Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi.

[Bolts]

My wine shop has some very lame photos in cheap plexi-glass 'frames' on their walls. It is a top-of-the-line wine shop affiliated with one of the nicest/priciest restaurants in town.

I offered to bring some of my Sonoma County shots in and suggested they would look great on their walls. The manager said he would love to see them.

The photos need some touching up. These are two examples...

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View attachment 96247

Those power lines are killing me!

What do I say if they ask how much I want for them?

I'm getting ready to run away from my computer for the weekend by 6:15pm EST. I would so appreciate if someone could advice me by then??

I am totally new at digital photography. I've had my D80 for about one month. I don't kid myself that I am professional material, but these shots are certainly better than the ones they have...

Thanks for any advice!

 

[vettenut]

Personally, if you frequent the shop often you might want to give them to the owner. You will shock the person I'm sure but your kindness will be appreciated for years to come and who knows maybe they will share some special wine with you from time to time. I got into a conversation with a store owner recently and took a picture of her store front, I plan on making a print and putting it into a decent frame and giving it to her. - Jeff

 

[Rich Gibson]

Frankly, trash the image with the wires and go shoot it again. It is really distracting. Vettenut is right. If you give a bit away, your work is seen. I've had business because I donated a suite of shots to my local church's art auction. The customers saw the work, took a business card and called me later. If you donate some pictures why not buy a $40.00 business card program, gin up some cards and ask to leave them as the cashier's location in the shop?

Rich

 

[Bolts]

Thanks, Jeff, you're probably right. I was considering trading the shots printed 4x6 or 5x7 or getting them framed and trading them for gratis wine-tastings for a year, but I didn't want to sell myself short. (Wouldn't be bad to recoupe part of my camera expenses either, now would it?)

I'd have to deal with the manager though. The owner is a household name and huge mover/shaker in town and I'm sure doesn't worry his head about wall hangings, being too consumed with building that hotel and condo complex across the street from his $$$$ restaurant, desert room, and bar in the SoHo part of Tampa.

Little baby grapes, anyone?

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[heiko]

With some retouching these pictures can be really nice. In Photoshop or similar programs you could remove the power lines. It will take a little work. The sky needs also some fixing. I don't know which tools you got, but there are many possible tools and ways.
I personally use either Lightzone for RAW conversion and processing, and/or Photoshop.
I agree with the others - you may give them as a gift, it'll surely be much appreciated.

 

[Bolts]

And thank you, Rich! Darn wires. I was hoping to photoshop them out somehow. Not sure, though, that I'm going to be getting back to California for a while to shoot it again. Darn, darn, darn wires! I never even noticed them until someone pointed them out to me. Too much wine tasting; thank God the camera is auto-focus.

So I'm not quite ready to quit my day job, but I will be donating my photos.

Rich, did you edit out a typo, or am I hallucinating?

Thank you both for your replies! I'm off to the wine shop for some Rhone varietals and imported cheeses...

 

[Bolts]

Thanks, Heiko! I'll try not to think about it as donating the photos to a man who's worth literally millions. It's a career move! Yeah, that's the ticket.

I have a friend who is a photoshop nut. He's all about fixing skies and saturation.

Y'all have a nice weekend, and thanks again for the quick response and the advice!

Like some wine with that cheese?

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[jfriend]

The photos need some touching up. These are two examples...

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Thanks for any advice!

Here's a retouch of the 2nd image.

• Rotated to get trees vertical
• Cropped to deal with rotation and get rid of the piece of concrete in the lower right
• A little shadow highlights to restore some shadow and highlight detail and give a little more room for a contrast curve.
• Heal out the blue tag on one of the trees
• Darken the image some (it seems to bright to me)
• Did standard LAB color enhancement (steepened A and B channels and added slight S-curve on the L channel for contrast)
• Slight sharpen

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[Rich Gibson]

Rich, did you edit out a typo, or am I hallucinating?

YES! I did. What a typo to make about a church!

:redface:

 

[HAC_X]

Ok... Got rid of the powerlines, quick and dirty job, but it can be done...

This better?

