Digital Annum : Riding on the Orcas

Went over to Orcas again today to shoot some photos with Colin! We spend like four hours or something shooting on pline, and I think we got some really cool shots. The light didn't really cooperate for us. It started off very flat and grey but then suddenly turned super sunny and contrasty. But it worked out and we got some cool stuff! and no body crashed and died....another plus.

I was thinking about writing up a big explanation about one of the riding shots we did; they were challenging to get and hard to edit. But I'm finding myself drawn to a spur of the moment shot to took just as Colin was about to drop in.

We were shooting this corner...

We probably shot this thing like 8 or 9 times, just trying to find a good angle. These are the ones that turned out, but I have like a gazillion more of other angles.

From the first angle we tried, I could see where Colin was starting from farther up the trail. He was half way hidden by trees and whatnot, but it looked kind of cool so I just pointed my camera up there and took a picture. And it turned out awesome. Something I just really like about the composition. If he had been ripping that section of trail, I think it'd be an awesome action shot too.

Shot at ISO1000 (it was darkish), f5.6 and 1/200.

For editing, it got tricky. I raised the expo, then lowered the highlights and white and upped the crap out of the shadows. This effectively did two things....made a ~~shit ton~~ heck of a lot of noise and compressed the tonal range. I ran a lot of noise reduction later and then some sharpening and that helped a lot. I also lowered the blacks. Doing this seems counter productive (and maybe it is) but it helps bring back the contrast that compressing the tonal range makes go away.

Tone curve...you get screen shots.

Basically, further compressing the tonal range and adding some shadows back. Yes, it's undoing an adjustment I already did but shhh!!!! Don't tell.

You also get a screen shot of my b/w