photo of a visitor

I know because I get there quite often, about 5 kilos
from I live.

http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012.jpg

Dave

Hi David,
It really is a beautiful photo – the subject and colors are excellent. The exposure is very good. The face could use some sharpening; at least it appears that way on my monitor. There are tricks you can use to get separation from the background and the subject – both pre and post. I think it would have improved the composition a bit by lying down and catching him/her looking directly at the camera – personally, with apes, I like to look directly in their eyes. This photo may be better appreciated at this group.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.photography/about

Keep up the good work,
Ron

"It was so easy to imitate people. I could spit after only a few days. We used to spit in one another’s faces, the difference being simply that I licked my face clean afterwards and they did not." Kafka

On 28 Oct 2006 00:45:42 -0700, ""
wrote:

I know because I get there quite often, about 5 kilos
from I live.

http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012.jpg

Dave

Hi David,
It really is a beautiful photo – the subject and colors are excellent. The exposure is very good. The face could use some sharpening; at least it appears that way on my monitor. There are tricks you can use to get separation from the background and the subject – both pre and post. I think it would have improved the composition a bit by lying down and catching him/her looking directly at the camera – personally, with apes, I like to look directly in their eyes. This photo may be better appreciated at this group.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.photography/about

Keep up the good work,
Ron

"It was so easy to imitate people. I could spit after only a few days. We used to spit in one another’s faces, the difference being simply that I licked my face clean afterwards and they did not." Kafka

thanks for the compliment, Ron. I’ll experiment with some sharpening in the face, but what I usually do with apes, is this –

When doing levels, I deselect the face because it is black, and move the gamma slider to .95 or even darker for the sake of contrast. Deselecting the face, do leave detail on it, otherwise it become to black.

Also, I almost never sharpen faces of people – or sharpen it very slightly. Am I right or wrong here?

Ron, (and anyone else with the knowledge, reading here) please click on this link and tell me what you(s) think of the Fuji Finepix 9600.
There is not many reviews on the 9600 because it is single weeks old, but quite a few on the 9500 – upgrading was necessary
because of noise on ISO 1600 on the 9500.

I intend buying a 9600 in the coming days, but would
like to hear the views of you people. The 10 X optical
zoom is one of the very important features, for me.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 13:48:11 +0200, Dave wrote:

Ron, (and anyone else with the knowledge, reading here) please click on this link and tell me what you(s) think of the Fuji Finepix 9600.
There is not many reviews on the 9600 because it is single weeks old, but quite a few on the 9500 – upgrading was necessary
because of noise on ISO 1600 on the 9500.

I intend buying a 9600 in the coming days, but would
like to hear the views of you people. The 10 X optical
zoom is one of the very important features, for me.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

some s9600 pictures

http://product.pchome.net/pro2005/pro_sample_pic.php?product _id=44690

Dave

Dave wrote:

Also, I almost never sharpen faces of people – or sharpen it very slightly. Am I right or wrong here?

Even on faces that require blur, which is not the case with the ape, I like to add a mask to sharpen the eyes. You did a good job of getting the catch lights just right but I think they could twinkle with a little sharpening.

There is not many reviews on the 9600 because it is single weeks old, but quite a few on the 9500 – upgrading was necessary
because of noise on ISO 1600 on the 9500.

I am not very current on cameras right now so I am not a good one to ask. You may get a better response to that question at this group:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.photo.digital/about

It is filled with experts that love that kind of question. That said, I think you should at least look a the Canon 30d kit.

Take care,
Ron

On 28 Oct 2006 07:40:41 -0700, ""
wrote:

Dave wrote:

Also, I almost never sharpen faces of people – or sharpen it very slightly. Am I right or wrong here?

Even on faces that require blur, which is not the case with the ape, I like to add a mask to sharpen the eyes. You did a good job of getting the catch lights just right but I think they could twinkle with a little sharpening.

who was it that said " it does not matter what you know, but whò you know!" Thanks for this, Ron. Open the image and add a ‘b’ to it. http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012.jpg
http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012b.jpg

Then you can back & forward to see the difference. It will be replaced with ‘b’ but for the moment I leave it both, to express my thanks.

There is not many reviews on the 9600 because it is single weeks old, but quite a few on the 9500 – upgrading was necessary
because of noise on ISO 1600 on the 9500.

I am not very current on cameras right now so I am not a good one to ask. You may get a better response to that question at this group:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.photo.digital/about

It is filled with experts that love that kind of question. That said, I think you should at least look a the Canon 30d kit.

would be the same reason why KatWoman did not even
reacted on this, (in another post:-0) but thanks for the link.

In your first post you said
"There are tricks you can use to get separation
from the background and the
subject – both pre and post. "

Both pre & post – a few more words about it?

Take care,
Ron

You take care as well,
Dave

Dave wrote:

In your first post you said
"There are tricks you can use to get separation
from the background and the
subject – both pre and post. "

Both pre & post – a few more words about it?

