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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 11/6/2009
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The way that industry has evolved... undoubtfully worth that price, Andre, especially when understandig that as a good lesson about how much we pay and what we really get for that.
You know, sometimes I get the impression, that the manufacturers nowadays think that we find our money on the pavement of the streets and that we all find great what they find great.
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 11/3/2009
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Good for her!!
It would be well worth the price of the cd player in pure satisfaction.
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 10/29/2009
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Interesting and with a kind of "bitter" humor which still remains so true, Andre!
Well, Springsteen writes good lyrics. This guy is for decades in that business and still never delivers rubbish.
Thank you so much!
Nick
P.S.: Which reminds me also of my government, Christina. She bought a new CD-player with this and that and a dozen of lights blinking all over the place and an LCD monitor and... OK, you got it. And after 3 weeks that thingie was defect. Broken, damaged, kaputt. So we went to the "repair center" and asked the guys to repair it, only to get the answer that "unfortunately this model can't be repaired" and that "the guarantee is still valid but this model isn't produced anymore", and that "she had an option to buy a new one by giving back the old one and getting a price cut of... 5%!. (!) Well, she asked the guys for an old good heavy hammer and the rest (of the CD Player) is history! ;-) In front of the frightened eyes of the repair guys she executed the poor CD player. I always have to laugh when I think of it.
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 10/28/2009
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Here are some Springsteen lyrics written in 1992 that you will find very interesting.
57 Channels (and nothing on)
I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on
Well now home entertainment was my baby's wish
So I hopped into town for a satellite dish
I tied it to the top of my Japanese car
I came home and I pointed it out into the stars
A message came back from the great beyond
There's fifty-seven channels and nothin' on
Well we might'a made some friends with some billionaires
We might'a got all nice and friendly
If we'd made it upstairs
All I got was a note that said "Bye-bye John
Our love is fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
So I bought a .44 magnum it was solid steel cast
And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast
'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet
And they busted me for disturbin' the almighty peace
Judge said "What you got in your defense son?"
"Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
I can see by your eyes friend you're just about gone
Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on...
Fifty-seven channels and nothin'
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 10/25/2009
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Well, Andre, I must really wonder wherein that "temptation" may lie when the image starts converting to square pixel groups, but anyway... ;-)
You are completely right with your observation about a very fast world where technology makes such a "progress" so quickly. One doesn't even have the time to really think about the usefulness of it. Some years ago we were all switching back and forth between, say, 10 TV-programs. Now we do the same with 157 and the word is called "zapping", ey? ;-) Well, most of the time it was rubbish back then as it is also now but the palette of choise of rubbish is of course much wider, which is a "progress". ;-)
And now that you tell me... It will be fun to re-activate my old good iMac from "back then" in 2000 - it doesn its work today as well as "back then". Did you notice? It is not even 10 years and it is already "back then". Wow! I have a historical record of computer archeology! ;-)
Cheers!
Nick
P.S.: And especially about computers... Not really much has been done since, say, 2000. Only some automatization more but that's all. I don't speak about quicker hardware and the like but only about the underlying ideas about what such a machine is supposed to do. Could it be that such ideas get developed up to a certain point and then we only just make the means "better", with which the ideas work - or in other words, could it be that we tend to take the means for the idea itself as the time passes by?
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 10/22/2009
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Thanks for the great compliments Nick. I also believe that image softwares should be used sparingly. We can enhance without overdoing, if we resist the temptation.
About the example of the old gas station owner with his new neon lights. You hit the nail right on the head. A photo like the one you describe would show a major turning point in the man's life. He would have most likely saved for years to pay for a new sign. Then, fifty years later we take images of his abandoned gas station for posterity. I guess it is nostalgia. Today we don't have time for nostalgia about new technology. We live in an age where software, cell phones and computers are replaced by the next month's model before we can look through five percent of the operation manuals.
That reminds me, I better look into recycling my old 386 with Windows 3.1 :)
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 10/19/2009
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Hi Andre!
Indeed, "when the levels and other enhancement bars are used too much, the integrity of the image usually suffers", and this I would really really like to hammer into the minds of most "photoshopographers". It't much like... the whole world of guitarists tries to "sound like Eddie van Halen", but they simply overlook how subtly he uses all effects and how little additional tweaking he introduces. (They also overlook the fact that during the songs he is playing short wonderful solos and most of the time he is laying the rhythmic carpet on which the song can evolve, but that's another story - related to composition.)
Anyway, it is exactly as you say. The fact that PS and other modern imaging software provides enhancement bars going up to 300% of intensity of the used effect seems to somehow introduce the (latent??) belief that more is better. At least this is what I can see on most tweaked images here. There are horrible side effects of echo lines on contours, or of stair stepping, or of destruction of the gradients, and they still happily speak about "details". (What "details"? Do they mean the artificially intoduced orphaned pixels that do not correspond to any real details at all? ;-)) So, this is why I get such a joy (and also insight) when I see your tastefully and well dosed work enhancements. Your images are good by themselves and so the enhancements are just the... cherry on top of the well done cake.
About those images of Vegas, indeed there is something "sad" on them. "Sad" in the meaning of a gone world and there is much nostalgia to that - for me at least. It seems to have been an easier world in some sense. Or let's say a less complicated one. I do have some specific entrances to that world by being in matters of technology, so that I can compare what they did back then with the available means and what we do now. Well... in terms of efficiency they did much much better.
