Luminous Landscape Forum
Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: Josh-H on July 11, 2011, 09:22:08 am
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Composition and lighting aside (which are both wonderful by the way) There is something very appealing to my eyes about the tones in this photograph (even in the small jpeg). I would not quite describe them as 'pastel' like; but there is something about them very similar that I find very appealing. There is a crispness to the image, yet a wonderful overall softness to the color and the combination is a nice harmony. I cant quite find the right words to describe what it is that I see that I am liking - but I like it a lot.
Michael; without pre-empting your review article, how did you process this file? (As in, what software did you use? And did you give it any special treatment?).
Edit - Please dont tell me I am seeing a benefit of the Foveon sensor... that will just upset me. ;D
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Processing was initially done in Sigma Photo Pro, which is required because nothing else supports the SD1 yet.
Basically just white balance, black point and white point were set and then the file was exported to Lightroom as a 16 bit TIFF in ProPhoto RGB. Everything else was then done in Lightroom. (SPP is pretty enemic beyond simple raw conversion).
Nothing special was done in post processing. Is it the "Foveon look"? It's Too soon to tell, but there is something there.
More soon.
Michael
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I agree. The colors are very subtle yet not desaturated. Resolution is crispy but not stingy. The composition is superb.
Eduardo
Composition and lighting aside (which are both wonderful by the way) There is something very appealing to my eyes about the tones in this photograph (even in the small jpeg). I would not quite describe them as 'pastel' like; but there is something about them very similar that I find very appealing. There is a crispness to the image, yet a wonderful overall softness to the color and the combination is a nice harmony. I cant quite find the right words to describe what it is that I see that I am liking - but I like it a lot.
Michael; without pre-empting your review article, how did you process this file? (As in, what software did you use? And did you give it any special treatment?).
Edit - Please dont tell me I am seeing a benefit of the Foveon sensor... that will just upset me. ;D
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Awoke this morning to this welcoming burst of sentiment for times gone by...and then against the sky, the edges invite me from my resting place in the foreground to the corrugated expanse beyond..as my eye dissects the hill can almost hear the conversations beyond, but out of my reach...only ever so slightly/subtly do I wish for the very smallest bit more room to the right of barn for breezes to flow.
Also...can't shake the feeling of the 1948 painting (Wyeth) "Christina's World" . Both something lasting, not idle ...
Really enjoying this one Michael. Pat
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Thanks Pat. There was more room on the right of the barn, but there was a road and some ugly telephone poles so I decided to do some surgery.
Michael
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I'm curious about the time of day for this? I recall that after your first journey to the Palouse(spel?) you commented that you'd found subject matter that was worthwhile during the middle of the day ... the shadows (or lack thereof) in the Red Barn photograph looks to be similarly timed..?
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6:06PM, about two and half hours before sunset.
The day had a high haze and some clouds were moving in, so the light was pretty interesting.
Michael
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What struck me were the queen anne's lace (I think?) It seemed surrealistic. Not in a bad way but had that "Dali" look. (interesting capture, BTW)
It will be interesting to see how this higher res Foveon plays out relative to Bayer. Even though we all seem to recognize the limitations of jpg, it is intriguing how often these subtle impressions come through.
I've player with the Sigma 14 (canon mount, so I can use Leica R lenses) and there was a difference to my M9 and P65+ (and DMR) I would say it was closer to the DMR, with saturation a bit stronger and a color 'richness' that was not bad. However, nothing like this. Now, I will also say that I HAVE seen some 'crispness' show up in downresing 60MP files...so that could be what is happening here.
regards
Victor
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Great image followed by a big 'gulp' when I saw the price tag for the camera!
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Everyone is gulping the same gulp.
Michael
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I can't judge the quality of the camera from a web jpeg, obviously, but I do think the photograph is excellent. I really like the "feel" of the color palette. I look forward to the review.
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Beautiful photograph, and a pleasant surprise to see on the home page. It looks almost like HDR...can't wait for the review.
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Lovely photo, Michael - you must have a fancy camera (isn't that what folk say ?? ;) )
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We have the same weeds in the abandoned farmer's field on the other side of our hedge; those mothers can grow up to about three metres tall. Weeds, not farmers, but that's only in my experience.
I find this image a strange one. Not from the photographic point of view, which, to me, just looks like any other shot taken in dull light, the composition being nice and more or less at least what I'd expect from anyone of Michael's track record. What strikes me is the relative joy with which it has been received.
I have posted here before about my surprise at the lack of reaction to some of the really impressive stuff that gets to grace the front page of this site, and here we are, a perfectly ordinary shot touches the G-spots. I never cease to wonder at what makes different people tick.
Not a complaint, not even a criticism, just an expression of surprise. No wonder stock was ever a very chancy medium.
Rob C
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I find this image a strange one. Not from the photographic point of view, which, to me, just looks like any other shot taken in dull light, the composition being nice and more or less at least what I'd expect from anyone of Michael's track record. What strikes me is the relative joy with which it has been received.
