Weekend in Paris

[shoey]

Hey guys,

Been a while since i've posted so here's an update.

After all of your helpful advise i finally bit the bullet and got a new lens. I wanted a new walkaraound lens, specifically for use in paris. I decided to go with the 24-105 f/4L, and up until the trip i was kinda thinking i'd made the wrong choice, but after being in the field with it, i definately feel i made the right choice for me. 24 was just about wide enough when i needed it but i loved the extra range. I'm deffo more of a tele guy than a wideboy:D

Anyway, i'll make some comments about the lens later, i just wanted to give you a quick look at some of the pics. There are 200 odd pics and about 50 that are worth playing with so it'll take me a while to get through them all.

I only got back last night and i'm back at work now so these were a bit of a rush job, hope you like them:)

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_01.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_02.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_03.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_04.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_05.jpg

Let me know what you think.

[forno]

You got talent in spades in my opinion:D

Paris rocks huh:cool: :cool:

[RichNY]

Really like #4 trees

[Sungrazer]

I like #4 (maybe without the bird) and #5. Good work.

[GaryS]

I like #4 a lot... Although I would also rub out the bird, and maybe the rest of the people except for the closest two.

Have I mentioned that I sometimes get carried away with the clone tool?

[adam75south]

shoey, you have the BEST b&w conversions i've ever seen. seriously, drop some knowledge on us.

that can't be all channel mixer can it?

[shoey]

just got back from work and i'm getting grief for not doing the tea so i've only had chance to sort out the bird:D

I'll be back later:)

[adam75south]

just got back from work and i'm getting grief for not doing the tea so i've only had chance to sort out the bird:D
......huh?

[shoey]

......huh?

I was planning on posting some more pics tonight but i had to go make some tea for the missus cos she was on her way home. So i only had chance to fix the bird in the pic above, didn;t have time to post any more up.

That's what i meant:D

[forno]

"tea" is what you Pacific rimers call dinner:D

[adam75south]

ok i thought you were using some of that chappy english mumbo jumbo on me.

[GaryS]

I want a weekend in Paris... Preferably July 29th this year.

#4 is much better sans bird. Great pics.

[adam75south]

all these pictures rock. i like the long walk. what lens were you using on these.

[shoey]

All the images in this series were taken with the 24-105 f/4 and PP in Lightroom 1.0

This is the first time i've been abroad with my kit and was very reluctant to take more than just the body and one lens. As it turned out i was very happy with that combo which is why i'm happy that the FL on the lens is right for me. I'm really not convinced about the sharpness of the lens though, i'll post some 100% crops with no PP on later to show what i mean. Maybe i've just been spoilt by the 50mm and the 70-300 IS, as they are very sharp.

Anyway, had a quick chance to get through some more of my photos so here are 5 more. I'm trying to stay away from making all my images B&W, even though some of these did look very nice once converted:( , just don't want to be a one trick pony:D

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_06.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_07.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_08.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_09.jpg

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_10.jpg

Not too keen on some of the post work on these but i've been trying to rush through them:)

Also, if you pick one of these that you think would be better B&W i'll walk though what i do.

[cdifoto]

ok i thought you were using some of that chappy english mumbo jumbo on me.

He was. :eek: :D

[cdifoto]

These are top notch, Shoe-Fly. I thought my B&W conversions were decent but I really do wanna know how yours are done. :o

[shoey]

He was. :eek: :D

:D ;)

I'm sorry, i'm a northerner, when i said tea i did mean dinner:D , i suppose that does get confusing though when you say "would you like some tea?". Am i saying a drink or a meal:D

[shoey]

Right then,

for all those B&W fans:D

Here is a conversion i have just done from the image above. I have to appologise for some lack in quality as i only had a jpeg of it here at work and would've liked the RAW.

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_09b.jpg

Anyway, here's what i did:

1. Open lightroom
2. Import RAW/Jpeg
3. Select image and go to develop tab
4. When i'm doing a B&W i apply the Zero'd preset from the panel on the left. I like to work on the B&W with no other setting already on.
5. Put image into greyscale mode.
6. Go to the channel mixer and put all numbers to 0, i like to do my own numbers;)
7. 1 by 1 drasticly change the slider to see which part of the image is being affected.
8. Put each slider in a position where you are happy that enough detail is preserved for each colour and that there aren't too many blown out bits, if so use a bit of recover to bring the whites back.
9. Play with the curves a bit
10. export and put a border on.

