An utterly selfish poll

[Mira]

I was intrigued by our winner Schema thing's peaches.
How, just how did they look so velvety and golden?!

I'm getting ready to bake some special bread that has lots of pears in it, and I was walking past the pears in the bowl and realized pears also have a very wonderful skin. Not velvety, but rather mellow and smooth.

So, which do you like, if any? And maybe even tell me why, so I learn something,

In return I throw in an orchid from Robb's desk

[Saphire]

1. I like the third one...the pears look softer and the plum background sets them off beautifuly.

[Mira]

2. Thanks, Saphire. I had not really noticed

the plum color and that it works nicely. The bowl is red, and that's what I know and therefore saw.

Now in retrospect I realize I did not really capture in any of them how nice the pears look to me and how pretty they are in spite of flaws and mottles.

Maybe I'll try to get it right tomorrow.
They have to ripen before I use them, so I'll be looking at them a while.
:)

[hippywife]

3. That last one is lovely, Mira.

As far as the peaches, I'm thinking it was some Photoshop effects. :hi:

[Schema Thing]

8. Nope. I retouched a few defects on the peaches

but that is about as straight as a photo gets. I may have upped the saturation levels beyond the cameras normal setting.


It looks like sunlight, but it was actually done using the modeling light on a strobe head, indoors.


I think it achieves that "painterly" quality by virtue of the warmth and saturation of the color/light, combined with the perfection of the peaches themselves.

[hippywife]

11. Even better!

Your shot is really lovely and I did vote for it in the prelims. You ought to enter more often. :hi:

[Mira]

13. I bet he will.

Especially since winning is such fun - remember you came in what was the first time I saw you enter with the dogfood eating turtle - and you went on to victory.

Now Schema thing is on the hook for the contest.
If he'll run it as attentively as you did yours we're all going to know him well soon, and vice versa.

[hippywife]

14. Now I'm as jaded as the rest of you

and hope for second place. :rofl:

[Celebration]

4. Number ONE!!

And now I want a bite of a pear.

BTW, this isn't a poll because there was no place to vote.

[Mira]

5. Thanks Celebration,

you are a lot of fun. I hope you know that.
Next time I'll do it right.

[CC]

6. I like the second one best then

the third. The first one was ok and would of been lovely had you not had the other two with it. The highlights are a bit hot and they detract from it. The second one looks like I could pick up a pear and bite into it and since I love pears now want one. Very real and touchable looking. The third one is close to the second though shows how much harder it is for the camera to catch both the low and high lights.

The orchids are beautiful but missing smellavision. :evilgrin: (If you have ever walked into an "Orchid Room" you understand. If not make time to find and enter one.)




Edited to add- beyond the technical of blown highlights etc. do like the POV on the first one and the red/green thing going on.

[Mira]

7. Too excellent! I learned some stuff just now.

I think some of these things you said, but then I don't have confirmation.
It's also harder when it concerns your own photos and you try to achieve something, and don't know if you did.

I was in the Sarasota Botanical Gardens recently.
I can smell the orchid air now. :)
I will see if I took a nice orchid photo with smellavision that day. This orchid today I just set on the floor into the sunshine.

But another thing I have learned listening and looking, is that sunshine is our friend only to a limited degree.
Light, though, is another matter. light is just about everything.

[CC]

12. I know you are using

natural sunlight so it is harder to adjust the light. If you have any thin plain white sheets, trying using one to diffuse the sunlight. Sometimes it is enough to tame the highlights a stop or two. You can also use white poster board or foam board to bounce light into darker areas so the camera doesn't have to work as hard. My camera reminds me on a regular basis that it can only do so much and most the time I deal with the light I have not the light I want.

Yes light is everything. From Merriam Webster. I used to have this definition printed on my camera bag.

Main Entry: pho·tog·ra·phy
Pronunciation: \fə-ˈtä-grə-fē\
Function: noun
Date: 1839

: the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (as film or a CCD chip)


I hate critiquing and am much happier encouraging.

[Mira]

15. Your critique is more than welcome with me, along with the teaching

because it leads to being encouraged.
That's because you do it well and gently.

I'd really like to know you in person, CC.

[Schema Thing]

9. I like the third one best

I like the softness of it, and the almost human skin appearance of the imperfections in the sharp areas of the pears.

[JeffR]

10. I think CC nailed it about the second one.

It's hard to avoid the blown highlights with skin that shiny, but I think it's tamed pretty nicely in the second. I like the DOF in all of them so maybe stopping down a little would be counterproductive. A little negative exposure compensation might be worth a try, though.

One thing I do like about the first one is the color. Very attractive. And speaking of color, the last shot is pretty ravishing. Nice lighting too!