Results and Feedback for the "Behavior" Weekly Photography Assignment

[keithsnell]

Please forgive me for being so delinquent in getting the results and feedback posted for this assignment.  Things have piled up a bit over the last two weeks.  I'm still a bit behind, but I will try to catch up on the assignments.

The guidelines for this assignment were to strive to compose an image illustrating an interesting behavior.  Although my examples were of wildlife, images of domestic animals or even people were welcome, as long as the image captured an interesting behavior or told a story.


Lars continued to inspire us to "think outside the box" with his image titled "in the end of the tunnel I saw a bright light...."  I wish I would have asked Lars how he did it.  It looks like a fisheye lens, with an up and down movement?  How did you get that effect Lars?  I loved the filaments of light in the image.

In the end of the tunnel i saw an bright light....
Photographed by Lars

Chris did a great job capturing animal behavior in his Homeland Security image, and I enjoyed the title.  This image was nicely composed and effectively told a story.  One possible improvement would be to control the exposure a bit better to prevent the road from being so bright that it steals the viewer's attention away from the primary subject.

Homeland Security
Photographed by Chris Franklin

Jaime captured amazing detail in his Madame Norleaneaux Butterfly image (and quite the personality too).  Jaime are you viewing your images on a monitor that is capable of displaying the full Adobe RGB color space?  I ask only because every now and then your images are "super saturated" on my monitor.  I suspect that the monitor you are using is only capable of displaying sRGB, so you're not seeing the "super saturated" greens (your monitor can't physically display those colors.)  You should look for an opportunity to view your images on an Adobe RGB capable display.  Perhaps you can find someone in your area that has a color calibrated wide-gamut display?  Overall your images are very impressive, but every now and then I suspect the super-saturated colors sneak in (especially the greens) without you being aware of them.

Hel-low....I'm Madame Norleaneaux Butterfly...
Photographed by Jaime Dorotan (girod)

Jaime's ...I need to find them.... image was another wonderful macro, with great detail and exposure.  Wonderful job lighting the scene with soft light from the Lumiquest softbox Jaime.  You did an outstanding job composing the scene with a combination of softly focused background/foreground and sharply defined detail in the subject.  Very nice work!

...I need to find them....
Photographed by Jaime Dorotan (girod)

Dave's Cowgirls on Parade was a wonderfully evocative image that brought to mind the pioneer spirit.  The combination of windblown hair, hunkered down determination and self assured movement forward all evoked the spirit of pioneer women of the old west.  Wonderful, evocative composition Dave!

Cowgirls on Parade
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairedust)

I enjoyed Michele's series on the otter.  Having just had the opportunity to watch their cousins in action while at Grand Teton National Park, I know how quickly they move, and how difficult it is to capture a sharp well-composed image of otters at play.  Very nice job Michele.

A moment out of the water
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Back into the water
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Typical Otter!
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Here I am...
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Such a cutie...
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

I agree with Dave that Michele perfectly captured the moment in her image of A game of tag.  I loved the playful smiles of the boys and the energy in their stances.  The image brought back memories of a more carefree youth, and I enjoyed sharing their smiles for just a moment.  

A game of tag
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Dave captured AMAZING detail and wonderful color in his image of the Milkweed Bugs, doing what Milkweed Bugs do.  This image is outstanding Dave!  I'm going to trade in an Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit for a second Editor's Choice for Technical Merit so that I can select two images from this assignment based on technical merit.

Milkweed Bugs
Editor's Choice for Technical Merit
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)

Rick's image of Evan and the rocks brought back memories of a wonderful trip.  Great job capturing a little boy's irresistible urge to throw rocks in the water Rick.  You did well composing this image from a low perspective to give us an Evan's-eye view of the water.  Well done.

Evan and the rocks
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)

Great job capturing the moment in your Who will blink first! image Rick.  I'm impressed that you managed to capture a catchlight in the bear's eye.  It helps add a sense of life and tension to the bear, and makes the image much more effective.  Next time you need to run quickly about 50 yards to the left so that you can capture the image without the branches in the way.    (Just kidding.)

