Live - Davin James - Texas Country

[taygull]

I shot Davin just over a month ago. I've been real busy on my golf stuff and just now got around to finishing up the collage for Hanks.

This was a great show despite Davin sitting down the entire show...kinda strange. You would think the energy would be lacking...I hope these shots show that was not a problem.

I'll make a bet I'm the only one who gets shots of a bass player singing and smoking a pipe!

I converted these to black and white and I did the collage in portrait to have a different look for the venue. Hanks will be featuring my work on a wall in the freshly remodeled section soon.

Sorry no...wide angle...I've got a ton of those and most of you know what the venue is like.

#1
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/83/1davincollageweb4br.jpg

#2
http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/8089/davincloseup2web3ho.jpg

#3
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/305/davinaaweb2tn.jpg

#4
http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/323/davin3web4it.jpg

#5 I liked the touch of blur in the "head area" to show movement..I wish there had been a touch more.
http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/971/davin02web4hu.jpg

#6
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/2457/bass1web7gr.jpg

#7

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8450/bass01web6db.jpg

#8
http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/213/drummer2ce.jpg

[DwightMcCann]

My venues do not allow smoking! :-) These all seem a bit soft, but everything else would appear as though you have learned everything I could teach you! :-)

[taygull]

My venues do not allow smoking! :-) These all seem a bit soft, but everything else would appear as though you have learned everything I could teach you! :-)

You know...crazy thing is all my shots seem a bit soft after I resize them in photoshop. I printed the collage (not at home) and it is as sharp as a tack.

I use the "save for web" function in photoshop and pick the highest quality. All my prints come out perfectly sharp when printed...just not so on the web....

Maybe you could share how you resize yours...I might even buy the software to see if mine display anysharper.

[Croasdail]

Nice stuff.... very cool. Like the small venue feel. I don't understand the use of a single color image on the poster....but what ever... it looks better then I could do. For web sharpenss I find a final blast of USM using .02/300 as my settings snaps things up just enough for web posting.

[DwightMcCann]

I resize and then sharpen in PhotoImpact and then save ... always BIG!

[grego]

Nice shots. I save regularly though. What I do is after i resize do USM, like Mark does. Like between
100-200%, .3, 0.

Then save as and save at about 9, generally with image size at about 500 or 600 pixels on the max end.

Hope it works for you.

[kenyc]

Nice stuff.... very cool. Like the small venue feel. I don't understand the use of a single color image on the poster....but what ever... it looks better then I could do. For web sharpenss I find a final blast of USM using .02/300 as my settings snaps things up just enough for web posting.

Absolutely what he said. When you resize to lower the resolution (for the web) you lose sharpness.

Wonderful shots btw!

KAC

[taygull]

Nice stuff.... very cool. Like the small venue feel. I don't understand the use of a single color image on the poster....

The reason for the different color and look (this one done in portrait) is I am the house photographer for the venue. I print them a 10"x15" collage and they frame and will be hanging them on a wall to display all of them "better known" regional acts that play there. The venue had a fire a few months ago and is remodeling, I hope to see the new wall in the next 60 days. It will be neat to see all of my work on one wall.

I wanted to do something that stood out from all the others. Part of the reason for the BW look of this one is that Davin is a more traditional country artist than most of the groups that come through.

I use the same background in all the images (Texas Flag) but just wanted a different feel for this artist.

Thanks for the comments.

[taygull]

Does this look any better?

Some USM after saving for web
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8637/bass1web9fy.jpg

High Pass Sharp after save for web

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/6393/davinaabweb1dt.jpg

[Croasdail]

The usm'ed image is a dramatic improvement... it has more pop now yet not over done. Worth the effort. On the color image, to me somthing went wrong. The colors under the eyes went a little strong and contrast seems a bit much. But under harsh lighting conditions, you get some odd colored shadows. Cheers.

[taygull]

The usm'ed image is a dramatic improvement... it has more pop now yet not over done. Worth the effort. Cheers.

So I guess you do your work flow including USM then save for web and do the USM again?

