Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
Well if it makes you feel better you did better than I did because I didn't get my entry done in time so I wasn't in this contest... pretty sad seeing as how much work it took to get it put together
Round 10 - DVXUser Photography Challenge
- Thread starter Jeremy Ordan
- Start date
Owen
Photoshop Savant
Jeremy and Steve -- you guys did a bang up job this time around. Your hard work is VERY much appreciated. A lot of time and energy goes into hosting something like this and taking care of that database (and answering constant little technical questions about rules)! So THANK YOU! We really appreciate the smoothly run event!
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
Yes, thank you Jeremy and Steve!
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Yes Thank you both! And it looks like my dream came true. TOP 10! WHOOT!
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
Well I can't speak for Steve, but it is no problem putting these on as long as people continue to enter. Hopefully we'll hit at least 20 entries for week 11 currently going on.
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
Well I want to publically thank Steve for taking my blunt, vague, and non stop criticism with the system and coming up with a platform that will work for all future contests and ultimately become a full on gallery system.
Plus, just a hint, we'll have our own DVX Domain pretty soon with this system also
Plus, just a hint, we'll have our own DVX Domain pretty soon with this system also
Chris Messineo
Veteran
Jeremy and Steve,
First, thanks for putting this altogether.
I'm curous, how do we find out the scores for original image and post processing?
Chris
First, thanks for putting this altogether.
I'm curous, how do we find out the scores for original image and post processing?
Chris
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
CMessineo said:
That should be updated in the next software update otherwise I will post them (most likely create an html page with them because it's just too much of a pain in the ass to do it like I did earlier)
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
About my entries
About my entries
WOOT! 2nd Place!
Thanks all!
I entered 3 photos in this round.
My 2nd place entry - and by far my favorite of my entries - is the church:
[Orig] 
[Final] (2nd place, 7.73%)
I took this on a trip to Copenhagen last week.
The sun was just setting and we had just left the little mermaid (whom had her fair share of camera time too, but to no avail...) and where walking back into town to look for something to eat.
We walked out of the gate of an old castle to a bridge over the moat (seen in the pic) and there in front of us was the shot that I knew would be the best I could possibly enter in this round. (Glad to see I was right)
The only problem however was that there was a duck swimming in the water, right where the church was reflected. We where able to find some small stones to toss into the water over near the shore to coax the (poor, gullible) duck over and out of the frame. I wish we had had some bread to give.
I snapped off about 5 frames and chose this one based on the reflection.
I was shooting (as always) with my Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D) with the stock 18-55mm lens. There's always a UV protection filter on my lens (of course).
But what really made this shot work was the Tiffen Circular Polarizing filter also on my lens. I was able to use it to balance out the exposure on the sky and the water - resulting in the clarity of the reflection of the sky.
Settings: F-4.0, 1/40th, ISO-400, 18mm
As you can see, the post work is very low key. I started with a levels stretch as always.
The majority of the work was done with curves where I tweaked the gamma to darken the darks a little to help the clouds pop. I also brought up the green curve and dropped the blue a little to help bring out the grass and the sunlight on the church.
My 2nd entry was the sunrise with lens flare:
[Orig] 
[Final] (12th place, 6.57%)
During the contest I woke up on two mornings to a spectacular sunrises right at their golden moment.
This of course meant that I ended up on our balcony in ~32*F weather wearing very little, still half asleep, and clicking away. It did help wake me up though.
I have an issue with forgetting to crop my photos unless I make a mental note to do so when I shoot. This was one of them. Many people commented that the bottom should have been taken off to hide the edge of the flower box, and I totally agree. Other than that I really like the shot.
It does rely heavily on the flair. I tried a bunch of shots without it, and as beautiful as the colors of morning where, I just couldn't capture them in my camera with enough kick to have a serious chance in this contest.
Camera again was my Canon Rebel XT (350D) with stock lens and UV filter. I can't remember if I used the Polarizer or not on that photo.
Settings: F-10.0, 1/250th, ISO-400, 18mm
Post work very similar to the church. Gentle levels and curves, and I think a bit of Saturation, to help bring out the colors I wanted to see and remove a bit of glare.
This was the hardest decision for the contest, as it took a long long time for me to decide on it instead of this one:
(Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D), UV Protection Filter, Circular Polarizing filter, F-3.5, 1/250th, ISO-400, 21mm)
I ended up deciding that the one I entered just had more substance, and less wires, to it.
My 3rd entry was a tactical one:
[Orig] 
[Final] (27th place 4.87%)
Yeah, this shot sucks. I knew it when I took it. But I entered it as a bid for that tablet for last place. :cheesy: I figured that I might at leave have a chance at at least one of them! Not that my laptop even has a serial port that could use it.
