Photo day

[bessie_smith]

Pershing Square
Originally uploaded by Candice (Bessie Smith).

I spent Memorial Day in downtown Los Angeles, shooting the city. A bunch of new shots from that day are up on my Flickr page, so please feel free to come in and take a look.

Comments

[lrc.livejournal.com]

Interesting shot.
Were you trying to make it look like a painting that was trying to look real?

When I zoomed in to "original size" because it's hard to see much on my laptop, it looked like you've got a bit of purple fringing going on. Is that the lens or the post processing.

I like the subway shots. The one linked, and the one linked from that.

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

The slightly overdone look was intentional, though the colors are surprisingly close to the actual colors that are there.

One thing sometimes with HDR post processing is that the fringing can be a real bitch to get rid of. Since it's very unlikely that I'll ever print these at a size large enough that the fringing will be an issue, I can live with it.

That's not a subway, they're regular street level tunnels. The colors in both are the true colors. There really is a spectrum in the 3rd street tunnel, and the green in the 2nd street tunnel is almost loud enough to keep you from noticing the smell.

[lrc.livejournal.com]

How come you strip the EXIF data from your shots. You've got one I like of LA city hall, I went to check what lens you used but no EXIF data.

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

Using Photoshop to process to HDR is what stripped out the EXIF data. I peeves me that it does that. However, if you tell me which City Hall shot it was, I can tell you what lens I used, focal length, etc. It was one of two lenses, either the Canon 17-85 4.0-5.6 EF-S IS or the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, most likely the first lens.

[lrc.livejournal.com]

This one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccmonty/2530101093/

That's annoying that photoshop strips EXIF data. I wonder if it can be replaced.

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

It only strips the EXIF data it if you do an HDR photomerge or use the Save for Web option. There are programs you can use to edit EXIF data, though I haven't checked any of them out.

f/4.5, ISO 100, 17-85 at 28mm. Aperture priority mode.

[lrc.livejournal.com]

OK, I probably won't be delving into HDR very soon. I'm still getting basic processing figured out.

28mm seems right. The perspective on it looked "normal".

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

The perspective on it was adjusted. There will be times when barrel distortion just can't be avoided, but Photoshop makes it relatively easy to fix.

[mteson.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed no one stopped you and demanded you stop taking photos, you dirty terrorist. The way they crack down on photo taking in the subway and other public places these days...

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

We got a little flack when were taking shots by Staples Center from a security guard trying to tell us that we can't take a picture of the arena even though we were on a public sidewalk. I corrected the guy and said I could take all the pictures of it I wanted, that while AEG has a say in how images of it's properties could be used, that they had no right to stop me from taking a picture of it.

I have yet to have someone give me actual grief for taking photos. I've been approached by security guards, but I know my rights and what I can and can't shoot, and I have no problem telling someone they're off base.

As far as the subways are concerned, you can shoot there, the law not only allows it, MTA policy allows it. It's such bullshit they they keep stopping people again and again when they should know better by now.

[mteson.livejournal.com]

Check this out - a guy got harassed by LA Metro people for taking pictures on the Red Line - they said he was breaking the "9/11 Law," whatever that is. When he stood up for himself, he got harassed even more and threatened. This guy had similar troubles at the Port of Los Angeles (he's a professional stock photographer). That's why I was so surprised that no one bothered you for taking pictures of the tunnel and city hall, specifically.

There's gonna be a photographers' protest on June 1st (info here where a bunch of people are going to take the Red Line to Union Station and take photos along the way. Should be fun. :)

[bessie-smith.livejournal.com]

I read about both those incidents, the one in the Red line showed extra special stupid on the part of the MTA security, especially considering the several incidents before that one where photographers are harassed, the MTA policy gets checked, it's clearly demonstrated that photography is allowed and MTA people are told this. Literally, it's happened dozens of times.

Thank you, I did not know about the protest. I'm gonna try to make it to that.