Who will blink first!
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)

I love the behavior Rebecca captured in her Protecting image.  If it wasn't for the fact that there were so many amazing images submitted for this assignment, this image would have been awarded an Editor's Choice.  I'd love to play around with this image in post processing.  There's wonderful material here for a beautiful Autumn scene.  If I can find the time I'd love to enhance the fall colors and do a little "light painting" to add a bit of mood and mystery to the image.

Protecting
Photographed by Rebecca

I was about to mention that Rebecca should have toned down the saturation a bit in her image of Stupid tourist behavior, but then I realized that somehow the image had been uploaded without an embedded color space.  Because there is no embedded color space, the colors vary widely from monitor to monitor, and on my wide gamut monitor they are way too saturated.  Applying the sRGB colorspace in Photoshop corrected that problem, so now the version of the image I downloaded displays correctly.

Stupid tourist behavior
Photographed by Rebecca

Rebecca captured a nice portrait of the chipmunk in her Eating image.  My favorite thing about the image however was the wonderful depth provided the the progressively softer layers of branches in the background.  This is another image where, given the time, I'd love to play around with "light painting" and other tweaks to make this image pop.

Eating!
Photographed by Rebecca

There's no extra pop required for Sue's images of the Coyote in Yellowstone.  Not only did Sue do a fantastic job timing the shot, but her exposures were PERFECT to capture the beautiful golden backlit grass.  Considering the intensity of the backlight, I'm pleasantly surprised that she was able to render as much detail as she did on the shadow side of the coyote.  Sue's Coyote in Yellowstone image won the vote for People's Choice, and deserves Editor's Choice for Technical Merit as well.  Wonderful, perfect technique in capturing these images Sue.  

Coyote in Yelowstone
People's Choice and Editor's Choice for Technical Merit
Photographed by Sue Pepin

Coyote in Yellowstone II
Photographed by Sue Pepin

Carol's image of the Pronghorn buck and doe is one of the best I have seen.  It's unusual to be able to get this close to these skittish animals, and even more unusual to be able to capture them interacting like this.  It was quite an experience to watch this buck pursue the doe for so long.  I suspect that the only reason we were able to get this close was because he was using the line of photographers as a "fence" to keep the doe pinned in place while he pursued her.  Very interesting behavior by both animals, and a great shot Carol.

Pronghorn buck and doe
Photographed by Carol Burkett

I love the colors and composition in Carol's Cormorant sunrise image.  Maybe it's because I was there and witnessed this scene, but this image has a sense of time and place to me.  Great job reacting quickly to capture the shot Carol.
 

Cormorant sunrise
Photographed by Carol Burkett

Who's that silly girl?  Julie did a great job capturing McKenzie's silly behavior.  It's amazing that even with most of her face hidden, we still get the sense that she's being silly.  Thanks for the wonderful image Julie.

Silly
Photographed by Julie Schroeder

Thank you to everyone that participated in this assignment.  Your images were truly amazing, and inspired me to get out there and ratchet my photography efforts one notch higher.

Keith

[girod]

Thanks Keith. I guess, I really have to calibrate my monitor with the Color Munki and learn more about Color Management.

My HP 2709m is supposed to be a "wide-gamut" monitor and I was assuming that at its factory default settings, it should handle AdobeRGB Colorspace - but I haven't really look at the details of this monitor. I have to find time to really have a closer look.

Could it be that I'm using (in CNX2) ProphotoRGB Colorspace in processing my NEF files even though I convert them to Nikon sRGB (perceptual intent) at the end?

[keithsnell]

Thanks Keith. I guess, I really have to calibrate my monitor with the Color Munki and learn more about Color Management.

My HP 2709m is supposed to be a "wide-gamut" monitor and I was assuming that at its factory default settings, it should handle AdobeRGB Colorspace - but I haven't really look at the details of this monitor. I have to find time to really have a closer look.

Could it be that I'm using (in CNX2) ProphotoRGB Colorspace in processing my NEF files even though I convert them to Nikon sRGB (perceptual intent) at the end?