But alas no, this one had to come in last:
I don't know who's that is, but I really liked it - FAR FAR from last place in my opinion. It could be a little less pale, but other than that it definitely captures the theme and is well executed in my mind.
But, back to my photo.
It was taken in the Swedish town of Ystad on my trip - the day before the Copenhagen one. We where walking around taking all sort of pictures and I decided to give this a try, quickly realizing that it had nothing.
Camera is again my Rebel XT with UV filter & Polarizer.
Settings: F-5.6, 1/60th, ISO-400, 27mm
Post work consisted of a bit of levels & curves, that where purposely a little too too saturated, especially in the reds of the rose. I also did a very cheap DoF trick by way of a oval soft-marquee around the roses and then blued everything on the outside. You can see the background is sharp behind the flowers in the final. I'm actually surprised (& disappointed) how well that actually worked, might be worth trying in a hurry when I don't have time to do a close cutout (see the front photo on my website for an example of that).
But at least I remembered to crop!
A fantastic round, well done to everyone. Special congratulations to FixItInPost for a very well deserved first place. And huge thanks to Jeremy and Steve for organizing the round. I really had fun shooting for this one, now it's onto round 11.
- Mikko
About my entries
WOOT! 2nd Place!
Thanks all!
I entered 3 photos in this round.
My 2nd place entry - and by far my favorite of my entries - is the church:
[Orig] 
[Final] (2nd place, 7.73%)I took this on a trip to Copenhagen last week.
The sun was just setting and we had just left the little mermaid (whom had her fair share of camera time too, but to no avail...) and where walking back into town to look for something to eat.
We walked out of the gate of an old castle to a bridge over the moat (seen in the pic) and there in front of us was the shot that I knew would be the best I could possibly enter in this round. (Glad to see I was right)
The only problem however was that there was a duck swimming in the water, right where the church was reflected. We where able to find some small stones to toss into the water over near the shore to coax the (poor, gullible) duck over and out of the frame. I wish we had had some bread to give.
I snapped off about 5 frames and chose this one based on the reflection.
I was shooting (as always) with my Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D) with the stock 18-55mm lens. There's always a UV protection filter on my lens (of course).
But what really made this shot work was the Tiffen Circular Polarizing filter also on my lens. I was able to use it to balance out the exposure on the sky and the water - resulting in the clarity of the reflection of the sky.
Settings: F-4.0, 1/40th, ISO-400, 18mm
As you can see, the post work is very low key. I started with a levels stretch as always.
The majority of the work was done with curves where I tweaked the gamma to darken the darks a little to help the clouds pop. I also brought up the green curve and dropped the blue a little to help bring out the grass and the sunlight on the church.
My 2nd entry was the sunrise with lens flare:
[Orig] 
[Final] (12th place, 6.57%)During the contest I woke up on two mornings to a spectacular sunrises right at their golden moment.
This of course meant that I ended up on our balcony in ~32*F weather wearing very little, still half asleep, and clicking away. It did help wake me up though.
I have an issue with forgetting to crop my photos unless I make a mental note to do so when I shoot. This was one of them. Many people commented that the bottom should have been taken off to hide the edge of the flower box, and I totally agree. Other than that I really like the shot.
It does rely heavily on the flair. I tried a bunch of shots without it, and as beautiful as the colors of morning where, I just couldn't capture them in my camera with enough kick to have a serious chance in this contest.
Camera again was my Canon Rebel XT (350D) with stock lens and UV filter. I can't remember if I used the Polarizer or not on that photo.
Settings: F-10.0, 1/250th, ISO-400, 18mm
Post work very similar to the church. Gentle levels and curves, and I think a bit of Saturation, to help bring out the colors I wanted to see and remove a bit of glare.
This was the hardest decision for the contest, as it took a long long time for me to decide on it instead of this one:
(Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D), UV Protection Filter, Circular Polarizing filter, F-3.5, 1/250th, ISO-400, 21mm)
I ended up deciding that the one I entered just had more substance, and less wires, to it.
My 3rd entry was a tactical one:
[Orig] 
[Final] (27th place 4.87%)Yeah, this shot sucks. I knew it when I took it. But I entered it as a bid for that tablet for last place. :cheesy: I figured that I might at leave have a chance at at least one of them! Not that my laptop even has a serial port that could use it.
But alas no, this one had to come in last:
I don't know who's that is, but I really liked it - FAR FAR from last place in my opinion. It could be a little less pale, but other than that it definitely captures the theme and is well executed in my mind.
But, back to my photo.
It was taken in the Swedish town of Ystad on my trip - the day before the Copenhagen one. We where walking around taking all sort of pictures and I decided to give this a try, quickly realizing that it had nothing.
