First Post - Japan/Singapore

[Ushuaia]

Ok, lurked here long enough. Time to learn more actively about the wonders of my D70. Here are a few pics from various visits to Japan and Singapore. I've just started using Fred Miranda's IntelliSharpen II, which I find to be a big improvement over PS's Unsharp Mask.

If you'd like see a few more pics, please check out http://www.pbase.com/andrewartha

I'd really welcome your comments - complimentary or constructive, I take either!

Cheers, Rod


Gion Festival, Narita, Japan



Narita Temple, Japan



Chinese New Year Day, Singapore



Water Fun, Bugis St, Singapore

[genji]

welome to the forum Rod,

like your pics of japanese life, the kind i enjoy photographing. i was in japan about 4 yrs ago, at the end of winter. i must go back....

ps could you down sample your resolution to 72 dpi, the files take awhile to download at 300dpi.

[sirhc55]

Welcome Rod - very nice post - the little girl and the boy shot are simply beautifully captured. Now, talking of beauty, the lady in the first shot prompts me to go to the travel agent

[Oneputt]

Really nice work. In particular I love the naturalness of nos 2 & 4. Well done.

[MHD]

I like the last one... Very well composed, giving the child space..
And a lovely expression

[rokkstar]

These images are fantastically sharp.
I think number 4 is my favourite. I love the look on his face and the mist spray creates an area of highlight, like a halo. Superb.
Welcome to the forum, and look forward to seeing some more.

[ozimax]

No1 is a classic shot Rod, if you can clone out the blurry hand it would be excellenter (?), mabe a little tricky though.

Enjoy your time in Nippon, it is a wonderful country with wonderful people, have you tried some "tako-yuki" ? (Cooked octopus)

Do-ee-tush-ee-mush-te

Max

[Rick]

Nice shots Rod,

My order of preference 4, 2,1,3.

Kids are the same anywhere and everywhere, when you see them happy
you can't help feeling good.

Great smile and reaction to the camera in #1.

Rick.

[Alex]

Welcome to the forum, Rod. All are excellnt shots, No.1 is my favourite.

Alex

[Link]

Welcome to the forum, and very nice shots; especially the last one - great expression and the 'vapour' behind the kid makes it original.

Link.

[chris1968]

great shots Rod!

Love the contemplation on the guys in #3 - he's evidently well away - convening with his God or inner self!

#4 is the clincher though - a happy kid, doing what kids do, brilliantly captured!

[Ushuaia]

Thanks for your comments, fellas. The Gion Festival photo was one of only a small number of successful shots that day. Basically hundreds of these young people haul on long ropes to drag large, ornate wagons (laden with elders and musicians) up a steep hill. We had been delayed in Melbourne the previous day so had missed that evening's festivities. So I rushed into Narita the next day to snap a couple of hours worth of the practice sessions before flying back to Melbourne that night! Not sure what I can do with the blurred hand - may play with some local sharpening but I wouldn't want to remove it - I reckon it completes the shot despite a DOF problem.

I'm interested in the suggestion to go down to 72 dpi vs 300 dpi. I'd reduced these files to 800 pixels by 500-something pixels (except the small one), and each file size is about 0.5M. Converting the original pics to 72dpi means leaving them at the original 3000 pixels by 2000 pixels in order to display at a decent size on the screen. File size would be virtually the same: 0.45M. I thought the different dpi's are more related to printing, ie, the quality and size of the print. On the monitor I chose to display a certain onscreen size, ie, a certain number of pixels (800 x about 500). So download speed is constrained by that, yes? Comments/advice anyone?

Does anyone think the hair in pic #4 is overly sharpened....? Struggled a little with that and not completely happy. For those who don't know, at the Bugis St shopping complex in Singapore they have one of those water feature thingys in the ground that spurts random jets of water and steam into the air. The parents stand by helplessly while the kids try (unsuccessfully) to evade the jets.... A classic spot for candid photography!

Anyway, enough rambling - thanks for your comments!

Cheers, Rod

[genji]

I'm interested in the suggestion to go down to 72 dpi vs 300 dpi. I'd reduced these files to 800 pixels by 500-something pixels (except the small one), and each file size is about 0.5M. Converting the original pics to 72dpi means leaving them at the original 3000 pixels by 2000 pixels in order to display at a decent size on the screen. File size would be virtually the same: 0.45M. I thought the different dpi's are more related to printing, ie, the quality and size of the print. On the monitor I chose to display a certain onscreen size, ie, a certain number of pixels (800 x about 500). So download speed is constrained by that, yes? Comments/advice anyone?

Cheers, Rod

rod.

there is 2 reason i can think of not to have 300dpi for web purposes:

1. it takes awhile to download if other ppl have slow connection, ie 56k dail-up (yes some ppl r still on it)

2. and this is the important reason, at 300dpi ppl can download your fantastic photos and claim the photos as their own! or they can cartainly print and sell them. (ask Redline, he can tell you about ppl stealing his photos)

3. all CRT/LCD screen resolution is only 72dpi, 300dpi is only for printing purpose.

I'm not sure what imaging software you are using so i cant help you to reduce dpi, but PSCS has the 'save as web' option, this will convert your images for web use.

lastly try this link on this forum, signature to embed copyright info in your photos.

i hope that explains thing, its a steep learning curve, but we have all been through it