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Antenna Mast
Antenna Mast
GeneralE


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Silhouettes II (Advanced Editing IV)
Collection: Portfolio
Camera: Canon PowerShot S1 IS
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Date: May 9, 2005
Aperture: 8.0
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/2000
Galleries: Sky, Science and Technology
Date Uploaded: May 9, 2005

 One of a sequence of shots as those clouds blew past the tower.

I was going to use one where the tower just fit over the cloud, lined up really well, but I decided I liked the feel of impending action implied by the gap and the motion. Combined with the projections on the antenna looking as if they're prepared to fend off the onrushing cloud, it adds an element of conflict to a rather simple composition.

Note: according to Photoshop, the top part of the tower is exactly vertical, although it looks to me as if it's leaning to the right.

Editing steps:
-RGB, Blue, and Green Curves.
-Rotate 0.24 degrees, crop to original size
-Resize for DPC
-Noise Reduction applied with PictureCooler using:
---Color De-noise = 0.8
---Open Space De-noise = 0.8
---Refocus Level = 0.4
-USM at 12%/48 dia/TH=0
-USM at 66%/0.6 dia/TH=7
-Add three-pixel black stroke
-SaveAs JPEG quality = 10/10

I didn't do any dodging or burning, although these clouds are a likely candidate -- especially to fix the blown-out bits of cloud -- but I'm trying to edit less in general, and I wanted to see how this would do without it.

Note: processing through the noise-reduction program (and a tiny bit less sharpening in the first step) reduced the file size from 131k to 85k, and ultimately allowed me to increase the JPEG quality level.

Statistics
Place: 217 out of 248
Avg (all users): 4.4342
Avg (commenters): 5.0000
Avg (participants): 4.3190
Avg (non-participants): 4.5536
Views since voting: 1251
Views during voting: 297
Votes: 228
Comments: 4
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon D200
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
 05/18/2005 04:27:01 AM
Not a very interesting subject, clouds saved the day..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
 05/17/2005 02:31:41 AM
moving the mast a bit to the left would have helped the balance. the big empty blue space lends disproportionate weight to the whole left side such that breaking the rule of thirds is merited.

or so i see it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony DSLR-A700
Sony 50mm f/1.4
 05/17/2005 12:40:09 AM
Great clouds and nice clear shot. There's a little too much visible detail for me to be able to truly call this a silhouette. Good crisp image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon PowerShot Pro1
 05/16/2005 02:00:36 PM
Nice color, contrast, composition and cloud shapes. Interesting juxtaposition of forms. But it's not a silhouette and will be scored as such probably.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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