Drops

I Thought I would give this critique corner a shot myself. I had a chance to play with my pentax K20D the other day, using a very old manual lens, Super Takumar 55mm, 1:1.8 very little post processing, just a little sharpening in DarkTable.
The lighting was a mix of overhead fluorescent lights and subdued light from a rainy day. The location, an indoor swimming Pool. No flash.Hand held camera. Always room for improvement, but I really like the way this photo turned out.


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7617/...974e6e11_h.jpgdrops


1/90
ISO 1600
Flash (off, did not fire)
Hide EXIF
JFIFVersion - 1.01
X-Resolution - 72 dpi
Y-Resolution - 72 dpi
Make - PENTAX
Orientation - Horizontal (normal)
Software - GIMP 2.8.10
Date and Time (Modified) - 2015:04:09 15:31:16
White Point - 0.313 0.329
Primary Chromaticities - 0.64 0.33 0.21 0.71 0.15 0.06
YCb Cr Coefficients - 0.299 0.587 0.114
YCbCr Positioning - Co-sited
ISO Speed - 1600
Exif Version - 0221
Date and Time (Original) - 2015:04:08 14:04:37
Date and Time (Digitized) - 2015:04:08 14:04:37
Components Configuration - Y, Cb, Cr, -
Exposure Bias - -1/2 EV
Metering Mode - Center-weighted average
Flashpix Version - 0100
Color Space - sRGB
Sensing Method - One-chip color area
File Source - Digital Camera
Scene Type - Directly photographed
Custom Rendered - Normal
Exposure Mode - Manual
White Balance - Manual
Focal Length (35mm format) - 82 mm
Scene Capture Type - Standard
Contrast - High
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Hard
Subject Distance Range - Unknown
Gamma - 2.2
Interop Index - R03 - DCF option file (Adobe RGB)
Interop Version - 0100
Print IMVersion - 0300
Rating - 1
Xmp_version - 1
Raw_params - 0
Auto_presets_applied - 1
History_modversion - 1
History_enabled - 1
History_operation - sharpen
History_params - 21b02a40f6281c3f0000003f
Blendop_params - gz12eJxjYGBgkGAAgRNODESDBnsIHll8ANNSGQM=
Blendop_version - 7
Multi_priority - 0
Camera ID - 72157603795924599
Camera Type - Digital SLR
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Al, I can not offer any suggestions for improvements on the technical side but on the artistic side I see a young beautiful woman seeing her reflection in the window and perhaps looking forward reflecting on her future...wondering what it may bring.
Pat

Nice shot. I know you were shooting with fast glass, but I'm pretty sure you weren't wide open? I'm guessing, f/4-ish? EXIF doesn't have aperture for some reason. Great focus and great horizontal lines running through the whole composition. Even the glass with the streaks running down complement the overall vertical capture. The iconic staring out of the window pose looks genuine here instead of posed (looks very natural) look. Of course the hand is needed to keep the towel wrapped around the subject, but it feels a bit disconnected from the overall shot due to it coming from bottom frame and transitioning through a white backdrop.

In all honesty, this shot screams B&W for me. It has a timeless feel to it. Great shot. TFS

P.S. I am glad you chose not to recover from the back portion of the hair. Getting out of the clipped shadow zone may have messed with the overall moody feel to this shot.

Thanks Pat,
Ive been working on the artistic side of photography lately.

Ricardo, I actually did a bunch of blackwhites as well as it screamed it to me as well.:) Only reason I didnt settle on it was the over all picture has black and white tonal qualities except for the slight flush to the cheeks and lips...which I thought was important to the image.

Im not exactly sure what aperture I was on there..somewhere near 4 to 5.6 . The old tak lens has no contacts so no exif data I guess..Ill have to take notes like old school film I guess!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brewmaster15

Thanks Pat,
Ive been working on the artistic side of photography lately.

Ricardo, I actually did a bunch of blackwhites as well as it screamed it to me as well.:) Only reason I didnt settle on it was the over all picture has black and white tonal qualities except for the slight flush to the cheeks and lips...which I thought was important to the image.

Im not exactly sure what aperture I was on there..somewhere near 4 to 5.6 . The old tak lens has no contacts so no exif data I guess..Ill have to take notes like old school film I guess!

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a big dug moment for me. Of course you had mentioned you were shooting a Tak. Looks to be performing marvelously stopped down. How is it wide open?

Ricardo, I have to say its a real gem of a lens when you consider it 40 something years old and Cost between $40 -$50 dollars.


Quick down and dirty comparison.. same sharpening applied to both

F1.8

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7638/...62ba983c_h.jpgf1_8

F 5.6
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7641/...7a8490d5_h.jpgF5_6

hand held again..under fluorescent lights..no adjustments

Not bad considering how old it is. Yes, there is some chromatic aberration wide open, but current lenses have a hard time with it! I do agree with you being a good gem, especially considering the money for it. I may give one a whirld with the Nex6. I've been meaning to try more Tak's.

Back to your shot though, I'd like to see what you mean with the B&W rendering. Maybe it can help others picture what it is like to have different interpretations with exactly the same picture, but one with color, and one without.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rickztahone

Not bad considering how old it is. Yes, there is some chromatic aberration wide open, but current lenses have a hard time with it! I do agree with you being a good gem, especially considering the money for it. I may give one a whirld with the Nex6. I've been meaning to try more Tak's.

Back to your shot though, I'd like to see what you mean with the B&W rendering. Maybe it can help others picture what it is like to have different interpretations with exactly the same picture, but one with color, and one without.

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I'll post some shortly.:)

al

Btw ...

Quote:

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Yes, there is some chromatic aberration wide open

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yes, this is a super takumar..The SMC Taks have the multicoating that helps a bit. when you get one, suggest the SMCs forms and if you want a real winner ...Try the 105mm outdoors..;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brewmaster15

I'll post some shortly.:)

al

Btw ... yes, this is a super takumar..The SMC Taks have the multicoating that helps a bit. when you get one, suggest the SMCs forms and if you want a real winner ...Try the 105mm outdoors..;)

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Thanks for that heads up. I'm actually looking for a 135 for my FF body, but converting to that mount may be too tricky. Thanks again.

Using Gimp to Desaturate...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...55fc3874_h.jpgdrops_desat


Using Gimp to Desaturate and bump up the contrast alittle.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8814/...80bde71a_h.jpgdrops_desat_contrast

Using Darktable to apply Monochrome filter..

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/...c3c41507_h.jpgdrops_monochrome

I like the monochrome the best..

al

Al, it took me a while but the monochrome is my choice here. It is very subtle but I like the skin tone better on that one. It also seems like it is holding on the blown highlights just a tad bit better. The second one was Gimp desat for me. All close though and overall, I actually really like it in B&W

I try and be a self critic as much as I can even when I really like an image.. as I do this one. The one thing about this picture that I don't like is the area circled in red..


Attachment 86426




its too washed out.. I may be able to compensate a bit in post processing, but its really hard to work with bright whites when the rest is darker...

It may have been better to under expose the whole image to preserve that circled area, then, lighten all else after...Honestly though, my goal was to just snap a few pics and have some fun.:)

al

Al,

This is a beautiful portrait! My only suggestion for improvement is to reduce the depth of field a bit to put the background plants out of focus while maintaing the sharp focus on the drops on the window. The plants outside being in focus detracts from the dreamy feel that this portrait conveys. I tried to accomplish that in post processing but I could not keep the focus on the drops in front of the plants in the background. here is something close to what I have in mind.

Attachment 87010