Hmmm,  The reviews I've read on the 2709m list the gamut as about 96% of Adobe RGB, so this should be sufficient to show the colors I am seeing on my monitor.  It might be worth checking to see what the factory default setting is in the OSD for "RGB."  It looks like the two options are "custom color" and "sRGB," but the manual doesn't say which setting is the factory default.  Since "custom color" implies that you need to set your own custom color, I wonder if the default is "sRGB"?

Keith

[girod]

Thanks Keith. It was set at "6700K" (reddish-white?), I changed it to "custom color" at the default values of 256 for each R-G-B (white?) since I have no idea what's the proper mix for the RGB in this setting. What do you think? I haven't have the chance yet to compare images in this new setting.

Do I have to worry too about the settings in the graphic card?

[keithsnell]

Thanks Keith. It was set at "6700K" (reddish-white?), I changed it to "custom color" at the default values of 256 for each R-G-B (white?) since I have no idea what's the proper mix for the RGB in this setting. What do you think? I haven't have the chance yet to compare images in this new setting.

Do I have to worry too about the settings in the graphic card?

Hi Jaime,

I think we're talking about two different settings.  According to the manual for that monitor (that I downloaded), in the OSD menu you have a menu item for "color" with options to select a color temperature.  This is your "white point" (similar to white balance) for the monitor, which determines how warm or cool the whites will be displayed.  The "typical" selection is 6500 K, which matches the calibration point for the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces.

The next menu item (at least according to the manual I am looking at) is "RGB" with options for "custom color" or sRGB.  The sRGB setting would normally be used if the customer wanted a (somewhat accurate) "out of the box" color display that would be consistent with the sRGB color space.  The "custom color" would be used if you were setting the color manually (perhaps using the Windows 7 calibration target or other visual reference for calibrating your display) or if you were using a hardware calibrator that had a step for measuring and balancing the red, green and blue channels of your monitor before building the actual monitor profile.

Sometimes these manuals are "lacking" and don't match the actual menu presented on your display, so I can't be sure that I'm giving you good advice from the manual that I am reading.

In general, I would recommend setting the "white point" of your monitor at 6500K, and then until the time you can get a color calibrator I would recommend that you set the monitor for custom color (under the RGB setting) and then use something like the Windows 7 calibration target to set the colors.  (And toggle between that and the default settings and see if it makes any difference.)

By the way, Adorama (and maybe others) has a special on the Datacolor Spyder 3 Express display calibrator for $69.95 and free shipping.  That's the best price I've seen for a calibrator yet.  I don't know how the Express does on that particular monitor, but at that price I'd probably be willing to give it a try...

Keith

[girod]

Uhmmmmm..... in the Main Menu, in the "color" item, it has: 9300K, 6500K, sRGB, Quick View (Movie, Photo, Gaming, Text and Custom) and Custom (contains slider for RGB values only). I opened the rest of the items in the main menu (brightness, contrast, image control, OSD control, management, language, information, factory reset and source control) - I can' find the "RGB" item.

[keithsnell]

Uhmmmmm..... in the Main Menu, in the "color" item, it has: 9300K, 6500K, sRGB, Quick View (Movie, Photo, Gaming, Text and Custom) and Custom (contains slider for RGB values only). I opened the rest of the items in the main menu (brightness, contrast, image control, OSD control, management, language, information, factory reset and source control) - I can' find the "RGB" item.

Hi Jaime,

Thank you for looking.  I guess it didn't do much good for me to look at the manual.   (Sometimes I'm dismayed at how lousy the manuals are for these things.)  I'd probably go with the 6500K setting for now, and then worry about the sliders after you get a hardware display calibrator.

Keith

[girod]

Thanks Keith. I'll get the Color Munki - but not until I really have a good grasp on how to use it the right way. Can you please direct us to sites with this information?

[keithsnell]

Thanks Keith. I'll get the Color Munki - but not until I really have a good grasp on how to use it the right way. Can you please direct us to sites with this information?

HI Jaime,

Xrite actually has a few fairly decent videos on their site that give an overview of monitor calibration, and how to use the colormunki to calibrate your monitor.  You can find  some of the videos at this link:  http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1115

Keith

[girod]

Thanks Keith, appreciate it very much.