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Hydration
Hydration
giantmike


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Water Bottle (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-50D
Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Location: Verona, WI
Date: Mar 15, 2011
Aperture: 9
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/125
Galleries: Nature, Water
Date Uploaded: Mar 15, 2011

 I had two ideas pop into my head for this challenge. This photo, and a discarded water bottle in the woods. I actually ended up doing both (I stumbled upon a water bottle), but like the "story" behind this setup more than the story behind a piece of litter.

I actually went out two difference mornings to get this. The first morning the light ended up being better, but the end result wasn't as good. I didn't use a DOF calculator, so my water bottle was a good bit out of focus (Topaz InFocus cleaned it up nicely). But more distracting was my arm position. It looked like I was taking a leak, so I figured that wouldn't fly too well.

On the second morning, I took what I learned from the first morning to re-setup the shot, this time with a "walking stick" in my hand. After a number of photos, I finally got the one (getting focus and position is hard with your back to the camera).

I would probably give this a 6, so I'm guessing this will end in the 5.2-5.4 range.

Post Processing:
* Crop
* White Balance
* Increase exposure and brightness
* Topaz DeNoise
* Topaz InFocus
* Topaz Adjust
* Topaz Detail (partly for medium/large details, but mostly for tones)
* Crop further
* Increase black point
* Increase brightness more
* Increase definition
* Increase Saturation with higher vibrancy
* S curve with a bigger bump in the highlights to lighten it up
* Highlights and Shadows
* Reduce orange saturation slightly
* Reduce red-orange saturation and luminance slightly
* Reduce blue saturation with higher luminance and slightly bluer hue
* Increase green saturation and luminance with slightly yellower hue
* Export to TIFF
* Resize
* Sharpen Edges
* Save as JPEG

Statistics
Place: 54 out of 121
Avg (all users): 4.9182
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 4.9804
Avg (non-participants): 4.8994
Views since voting: 709
Views during voting: 362
Votes: 220
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II for Canon
 03/22/2011 09:10:29 PM
feels a bit muted, nothing really stands out to me. I wonder if this could have been composed differently to create more interest.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2
Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 ASPH
 03/20/2011 11:55:33 PM
I think this is great. I only wish the conspicuously perfect placement of the CamelBak logo didn't make me think "commercial". Also, it would have been nice if the color of the water bottle drew the eye more, and that the bright green ring jumped out less. Still, one of my favorites for this challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
 03/18/2011 03:22:49 PM
The water bottle in it's natural habitat. Nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
 03/18/2011 09:58:53 AM
Love the crop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III
Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO
 03/17/2011 11:34:49 PM
Camelbak seems to be getting a lot of free advertising in this challenge...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D800
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 03/17/2011 02:52:58 PM
This says hiking more than water bottle to me. Still a nice pic. Difficult challenge I know.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D80
Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
 03/16/2011 07:56:37 PM
Seems like the focus point is on the backpack more than the bottle. It gets soft at the lid.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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