Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 07:49:38 am

Title: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 07:49:38 am
Last Saturday the walk was held at a place called Railroad Yard which is now an artist's retreat which annexes off the old rail yard/depot. There were lots of old buildings in differeing states of repair, a few of which were occupied. These are some of the shots I was able to glean from trying to shoot around 18 other folks in a short three hour period. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=30.433402,-84.291857&spn=0.003287,0.004128&t=h&z=19 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=30.433402,-84.291857&spn=0.003287,0.004128&t=h&z=19)

Expresso

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8055/8092354824_425a137dcd_o.jpg)

Gatekeeper

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8048/8092354930_357da70b25_o.jpg)

Open?

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8328/8092355008_59ac92b05a_o.jpg)

Seems She Wasn't All She Was Cracked Up To Be

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8473/8092355078_b6a56202e2_o.jpg)

This Train's A Going

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8195/8092349073_bbbbffb39e_o.jpg)

A Mean Motor Scooter No More

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8469/8092873098_f98298027c_o.jpg)

The Last Hurrah

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8092873160_308f7bd74a_o.jpg)

And my favorite - Window Peaces

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8470/8092868069_c6d6118777_o.jpg)

Any and all comments needed, welcome, etc.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: RSL on October 16, 2012, 11:25:55 am
Hi Chris, During the Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk did you see a sign that said "EGRESS?" Kelby always reminds me of Barnum. Have you given any thought to the idea of waiting a few days before you decide to post something?
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: nemo295 on October 16, 2012, 12:14:12 pm
That last shot is far and away the most effective one for me. I like it a lot. The subject matter and lighting also present a good opportunity for a b&w conversion.

I took the liberty of doing one myself.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: WalterEG on October 16, 2012, 12:35:46 pm
The effort was worth it for The Last Hurrah and Window peaces.

Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 01:21:05 pm
Hi Chris, During the Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk did you see a sign that said "EGRESS?" Kelby always reminds me of Barnum. Have you given any thought to the idea of waiting a few days before you decide to post something?

It's been a couple of days since I shot but I only have 10 days in which to submit, so had to hurry things up a bit if I was to take advice from the critiques. I know a lot of people want to pan Kelby and I know he likes to hawk his wares wherever he can find a customer but I found a lot of his tutorials quite helpful teaching my students about layers, blend modes, etc and I could put them on one of his tutorials whilst working with other students in other endeavors.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: digitaldog on October 16, 2012, 01:24:57 pm
I know a lot of people want to pan Kelby and I know he likes to hawk his wares wherever he can find a customer but I found a lot of his tutorials quite helpful teaching my students about layers, blend modes, etc and I could put them on one of his tutorials whilst working with other students in other endeavors.

No question there's a lot of good info he provides if you can weed past the enormous amount of sales and "it's all about me" tactics. I'd advise anything he says about soft proofing and most color management topics be taken with a grain of salt.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 01:26:26 pm
That last shot is far and away the most effective one for me. I like it a lot. The subject matter and lighting also present a good opportunity for a b&w conversion.

I took the liberty of doing one myself.

Thanks for the conversion. I did several myself and while I like them, I don't feel like the color in this instance is a distraction from the content, nor that the B&W adds anything over and above and as with yours, it's hard to hold the color value in the shadows of the darker legs. I am leaning heavily toward this shot as my one submission piece. I've since done a B&W of the third image and find that I am also drawn back to it...but it is a bit cliche-ish.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 01:30:03 pm
No question there's a lot of good info he provides if you can weed past the enormous amount of sales and "it's all about me" tactics. I'd advise anything he says about soft proofing and most color management topics be taken with a grain of salt.

He was merely a tool. I taught sophomores, juniors and seniors in the same classroom setting while teaching traditional film/darkroom, digital and alternative all at the same time. My school didn't understand the concept of beginning, intermediate and advanced as separate classes. Thus, Kelby and Lynda to the rescue. They served their purposes but like you, past the very basics they aren't worth a flip.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: RSL on October 16, 2012, 01:38:01 pm
I always have Kelby's most recent Photoshop book and most recent Lightroom book close at hand because, unlike Martin Evening, Kelby always has a good index. Evening's books are for study. Kelby's books are for looking something up quickly when you're forgotten something. Kelby's only real problem is that he writes like a five-year-old trying impress the guests.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: digitaldog on October 16, 2012, 02:27:08 pm
Must be an issue with Focal Press or whatever they call themselves today, the index in my book sucks eggs too. At least for this first time (last time) author, I had zero say over this and am amazed at what ended up in the index versus what didn't. Martin is Focal's best selling author so he probably has/had more say than I but I don't know what they are thinking about when building an book index. PDF is so much nicer <g>.

As for a Lightroom reference, Victoria Bampton's LR Missing Manual is what I go for when I want to look something up (http://www.lightroomqueen.com).
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 04:42:15 pm
Doug made me rethink this as a B&W conversion and so I went back in and really worked the color channels before making the final conversion. Would like opinions as to color or B&W. Thanks!

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8326/8094913324_db0f37d280_o.jpg)
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Chris Calohan on October 16, 2012, 04:47:05 pm
And this is the other B&W conversion:

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8049/8093832817_0a5715eae0_o.jpg)
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: WalterEG on October 16, 2012, 05:17:50 pm
On inspection I think that I prefer Doug Frosts rendering.  For me it represents more of the ambience of a junk pile.

Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Jaffy on October 16, 2012, 05:34:11 pm
Hi.
I like 'window Peaces'. Prefer the colour version as it's fairly monochrome and what colour there is draws my eye around it. The muted  tobacco stained look suits it.
Title: Re: Went on a Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on October 23, 2012, 03:01:24 pm
I like the colour in Window Peaces and I don't think that the b&w conversion improves the shot. I think I might selectively desaturate the window stickers and the blue arm connector in the topmost mannequin, though, as they're a distraction.

Jeremy