Alan Welch  


Another day in Vegas by Alan Welch

January 2019 - Another day in Vegas

About the Image(s)

Here is my January photo. I have recently had surgery on my right arm to remove a melanoma cancer. I’m clear now but can’t play golf yet so I took my camera to the golf course to take some pictures.

The enclosed picture is hole #2 at Las Vegas Golf Course. This course was opened in 1938 and has have many entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, President John F. Kennedy and others.

I used my Nikon D750.

1/140 sec. ISO 100 F22 35mm


This round’s discussion is now closed!
16 comments posted




 
Looks like a tranquil place to enjoy until you are able to play again.

It is interesting to see your Las Vegas photo compared with Richards for this month. Quite a contrast to his busy lights and signs.

My only critique of this image is that to me, while it does a nice job showing the big picture of this place, there is not a clear subject of the image.

It looks like you have some nice elements to explore here like the front trees and shadows, the line of trees and pathway, and those scenic mountains in the distance.

If you are able to go back and experiment, it might be worthwhile to take some more detailed images which feature a different view of some of those perspectives.

Hope you are healing well Alan.   Posted: 01/03/2019 08:23:21



Brenda Fishbaugh   Brenda Fishbaugh
Hope this finds you feeling a lot better, Alan! 2019 is going to be your year! I think Jason summarized this well. Technically, you've taken a very nice photo, very peaceful. Your post processing is nicely done and not overdone.

A couple of thoughts--are you using any noise reduction? In the sky, I'm seeing a lot of noise or colored flecks. Perhaps this is due to the small size, but we most often see noise in the sky. You can use LightRoom for this, but Topaz also has a great noise reduction module, or Imagenomic. I recently got DxO Prime for noise reduction, recommended by Nature photographer, Adam Jones. I've been very happy with it. We'll see what our pro photographers think before you start buying a bunch of add-ons.

Secondly, in my first few years of photography, I had a difficult time separating pictures that were important to me personally, like this famous golf course to you, the Kennedy assassination window, etc., and what made an interesting photo to a wider audience with little or no knowledge about the subject in the photo. So I try to find a way to show what might be interesting to lots of people besides my own personal memory or reaction.

For example, the next time you are photographing at golf courses, I personally like the mountains, and making them closer/larger might add a stunning background and add an additional color besides green grass and lots of blue sky. And some people playing golf in the foreground would add another interesting element for the viewer to enjoy.

I hope you are back playing golf very soon!

  Posted: 01/03/2019 11:07:06
 
Allen,
I see a nice balance between sky and the shadows to give compositional stability, but nothing much to focus on. Probably with a very long lens you could, as Brenda suggested, make the mountains a bigger part of the background, juxtaposing vertical mountains and flat grass.

I find that "Topaz IA Clear" does a good job in situations like this. It's a bit expensive, $45 or so but there is a 30 day free trial. There are lots of other Topaz fiddles as well... I love it. IA Clear helps with the sky but the image is not really sharp enough to see the full effect.   Posted: 01/04/2019 15:17:28
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Allen,
Did you shoot this in RAW?

Brenda, here is a shot (about 1/4 of the frame) that AI Clear
cleaned up nicely   Posted: 01/05/2019 08:36:40
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Here is the original with the same crop. Zoom in on each to see the difference.   Posted: 01/05/2019 08:37:53
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Brenda Fishbaugh   Brenda Fishbaugh
Don, Thanks for the tip. I do have AI Clear, but haven't used it yet. I do find that sometimes one program does better than another, so I will add it into my routine. I do find they all work better if the VERY first thing I do is noise reduction, before I do any modification in Light Room at all. If I don't, I notice the noise just increases with Clarity, Vibrance, etc.   Posted: 01/05/2019 09:49:14
 
Good tip, Thanks   Posted: 01/05/2019 09:51:12
 
I usually make noise reduction and sharpening the last step, after resizing and before output. For me that makes all of the other cloning an optimizing smother.   Posted: 01/06/2019 06:26:41
 
The IA clear filter looks good. Thanks.   Posted: 01/05/2019 22:05:00



Sunil Mehta   Sunil Mehta
Alan, hope you are doing well and can play golf soon. This image is well exposed, but as others mentioned lakes subject matter, some player on the field or a maybe different angle to make it a just a cool landscape, try taking more pictures if you visit again, you will come up with a situation which can make an interesting picture.   Posted: 01/05/2019 11:11:41



 
Hi Alan, it is a peaceful and well exposed image. Well done.

I hope that you are doing well soon. I wish that I have the chance to see you and shoot pictures with you in Las Vegas. But due to my tied schedule and your appointments with the DRs, I haven't contacted you further.

All the best in 2019, and hope that in my next visit, we can go shooting together. Cheers.   Posted: 01/05/2019 22:11:20



 
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I am going to check those things out and perhaps post some improvements. Thanks again.   Posted: 01/07/2019 20:02:48



 
I purchased Topaz with AI Clear. I love it. I have corrected several pictures and am so surprised every time by the results. I just got back from Arizona where I took a lot of pictures at night without flash. This program made them so much better. Thanks everyone. I have included a change to my picture that might make it more interesting.   Posted: 01/07/2019 21:48:14
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Brenda Fishbaugh   Brenda Fishbaugh
Alan, I'm glad you've discovered the magic of noise reduction. The downside is that it smooths photos, so you lose the noise and lose the crispness. And I see you have discovered the different effects you can do in Topaz (my Tower Bridge versions are all Topaz).

Just playing around, I cropped some of the overly blue sky and a bit of our boring foreground grass to make it more of a pano (panorama, if you haven't see that shortening). Not sure it works, but thought I'd show you a different look.

  Posted: 01/09/2019 12:11:20



Brenda Fishbaugh   Brenda Fishbaugh
  Posted: 01/09/2019 12:11:39
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I do like that much better. It is much more interesting. Thanks   Posted: 01/09/2019 14:11:45