Photography Bleg

RocketMusic · #1 03-03-2011, 06:03 PM

Anyone bored tonight and want to offer me some advice on what to do to make a kinda cool picure even cooler?

Backstory - we've got a nice Chinese restaurant that has been right next door to Rocket Music for 15 or so years. Ever since Danny and I took over Rocket a few years ago, the restaurant owners have been super nice to us. We like to joke that we're members of the "Free Egg Roll" club, mainly because we actually are. They're always throwing in extra food when we eat there. The owners are very generous towards us, and it's always been greatly appreciated.

I've only briefly mentioned our second "new building" disappointment - well, you're looking at it. The owners of the restaurant have been trying to retire for a couple years now, and we had finally convinced them to sell us the building. They agreed reluctantly, they really wanted to sell the business but hang onto the building for rental income from the new restaurant owners. Well, Danny and I puttered too long. We finally made an appointment with a lawyer to draw up a formal offer, but the folks let us know that they had finally found someone to buy the restaurant biz and rent the building before we had a chance to make it happen. We were major league bummed! How great would it have been to have bought the part of the building right next door to our current location?!? Talk about evolution instead of revolution! Oh, well, it's all worked out for the better in the end with our soon-to-be new building.

So tomorrow night is their last night running the restaurant, and they've invited Danny and me (and our families) in for a blowout chinese meal. We're trying to pull together a gift for them, and a nice framed photo of the business that has been such a huge part of their life is an obvious candidate. I took some time lapse photos tonight, so you see the head-lights/tail-lights of cars whizzing past in the photo above.

Long story short - are there any photo buffs out there who have some simple suggestions for taking this shot to another level? We'll be printing it tomorrow AM, so whatever I do needs to get done tonight. How's that for a deadline?

I've also got a high-res version of the photo if anyone wants to try their own hand at something...

Just figured I'd throw that out to the always helpful TB crowd. Thanks in advance for any tips!

**Freddels** · #2 03-04-2011, 05:24 AM

I'm sure Jon will have some ideas for you.

Addison · #3 03-04-2011, 10:45 AM

Sweet pic, mang... and a VERY cool thing that you're doing.

Here's my submission.

I started doing really crazy shizz to it, but... as soon as I got over myself and realized that it's ALREADY quite a cool pic and it just needed love, I took a big step back and went for a different approach.

So... it has all the elements... I just spent some time really tightening up the colors and making them pop.

Hope you dig it...

If you want the "hi-res" to see what it looks like printed, let me know and I'll email it to you.

RocketMusic · #4 03-04-2011, 10:59 AM

Oh, yeah - that's nice, Chris! The blues in the backround are really nice now, and the more even tone of those helps the composition I think. You brought out the reds, too.

Very nice! Thanks, bro!!

RocketMusic · #5 03-04-2011, 11:03 AM

Oh, and yes! Please do email me the hi-res version when you have a sec! Thanks!

bassWR · #6 03-04-2011, 01:26 PM

Nice touch Chris. Very classy.

Greg,
I'm sure your neighbors will be very touched. This will be a cherished momento in their home for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addison

VroomVroom · #7 03-04-2011, 01:59 PM

Agreed - well done, Chris. I'm too late to the game to offer much, but at that....I'd take Chris' effort over anything I would've done.

Greg, just curious - does your camera offer the option of shooting raw? If so...it truly is the photographic equivalent of recording to .wav instead of .mp3. The post processing options (and results) are like going from an eight-color crayon box to the 256-color megabox that grandparents get for their grandkids....knowing that 129 of 'em will end up in the dryer or an electrical socket, thereby enacting revenge for what their kids pulled when they were 16. But I digress.

RocketMusic · #8 03-04-2011, 02:36 PM

Thanks for the tip, Jerry. I think it's set to raw, but I need to confirm that...

VroomVroom · #9 03-04-2011, 02:39 PM

^ FYI/FWIW. You'll know based on the file extension. If you had to rename it to/save as a jpeg, chances are the image was captured raw.

RocketMusic · #10 03-04-2011, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

^ FYI/FWIW. You'll know based on the file extension. If you had to rename it to/save as a jpeg, chances are the image was captured raw.

Crap. Not raw then.

VroomVroom · #11 03-04-2011, 02:57 PM

Probably should've also mentioned...the file sizes are huge. The images from my Nikon D90 are in the ~ 11MB range.

In any case, no biggie...just wanted to ask. Doesn't take away from this being a terrific picture, or from this being a wonderful gesture.

RocketMusic · #12 03-04-2011, 03:11 PM

Oh, I'm more worried about making my pictures of basses even better going forward!

The gift did turn out really nicely. Danny found a chincy picture frame with some god awful red and gold paint. It would look right at home in a chinese restaurant (or the home of former owners looking for some nostalgia).

RocketMusic · #13 03-04-2011, 04:05 PM

OK, so I've got a raw file (.CRW), but Photoshop no likey. I'm digging through Canon's site & getting nowhere fast. I'm just trying to set my expectations... should PhotoShop be able to open a raw file, or do I need to get some sort of utility program?!?

Thanks for any tips, I'm out of my depth...

VroomVroom · #14 03-04-2011, 04:17 PM

Is your copy of Photoshop up-to-date? I'm guessing it's the Camera Raw plug-in. This may help, or at least get you in the right direction...
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=4917

**Pacman** · #15 03-04-2011, 04:49 PM

Greg, I sent a version to your info @ rocketmusic address...

@Jerry - 11mb files are small

My 5Dmkii files are almost 25mb per file!

VroomVroom · #16 03-04-2011, 04:50 PM

Yeah yeah....if you need me, I'll be over here in the corner. Just me and my pixel envy.

Darkstrike · #17 03-04-2011, 05:03 PM

Truly lovely pic!

**nostatic** · #18 03-04-2011, 06:18 PM

I'm not a big post processing kinda guy. I have shot a fair amount of these motion type photos as I dig the vibe:

http://nostatic.com/blog/2007/12/foo...auna.html#more (scroll down to the end)

variation on the theme

Here are two takes on yours. Again, I'm not really into photoshop filters but maybe this is a direction that you might want to go

bassWR · #19 03-04-2011, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pacman

@Jerry - 11mb files are small

My 5Dmkii files are almost 25mb per file!

Everything is a competition around here.

RocketMusic · #20 03-05-2011, 07:56 AM

I love the tunnel shots, Todd!