Theme: By Train, Plane, Boat or Car - images taken from moving vehicles

[Rob MacKillop]

Transylvania plus the horse and cart inevitably bring up the first chapter of Dracula. The van awakes us out of that reverie.

For the second, Julian, were you leaning out of the carriage on the left?

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

 

[Julian Tanase]

Transylvania plus the horse and cart inevitably bring up the first chapter of Dracula. The van awakes us out of that reverie.

For the second, Julian, were you leaning out of the carriage on the left?

Late reply, Rob, sorry: yes, left carriage it was.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I thought this would be an interesting theme. I have more than a few of these, some recent examples of which I'll post here.
Do you have some too? If not take some. Don't break any traffic rules though... at least not on my advice!

The only rule is that images must be taken on a journey, on a vehicle. Doesn't have to be in motion... stopped at a traffic light is fine!

Sydney CBD - shot through the (open) car window. Sony Nex5r, 30mm f2.8 SigmaView attachment 18508



First Class carriage corridor on NSW Trainlink XPT train. "Vintage" Fujifilm S5600 bridge camera.
View attachment 18506

View out of window of same train. "Vintage" Fujifilm S5600 bridge camera.
View attachment 18507

Sydney Harbour bridge. Shot through windscreen!
View attachment 18509

I'm looking back at some of your pictures, Steve. They are beautiful, well composed, and carefully edited, and since I have known you I have been able to observe a growth in quality. I wish I could take pictures like yours.

But now I have to touch on a subject that only those who use Darktable as their RAW editing software can understand (so others are excused if they stray or get bored).

Steve, in this series photo dsc03392_01-jpg.18508 shows all the shortcomings of Darktable's Sigmoid module. I don't know why in the pixls.us forum some people say that Sigmoid is more suitable than Filmic RGB for novices, to me it seems exactly the opposite. Look at the background of this photo (developed with Sigmoid tone-mapper), don't you see how the tonal contrast is unnaturally flattened/compressed? With Filmic RGB the contrast would probably be OK by default. What do you think?

Then, I don't like the fact that Sigmoid interferes not only on tonal contrast but also on color saturation: if I want to saturate colors I want to choose it by myself not be pushed by the tone-mapper.

@all, sorry for the boring comment.

 

[Paul Taylor]

Several years ago we took a trip to Chaco Canyon, NM. Pretty far out/middle of nowhere. Road getting there depending on weather/time of year is a 4x4 only affair. We took a '08 Corolla and made it. It is the location of a pretty amazing amount (and the largest) ancestral Puebloan ruins. The remoteness and way to get there means it is probably the least traveled UNESCO world heritage site. And if you are in the southwest and looking for somewhere to marvel at the night sky - you can't get much better than Chaco Canyon. It is daaaark out there since it is hours away from anything resembling electricity.

However, keeping with the theme of this thread - I took these photos out the window of the car while driving on the rather rough gravel/dirt road with a Sony a330 and kit lens. The pics of the cattle rancher lady aren't as sharp due to the road - but the coyote, I don't know how that camera managed that on that road. Lol.

 

[Gord Tomlin]

...in this series photo dsc03392_01-jpg.18508 shows all the shortcomings of Darktable's Sigmoid module. I don't know why in the pixls.us forum some people say that Sigmoid is more suitable than Filmic RGB for novices, to me it seems exactly the opposite. Look at the background of this photo (developed with Sigmoid tone-mapper), don't you see how the tonal contrast is unnaturally flattened/compressed? With Filmic RGB the contrast would probably be OK by default. What do you think?...


@all, sorry for the boring comment.

[snipped]
I think the only way to answer the Sigmoid vs Flimic RGB question is to test both with this file. I've been finding Sigmoid to be good more often than not (but not always, and the best choice of Filmic RGB version varies as well), but that's just me and my shots, and I have way less practice than @Stevenson Gawen . Steve, would you be willing to post that image as a Play Raw on pixls.us to test Gianluca's theory (suggesting pixls.us instead of here because that's where there is a large population of darktable users)?

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Several years ago we took a trip to Chaco Canyon, NM. Pretty far out/middle of nowhere. Road getting there depending on weather/time of year is a 4x4 only affair. We took a '08 Corolla and made it. It is the location of a pretty amazing amount (and the largest) ancestral Puebloan ruins. The remoteness and way to get there means it is probably the least traveled UNESCO world heritage site. And if you are in the southwest and looking for somewhere to marvel at the night sky - you can't get much better than Chaco Canyon. It is daaaark out there since it is hours away from anything resembling electricity.

