). I have been considering going to the CC. Right now I have PS C6. Has anyone made the shift from 6 to the CC to notice a big difference? Apparently teethe Camera Raw Filter is one positive.

I switched from CS6 to CC 2014 quite a while ago with some hesitation, but I'm very glad I did. For me, the Camera Raw Filter, by itself, is worth the price of admission. There have been other enhancements, too. The real advantage of the subscription is that the new/improved capabilities are passed along as soon as they're ready instead of being saved for a future update.