[Photos] Some of my recent photography

[Madison]

As I mentioned in another thread, I am working on getting better at using tools to edit photos after they have been taken, and in the past I used only raw shots.

Here are a few photos I entered into a contest recently (Its a contest at my work) that have been edited with Adobe Lightroom.

This one is my favorite. The rain beat down the roses in my backyard and the petals were all over the ground. To me this turned out exactly the way I wanted it to. (Which not everyone likes) but I still just love the way it looks so hope you like it too.

I know not everyone likes it because it didn't win in the contest I entered it into. BUT that's ok I did it for me!

This one, however got second place...

Obviously the inside of a Hot Air Balloon.



And Black and White is always an option as well. This photo took first place in the Black and White category I entered it into.

Any guesses what this is? I love how this turned out.

Its a very close up photo of Black Pool at West Thumb in Yellowstone National Park. The colors are really very vibrant blue, and I adjusted it to be black again. (It used to be black years ago which is how it got its name, but changing temperature made it blue)

 

[Elian]

I'm personally not really a fan of black and white pictures because for me it often takes the pictures life away. This one however does look quite interesting because the contrast is so... how do I say it, heavy?

I love the first picture. Now I do not know what it looked like before you edited it but I love the fact that it still looks like it's an actual picture rather than an edited one. I think that's something people tend to forget when editing pictures, that the impact the picture has on people can be so much bigger when they do not realise it's an edited one. (This ofcourse is still my opinion)

Also: Did you take these pictures aswell?

 

[Madison]

I'm personally not really a fan of black and white pictures because for me it often takes the pictures life away. This one however does look quite interesting because the contrast is so... how do I say it, heavy?

Yep it has a lot of contrast on purpose, then I brought the highlights out to make the white so sharp.

I love the first picture. Now I do not know what it looked like before you edited it but I love the fact that it still looks like it's an actual picture rather than an edited one. I think that's something people tend to forget when editing pictures, that the impact the picture has on people can be so much bigger when they do not realise it's an edited one. (This ofcourse is still my opinion)

I only adjusted a few things on it, just to enhance it a little bit. that is really the purpose of lightroom, to enhance what is there. The idea is in a darkroom you would be able to make some adjustments using various chemicals so this program is for digital adjustment: contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc.

Also: Did you take these pictures aswell?

Yes these are my photos.

 

[RickStrife]

The first one is gorgeous, I love it, perfect! Flowers are the best models. I was asking you in the other post where I could check some of your photos out hehe.

I like the way the fire was captured in the balloon, nice! and the Black Pool I wouldn't have been able to guess it, and what I like the most about it, is the whites in, black being the protagonist.

Beautiful photos

 

[ChewBecca]

I'm personally not really a fan of black and white pictures because for me it often takes the pictures life away. This one however does look quite interesting because the contrast is so... how do I say it, heavy?

I love the first picture. Now I do not know what it looked like before you edited it but I love the fact that it still looks like it's an actual picture rather than an edited one. I think that's something people tend to forget when editing pictures, that the impact the picture has on people can be so much bigger when they do not realise it's an edited one. (This ofcourse is still my opinion)

Also: Did you take these pictures aswell?

You need to see proper/covert to black and white properly.

A good black and white image is breathtaking.

 

[Bergthor]

I'm a big fan of black and white portraits if the purpose is to express emotion/sadness. These are nice photos just keep it simple and don't take that artistic licence too far like a lot of self proclaimed photographers. You have a nice camera and a good sense of composition

 

[Wucas]

Hey Madison!

I am not a photographer by any means (I am sometimes forced to take photos for work, but it is definitely not my thing), but these guys are cool. My personal favorite is the black and white pool, if you were to ask my personal aesthetic, that is it. Even after thinking about what I would do differently with that photo, I can't think of anything.

As for your favorite, the rose, I think we could add a little more intensity by changing a few things. Now please remember I am not a photographer, and most surely not a fine artist. This is your art, so if I am impeding on that at all, you can just ignore all of my suggestions. Also, I saw you are just using Lightroom, so some of the edits are impossible without PS. I apologize, I simply am not proficient enough in Lightroom to give you suggestions there.

You're photos look nice, and so if you need help with any of the technical photo editing stuff you can always ask. I feel it takes an eye to take a photo, all the other editing stuff is just learned, so you have an amazing starting point.

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1. Flipped and rotated central piece. (Placing the dynamic element flush with the top makes the image feel heavy, I placed it on the lower golden ratio, and rotated it 45 degrees adding tension.
2. Lowered background saturation by half. Darkened areas that took away from central piece.
3. Up'd contrast of main flower.
4. Changed Green to cyan so it stayed within the color combo you have here.
5. Quick masked the whole thing editing where the pedals in the background are located as to not impede the flow of the composition.

Any golden ratio nerds out there?

 

[Madison]

@Wucas sorry I just saw this. I see where you are going. Actually I am a fan of the golden ratio, but haven't ever thought to apply to photos. I like swirls and spirals so obviously a perfect spiral is cool. I like it very much in architecture, and in nature. I just haven't though to apply it to photos, so interesting perspective you have there.

I really appreciate your take on my photo. It is very different than the vision I had for the photo. I suppose one could just as easily make it sideways -> or <- and still apply the same circle. It would look different for sure that way. We are all different in what we like and what we perceive as something we like. Which honestly being different is what makes us wonderful. To me, the contrast on rose is a bit too much and the almost white seems fake to me, but I see where you are going. Some of these things I did try to some extent for sure. I know I played with the leaf color and the rose contrast at least once. Your photo is very lovely for different reasons.

I ended up with my version because of what I felt when I was making it. The rose is 'upside-down' is part of the meaning the photo has, the heaviness of the top was intended. It was beat down after the storm, but still oh so lovely in many other ways. I wanted its natural colors to shine the little veins in the petals to show, to show how delicate and intact it is, to show its natural beauty. The petals on the ground below just a memory now, like tears. It looks almost as if it were bleeding in pain from losing some of itself, and still it remains intact. To me it is so many metaphors for myself and what I am striving for. That even after I've been knocked down, or beaten down, that I am still lovely, and I haven't changed that much. That even though I lost a part of myself, it is OK to let go. Anyway... its hard to fully put into words, but its sort of a motivation that way, to me.

And the next person might see something totally different. I love that so very much about the world. Not sure how but I think you may have made me like this more than I already did.

Thanks again for your edits