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Softly softly

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Softly softly

Postby Soulboy on Wed Apr 13, 2005 6:47 am

I thought I'd experiment with a bit of soft focus with this one. There's no story behind this picture, just I happened to pass by this church this morning and the white headstone seemed to atract my attention.

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Postby KerryPierce on Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:04 am

Quite an interesting shot. :) The soft focus works nicely, IMO. I'd have liked to see a wider view, I think.
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Postby HappyFotographer on Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:10 am

Very atmospheric (is that a real word??).

My 3 year old wanted to know if there was a monster in there? :shock:
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Postby Soulboy on Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:52 pm

Thanks guys.

This is a slightly wider view of the church itself, what stopped me taking a bigger photo was the ugly hoarding they had draped from the steeple:

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Postby sheepie on Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:35 pm

I really like this one - the white cross certainly grabs your attention doesn't it :)
Would like to know how you've introduced the soft focus - which works extremely well for this shot.

Well done :)
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Postby digitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:35 pm

Hi Soulboy, nice shot, I like churchyard pics. What lens did you use for this one?

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Postby Soulboy on Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:55 pm

Currently, as it's the only lens I have, they're taken with the 18-70mm DX.

For the "soft focus" effect, what I do is (all in Photoshop) Gaussian blur the original layer by about 8 pixels and then edit > fade the blur to about 60% opacity while setting it's blend mode to darken - works better on some types of picture than others but it's worth trying out. :)

Thanks for your kind words though, I'm still a little nervous about posting my photos being a nebie and all so it's all very much appreciated.
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Postby sirhc55 on Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:06 am

I’m a graveyard person (mainly coz I’m on the downslope of life) I really like the way you have done this shot soulboy. :D

Being an ex-Londoner which graveyard is it?
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Postby PiroStitch on Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:33 am

Great shot, but I think the soft focus shot is a bit dark for me...then again it helps create the atmosphere :)

I like the wider view :D
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Postby Soulboy on Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:33 am

sirhc55 wrote:Being an ex-Londoner which graveyard is it?


This was taken in Stanmore in Harrow Chris - opposite side to Dartford. ;) I suppose I'm slowly working my way over.
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Postby dooda on Sat Apr 16, 2005 4:17 am

I really like the first one, but I sort of wish that the bottom left and right markers aren't cut out of the frame. Great capture and colors.
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Postby SoCal Steve on Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:44 am

I like this image a lot too. Both versions, really. A very interesting subject and the soft focus heightens the effect. It makes me wish I was over there to go exploring and look for those kinds of great scenes with so much history and character.

The question of "How did you do the soft focus..." gave me 1960's flashbacks to my black and white darkroom days when we use to get soft focus by taking the front element off of the enlarging lens. That kind of thing would probably be a real warranty buster, though, huh?! :roll:
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Postby gstark on Sat Apr 16, 2005 11:26 am

I like this image.

I like it a lot.

The soft focus effect works very well, and the apparent darkness of it also seems to have introduced a bit of over-saturation in the colours, which, again in this instance, just works.

All of that, plus the fact there seems to be a little patch of sunlight on that white cross, almost makes this image appear to be ethereal.

Great work!
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Postby flipfrog on Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:10 pm

this was a nice find for a photo

good eye
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