[taygull]

The usm'ed image is a dramatic improvement... it has more pop now yet not over done. Worth the effort. On the color image, to me somthing went wrong. The colors under the eyes went a little strong and contrast seems a bit much. But under harsh lighting conditions, you get some odd colored shadows. Cheers.

On the color one I used a action I had downloaded....High Pass Sharpening. I do like the USM one a bit better.

Now I've got to go and do this to all the shots on my website.....:evil:

[René Damkot]

I use Manyk SRS (http://news.deviantart.com/article/20250/) with a few minor modifications. (Found it too sharp). Give it a try.

[taygull]

I use Manyk SRS (http://news.deviantart.com/article/20250/) with a few minor modifications. (Found it too sharp). Give it a try.

I'll download this tonight...what mods did you make to it?

[DwightMcCann]

I use Manyk SRS (http://news.deviantart.com/article/20250/) with a few minor modifications. (Found it too sharp). Give it a try.

Where do you find all this amazing stuff, Rene? This is only one of several items that you have shared ... I have another somewhere in my inbasket (mailed the link to myself so I wouldn't lose it) that you suggested.

[Digitalwave]

Absolutely love the second one. He just stands out so well under the red light against the blue background.

[taygull]

Absolutely love the second one. He just stands out so well under the red light against the blue background.

Thanks!

The lights are really bad....what I did like is that they added the blue light in the background. It does give me some contrast now.

The bad thing is there is no chance to get a nice shot of a drummer anymore, they are just way to blue.

[Croasdail]

So I guess you do your work flow including USM then save for web and do the USM again?

I do a final image sized to 13x17 fully baked out (crop, color, USM, version the file)- then I create a screen sized version sized and a quick pass with USM again. For the full size image I am moving more to Smart Sharpen as it gives a lot more control, but the screen image is still always USM (300,.02,00). I saved the resizing as an action with a renaming in it too which really speeds the process. So yep.... anything that has been resized gets a kiss of USM. I have started to find a lot more of my images linked to in Google Images... so I guess it is time to start watermarking too.

[René Damkot]

I'll download this tonight...what mods did you make to it?
I set the layer opacity a bit lower at a few places in the action, to get a bit less sharpening..
Where do you find all this amazing stuff, Rene?
Actually I came across this one on POTN ;)
Also, if I need something, I use Yahoo to see if there's something on the net about it. Usually this works ;)

[taygull]

I use Manyk SRS (http://news.deviantart.com/article/20250/) with a few minor modifications. (Found it too sharp). Give it a try.

I tried this but I did get an error/issue. It told me early in the action the "merge" layers was not available. When it was finished I was left with 3 layers not one. When I chose to have it to "fit" in 800x800 I ended up with file that is 1.2 meg. That will be to large when posting images to the forum..ecspecialy if you have 5 or 6 images?

Any thoughts?

[René Damkot]

Try it again. Should work, 'cause the first thing the action does is flatten the image. Any layers thereafter are created by the action itself...
Did you download it? It works fine here.
I end up with two layers. If I merge and save as jpg, quality 9 or so, it gives a file of around 250kB.

[taygull]

Try it again. Should work, 'cause the first thing the action does is flatten the image. Any layers thereafter are created by the action itself...
Did you download it? It works fine here.
I end up with two layers. If I merge and save as jpg, quality 9 or so, it gives a file of around 250kB.

Yep, keep getting the same issue. I end up with 3 layers.

[René Damkot]

Strange... The 'merge layers' would be the merging of the 'background' and 'presharpen' layers highlighted in the screenshot?

Does the action stop? Can you merge the layers manually and let the action run from there?

To take this not further off topic, you could PM or mail me.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, if you figure it out be sure to post back here just in case others have the problem. Also, there might be help over in the Post Processing forum.

[taygull]

Well, if you figure it out be sure to post back here just in case others have the problem. Also, there might be help over in the Post Processing forum.

We've been working on it all morning. It seems to be an issue with my CS version, it works like a champ in CS2.

[taygull]

Thanks Jeff,

I've not had any problems since switching to CS2. I am amazed at how much more I know now vs the when this first came up..night and day.