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Author Topic: Back from Angkor/Thailand  (Read 16004 times)

Lisa Nikodym

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« Reply #20 on: January 10, 2006, 04:14:53 pm »

Ray -  It must be variable.  I was there around Christmas too, but it was beautifully sunny and clear, which must have warmed it up.  It would indeed be nice to see it when it's green (and with fewer tourists), but I don't know if I could stand that sort of heat.

Lisa
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Mark D Segal

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« Reply #21 on: January 10, 2006, 05:00:20 pm »

September/October is good for Siem Reap - hot but not oppressive, and green. If you hire a photo-savvy tour guide  (with driver), they know the best times of the day for each structure, because they have guided previous rounds of photographers and know what photographers want. This makes photographing so much easier and more rewarding.

As for hoards of tourists - there are two choices: (1) be patient, (2) use them creatively in your photographs. Which to do depends on the circumstances. Get used to it, because that's the game. There are just a huge number of people in the region with disposable income and the same curiosity as we have to see such places. Siem Reap is facing major challenges (relating to environment, energy and water) for dealing with the huge growth of tourism, but that is another story.

Crossing the street in Bangkok - sorry - no solutions to that one - put on your armour and hope for the best!
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Ray

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« Reply #22 on: January 11, 2006, 01:11:34 am »

Mark,
 
Quote
September/October is good for Siem Reap - hot but not oppressive, and green.

That's really useful information. A combination of humidity and high temperature can be devastatingly oppressive. My 5D is not sealed. I'd hate to think that a profusion of sweat dripping from my face might seep into the controls. (Only kidding   ).

Quote
If you hire a photo-savvy tour guide  (with driver), they know the best times of the day for each structure, because they have guided previous rounds of photographers and know what photographers want.

I'm a bit ambivalent about that idea, but I had the experience. I was visiting a temple for the second time because on the occasion of the first time the place was swamped with tourists, each and every one insisting on having his/her photo taken in front of every tree root. I simply didn't have the time to hang around.

On the second visit, an unemployed guide saw me walking around a feature looking for an interesting angle. He jumped at the opportunity to make a dollar, approached me and said, 'Look! Just come over here. Stand here. See?'

The perspective was interesting, so thinking he was perhaps an expert photographer, I allowed him to show me around, realising of course I'd have to give him a tip. But most things are so inexpensive in Cambodia, I'd long since stopped haggling over trivial sums of money. (Not entirely, though   ).

At every point, the guide said 'Stand here!' 'Come over here!'. Most of the perspectives were quite interesting. This was a great time saver. To find these perspectives I realised I'd be wandering around for a considerable time at each spot.

After an hour or so, as we'd completed the circuit, I said, 'So you're into photography?' ' No', he replied. 'I've just observed photographers taking photos at those spots'. My ego was deflated. My Gawd!, every Tom, Dick and Harry has got those shots, I thought.

Here's a couple of them   .  [attachment=156:attachment]    [attachment=157:attachment]


By the way, I'm never quite sure what degree of sharpening is appropriate for small jpegs. The above images look a bit oversharpened to me. What do you think?

Bear in mind, these are not finished images. Conversion from RAW in ACR was completely automatic. I did a tweaking in levels, a slight bit of 'local contrast enhancement' and a couple of passes in Focus Magic. That's all.

Feed back would be appreciated.

ps. These images are not even cropped.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2006, 01:23:20 am by Ray »
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acorreia

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« Reply #23 on: January 11, 2006, 07:21:18 am »

Quote
>Dictatorship and no observation of the Human Rights, unfortunally

Isn't this what we have in the US at the moment? I mean when was the last time Bush did anything about the house arrest of the democratic leader in Myanmar?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=55608\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I could remember this and some other US actions around the World but I thought it would not be nice of me. But as you said yourself ... I agree!...  
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António Correia
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Mark D Segal

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« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2006, 08:41:14 am »

Steffi and acorreaia, I think there are rules on this Board about keeping politics out of the discussion. Unfortunately, politics aren't pretty in most of the world, it being a matter of degree and specifics how bad what is where; anyone who absolutely can't stomach the politics of country X should just keep out, regardless of the photo ops.

Ray, yes Angkor Thom - you got good angles, lighting and nice composition. Composition is tricky there - too many possibilities so brutal choices need to be made about what to emphasize and how to emphasize it. I think you succeeded. I agree with you that they are a bit over-sharpened. If you want a very well-controlled sharpening workflow, I am on the whole very pleased with PK Sharpener Pro (www.pixelgenius.com). In case you haven't yet, you can also read Michael's review of it on this website.

