A Tropical Wonderland! Many Photos

[Doug Dennis]

Hi.

Great pictures.

Couple of questions.
What Picture Style do you use?
How long have you had the 40D?
Any insights for a new 40D owner? (With a 100-400 too)

[Noel_Carboni]

Thanks.

I have the camera set at the default out-of-the-box "Standard" picture style, as I shoot mostly in Raw mode now (I know, I know, I was the guy who used to sing the praises of JPEG). However, I did also shoot a fair number of the images in this set in JPEG mode as I switched to JPEG Large/Fine when I was running low on storage. I've had my 40D now for a couple of months, and have shot about 1,000 images with it, and so I'm still experimenting to determine the best way to use it. A lot of things apply from my past experience with earlier models, and some (such as the best picture style settings) still need experimenting.

My best advice to you is to go out and shoot photos of whatever strikes you. Choose different modes, make notes or remember what they are, and see how the results come out.

-Noel

[holderbk]

Hi Noel,

How much photoshop did you do on these? Use any of your actions? They are very crisp and sharp.

Enjoyed these very much. Go take a few more

Kent

[Ron Metz]

Interesting. Kent, no offense with this but when you see images like the ones that Noel has posted, why do you ask about how much were they altered through photoshop? When I viewed the images, I thought really good photographer = really good images. I didn't think about how they may have been altered. Again, no offense - just curious.

Ron

[Noel_Carboni]

Thanks, guys. Kent's right on the money for asking, insofar as I've been known to make silk purses out of sows' ears with Photoshop. And thank you Ron for the compliment and for confirming the processing I've done isn't showing.

Generally speaking I did very little Photoshop manipulation. A bit more than half of these were shot Raw, so Photoshop's Camera Raw played a part. I really like the CA correction features of that tool.

Levels adjustment as needed, and for a few images I did some cropping. Also, in several cases with the higher ISO shots (many of these were at ISO 800 and above) I did some selective noise reduction on the backgrounds to help the crisply focused subject stand out in a more 3D fashion. I use my dSLR Tools actions for noise reduction, and the "...As Layer On Top" or "...As Layer Underneath" features to help apply them selectively. Lastly, I sharpened most of these with my fractal sharpening actions. Sounds like a lot of processing, but I really didn't spend more than a few moments on each one (the beauty of actions). I also used one of my own actions (not in any of my commercial sets) for adding the drop shadow frame and a touch of final sharpening. If you'd like a copy, you can get it here;

http://actions.home.att.net/temp/Frame.atn

I should point out that the 40D's Evaluative metering turns out shot after shot perfectly exposed. It's the best yet.

Here, for example, is one of the out-of-camera JPEGs:
http://forum.ourdarkskies.com/galler...16_1826887.jpg

-Noel

[Ron Metz]

Noel,

Thanks for the detailed background on your shots. I had originally asked Kent the question about "how much photoshop" because I obviously viewed your images differently than him - neither of us being wrong or right. I just found the different view points interesting. I have a close friend who is a professional photographer and he is of mind that he can always correct most, if not all, of his mistakes with Photoshop and concerns himself mainly with composition and not much with fine tuning his exposure etc. I, on the other hand, will try my best to get the image "right" with the camera and lens and then, if needed, spend as little time as possible in photoshop. Again, neither approach is right or wrong - it is what works for you. Thanks.

Ron

[holderbk]

Hi Ron,

I've seen Noel's work before in the forum and have purchased some of the actions he offers on his website. If there was a PhD in photoshop Noel would surely have one. I use his noise reduction action often and have great results with it. I was mainly wondering if he used his fractal sharpening action, which he did. I will go offline and ask him for some pointers on how I can better use the fractal sharpening action.

You are correct. These are great photo's from a great photographer!!

Kent

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