Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Descanso Bay Blues


For the most part, I am perfectly happy with my point-and-shoot cameras but every once in a while I wish I had more capability. A wider angle lens would've been nice here but...oh well.

If you should visit Gabriola, you'll want to check out Descanso Bay Regional Park.

13 comments:

Eki said...

Parts of the sky look a bit washed out ... but I like the mood. Yes, you're right, a wider lense would have given this photo a little more space to "breathe" ^_^

Victor said...

I think Eki may be right about the sky. I had to push the contrast to make the image pop the way I wanted but I lost some sky detail in the process. In B&W in the darkroom, I could've dealt with that no problem. It's a little trickier in the digital realm, at least for me.

Julie said...

The image is very evocative in these shades of blue. Acknowledging that they are totally different images, what did you do differently here from what you did to the candle of yesterday?

I am amazed that you had more control in the darkroom than you have in Photoshop. You have a tray. You have chemicals. You put film in tray and it is altered permanently. You put image in Photoshop and if you don't like the result you press "undo". Provocative, possibly!

Victor said...

Well Julie, yesterday I added a lot of contrast to Lovers Candles and got away with it, probably because the background was dark not light. I don't use Photoshop, just basic editing software. And it's not so much that I had more control in the old darkroom days, it's just that I had more experience. The digital world is still pretty new to me, particularly in colour. I'm learning as I go but hopefully not at my viewer's expense.

Laurie Allee said...

You have such an artist's eye. I hear you about missing the B&W darkroom.

Thank you for the kind post on my blog today. I'm a big fan of your work and it looks like you are as natural with color as you are with black and white.

Virginia said...

I am just starting to learn Elements. I need it but it's not easy. I am blown away with what you get out of your point and shoot. Amazing.

Lynette said...

I like the look of this, sort of romantic and mysterious.

Jane Hards Photography said...

At least you understand what you would like to do, and what lens you need. This means you are literally seeing the bigger picture.

The blue hues are surreal though, beautiful.Always focus on the positive aspects of the image. Whenever you up the contrast you should lower the bightness. This will compensate for the loss of detail a little. I still use my point and shoot no frills auto oylmpus, just to see what I can get from it. Always it's the big open lighter colours, the skies areas that are slightly bleached. This is why I only use it for darker fuller images.

I am not really a fan of any didgital enhancements. Whatever you do you loose, fine details and subtle nuances that film used to produce. I see so many potentailly not bad images just ruined in photoshop by zinging the colour or oversharpening. The main thing is you wanted the blue to pop, and it did. It caught my attention, made me smile. You will get the photo you see in your head, and this is closer to it that you realise. So long as you can compose, focus and mentally frame an image, which you already do perfectly the rest will follow.

Apologisies for going on, but I like to encourage talent like you and Laurie. The photography world is a big enough place for all of us.

Victor said...

Babooshka, no apologies needed, ever. Your comments (and everyone's) are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks so much for your kind words and the time you took to think and type them.

angela said...

I follow what you're saying about the photo but I think it's very romantic and serene as it is...

Julie said...

Snapper, both you and Babooshka use the expression "pop". Could you tell me what you mean by this, please?

Victor said...

Pop > When an image is flat and lifeless (in other words low in contrast) it needs more intensity and/or vibrancy. That's "pop". I suppose you could just use pop as a synonym for contrast right babooshka?

Jane Hards Photography said...

Absolutely. Pop the image is simply to make a part of it more prominent You're right too about the contrast
synonym. It's quite often a minefield, photo speak. On one hand I don't want to loose people in technical jargon, on the other I don't want people to feel patronised by wording things too simplistically.
That's why I'm photographer not a writer I suppose.