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Thousand Oaks Arts Festival

Our local Civic Arts Plaza held (annual?) Thousand Oaks Arts Festival.

Here are a few shots:

#1: Ballet:

95699025-L.jpg


#2: Dancers:


#3: Band:


95699315-L.jpg


#4: Singers:

95699512-L.jpg


The rest is here:
http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/1898152

Enjoy shooting local performers:)



Image # 2 removed for privacy,
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Congrats Nikolai! You captured the grace and poise of the dancers in # 1.

The last one is especially interesting in the repeating lines of the dancers. B&W seems a good choice and with color, the different hues might have distracted from the composition itself.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Being critical, the last one is so good that you have no need to show the whole bunch as they detract from the quality of your best work.

I would think you are best represented by have picture # 1 and then the B&W.

It shows a tast of the event and then your own capability as an artist.

Again, Nikolai does a great job!

Asher
 
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Asher,
thank you, you're too kind!
I initially wanted just to give you guys an idea what the event was like, purely documentary.
But then I decided to get a little "artsy":) and produced that one..
I guess 1 decent picture out of 104 shots is a good ratio, for me at least..:)

Behold - fiery sunset is coming:)
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Asher Kelman said:
Congrats Nikolai! You captured the grace and poise of the dancers in # 1.

The last one is especially interesting in the repeating lines of the dancers. B&W seems a good choice and with color, the different hues might have distracted from the composition itself.

Asher
Color when well lit and well composed (and it seems to be the case there) cannot distract.
Personnaly I miss the colorS (and may be the faces) on Nikolaï photo.
 
Nikolai Sklobovsky said:
Our local Civic Arts Plaza held (annual?) Thousand Oaks Arts Festival.

Here are a few shots:)

Nikolay,

Do you want criticism/constructive criticism on these? The first few are nice snaphots, but beyond a few minor issues the last with the caption is fantastic. And having shot many live performances I know there are lots of tradeoff.

thanks,

Sean
 
Sean,

Sean DeMerchant said:
Nikolay,

Do you want criticism/constructive criticism on these? The first few are nice snaphots, but beyond a few minor issues the last with the caption is fantastic. And having shot many live performances I know there are lots of tradeoff.

thanks,

Sean

Thank you for looking (and offering)! :)

The first color ones are, just as you put it, only the snapshots. They, hopefully, may give you guys an idea what a small SoCal town arts festival may look like, but I don't think they hold enough value worth critiquing.

The BW, however, looks like being a definite "keeper", so I'm ready to "take it"...:)

One thing to keep in mind: it was "prepared" for the ongoing "Synchronicity" challenge (at dgrin), hence certain decisions I've made.

Now <deep breath in> - shoot:)
 
Martin,

Martin McLean said:
Nikolai-
Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. - Ansel Adams
The last image sure counts as one.
-M-

Thank you, appreciate it:)
I guess I got my September 2006 covered then, eh:)?

Cheers!
 
Nicolas,

Nicolas Claris said:
Color when well lit and well composed (and it seems to be the case there) cannot distract.
Personnaly I miss the colorS (and may be the faces) on Nikolaï photo.

I cannot agree with you more about "well lit". Unfortunately, it was the high noon southern Californian sun, which is known to provide one of the harshest lights possible.

Let's look at the color semi-original (trimmed the total rubbish) and the end result.

Trimmed color original:

95699048-M.jpg


My current final version:

95774074-M.jpg


One thing to keep in mind (as I already specified in my answer to Sean): I was actively looking for a raw material to help me to enter the ongoing "Synchronicity" challenge at dgrin.

So, what do we see in the original color picture?
  1. Girls are very nice, but they are not pros, not yet at least. Their torsos are not positioned equidistantly (there is a large gap on the left), their heads are not tilted the same way (middle girl's head is tilted more than the others). Not very good for my cause.
  2. Picture has been taken at 12:30:58, and we're in a greater LA area. No clouds, none. This is as harsh light as it possibly gets, if you don't count Africa or other tropical places. Far, far away from being "well lit", at least on the faces. Not only the sun creates very harsh (and rather non-pretty looking) shades on their otherwise nice young faces, it also makes them squint:-( Of course, this can be counted as a strong case of a "synchronous blinking", but somehow I don't think my judges will take that level of synchronicity to their hearts:)
  3. The background. It's messy. Small stage made out of of semi-trailer. Rails, cables, other performers on the back. I need to get rid of those. Which needs a lot of tedious masking, if I want to keep the front colors. But, actually, do I?
  4. I think again of my theme, synchronicity. If I want to deliver the message, it should be in everything. Now, do the colors look "synchronous"? No, not to me. Shapes of the skirts - yes. Colors - no.
Hence went my post scenario. Tight crop to get rid of almost everything that is "not in sync". Total desaturation to get rid of colors. Steep custom curve to "iron out" irrelevant background details. Additional contrast tweak to leave only the important things "lit".

