Liverpool Santa Dash

cyKey · 4 Dec 2006 at 10:12

The 2006 Santa Dash in Liverpool wasn’t quite what I expected. I was expecting rain, and a lot of Santas. What I found was a lovely cold December morning with a HELL of a lot of Santas. It was quite surreal afterwards. Santas everywhere. In bars, coffee stores, street corners. I didn’t get the shots I wanted as I felt quite overwhelmed and it hit me that asking to take pictures of people after they’ve just ran 5km isn’t the most flattering of things to say. Still I got some nice shots which I spent a while playing with. This is a HDR image. Why? Well basically it just looks better. Nicer sky, colours, better detail in the building, on the whole just nicer. I did some work in Photoshop too, to reduce the HDR cliched look and make it a touch more natural.

cyKey · 4 Dec 2006 at 10:12

Lashout_UK · 4 Dec 2006 at 10:23

Fan-tastic! I love them, especially the 1st and 4th ones but they're all of an excellent standard

Sp00n · 4 Dec 2006 at 12:59

The dog picture is spot on mate, love it

How did you HDR with moving objects? Take the 3 shots on the static building then add in a final one of the people?

Raymond Lin · 4 Dec 2006 at 13:08

Sp00n said:
The dog picture is spot on mate, love it

How did you HDR with moving objects? Take the 3 shots on the static building then add in a final one of the people?

Just 3 shots made with 1 RAW original.

cyKey · 4 Dec 2006 at 13:15

Raymond Lin said:
Just 3 shots made with 1 RAW original.

Yup

http://petemc.net/hdr-guide

DannyDan · 4 Dec 2006 at 20:16

It was good to meet you at the lantern carnival the other day cykey, did you get any good shots there except for the one on your website? Mine didnt turn out too well in the dark

Lovely santa shots, I saw most of them on Flickr earlier

My only criticism would be the sky on #3 looks a bit strange... maybe it's just the noise.

ElDude · 4 Dec 2006 at 20:18

The only shot I like is the cafe, but then again, I think it'd look better in b/w. Although you'd have lost the colour. Meh, I hate Christmas.

HDR only seems to work on the buildings. It doesn't suit people unless it's b/w candids. Well, as far as I've seen so far.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 4 Dec 2006 at 20:49

Well the red is what is selling off the theme so it would be pointless to be black and white.

Someone says Santa and you dont think of a framed black and white candid. You think toy giving very old fat man in a red outfit

cyKey · 4 Dec 2006 at 22:56

DannyDan said:
It was good to meet you at the lantern carnival the other day cykey, did you get any good shots there except for the one on your website? Mine didnt turn out too well in the dark

Lovely santa shots, I saw most of them on Flickr earlier My only criticism would be the sky on #3 looks a bit strange... maybe it's just the noise.

Aye you too

I do have more shots from the other night, I've just gotta upload them.

ElDude said:
The only shot I like is the cafe, but then again, I think it'd look better in b/w. Although you'd have lost the colour. Meh, I hate Christmas.

HDR only seems to work on the buildings. It doesn't suit people unless it's b/w candids. Well, as far as I've seen so far.

As a test, which ones are the HDR and which aren't?

ranarama · 4 Dec 2006 at 23:16

cyKey said:
As a test, which ones are the HDR and which aren't?

I would say the first one definte. The 2nd an outside possibility but I think you've used flash or a photoshop grad on it to bring out the shadows in the bottom left. My vote goes for flash going by the reflectons on the hi vis jacket. The rest no. Lomo effect on a few maybe, otherwise usual CyKey precessing.

There's a lot of noise on some of them. The sky on 3 is quite nasty but it doesn't detract from the others. I'm not a noise nazi though but others seem a bit OTT about it.

In general though...good stuff. myself...went in to London after work today, walked around for about an hour uninspired, started to drizzle, got dark and I came home with no pictures.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 4 Dec 2006 at 23:32

cyKey said:
As a test, which ones are the HDR and which aren't?

First 3. Maybe the 4th too

nolimit · 5 Dec 2006 at 00:53

i think first 3 are hdr because u always seem to use hdr with sky and buildings.

my fav is the santa dog!

hoodmeister · 5 Dec 2006 at 00:59

First three an perhaps the fourth with all those santa beards..

Anyhoo, groovy stuff - last three that I like the most

cyKey · 5 Dec 2006 at 01:04

The first 4 have all been HDR'd in some fashion. No lomo effects or anything. There is noise in them too but thats simply because I haven't yet installed Noiseware on my new Mac

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 5 Dec 2006 at 11:43

Hurrah I was right.

benneh · 5 Dec 2006 at 14:27

Some excellent photos. What lens were you rocking dude?. I've got a few other questions too but I'll take them to irc. Especially liking the crowd shot (with the guy pushing the pram), questions surround this shot

.

cyKey · 5 Dec 2006 at 15:06

benneh said:
Some excellent photos. What lens were you rocking dude?. I've got a few other questions too but I'll take them to irc. Especially liking the crowd shot (with the guy pushing the pram), questions surround this shot .

Sigma 10-20 for the wide, Sigma 24-70 for closer shots (dog + starbucks) and Canon 100-400 for the action shots and the woman with the cup.

lukechad · 5 Dec 2006 at 16:34

4th pic- Yes please

Doggy picture had me in stitches

I dont comment on you photos anymore mate because I know there is no point, they are just always fantastic and I envy you more each time I open one of your threads. :mad:

cyKey · 5 Dec 2006 at 16:38

lukechad said:
4th pic- Yes please

Doggy picture had me in stitches I dont comment on you photos anymore mate because I know there is no point, they are just always fantastic and I envy you more each time I open one of your threads.

lol