Honest to god, thats all i do:D

[Sungrazer]

Whoa, that one of the ceiling is freaky when you scroll evenly up or down the page.

[cdifoto]

Whoa, that one of the ceiling is freaky when you scroll evenly up or down the page.

I want some of what he's having. :eek: :D

[cdifoto]

Right then,

for all those B&W fans:D

Here is a conversion i have just done from the image above. I have to appologise for some lack in quality as i only had a jpeg of it here at work and would've liked the RAW.

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_09b.jpg

Anyway, here's what i did:

1. Open lightroom
2. Import RAW/Jpeg
3. Select image and go to develop tab
4. When i'm doing a B&W i apply the Zero'd preset from the panel on the left. I like to work on the B&W with no other setting already on.
5. Put image into greyscale mode.
6. Go to the channel mixer and put all numbers to 0, i like to do my own numbers;)
7. 1 by 1 drasticly change the slider to see which part of the image is being affected.
8. Put each slider in a position where you are happy that enough detail is preserved for each colour and that there aren't too many blown out bits, if so use a bit of recover to bring the whites back.
9. Play with the curves a bit
10. export and put a border on.

Honest to god, thats all i do:D

So basically you're using Lightroom's channel mixer the same as you would in Photoshop?

I need to play with that more.

[adam75south]

i tried this one last night...before i read this post. i used channel mixer in photoshop and then curves, but i'm guessing lightroom will do it alot better since it gives you more than just 3 colors. i cheated a little, i isolated him and the background and did my own channel mixing on each.

thank you so much for the info. i'm gonna try that out when i get home.

http://www.dallasriders.com/files/img_7788_edit_2_823.jpg

[shoey]

So basically you're using Lightroom's channel mixer the same as you would in Photoshop?

I need to play with that more.

Correct! I just find it alot more intuative, especially in 1.0 over the beta version. I love the live histogram and the highlighted trouble areas too.

Although, to be honest a lot of it is impimented in the new camera raw in the CS3 beta, i just prefer the workflow of lightroom. I still use PS for editing as i've been using it for years and i know my way around, but some of the new tools in LR are cool, i love the straighten horizon tool:D

I suppose its just what you are happy with, i'm sure one of my other conversions was done in PS instead of LR, they can both produce the same result.

[adam75south]

i love the straighten tool. they have close to the same in cs2(for people who don't know), you can use the measure tool, drag a straight line on the horizon or building vertical or horizontal, then go to image>rotate canvas>arbitrary and it will put in the correct angle and do it automatically for you. an extra step though so i definitely like lightroom's tool better.

thanks to scott kelby for that.

[cdifoto]

Lightroom's straighten and auto-crop is awesome. :D First time I used it I friggin' giggled like a schoolgirl. :eek: :rolleyes:

[forno]

DAMN P&S thingymajigs! I wanted to take this shot when I was in Paris in 05, iXus50 wasnt upto it:(

http://www.philshoebottom.co.uk/Photos/DCR/Paris/Paris_06.jpg

[some guy]

Paris brings back many fond memories. Did you take a boat ride down the Seine? It can be one of the most romantic thing to do in the evening. Although I think it may be cold there right now.

http://alai.zenfolio.com/img/p47600305-4.jpg

http://alai.zenfolio.com/img/p176471570-4.jpg

[forno]

Sorry for the highjack shoey, just thought I add a couple of pics:o

All taken with the Ixus 50 no PP.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9311/img12ly4.jpg

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5764/img28ny8.jpg

[jamison55]

Wow #4 in your first post is publishably good!

[Mark_48]

Ahh, yes Paris...... oh wait a minute wrong continent:(

Excellent B&W's Shoey. And the color images ain't too shabby either. Have you had any luck printing B&W's, either yourself or a lab. I've got a good quality Canon printer that does color excellently, but I have yet to be able to print B&W that doesn't have a slight color tint to it, at least not to resemble tones that I got with paper dipped in Dektol.