I had a very knowledgeable guide for two days running who just knew where to photograph when, and that was a tremendous assist. Without his guidance I just wouldn't have had access to the right places at the right times as efficiently as I did. That allowed me to concentrate on trying to maximize the opportunities of time and place in what I photographed. In the coming weeks I hope to build a website and post a selection of stuff.
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acorreia

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« Reply #25 on: January 11, 2006, 09:14:42 am »

Quote
Steffi and acorreaia, I think there are rules on this Board about keeping politics out of the discussion. Unfortunately, politics aren't pretty in most of the world, it being a matter of degree and specifics how bad what is where; anyone who absolutely can't stomach the politics of country X should just keep out, regardless of the photo ops.
Will you please tell me where those rules are ? Thank you.
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Mark D Segal

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« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2006, 09:22:02 am »

I am talking from recent memory. Michael has informed us at various times of posts removed for political content and made the point that discussion of politics is off limits. Since he runs this operation, I assume those are the rules. As to whether or where these rules are separately published as such, best you ask him.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Ray

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« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2006, 09:40:00 am »

Quote
I agree with you that they are a bit over-sharpened. If you want a very well-controlled sharpening workflow, I am on the whole very pleased with PK Sharpener Pro (www.pixelgenius.com). In case you haven't yet, you can also read Michael's review of it on this website.


PK Sharpener Pro is too complicated for me. I'm striving to keep things as simple as possible. I have enough to worry about with choice of aperture, ISO and shutter speed. The oversharpening has resulted from sharpening twice with Focus Magic, once with the full size file and again after the file size had been reduced for the web. If I miss out the second round of sharpening, those images will probably be just right.

I like the automatic process of Focus Magic; the fact that the program automatically detects a 'blur width' in pixels that seems appropriate for each image. It also seems to add less noise to the sharpening process than PSCS2's Smart Sharpen.

Quote
In the coming weeks I hope to build a website and post a selection of stuff.


I'll look forward to checking it out. I'd like to do the same myself but have too much on my plate right now.

So next September it is. Did you travel in an air-conditioned taxi with your photographic guide, and how much did it cost? I believe there's a temple similar to Angkor Thom but bigger and much further out, about 60km, probably the one that Lisa visited along bumpy roads. I decided to skip that 120km return trip in a tuk tuk, but maybe next time in a more suitable vehicle I'll make it.
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francois

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« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2006, 11:01:16 am »

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I am talking from recent memory. Michael has informed us at various times of posts removed for political content and made the point that discussion of politics is off limits. Since he runs this operation, I assume those are the rules. As to whether or where these rules are separately published as such, best you ask him.
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[a href=\"http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9283&view=findpost&p=52180]Here[/url] is a reference...
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Francois

Mark D Segal

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« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2006, 02:55:32 pm »

Ray,

I was there in 2004 and given the time that has passed I forget how much I paid for the arrangements. The deal was an air-conditioned car, driver and himself for the two days. One thing I do remember is that it was very good value for money - not really expensive. But amounts elude me.

I looked-up my email files and I have the name and then valid email address of my guide. His name is Sideth, and his email address is:

Sideth_855@yahoo.com.

He told me at the time he checks his email "periodically", so response could take a while.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Lisa Nikodym

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« Reply #30 on: January 11, 2006, 04:56:44 pm »

Ray -  We arranged through our hotel to hire a car with a guide and driver (I think it was air-conditioned, but I'm not sure), and, if I remember correctly, it was all $40 a day.

Lisa
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Ray

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« Reply #31 on: January 12, 2006, 07:36:07 am »

Lisa and Mark,
Thanks for the information. $40 a day! That's nothing to complain about is it! I guess the main reason I hired a tuk tuk driver is because the bus arrived at a destination some distance from my booked hotel and an affable tuk tuk driver offered to take me to my hotel free of charge if I agreed to hire him to drive me around the temples for just $10 a day. I'm a sucker for a bargain   . However, I did end up paying him more than that because of extended time and additional petrol.

Yes! I travelled by bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. That was an adventure in its own right but not one I want to repeat.  

I've made up my mind to return this September. I'm not happy with some of my shots. Even one of the pair of thumbnails above (of Ta Prom, if my notes are not garbled) shows a lot of dust on the flat stones lying on the ground (the image on the right). Whoever's heard of a dusty jungle? Those stones should be damp and covered with lichen. They should be dark grey instead of light brown. Siem Reap in December is a very dusty place in general. I'm going to start arranging my return trip right away   .
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acorreia

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« Reply #32 on: February 23, 2006, 07:27:54 pm »

http://antoniocorreia.smugmug.com/keyword/cambodia
Go and see please.
Tell me about them (the photos)

Antonio Correia
 
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Mark D Segal

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« Reply #33 on: February 23, 2006, 08:21:40 pm »

You should have a word with your web-hosting service (SmugMug). I started to view your very interesting photographs, and got interrupted because the website at first wanted to keep putting Cookies on my computer every time I opened an image, then it simply stopped working - operation time-outs. I'll give it another try later.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Ray

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« Reply #34 on: February 23, 2006, 09:12:34 pm »

Caused my system to jam also. Had to hit Ctrl+Alt Delete to end the program.
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neil

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« Reply #35 on: April 04, 2006, 04:13:38 pm »

collum, looks like you're getting great tonalities out that printing process.  How long does a single print take?
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