I didn’t love this shot after taking it. I didn’t really like anything I shot at this location, but I thought I’d try to create something decent. Thats really not a good approach to photography. Don’t go out and snap mediocre pictures with the hope that you can turn them into something cool in post processing.
Even after the editing, I’m not excited about this one, but I did experiment with new techniques. I shot this with ProHDR, edited with filterstorm and lenslight. I sucked detail out of the image by reducing noise a couple of times in filterstorm, which gave it a slight painterly look. Then I added some light and bokeh with lenslight.
Not crazy about it, but its better than what I started with.
I love your honesty
Thank you Edith. I’m my toughest critic and I think all the critiquing I do for others has helped me be even more aware of when something doesn’t really work.
What is “bokeh”? Is that a typo or just something I’ve never heard of?
I’d scrap this one. You’re accomplished enough that you don’t need to try to save mediocre or bad images. Not everything we try works out. It’s a fact of life. My colleague teaches that much of what we do is like batting: if you get a hit 1 out of 3 times, you’re doing well.
Thank you, Karen. Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light. In this case, its the hexagons in the sky.
Here is an example of bokeh created by using a large aperture and focusing on something much closer to me than the lights in the background.
Oops, it didn’t add the image I inserted. Heres the link instead, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpasillas/5309762673/
I know your pain of trying to make a shot work against all odds. And frustration of being unable to get a good shot at a place that should be photogenic, or has a nice feel otherwise. A good lesson-for-all post.