On 10/15/2011 1:08 AM, tony cooper wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:48:31 -0400, PeterN

> <peter.new_at_nospam.verizon.net>  wrote:

>

>> On 10/13/2011 12:42 PM, tony cooper wrote:

>>

>>

>> As you usually do, you don't mince words and say what you think, which

>> is appreciated and helpful.

>>>

>>> Peter Newman - What do you say about the Baboon shot?  I don't

>>> understand it, I don't like it, and I find it disturbing and strange.

>>> Yet, I appreciate what went into making it.  It's a rousing success

>>> from Peter's point-of-view because he likes this type of thing.

>>

>> Horses for courses. Happy you appreciate that sort of image is not as

>> easy as it looks. At our CC competition last night it was downgraded

>> because the judge did not like the frame. It got 8.5 out of 9.

>>

>>> The Bird Over The Beach looks fake.  Funny, but I can look at a baboon

>>> sitting in a flower and nursing an Orphan Annie-eyed baby baboon and

>>> not think it looks fake, but this shot does.  Everything from the

>>> waterline up is bogus.

>>>

>> As I responded to Bob Coe, This was not a manipulated image. I have the

>> RAW image to prove it. That plane was flying over the beach at an air show.

>

> I should have written "looks bogus" rather than "is bogus".

>>

>>> Birds Over The Bay is well-done for that dreamy soft shot.  There's a

>>> strange smudge running diagonally down that gaggle of birds that looks

>>> like a Photoshop step gone awry.  The tip-off, though, is the

>>> reflection of the birds in the water.  More birds in the air than bird

>>> reflections.

>>>

>> Yep! the geese were added later. I turned the geese image upside down on

>> a different layer and applied a slight Gaussian blur, to simulate a

>> reflection. I felt more fog was needed so I created a neutral gray layer

>> with about a 6% opacity. I felt there were too many spots from the

>> reflection so I took many of them out.

>> Candidly, I did not notice the smudge you mentioned, until I looked again.

>>

>> Your comments are really appreciated. thank you.

>

> You're welcome.

>

> Interestingly, there's nothing in the S-I rules and regulations that

> prohibit, discourage, or even direct a mild tut-tut at manipulation,

> fakery, or dupery.  Ethically, we are bound only to submit images that

> we ourselves have taken.

>

> As it should be.

>

>

Agreed. Just be reasonable and don't submit a shot of a great white 

shark attacking someone in a helicopter underneath the Golden Gate 

bridge. Wait. That's been done already...