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Cheers
Harold

 

[vettenut]

Just another comment about shot#1, a common problem being blown highlights of the sky, a real *!*!* to fix. Either crop out the sky alltogether or if you re-take the photo wait for some clouds and/or use a circular polarizer to enhance the sky. - Jeff

Here is a vinyard in Long Island NY, no rolling hills, just flat land.

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[HAC_X]

Truie, you can only do so much in Photoshop, once the highlight detail is blown..

Still.. we tried..(again, Q&D)

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Cheers
Harold

 

[vettenut]

Harold, excellent work with the photo, I read a lot about photoshop in the numerous pubs I get but unfortunately can't afford it, have to settle for Capture NX and maybe a purchase of Adobe lightroom down the road. Looks like your a wizard with it. - Jeff

 

[Spudsbud]

Bolts,
Some wonderful help here with your shots. However may I suggest you post this thread in the "Retouching Forum" ? ..... its where the Wizards dwell : ~ )

 

[HAC_X]

Harold, excellent work with the photo, I read a lot about photoshop in the numerous pubs I get but unfortunately can't afford it, have to settle for Capture NX and maybe a purchase of Adobe lightroom down the road. Looks like your a wizard with it. - Jeff

No wizard, just some practice, and lessons from a master (our graphics guru at work, before I retired)
Cheers
Harold

 

[Bolts]

I'm back to my computer here at the office (blah, Monday). I'm one of the minority that has no home computer. I figure I spend 10 hours a day at my work computer, I don't need to go home and stare at a screen all evening.

Thank you all for your replies and examples. I'm going to buy my Nikon buddy a bottle of his favorite libation and throw myself on his mercy.

Rich, Harold, John, I am not fit to wipe your boots. I wanna be like you when I grow up!

I'll post the final choices by the wine manager and the final PS'ed photos.

 

[cajun angel]

I agree with the others - go back out and shoot some more photos, watching those dreaded wires- I'd say try shooting "under" them to leave them out. And yep, sometimes a gift can speak volumes! I gave a couple photos away that I was particularly proud of and that gift ended up getting me a nice little sale! I'd be willing to bet if you also do some close ups of those grapes growing - you know anything that will represent the wine and the restaurant, you'll find yourself earning a little fame too when they find out who the photographer was!

 

[Bolts]

Not quite sure I'm ready to haul my cookies all the way back to Sonoma Valley from Tampa to reshoot in order to 'donate' my photos. This first trip was an expensive little adventure (plane fares, rental cars, hotels, food, wine, gas, etc) which probably set me back about $1200. Trip included Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Cambria, the central coast, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Sonoma, and San Francisco. I only posted and submitted the Sonoma photos.

Of course, the trip was fantastic, the weather was so refreshing after the 95% humidity here at home, the wine was out of this world. Hmmm... maybe I should go back after all! If the photos look good enough, maybe the wine shop will pay for a trip to wine country in France for more photos.

 

[Mitchell]

Not quite sure I'm ready to haul my cookies all the way back to Sonoma Valley from Tampa to reshoot in order to 'donate' my photos. This first trip was an expensive little adventure (plane fares, rental cars, hotels, food, wine, gas, etc) which probably set me back about $1200. Trip included Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Cambria, the central coast, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Sonoma, and San Francisco. I only posted and submitted the Sonoma photos.

Of course, the trip was fantastic, the weather was so refreshing after the 95% humidity here at home, the wine was out of this world. Hmmm... maybe I should go back after all! If the photos look good enough, maybe the wine shop will pay for a trip to wine country in France for more photos.

C'mon Pia. The rich people who own Sideberns will pay for your trip back. It is Sideberns isn't it??:wink:

 

[Mitchell]

Pia,
As you know, that shop and the affiliated steak restaurant have a long wine related history. It's been a while since I've been there, but do the photos they presently have hanging have any particular significance to the owners? It may well be that they don't appeal to you, but they have some historical appeal to the owners. They have many such photos in the restaurant. Old, faded B&W pics of the owner with famous vintners, etc...

Your pics are nice, but they have meaning to you as a memory from your trip. Most of the vinyard wine stock photos I've seen show the lush vines overflowing with grapes. Your shots are lacking this lush vegetation.

What are you hoping to gain by hanging your pics there? Will they list your name with prices in the hopes that people will buy them? Hoping to get some yummy wine in barter?? Just curious.