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As Daylight Fades
As Daylight Fades
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Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Bokeh (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Location: backyard woods
Date: Jan 9, 2005
Aperture: F/5.6
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/250
Galleries: Sky, Nature
Date Uploaded: Jan 9, 2005

 While giving the dogs a run in the woods the other day, I found some interesting dead vines, twisted, knotted, and holding dew left from the morning fog. Luckily, I had brought my camera, and I started taking a couple shots with a fairly shallow DOF. In the LCD, I noticed how the branches in the background were dispersing the sun light, creating a slight bokeh...

So, I made a mental note to return before the challenge ended.

As typical, I waited until almost too late. I got down the trail just about 45 minutes before sunset. I also brought a spray bottle to make my own dew drops. The knotted vines produced some interesting images, especially shooting up towards the naked upper reaches of the trees--that produced some really nice bokeh.

I tried all three of my lenses: 28-80, 75-300, and my 100 macro; none but the 28-80 at 80 produced any bokeh (at least under these conditions).

As I changed lenses back to the 28-80, I turned and started shooting towards the sun. It looked like it would be great; unfortunately, the trees were too dense to get any decent lighting to come through.

Now, it got interesting. I'm in the woods and running out of light. I had to find a place with enough light coming through to catch it, but not so much as to wash everything out. (To make it more fun, I had both the dogs with me...so, we were all running wildly through the woods.)

I finally found an opening and found a branch that I could spray down. This was a real treat, shooting handheld and manually focusing. I only got off about 15 shots before running out of sun.

Post-processing was very straight forward. Cropped, a little healing on the sun bokeh, adjusted levels, added adjustment layers for brightness/contrast and hue/saturization. Added a duplicate layer and multiplied, then sized and saved for web. Finally, added a touch of NeatImage to take a bit of grain out of the bokeh.

Here is the out-of-camera original used to produce this image:


Just to prove to myself that the image wasn't a fluke, I went back to the woods a couple mornings later in an attempt to recreate the image. That effort produced this original:

from which I culled the cropped image:



Statistics
Place: 14 out of 241
Avg (all users): 6.4036
Avg (commenters): 8.4000
Avg (participants): 6.2051
Avg (non-participants): 6.6226
Views since voting: 3610
Views during voting: 434
Votes: 223
Comments: 29
Favorites: 17 (view)

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AuthorThread
 01/25/2005 10:46:30 PM
Jeez, I wish I'd voted on this. I would have put it high! This is really lovely. Very pretty bokeh, and as mentioned earlier in the comments, integral to the image. Great idea. Now I wanna do it ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 01/24/2005 08:15:02 PM
This is a terrific shot, and so much better for reading about your adventure. It's really nice to see one of these water drop reflecty shots taken outside a studio :).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2005 06:50:27 AM
Your top so far Skip. Strong work in a tricky challenge; and with the bonus of that lovely shot of the dogs, too ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Apple iPhone
 01/17/2005 05:13:43 PM
IMO you were unlucky not to get a top 3. Exceptional image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1D X
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM
 01/17/2005 04:17:46 PM
thank you all for your wonderful and generous comments! this challenge was a lot of fun, especially considering all the hand-wringing before and during about just what was meant by 'bokeh'. there was some really great photography, as well as some really great bokeh. i congratulate all! thank you!

skip
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
 01/17/2005 11:18:47 AM
I had this picked for the top three. A beautiful capture. I love the reflection.
Adding: The bright red circle, imo, was too pronounced. I love all your untouched originals. They're gorgeous!

Message edited by author 2005-01-17 11:20:48.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Fujifilm X-T30
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 01/17/2005 10:32:36 AM
Congratulations on your top 20 finish, Skip. Great of you to provide the details pre and post. Great shot, great crop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 01/17/2005 09:04:49 AM
Great shot Skip, and a good finish in this challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Kodak DX6490
 01/17/2005 08:00:35 AM
Very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 01/17/2005 12:49:03 AM
very nice, well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
01/17/2005 12:27:07 AM
Look at you!!! Fantastic!!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 01/17/2005 12:20:49 AM
Congratulations on your 14th placing. This is almost hypnotic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
 01/17/2005 12:13:20 AM
Congrats on 14th place, Skip! Great photo!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-10D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 01/15/2005 11:14:13 PM
Quite fabulous. I don't think it could be improved in any way. My choice for blue. 10 and added to favs
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
Panasonic Lumix G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH Mega O.I.S lens
 01/13/2005 01:55:18 AM
Excellent. Bokeh is an integral part of the composition here. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 01/12/2005 01:22:34 PM
A very good effort which approaches the line into abstact art. The colors are just great since they represent dusk. Bumping up.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
 01/12/2005 11:56:41 AM
great pic love it one of my favorites, good luch
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D300
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Nikon
 01/11/2005 02:04:10 PM
very interesting idea. What exactly is in the background?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II
 01/11/2005 11:45:12 AM
one of my favorites :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
 01/11/2005 11:16:58 AM
The subject isn't very interesting, but it is accentuated by the bokeh. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
 01/11/2005 10:30:06 AM
What a magical shot! Really stellar skills. My top choice! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
 01/11/2005 10:12:23 AM
so lovely!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera
 01/11/2005 01:02:18 AM
Original Idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 01/10/2005 09:05:49 PM
vrynice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS
 01/10/2005 09:03:33 PM
quite fascinating. I'm interested to see how this one happened.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Apple iPhone
 01/10/2005 04:23:07 PM
Love this shot. Excellent. I thought to try something similar, but couldn't get a pleasing result. This is exceptional. Top 3.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D200
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED
 01/10/2005 07:12:08 AM
cool image - I caprtured a similar water dropplet imgae (see profile). Hope this does well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
 01/10/2005 01:34:32 AM
A retake of the drop lens but so beautiful and creative, perfect for this challenge. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
 01/10/2005 12:56:21 AM
Stunning!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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