Evil Intent

[Second Hand Pat]

Guys, looking to enter this bad boy in the local camera club competition.


Evil Intent

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1552/24912158622_27a5a944b0.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DXpjQf)Evil Intent~Pat Husband~DCS_6048 (https://flic.kr/p/DXpjQf)


Nikon D7000
70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
F/8.0
SS: 1/160
ISO: 400

[rickztahone]

Alright Pat, you know I never hold back with your pictures. It is a nice picture, however, the scene around the main subject is very similar to the subject itself, which means it kind of gets lost in the frame. I love the reflections, and I love the contrast, it goes very well with this type of subject, but what I mention above is the distracting factor for me.

As an aside, I am not one to like square crops, I lean more towards original aspect ratio's and this may also be contributing to my critique of the shot.

Reflect on your title choice. I think you nailed the title, but ask yourself, when you think of "evil intent", do you think of color? Typically, you think of something darker, and this is not dark, quite the opposite. Have you considered another type of PP? I am not saying it would work better, but just asking if you had another alternative to this shot or other crop.

[Second Hand Pat]

The competition guideline require a 1400 long edge so I had to lengthen the height. The title was based on the expression on the gators face. This was my original crop. Really not sure what to do with the background. I guess I try to blur it.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1451/24913819971_968a048e32.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DXxQGc)DSC_6048 (https://flic.kr/p/DXxQGc)

[Second Hand Pat]

Played with the "Presense" setting in LR6. Give a different feel to the photo.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1716/24666396159_ca1b2de67b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DzFJdp)DSC_6048-2 (https://flic.kr/p/DzFJdp)

[Discus-n00b]

I like it but semi agree with Ricardo. It's a bit distracting to my eyes. Not much you can do about it in some situations but a nice even sky color reflection on the water without the trees or maybe a more hard line vegetation reflection would make it easier to look at and make out the gator. Even without reflections a gator head in the water conveys evil intent pretty well by itself! To bad you couldn't get some more direct sun on that guy.

[rickztahone]

Played with the "Presense" setting in LR6. Give a different feel to the photo.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1716/24666396159_ca1b2de67b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DzFJdp)DSC_6048-2 (https://flic.kr/p/DzFJdp)
I actually like this processing more

[Second Hand Pat]

I actually like this processing more

I thought you might :)
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

and appreciate you sharing your knowledge Matt and Ricardo :)
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Pat, as per out text...

Heres your original.... Its hard to do much with the reflections in this pic as Matt and Ricardo said, and it does take away from Mr. Inquisitive in the pic a little.

94563


But when I look at the gator magnified alittle its actually kind of soft and if you sharpen it a little it accentuates the differences between it and the water. This edit is a bit exaggerated to make my point. But maybe play around with sharpening the gator.


94562


al

[Second Hand Pat]

What do you think Al? I sharpened the entire picture but that was not the right answer, so I only sharpened the gator. I like the result.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1498/24929308942_f2551942fc.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DYVe2q)DSC_6048-3 (https://flic.kr/p/DYVe2q) [/url]

Here's a bit larger

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1498/24929308942_f2551942fc_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/129594174@N08/)DSC_6048-3 (https://flic.kr/p/DYVe2q) [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/129594174@N08/]

[brewmaster15]

I think its better Pat... it just helps the gator stand out.

[Second Hand Pat]

I think its better Pat... it just helps the gator stand out.

It does indeed Al, thanks.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Darkened the gator just slightly.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1602/24929634712_cc6be7c81b_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DYWTS9)Evil Intent~Pat Husband~DCS_6048DSC_6048-4 (https://flic.kr/p/DYWTS9)

[Discus-n00b]

I like the Gator sharpened as well!

[SMB2]

Have to agree with the above. The gator is the subject so the reflections can be distracting. You also want to be careful not to have the gator to dark.
The BG can be decreased a bit by cutting the saturation just in the BG and decreasing the clarity.
(And I added a tiny eye shine to the left eye. Makes the gator a little more alive!)

(I love playing with edits of my own stuff, and if you don't want me to fool around with your images please say so. Sometimes a picture is easier than a verbal explanation. Also a little harder to get a great result working with a JPEG.)

[SMB2]

I tried to get rid of the second image but don't know how!

[Second Hand Pat]

Nice job Stan. Can't quite seem to get the constant you have in the gator itself.

[Second Hand Pat]

This gator is really coming alive. Not yet as good as your Stan but better.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1551/24932334512_47aa348c5b_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DZbJqq)DSC_6048-4 (https://flic.kr/p/DZbJqq)

[SMB2]

I like it.
You can go back to the brush that you used for the desaturation and desat a bit more and also use the exposure slider to darken the BG just a hair.
Take a new brush and add contrast to the gator also lightening it a bit. (Contrast will darken it.) Then the gator will pop a little more.