Camera is again my Rebel XT with UV filter & Polarizer.
Settings: F-5.6, 1/60th, ISO-400, 27mm
Post work consisted of a bit of levels & curves, that where purposely a little too too saturated, especially in the reds of the rose. I also did a very cheap DoF trick by way of a oval soft-marquee around the roses and then blued everything on the outside. You can see the background is sharp behind the flowers in the final. I'm actually surprised (& disappointed) how well that actually worked, might be worth trying in a hurry when I don't have time to do a close cutout (see the front photo on my website for an example of that).
But at least I remembered to crop!
A fantastic round, well done to everyone. Special congratulations to FixItInPost for a very well deserved first place. And huge thanks to Jeremy and Steve for organizing the round. I really had fun shooting for this one, now it's onto round 11.
- Mikko
dougspice
Veteran
All right, I'll take the Mikko tack on this, since it's nice to hear the commentary all in one place. Mine:
As I've mentioned already, this is an instance where the original is underwhelming in part because of shooting to RAW. The shot was taken just a few minutes after sunset from a bridge in Newport, RI, using the wide end of my 17-35mm lens at f/8 and 1/60. There was a slightly more vibrant purple horizon in reality than in the photo as taken but I knew I would be pushing it in post regardless.
I did the bulk of the work in Lightroom, bringing down the blacks, pushing the lights while keeping down the highlights. I pushed the saturation and vibrance. Then I exported to Photoshop two versions, one a stop or two brighter. I combined these and masked them so that the brighter version occupied the area below the horizon, while the sky stayed normal. There was a lot of little cloning, dodging, and burning that was done, and finally two orange/purple gradients applied in different proportions over the sky and water.
I found this shot the same day, about a mile from the first. Again I shot in RAW, ignoring color temperature, so the actual scene as seen by my eye was somewhere in between the two... neither as cold blue nor as orange. I made basic curves adjustments and had to clone out some lens smudges as well as minor dodging to some of the rocks. I warmed up the color temperature significantly... maybe too much, but I still much prefer the warmer sunset feeling. I had to do a very small amount of work to retain a bit of blue in the sky.
Pretty much everyone in the comments seemed to agree that I did as much as I could with a poor original, but I never saw this one as a rescue mission. I intentionally shot it with the lens flare in there, hoping to achieve a blown-out, glowing, halo effect. I'm not displeased with the results, except that I didn't spend quite enough time examining the shot before I took it, and as a result there's flaring right through her face. If that wasn't there I'd be a happy camper. This was very much just a snapshot that I snagged, but she's an actress and so not opposed to holding a pose while I try to line up a better shot. This is the 2nd frame of 2 that I shot of this moment.
This one actually had the most post-processing done to it out of any. First, obviously I had to do significant changes to the curves. Shadows were dropped down close to death, darks, lights, and highlights were all pushed. Saturation and vibrance were both cranked up to just below ludicrous. I had to do some noise removal. Then, sent it to Photoshop.
There, I started by painting out as much of the flare across her face as I could without making it look artificial. I wanted to keep the idea without obscuring major features. Unfortunately this wasn't as possible as I would have liked. I did manage to basically salvage her cheek and eye, although this required me cloning her right eyebrow onto her left and then hand-painting the rest back in. I did some more painting to reel back the oversaturation of her skin tones into something more smooth and reasonable. Finally, I duplicated the master layer, blurred it to all hell, and set it to a Screen transfer mode to get the angelic glow around the edges. That looked okay, but a bit too generic and far-reaching, so I masked that glow layer by hand with a big brush to push it back to a denser but smaller effect.
In retrospect, I would have done more with this photo. First, obviously I would have shifted my camera a half-inch or so and avoided flaring through her face. Second, I would have gone head and completely removed that building in the background. I also would have smoothed out her sweater a bit, brought it down darker.
Anyway, that's what I got. I'm still pretty pleased with all of them and how they ended up ranking. I don't shoot anywhere near as often as I used to, but I hope to enter at least a couple more of these contests! Congrats to the winners!
As I've mentioned already, this is an instance where the original is underwhelming in part because of shooting to RAW. The shot was taken just a few minutes after sunset from a bridge in Newport, RI, using the wide end of my 17-35mm lens at f/8 and 1/60. There was a slightly more vibrant purple horizon in reality than in the photo as taken but I knew I would be pushing it in post regardless.
I did the bulk of the work in Lightroom, bringing down the blacks, pushing the lights while keeping down the highlights. I pushed the saturation and vibrance. Then I exported to Photoshop two versions, one a stop or two brighter. I combined these and masked them so that the brighter version occupied the area below the horizon, while the sky stayed normal. There was a lot of little cloning, dodging, and burning that was done, and finally two orange/purple gradients applied in different proportions over the sky and water.
