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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 74: Character Studies (host: Michael Puff) >> Challenge 74: Eligible > #12

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12-AUG-2006	Victor Engel

#12

Austin, TX

Canon EOS 10D ,Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
1/50s f/1.8 at 85.0mm iso800 with Flash hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	12-Aug-2006 22:58:48
Make	Canon
Model	EOS 10D
Flash Used	Yes
Focal Length	85 mm
Exposure Time	1/50 sec
Aperture	f/1.8
ISO Equivalent	800
Exposure Bias	1.00
White Balance	(-1)
Metering Mode	matrix (5)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program	program (1)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto

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* Submitter retains all copyrights *

Canon DSLR Challenge		25-Aug-2006 03:34
Chris, I'm curious what part of the musician's face is not sharp enough. Perhaps what you're seeing is motion blur. This picture was taken at 1/50 second with an 85mm lens. The ISO was set at 800, which is the highest setting I use because of noise issues. Exposure compensation was set at -1, giving an effective ISO of 1600. This is what I normally use at this club. In the case of this photo, I also fired the flash using the popup flash, with flash exposure compensation set to -1 as well (I think), and a napkin held in front of the flash, partly to diffuse the light and partly to bend it around the front of the lens, which would otherwise cast a shadow on the subject. I don't normally use flash, but I had a hard time getting any detail to show up in this man's skin. I used the flash twice all night. Anyway, you might not be able to tell from this reduced picture, but in the original, if you look at the speculars on the glasses, you can see that the subject moved during exposure (about 9 pixels, which corresponds to 2 pixels in this version). Speculars on the eyes are from the flash and hence have no motion blur. Lens blur, on the other hand, is significantly less than the motion blur, being overshadowed by noise due to the high ISO. True, the hand is not in sharp focus. Had this been a posed shot, I might have achieved sharper results. On the other hand, he was playing the guitar, and the main focus of the picture was not his hand. If it was more in focus, it would contrast more with his other hand. That may be good. I'm happy with it the way it is, though. Perhaps more relevant, since the best focus is in front of the hand, the frets there are sharpest. That could serve as a distraction. On the other hand, the strings lead nicely to the hand. Also, the musician was alternating between looking at me, looking at the sax player, looking at the percussion (directly behind him), in short, all over. Unless I exposed primarily by flash, something that I don't like doing, there was bound to be some motion blur at the light level available. On cropping, you're right. The picture is cropped, but not very much. What you see here is almost exactly what appeared through the viewfinder (in terms of framing). The martini glass is actually quite a bit more distracting in the original than in this version, in my opinion. Without the crop, you wind up seeing white space (black space, in this case, actually) around the neon tube, separating it from the edge of the picture. This calls more attention to it. Additionally, the round neon, which I guess is an olive on a toothpick gains the situation you described of the glass stem, being aligned with the edge of the picture. As for burning the glass, if I recall correctly, I dealt with it using a levels layer with an appropriate mask. I see now I was not thorough enough, but now my missing something serves to illustrate a point: Look between the musician's thumb and finger. That is what the neon looks like not burned in (or burned in just a little). In other words, I did burn in (or is it dodge -- I made it darker) the neon. The burning in I did was just enough to keep the martini glass from being a distraction, and not enough to make it look fake. If it were dimmer than the man's shirt, for example, it's being a neon sign would start being unbelievable. If it were too bright, it would be too distracting. This is an aspect of the post processing I spent a fair bit of time on, and I struck what I felt was the best balance. I also tried eliminating the glass altogether, but that didn't look right. Did I add some blurring in PS? I know I added blurring to a mask or two, but I don't think I did to the main image. If there is interest, I will post my entire workflow for this image. One thing I did, that I don't know if anyone picked up on, was that I made a selection going diagonally from the musician's face to his hand, over the strap. I then inverted the selection and applied an adjustment layer of some sort to de-emphasize it. I don't recall what it was. Perhaps it was a simple levels adjustment, creating a sort of diagonal vignette. I didn't want to make this adjustment too strong, though, or that would make the picture look too manipulated. -- Victor

Canon DSLR Challenge		22-Aug-2006 01:07
Victor, this is a nice image, but I would have liked to see the whole face in focus, I also feel the the hand doesn't have the focus that it needs, as the focus is just infront of it. Did you add some blurring in PS? Just curious. Also, just one more comment, I read below about the cocktail sign, and I am assuming this is the cropped version? Anyway, where you have it cropped it right on the line of making the martini glass just a graphic shape, as it is still readable in my opinion, however, I think that you have cropped a little tight in on the hand, as it needs a little breathing room from the left edge, IMO. One way to deal with the neon glass in the BG would be to "burn" it a bit so it is a little less distracting. Chris

Canon DSLR Challenge		15-Aug-2006 18:06
Thank you, Michael and Cheryl. I had been alternating focusing on the eyes and the hand. Then he got into this nice position where they are both in good focus. Not only that, a few of his dreadlocks blessed the strap with their presence. -- Victor

Guest		15-Aug-2006 15:50
OHhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love this shot, just love it. Love his hand at play there too. The look and the feel of this shot make it a winner :) Cherylm

Guest		14-Aug-2006 19:59
Victor, I like this piece very much. You've nicely captured this musician engaged in his music. I agree with your thoughts on the neon glass sign. I also like the brightness of the music note guitar strap as a compositional element. Excellent. -Michael

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Aug-2006 09:56
Fair comment Victor, the artist' intention is of course the important thing, especially in a case like this where the challenge is "charater" after all! I like it better toned down like this. Thanks for considering my comments for what they are worth and not taking offence because certainly none was intended. I'm having trouble with this challenge with portraits rather than depictions of character, so the cocktail glass did not matter to me. I like this image because the subject is actually engaged both in his music and communicating with you, the photographer. Good post ~ regards, Bob

Guest		14-Aug-2006 07:07
Victor, I agree with your thoughts regarding the cocktail sign... Victor wrote: The missing martini glass looks wrong to my eye. That is partly because the glass is part of the decor of the bar. It's right behind the stage, and it's part of every set, whether you like it or not. It used to be distracting to me, but I got used to it, and now I miss it if it's not there. More to the point, though, I included it purposely in this particular picture as part of the composition. It helps to communicate that the artist is no just a musician but is a pub musician. The lines of the glass also help to direct the viewer's eyes to the subject's eyes. I did tone it down, by the way, from the original. Without toning it down, it would have been the brightest object in the picture, or at least close to it.

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Aug-2006 06:19
I've just replaced this image with one containing the intended toning (it was really just a matter of changing the color profile). I need to think more about the proposed edits before making a decision. However, see my additional notes and sample in pending. -- Victor

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Aug-2006 02:54
Great capture Victor, for me it works better if you lose that coctail sign. That sign competes too harshly with the subject. Hope you don't mind but I grabbed your image and cloned out the glass and also toned down the guitar strap. I think it works better, at least for me. Love the lighting on his face and his ear ring is nice and sharp really highlights "character" for me. I posted into pending my toned down version for your comparison.... please feel free to erase it after you take a look. What say you? Regards Bob.