And you know what? No masking. :)
In fact, almost everything was done in ACR only. RAWflow rocks! :).
I only loaded PS to further clone off the rail which didn't want to go away with the curve:). Well, the frame, too.
But the whole primary thing took me less than a minute to do (that is, of course, if you don't count some *much* longer time playing and experimenting:).
And, again, no tedious masking:)

That's how I arrived to this image. Surely, there are other crops, other treatments. This one serves my particular purpose, at least I hope it does:)

Cheers! :)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Three Postulates and a fourth with the most creative opportunity and risk!

Nikolai,

As far as photography is concerned, some people "got it" some people don't "got it". I'm increasingly convinced you are in the former small group.

Photography is about exclusion. The shots must be taken fast in these amateur shows!

Even with expertise, one is going to have little choice but to include a lot or distracting objects that need to be removed. One can't wait for the perfect moment like Ansel Adams and then return the next day if one wasn't satisfied.

So I don't have patience for criticism of the sort of editing, (including removing colorm as) you are doing here.

In fact, I now believe, that there are dependant steps that are taken in the creative process: seeing, choosing, excluding and and re-seeing in an iterative process.

Postulate #1

Observations Art, must always involve observations, so that there are reference points for creativity.

Postulate #2

A new vision Next one has to narrow down one attention and focus. This leading to a new vision of where one is going with an image. It has representations of much or just parts of the original observation, that's all.

Postulate #3

Informed Vision The existing experience, values, feeings and wishes of the artist always informs the final creatve changes and choices made in this process. The extent and character of this will distinguish ultimately the artistic, social and commercial weight of the photograph.

In photography this may be the sum of the creative process or else the process my be re-run during further processing.

Postulate # 4,

Seeing Again The whole process requires "seeing again", as if for the very first time (anywhere along the line). Today, the vivid computer screen has made this easily possible. This may result in refining intent or even an entirely different and fresh "starting vision and so unexpectedly, an image very different from what was intended when the shutter was pressed!

The latter, is like taking a wonderful date to a party and then falling madly in love with someone else there, getting married and living "happily ever after". When it happens it's a special and beautiful accident. That, after all, is the human experience.

So Nikolai, when you discovered the great patterning of their synchrony in one of your many pictures, and cropped to what is now important to you, you are, IMHO, using your creative ability as should be.

Any demand to keep color is plain wrong, unless, by chance that critic has the same brain, culture and experiences as you have!

I really enjoy the process Nikolai by which you have a) selected the right moment to shoot the synchronize dancers and then b) started all over and asked "What in this image impresses me the most and how can I express it to my satisfaction?"

If this was a commercial for a clothing company one would ask "Why do you give me such an awful set and crazy colors?"

If someone took a gun out of her blouse and shot the mayor, then all the color and clutter on the stage would contribute to the scene. Otherwise not!

Only criticism is this: is the image finalized? I'd print this image and come back and tell us what changes you had to make to get right.

Asher
 
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Ох уж эти ножки!

Asher,

I generally agree with your points.

Sometimes you're lucky enough to see the final image way before you press the shutter.
It happens with me more often (yet still not often enough) with the landscapes, but with the people shots, especially as dynamic as dances or sports, it's not happening often enough to rely on it. :-(
Heck, I even routinely manage to blow it in the studio shots:).
Solution: shoot more, shoot raw, deal with it later.

Hence comes your second point, the DDR, the digital dark room.
You have what you got, the moment's gone, but there is no more rush to make the decision right this second either.
You can crop, blend, take a break for dinner, blur, sharpen, burn, make love to your SO, dodge, warp, mask, make and have a drink, use all the ten available channels and all the power of modern hardware and software.
This is, in essense, your chance to tell the world:
"I don't care what the stupid sensor recorded, this is what I wanted it to be!"

As to your last question about the finalizing the image: yes, I think it is.

I decided to drop the frame and change the title:

So, here it goes:)


Ох уж эти ножки!

95774074-L.jpg
 
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