I have posted here before about my surprise at the lack of reaction to some of the really impressive stuff that gets to grace the front page of this site, and here we are, a perfectly ordinary shot touches the G-spots.
Hi Rob,
My sentiments exactly. Without a direct comparison to a regular Bayer CFA image of the same scene at the same time/lighting, mythical qualities are attributed to a camera based on a small lossy compressed JPEG output file after having been processed by two different software programs.
I never cease to wonder at what makes different people tick.
Same here.
Cheers,
Bart
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I never cease to wonder at what makes different people tick.
Rob C
May I venture a guess? It's called marketing, on the home page, with a company that has already got a lot of buzz around its product. For the next one week that's the image I'm going to see every time I log in to Lula.
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My sentiments exactly. Without a direct comparison to a regular Bayer CFA image of the same scene at the same time/lighting, mythical qualities are attributed to a camera based on a small lossy compressed JPEG output file after having been processed by two different software programs.
Lets not draw any conclusions from a single small sample, agreed. This being said, the overall color balance of that image is very pleasing indeed. If that was coming out of one of the Canon cameras I own, I'd bug the author for his post processing recipe.
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May I venture a guess? It's called marketing, on the home page, with a company that has already got a lot of buzz around its product. For the next one week that's the image I'm going to see every time I log in to Lula.
Well, if I was a Sigma marketeer and if I really believed in the qualities of a new product, I wouldn't hesitate offering opinion makers the possibility to test it. As long as it is disclosed, that's not an issue. Michael's impressions have always been quite balanced in terms of real life pros and cons. I don't expect this to change and, anyway, if it did it certainly wouldn't go unnoticed by the maniac rabid crowd ;D hanging around...
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there already enough simple SD1 users posting full size samples, one of the recent = http://www.flickr.com/photos/atakiguchi/
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No, I think that marketing has nothing to do with it; it's all about reader/viewer response (my question) to the image, not the brand etc. with which it was shot. My question was why that particular bland and inoffensive image caused the ooohs and aaahs when many other more dynamic/exciting shots from the same photographer go unremarked. Nothing to do with pushing Brand A or Brand B and everything to do with reader/viewer psychology vis-à-vis given photographs. I think.
Rob C
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there already enough simple SD1 users posting full size samples, one of the recent = http://www.flickr.com/photos/atakiguchi/
Not sure what to make of the feature on the specular highlights in the speedboat picture. Anyone have any ideas ?
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I had not noticed when reacting to "Red Barn" that it was captured with the SD1 Foveonx3. I just knew I was enjoying it...Seeing today's home page I am beginning to see why...interestingly though the images I have seen posted here and there elsewhere with this camera/sensor clearly identify the need for "vision/skill" in the pointer...Poor technique/poor vision are wonderfully magnified ...placing such a capture next to one gained by hands such as Michael's really illustrates "it's not just owning the camera"
I was just saying to Eric M a bit ago that my secret "if I could do anything wish" would be to attend one of the PODAS workshops...Having the 180 back with a 23mm would tell me whether the fit was the one I would really love this late in life.. but now that I am poking around the SD1 it would be possible to have some of the satisfaction it seems without having to sell a beloved painting to do so...
Will be very interesting to follow... would this require starting from scratch with lenses (have some wonderful L Canon glass...) Would be a great way to simplfy where the mind explores to settle where is best...
Anyway, did not mean to bump into a discussion of the merits of this camera/sensor..was just reacting to a capture I enjoyed as well as the subliminal sense it gave me of painterly capture...as does "The Farm" today.
Do you think, Michael, that the sensor is influencing the way you are seeing the proposed capture, as opposed to the distinctly graphic nature of much of the recent work you have shared?
Looking forward to your review...Pat
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No, I think that marketing has nothing to do with it; it's all about reader/viewer response (my question) to the image, not the brand etc. with which it was shot. My question was why that particular bland and inoffensive image caused the ooohs and aaahs when many other more dynamic/exciting shots from the same photographer go unremarked. Nothing to do with pushing Brand A or Brand B and everything to do with reader/viewer psychology vis-à-vis given photographs. I think.
Rest assured that when Michael finds something, usually geometric in nature, in the mundane, it is noticed. The more stuff is beyond my own ability, the more I admire it :). But I was really struck by the colors in that picture, and that was before I looked at which camera produced it. In itself that's a fairly mundane composition of something that's both a bit below a postcard shot in terms of flashiness and a bit above in terms visual rythm. But it's such a perfect, if a bit dreamlike, mix of colors!
As a test shot for a camera that claims to be different in the way it handles color, it is definitely perfect.
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The past two photos have had interesting watercolor-like atmospheric effects. The question is whether this is due to some quality of the sensor, or, er, the atmosphere.
The next time Michael sees an image like this, it would be interesting to see it shot twice -- once with the Sigma, again with a Canon or Nikon. It's very difficult to see what's really going on with an image seen in isolation.