I found this shot the same day, about a mile from the first. Again I shot in RAW, ignoring color temperature, so the actual scene as seen by my eye was somewhere in between the two... neither as cold blue nor as orange. I made basic curves adjustments and had to clone out some lens smudges as well as minor dodging to some of the rocks. I warmed up the color temperature significantly... maybe too much, but I still much prefer the warmer sunset feeling. I had to do a very small amount of work to retain a bit of blue in the sky.
Pretty much everyone in the comments seemed to agree that I did as much as I could with a poor original, but I never saw this one as a rescue mission. I intentionally shot it with the lens flare in there, hoping to achieve a blown-out, glowing, halo effect. I'm not displeased with the results, except that I didn't spend quite enough time examining the shot before I took it, and as a result there's flaring right through her face. If that wasn't there I'd be a happy camper. This was very much just a snapshot that I snagged, but she's an actress and so not opposed to holding a pose while I try to line up a better shot.
This is the 2nd frame of 2 that I shot of this moment.This one actually had the most post-processing done to it out of any. First, obviously I had to do significant changes to the curves. Shadows were dropped down close to death, darks, lights, and highlights were all pushed. Saturation and vibrance were both cranked up to just below ludicrous. I had to do some noise removal. Then, sent it to Photoshop.
There, I started by painting out as much of the flare across her face as I could without making it look artificial. I wanted to keep the idea without obscuring major features. Unfortunately this wasn't as possible as I would have liked. I did manage to basically salvage her cheek and eye, although this required me cloning her right eyebrow onto her left and then hand-painting the rest back in. I did some more painting to reel back the oversaturation of her skin tones into something more smooth and reasonable. Finally, I duplicated the master layer, blurred it to all hell, and set it to a Screen transfer mode to get the angelic glow around the edges. That looked okay, but a bit too generic and far-reaching, so I masked that glow layer by hand with a big brush to push it back to a denser but smaller effect.
In retrospect, I would have done more with this photo. First, obviously I would have shifted my camera a half-inch or so and avoided flaring through her face. Second, I would have gone head and completely removed that building in the background. I also would have smoothed out her sweater a bit, brought it down darker.
Anyway, that's what I got. I'm still pretty pleased with all of them and how they ended up ranking. I don't shoot anywhere near as often as I used to, but I hope to enter at least a couple more of these contests! Congrats to the winners!
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
Steve, you are most certainly... THE MAN!
Thanks for everything.
Thanks for everything.
dvxwheelr
Active member
Thanks to all for 3rd place. For those that asked, I cropped the two images and put them together in Microsoft Picture It. I touched up the line between the images with a paint tool and blurred it a bit. I then added "diffuse glow" under special effects to enhance the fog. After this I brought the image into Photoshop where I increased the contrast and saturation and finally, darkened it up a bit.
The reason I didn't use Photoshop for everything is that I'm just learning it. Also, I have a point and shoot digital camera and I have to always do post work on any picture I take with it. I'm not sure why, but all the pictures that I take with this camera come out washed out looking. Thanks again.
dvxwheelr
The reason I didn't use Photoshop for everything is that I'm just learning it. Also, I have a point and shoot digital camera and I have to always do post work on any picture I take with it. I'm not sure why, but all the pictures that I take with this camera come out washed out looking. Thanks again.
dvxwheelr
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Very cool Steve!
Let us know when you are happy with it and want us to start reporting bugs.
(Probably worthy of it's own thread actually.)
EDIT: Oh! And an average votes tally. Well smart me to submit a photo for the low vote this time then... NOT!
- Mikko
Let us know when you are happy with it and want us to start reporting bugs.
(Probably worthy of it's own thread actually.)
EDIT: Oh! And an average votes tally. Well smart me to submit a photo for the low vote this time then... NOT!
- Mikko
Steve_Arm
Well-known member
Thanks again, this is an ongoing process it will grow with us together until it's the ultimate photography site.
Bugs? Oh bugs again? Somebody shoot me!!!!
Mikko... yes I'm afraid that the average total, counts all your submissions, it would be unfair to choose only one - the highest rated. This is for real competition and great content. However it averages only the winning category.
Bugs? Oh bugs again? Somebody shoot me!!!!
Mikko... yes I'm afraid that the average total, counts all your submissions, it would be unfair to choose only one - the highest rated. This is for real competition and great content. However it averages only the winning category.
Moojangles
Well-known member
woo second last! i was really hoping for that last place tablet too haha
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Stellar shots there Deedive. Especially that last one.
- Mikko
- Mikko