Tag: gimp

Photo Assignment: Week 8

The third assessment was themed ‘Secret Spaces’. My original idea was to shoot a doorway with someone just about to enter the room beyond. I could only think of one location and it wouldn’t have been possible to shoot there, so I improvised and kept the idea, but at a location I could shoot.

Secret Spaces

Light was quite important for this one and there are two desk lamps inside the wardrobe. The room lights were switched off so the emphasis would be on the light coming from inside. My daughter modeled for me – she’s the only one that will – and as usual, she took her direction straight away and added her own twist. (If she doesn’t end up an actress I’ll be very surprised!)

The image has probably had more post capture work done to it than any other image. I’m not one to mess around images beyond curves and contrast, but this one needed a fair amount of cloning, masking around the wardrobe and some dodging.

So that’s three assessments down and two to go – got those to do over the Christmas break. In the mean time, Merry Christmas to everyone. Thanks for the visits, likes and comments over the year. Here’s hoping for a great 2013 for everyone.

Technology is Wonderful Aint it!

Ansel Adams was one of those photographers who allegedly never fiddled with his negatives. (Except in one notable photograph – Winter Sunrise, from Lone Pine – where he quite rightly painted out a garish letter carved by students on the natural splendor of the scene.) I’m a little bit of a purist in that I like to get it right in camera. That said, I’m a big believer in using the curves tool to adjust the contrast, but I’ve always seen curves like the filters on an enlarger.

There are times, however, when the lure of Photoshop (or Gimp in my case) calls and more drastic touches are required, for example…

on the beach at Barrow-in-Furness

This kind of sums up our holiday that year, taken at Barrow-in-Furness, we were in the middle of no-where and rather than an idyllic escape, it proved to be cold, gray, windy and dull. So there we were on a pebble beach, lots of driftwood and photo potential. I capture a picture of my daughter and the tide washes ashore a pot noodle. Typical. Now, I can either accept the picture as a commentary on how scruffy the UK has become, or I can look at the pot noodle and be disappointed every time I look at it.

Thankfully, the clone tool comes to the rescue and after the obligatory tweak of curves, the image is saved. no pot noodle in sight. Cheers Gimp.

no pot noodle this time