Recuerdo de Cuba modified (repost) by Elcet

Photography • Photo Manipulation • posted on May 19, 2008

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Description

When I had posted my last photo, my wife Marie-Therese ("mtc" at RR, she is incredibly serious on picture quality) came. She saw it on my 21" screen, and she considered that the sea was far too small: "You ought to have more displaced the shell nearer the sea, some 5 or 6 ft more to the left, so you would have a much bigger water surface in the image". In fact, when you are shooting a photo with an extreme wideangle lens (106° here), you do not understand as exactly what the image will be than when you use a narrower angle of field. The depth mood is difficult to understand also, because distances seem to be increased by a factor of 3 or 4. More important, when you are just lying in the sand from chest to feet, your first thought is to protect your precious SLR camera and lens from sand and water. I had put the shell near the top of a little sand crest, for me it was better than just put it very near to the sea, with the risk of a wave suddenly ruining my equipment. I posted the pict with very slight improvements, "nearly as I had seen it in the reflex finder", and I was very proud that it was a "honest" photo, not a collage at all as I said in comments! Nevertheless, I accepted the experiment to enlarge the sea surface to an extent that did not existed in the real world, hence this new post. Because it is a Photoshop faking, I have posted the new one in Other Apps and in the Photo-Manipulation section, and not in Photography. I do not cherish this image as the previous one, but my wife prefers the new one… Make up your own opinion!

Techdata: original photo modified in Photoshop CS3 Extended with Edit>Transform>Deformation (exists only in CS2 and CS3 versions, for older ones go to Edit>Transform>Distort then achieve the sea shape into Image>Liquify (it is advised that you copy the original sea and paste into a separate Layer for more convenience). Sorry, my CS3 is French, I do not know the exact Adobe terms in the US versions.

See the original photo here: Recuerdo de Cuba (Souvenir from Cuba), for Fred255

Comments (20)

janedj

1:10PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

Beautiful image!!!Hugs Jane

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helanker

1:43PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

Well Edouard, I must say, that I prefare the first one, because it fits my eyes for perspective better than the second. But it is a darn good manipulation.

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rocserum

4:35PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

I've captured both images to see them together, and I agree with helanker, the first one looks more natural in a way, still great work on the second one! RS

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jocko500

5:48PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

very wondeful

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2Loose2Trek

7:47PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

I must say that I agree with helanker. The first picture just seemed more natural to my eye. This is excellent too and I must commend you on your expertise with Photoshop. Both are excellent but I prefer the first image. :-)

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Richardphotos

9:52PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

I like both versions very much and appreciate your post work in moving the shell closer to the water.more water does help but then the sand seems to be out of scale against the water since the shell gives an idea of the distance.

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Aioros

10:17PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

Beautiful image my friend.

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MaraP

10:54PM | Mon, 19 May 2008

WOW!!! Fantastic image!! Excellent composition and POV!!

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Elcet

1:15AM | Tue, 20 May 2008

To Richardphotos: in fact I DID NOT MOVE THE SHELL at all in the document window (neither in the first nor in the second image). I took the REAL object in my hands, and moved it by one meter (3 ft) in the REAL world, NOT in Photoshop. Then I took the photo. In the above image, I enlarged the sea area only by photo-manipulation in Photoshop (trying to cope with perspective and get a visually beleivable result), this is the only difference between the first post and the current one. Both are based on a single JPG capture, but I would say that the first is a "honest", true, photo (just with very slight improvements), and this one not at all. But for sure now the shell seems nearer to the sea, in fact its place is strictly the same inside the frame than in the first photo. I am very proud of the first image, because for me it was the proof that I can obtain that kind of dreamy, near scifi, view that is normally done in 3D (Vue, Bryce, Terragen, Artmatic Voyager) with a true photo SLR camera. I have dreamt of making that kind of picture for tenths of years, but it was then impossible except with huge field (plate) cameras such as the Linhof Technika, or extremely costful equipements such as the special TS35 Canon lens (of which the glass elements both displace and tilt to rely on Scheimpflug's rules). Now it has become possible without these difficulties thanks to the progress in optics, thus giving more freedom to image artists. But the current image is… a simple joke!

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furuta

9:12AM | Tue, 20 May 2008

Beautiful scene. wonderful image!!

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MagikUnicorn

11:18AM | Tue, 20 May 2008

Sublime

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dphoadley

12:37AM | Wed, 21 May 2008

Lovely! I grew up by the sea, in Florida. DO keep up the good work. DPH

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RBlue

4:41PM | Wed, 21 May 2008

I agree with you, I like the first one a little better.

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pixelmeister

2:35AM | Sat, 24 May 2008

I like the first a little bit more. It is better because I see more beach. This 'says' - 'Help, the water is too near'. Manipulation and cut on the two photos are first class.

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