Moon Walk (or full eclipse of the sun)

[Steve Uffman]

Take your pick for a caption...anyway after being inspired by the total change of the Brugmansia in Blue (and all I have fresh are bears), I converted a walk in the bright sunshine to a walk in the full moonlight....not sure if I like it but did push my envelope WAY outside my comfort zone....and I learned something

That is what this forum is about, right?

A little LR3 here, CS5 here and Nik Software there.....

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hi Steve, Yes, pushing the envelope is what the forum is all about. I experiment a lot, some work, and some, well maybe work. I think you have a very interesting idea here. First off, he is well placed in the frame ROT position. I like the diagonal line of the beach. Generally, I'm used to seeing a SILH against a brighter backgound. Did you make me believe that he is walking in moonlight, yes, mostly. I took the image and fooled around a bit and liked the beach wave action tinted cooler towards blue tones. And, I lightened the water just a touch. I will defer to folks who have more experience in SILH work. I might take out that string of highlights in the ULC of the water, just to see if liked it better. Maybe someone else can chime in with fresh ideas. I like it. Keep pushin the envelope............Hope this helped

[Steve Uffman]

Thanks, Jay for the feedback..Like your ideas....this was one of those things where I decided at some point I needed to quit experimenting and put it out there to get some feedback...I will certainly try you suggestions....as they save nothing ventured, nothing gained..

and by the way I love your stuff....I am headed to a remote agrarian area of Canada for a waterfowl trip as they prepare to migrate....The area has lots of old buildings, farm houses, and abandoned farm equipment and such ...and marvelous fall colors of wheat, barley, rye, poplars, aspen and conifers and more.....something that no doubt you would make spectacular......I am going to keep your Art in mind...might pick your brain on a few tips if I get a base image that is worthy

[denise ippolito]

Steve, YES! This forum is for pushing the envelope and trying new things. Getting out of your comfort zone can be a good thing. I love that you were brave enough to do that. This image is fantastic IMO. I do think that you could play around with the S&H a bit to get the bear to stand out a bit more. I agree w/ Jay regarding the string of highlights just at the upper edge. In the repost I tried to (quickly-but you could spend more time to make sure there is no halo) open up the Bg a little and I eliminated the string of highlights at the top edge. Again, if you like this suggestion spend a little time so as not to have a halo as shown in my repost- but my nephew is getting married today and I gotta run!

[Steve Uffman]

Thanks Denise.....you did improve the image and I will work with it some more and repost. It actually was fun as well as a learning experience. I am just learning all the digital darkroom stuff and have images from 3 weeks in Peru and Galapagos and a week in Alaska to go through.... so as I grind away on them, this was a necessary and fun diversion.

this whole out of the box mentality is so far away from my normal thinking that I bought your e book a while back because I wanted to learn what I was missing. I think I might be using that part of my brain for the first time in 60 years

Anyway, enjoy your wedding and weekend....will be a regular visitor to this forum for now on!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Steve, I think Denise put it into a picture much better than I did with words...........Fool around with it and let's see a repost, if you would like to follow-up. Also, thank you for kind comments, yes, contact me any time. Would be happy to share some PP ideas with you. Judging, by your image above, I have no doubt you will come back with excellent work!

[denise ippolito]

Steve, I am looking forward to seeing your images from the Galapagos. I need some fresh ideas for mine.
Great to have a new addition to the forum. Thank you for the support of my eBook.
Denise

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Steve, I like where you have started with this image. Agree on above comments to make this even better. Nice work!

[Steve Uffman]

many thanks to all for the feedback...Have been out of town but plan to work on the changes this weekend and do a repost...like I said, way out of my comfort zone but fun and learning a lot

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Steve, good for you for pushing your envelope and trying new things. That's what we do here! There are a couple of things that I see in this image that I think could be improved. Firstly, the halo around the bear is very noticeable and I would work on that to eliminate it. Secondly, there are some visual clues as to the true nature of the light and these tend to undermine the illusion that you are going for. The specular highlights (bright spots in the water) shout out "bright sunlight", as does the brightly lit area across the back of the bear. Also, moonlight is very cold (blue) compared to sunlight, so a little bit of color balance work would add to the image IMO. By all means keep pushing that envelope!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Steve, welcome to OOTB I'd love to see a repost - this is quite nice and I hope you post lots more!