Take care,
Ron

Hi,
All you need to do is open up your aperture such that the depth of field will be more than the depth of the subject, in this case toes to tail, and set your focus point on one eye. The upshot of having the larger opening is that more light enters the lens at greater angles causing the sensor to fill up before much depth is achieved, effectively blurring the background.

Here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Ape/photo#4990975194619 772946 You can see the results of a Color Burn blend with a Style using a gradient overlay. The layers mask only took a few seconds to make using the Color Range dialog to select the subject. That mask was then blurred, inverted and applied to the color burn layer.
You can see a screen cap of the simple layer structure here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Ape/photo#4990975606500 229138

This is just something simple and quick I used for an example. Hopefully other members will make better suggestions for you.

Hth,
Ron

On 28 Oct 2006 09:26:11 -0700, ""
wrote:

Dave wrote:

In your first post you said
"There are tricks you can use to get separation
from the background and the
subject – both pre and post. "

Both pre & post – a few more words about it?

Take care,
Ron

Hi,
All you need to do is open up your aperture such that the depth of field will be more than the depth of the subject, in this case toes to tail, and set your focus point on one eye. The upshot of having the larger opening is that more light enters the lens at greater angles causing the sensor to fill up before much depth is achieved, effectively blurring the background.

Here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Ape/photo#4990975194619 772946 You can see the results of a Color Burn blend with a Style using a gradient overlay. The layers mask only took a few seconds to make using the Color Range dialog to select the subject. That mask was then blurred, inverted and applied to the color burn layer.
You can see a screen cap of the simple layer structure here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Ape/photo#4990975606500 229138
This is just something simple and quick I used for an example. Hopefully other members will make better suggestions for you.
Hth,
Ron

Many thanks for this. Your advice is saved in my photo archive. I love the way that you did split the background and the main subject. A special thanks for the screen capture.
I am on my way to Cape Town for a business transaction, and will not contribute to the group for 2 or 3 days.
Many thanks again for your valuable advice and time.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Dave wrote:

http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012.jpg
http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012b.jpg

Great photo:) However I only get the 012.jpg, on the 012b.jpg I get "Page not found" error.

Best regards,

Arnor Baldvinsson
San Antonio, Texas

Dave wrote:

I intend buying a 9600 in the coming days, but would
like to hear the views of you people. The 10 X optical
zoom is one of the very important features, for me.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

Which camera did you go with? How’s it working out?

Ron

On 10 Nov 2006 14:20:16 -0800, "Arnor" wrote:

Hi Dave,

Dave wrote:

http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012.jpg
http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/012b.jpg

Great photo:) However I only get the 012.jpg, on the 012b.jpg I get "Page not found" error.

Best regards,

Arnor Baldvinsson
San Antonio, Texas

012b.jpg was not even suppose to show, Arnor; that was to heavily sharpened acc to my taste. Thanks for calling it a great photo.

Dave

On 10 Nov 2006 14:37:06 -0800, ""
wrote:

Dave wrote:

I intend buying a 9600 in the coming days, but would
like to hear the views of you people. The 10 X optical
zoom is one of the very important features, for me.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

Which camera did you go with? How’s it working out?

Ron

I took the Fuji Finepix 9600, Ron, and what a camera..!
My evenings are filled with getting used to it,
and it takes (while I have not explored with it a lot yet) lovely night photos. Haven’t even tried the higher ISO’s yet, becuse the shutterspeed is slow enough to use ISO 200.

I’ll be scarce for the next few days because my daughter is visiting from Gauteng for two weeks or so. Then I’ll post a 9600 photo somewhere to brag with it.

Dave

Dave wrote:

I’ll be scarce for the next few days because my daughter is visiting from Gauteng for two weeks or so. Then I’ll post a 9600 photo somewhere to brag with it.

Dave

The nice thing about photography is that once you get the camera there is nothing left to buy. Does that camera have a raw setting?

Have fun,
Ron

On 11 Nov 2006 23:34:12 -0800,
Ron wrote

The nice thing about photography is that once you get the camera there is nothing left to buy. Does that camera have a raw setting?
Have fun,
Ron

yep, CCD-RAW
I would not have bought if there was not a raw setting.
And like you said, there’s nothing to buy extra, except
for the normal facilities. I bought a polarizing filter with, and of course a new camera bag, as well as
2 quarts ‘Black Label’ beer to celebrate –
see the specifications at (not the beer but the camera) http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

Dave wrote:

yep, CCD-RAW
I would not have bought if there was not a raw setting.
And like you said, there’s nothing to buy extra, except
for the normal facilities. I bought a polarizing filter with, and of course a new camera bag, as well as
2 quarts ‘Black Label’ beer to celebrate –
see the specifications at (not the beer but the camera) http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082412fujis9600.asp

Dave

Aspheric – sweet.
I have thought of Fuji as more of a film company. Do they license their lens and CCD technology or do they develop that in-house?

I wonder about what your working distance is when doing close-ups like a flower or bug? In other words how much of the viewing area is filled on a 1 or 2cm subject? If you get a chance post a picture of something small.

I have not tried beer and photography but I know that beer and TTL interfacing (the logic not the flash) does not mix.

Ron