[SMB2]

If you are in the Develop mode and have clicked on the brush icon you can see where you used brushes by hitting the "H" key. This will show little gray circles on the image where you started a brush. You will have one in the BG and if you click the circle it will reactivate that brush so you can then just play with the sliders to change the area you previously worked. If you hit the "O" key the area painted will turn orange to show where you have worked. Hit O again to turn it off.

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm thinking this is about right.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1480/25050762555_9201328da4_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/EaDGXe)DSC_6048-5 (https://flic.kr/p/EaDGXe)

[SMB2]

Compared to the original that is much improved. The BG is much less of a distraction. I like the touch of eyeshine as well. Really cool.

I don't have the RAW, but for one more exercise, you can try a B&W conversion.

[Second Hand Pat]

Compared to the original that is much improved. The BG is much less of a distraction. I like the touch of eyeshine as well. Really cool.

I don't have the RAW, but for one more exercise, you can try a B&W conversion.

There you go. I would say that works quite nicely

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1720/24424313113_e93a5212b0_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DdhZmM)DSC_6048-6 (https://flic.kr/p/DdhZmM)

[SMB2]

Well, now you have worked that image quite nicely!
When you have a BG that is less than ideal think of ways to downplay it. For me, decreasing clarity, exposure, contrast, sat. are all things to consider.
In the field, perhaps take a shot with less DOF, so just the head is sharp, and expose just for the gator, knowing what you can do in post.

Realy nice work.

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Stan and I am really happy with the result. I couldn't have did it without you, Al, Ricardo and Matt so a most appreciative Thank You. :D
Pat

[rickztahone]

I like the last color edit, and this last B&W is nice as well. I believe I saw this somewhere but did you have another gator shot floating around? I believe I was surfing on my phone when I saw it.

[Second Hand Pat]

I like the last color edit, and this last B&W is nice as well. I believe I saw this somewhere but did you have another gator shot floating around? I believe I was surfing on my phone when I saw it.

Could only be on Flickr Ricardo.

[Discus-n00b]

The one located here maybe?
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?123109-Gatorland-Photoshoot&p=1199044&viewfull=1#post1199044

[rickztahone]

The one located here maybe?
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?123109-Gatorland-Photoshoot&p=1199044&viewfull=1#post1199044

yup, that was the one! I really like that crop as well the 'gator' itself. Thanks for finding that Matt. I knew I had seen it somewhere. Now let me go post over there as well.

[Second Hand Pat]

The crop is different on this one due to the competition requirements of the long edge having to be 1400 pixels. I prefer the shorter crop in the other thread.

[Second Hand Pat]

Heard the competition results and my little gator scored 79 and some change. Here is the categories for scoring.


50-60 … Needs improvement
60-70… Average
70-80… Above Average
80-90… Excellent
90-100… Superior

There were 94 images entered in the three competitions. In the colored competition the entries are split in the A (advanced) and B (beginner). There were 28 entries in the beginner category. The scopes run from mid 70s to 86. There were three winners in each competition and the scopes for those images run between 82 to 86. Overall the image quality seemed quite good and I was happy with my score.

Pat

[SMB2]

Not sure about who judges your competitions, but all scores, critiques etc are really judge dependent. So what works for one judge is a discard for another. Be that as it may when I enter photos in my camera club monthly competition, I never re-enter an image, thinking I might get a friendlier judge. I try to make better images.
So you have to ask yourself, if presented with the same subject, how would I shoot it differently? Get lower, different lighting, different BG, shallow DOF, more bracketing of exposures, DOF, wait for the Egret to sit on the Gator.......
There is always room for improvement. The good thing about camera club competitions is if there are from time to time themes that make you shoot out of your comfort level.
Your photography has improved just on Simply so the 90+s are coming! You live in a great area for nature photography so there are lots of opportunities to work the same subjects, no excuses :D

(Last fall I placed an UW image of a squid in our monthly CC competition. The judge said "nice shot of an octopus...out"; didn't even make it to an HM. Three months later the image won three major awards including one in Nat Geo, so go figure.)

[Second Hand Pat]

Well Stan, it helps if the judge understands what he is looking at lol. Very cool on the win from Nat Geo. :D:D For this competition there were three judges. I presume all three judges had input into the score but I do not know that for sure. Good question to ask at the next meeting. ;)
Pat

[rickztahone]

Very good result Pat! Very proud of you.

[Second Hand Pat]

Very good result Pat! Very proud of you.

Thanks Ricardo, you guys mentor well :D

[Second Hand Pat]

The competition results are public. My little gator scored 79.92. Here's the scoping categories.


50-60 … Needs improvement
60-70… Average
70-80… Above Average
80-90… Excellent
90-100… Superior

Link to the http://orlandocameraclub.photoclubservices.com/Competitions/CompetitionResults.aspx.

[rickztahone]

The competition results are public. My little gator scored 79.92. Here's the scoping categories.



Link to the http://orlandocameraclub.photoclubservices.com/Competitions/CompetitionResults.aspx.

Nice, but I do not believe that first place should have got 1st place. At least the category I clicked on that was highlighted.

edit, in the other categories, there are some really nice shots, and creative