But perhaps I connect that (unconsciously??) too strongly with my own childhood, which was not in the 1950s but in the 1960s, but it somehow seems close to that. (Or perhaps I am getting too old, ey? ;-)) Anyway, I can see a kind of hope in those old images that I don't see anymore today. It seems to me that there was joy from the sides of, let's say, the owner of the gas station for his new neon lights - a joy that I don't see today. Or am I interpreting too much into such images?
Cheers!
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 9/5/2009
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Thanks Nick,
Yes, the haircut analogy is perfect. We want a little change but not too much. When the levels and other enhancement bars are used too much, the integrity of the image usually suffers.
I have sometimes in the past written my photoshop changes in the about section. but I've gotten away from doing that. It is time consuming, but the good thing is, you always have your own record kept in Usefilm for future reference.
I think I know what you mean about the Vegas images. I have seen a lot of images of the South West States that have a similar almost deserted look to them. The images of abandoned gas stations and diners with there 50's style neon signs have a very sad look about them.
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 8/16/2009
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Hi Andre!
Again quite late with my reply. With my new work in Bern I have to find some possibility for visiting UF more frequently since I am away for almost the whole day. Perhaps the evening would do, so let's see.
The correction worked like a charm. You remember when we talked about the best new haircut being the one that almost not noticeable? Here the same can be said. The front doesn't look "impossibly" darker than the rest and so it also doesn't "rip" the integrity of the image as a whole.
Actually this is also exactly what the adjustment sliders of the software are thought for, and not for constantly staying at 150%, as many too many people do most of the time. ;-) (I had to say it again, didn't I? ;-)) But seriously now, did you ever think of using such images for posting also some kind of "small instruction tutorials" here in the discussion threads? I mean for turning the attention of the people to things that happen "when this and that gets too much" and similar? It could be a good place to refer to when retouching images, I think. Of course I can understand very well that it would take much time to write detailed descriptions about it, and your day had also only 24h.
Anyway, the clouds might have worked well too, but this kind of string light does its own kind of "vague" atmosphere. I always found that strong sunlight and shadows have something silent, or even contemplative if you like. Some weeks ago I visited an exposition with images of Las Vegas and though many of them displayed the typical scenes full of people and daily motion they conveyed something quite silent, as of one would watch the place through the detouched eyes of the photographer. Rather impressive, I must say. This one does the same for my eyes.
Cheers!
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 8/1/2009
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Hi Nick,
I'm glad you like it. I have to admit, I did do a little manipulating in the post process. The original image was a little over exposed on the front of the house (door side). So, I had to selectively darken the front of the house to get rid of the glare. It seemed to work fairly well because I was basically isolating a rectangle. Of course, as I said to Dave, storm clouds might have worked a bit better. Over-all, I was pleased.
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 8/1/2009
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Thanks Dave,
I'm pretty happy with this one. However, some storm clouds would have been optimum.
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 8/1/2009
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Thanks Ken,
I get a kick out of taking this kind of image and playing around with them a bit to alter the mood somewhat. I'm glad you like it. I didn't realize how well that title would work when I first used it a couple of posts ago. I'm going to continue with the "_____With Secrets" titles for a few more.
I did get a couple of decent GBH images from the kayak, sneaking up on one in some reeds.
I had a couple of chances to get an American Bald Eagle too, but unfortunately he wouldn't cooperate for long and the image results were poor. Maybe next time.
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 7/28/2009
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Now, this one hit me already as a thumb and the big one hitsme even stronger, Andre! You did quite a great job for exposure balance and also for composition here! The creamy gradients are so well combined with the great details and textures under that perspective!
And all that seems to happen in a mysterious "peaceful" way, but it looks like a "peace and silence" that hides much too much. Hitchcock would be very pleased, I guess!
I don't see any problems at all on this one. It is technically perfect to me and at the same time it conveys a very distinct atmosphere. It makes one wanting to know more, or to expect that there is more to know about here.
Wonderful job!
Nick
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Dave Stacey
{K:150877} 7/28/2009
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You've managed to convey a spooky atmosphere, even on a bright sunny day, Andre! Great b/w tones here, too.
Dave.
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Ken Phenicie Jr.
{K:6273} 7/27/2009
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Very nice Andre, I like the darker tones in this as it adds to that Hitchcock feel along with your perspective. Wonderful title as I still want to see inside. Nicely done.
Good luck with your Great Blue Heron adventure.
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 7/27/2009
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Thanks Allen,
I do like doing this kind of image in B&W. The colours were also pretty photogenic too. Nice faded, peeling yellow paint of a few different shades.
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 7/27/2009
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Thanks Ray,
The problem I had with this one was that I was trying to create a bit of a darker mood, but I had the bright blue sky and white fluffy clouds to deal with. I think it might have worked better if I had some nice thunder clouds over head. Maybe next time.
Andre
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Allen Aisenstein
{K:3693} 7/26/2009
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Good architectural shot with nice texture. Looks good in b&w.
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stingRay pt.4 .
{K:250401} 7/26/2009
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A very basic homestead with none of the modern day refinements we expect to see in our own homes. BUT, in it's time it was a palace for somebody or some family. Beautifully photographed Andre my friend and converted to lovely mono tones a good choice. My very best wishes to you as always.......Ray
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Andre Denis
{K:66407} 7/26/2009
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An alternative view.
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Yellow House With Secrets #3 |
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