However, keeping with the theme of this thread - I took these photos out the window of the car while driving on the rather rough gravel/dirt road with a Sony a330 and kit lens. The pics of the cattle rancher lady aren't as sharp due to the road - but the coyote, I don't know how that camera managed that on that road. Lol.

Interesting series, @Paul Taylor, but the coyote is superb! It almost looks like a diorama in a natural history museum.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

since I have known you I have been able to observe a growth in quality. I wish I could take pictures like yours.

I never know how to respond to compliments Gianluca, so all I can say is thank you!

Steve, in this series photo dsc03392_01-jpg.18508 shows all the shortcomings of Darktable's Sigmoid module. I don't know why in the pixls.us forum some people say that Sigmoid is more suitable than Filmic RGB for novices, to me it seems exactly the opposite. Look at the background of this photo (developed with Sigmoid tone-mapper), don't you see how the tonal contrast is unnaturally flattened/compressed? With Filmic RGB the contrast would probably be OK by default. What do you think?

Hmmm... fair point!

I'm one of those people who recommend sigmoid, as it happens . Perhaps I shouldn't. I only know that for me, sigmoid gives results and editing control that is quick, intuitive (blah) and responds how I expect.
Filmic, for me (important qualifier!) indeed gives more control but I find it harder to get my colours and tonality how I want them.

Perhaps this stuff is more influenced by our (my?) different tastes than we think. Another reason not to make blind recommendations I guess.


Now I have some time, I've just checked up on how I developed this image, as I had a sneaking suspicion that I did that highlight 'compression' on purpose.

I had actually drastically lowered the 'target white' in sigmoid to get that look... so it was indeed largely intentional.



Returning that slider to the default 100% and also default on the 'skew' slider gives this...

The original edit for comparison below...



What do you think? Still feel it's not quite right? It's arguably too contrasty actually, but for the sake of giving sigmoid a fair trial I didn't want to make any other changes for the comparison.

I have way less practice than @Stevenson Gawen .

..... Ahem!

Steve, would you be willing to post that image as a Play Raw on pixls.us to test Gianluca's theory (suggesting pixls.us instead of here because that's where there is a large population of darktable users)?

Good idea! I'll do just that. If anyone isn't a Pixls member but would like to take part in the experiments, (with any software of your choice) let me know and I'll start a thread on RPF as well.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Et voila...

Sydney CBD - how would you manage the highlights?

I posted this image over on RPF some time ago, and it sparked an interesting discussion over highlight rendering. 🙂 . In my original below, I’d used the target white and skew in sigmoid to give a very flat feel to the highlights, which I’m now not sure about, hence the second version, how ever...

discuss.pixls.us

Sitting back expectantly, I love the (usually) high quality of feedback from the RPF and Pixls community it's a good place to be!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I never know how to respond to compliments Gianluca, so all I can say is thank you!

Hmmm... fair point!

I'm one of those people who recommend sigmoid, as it happens . Perhaps I shouldn't. I only know that for me, sigmoid gives results and editing control that is quick, intuitive (blah) and responds how I expect.
Filmic, for me (important qualifier!) indeed gives more control but I find it harder to get my colours and tonality how I want them.

Perhaps this stuff is more influenced by our (my?) different tastes than we think. Another reason not to make blind recommendations I guess.


Now I have some time, I've just checked up on how I developed this image, as I had a sneaking suspicion that I did that highlight 'compression' on purpose.

I had actually drastically lowered the 'target white' in sigmoid to get that look... so it was indeed largely intentional.

View attachment 19968

Returning that slider to the default 100% and also default on the 'skew' slider gives this...
View attachment 19969
The original edit for comparison below...

View attachment 19970

What do you think? Still feel it's not quite right? It's arguably too contrasty actually, but for the sake of giving sigmoid a fair trial I didn't want to make any other changes for the comparison.


..... Ahem!


Good idea! I'll do just that. If anyone isn't a Pixls member but would like to take part in the experiments, (with any software of your choice) let me know and I'll start a thread on RPF as well.

Definitely in this case Sigmoid defaults are OK for me. I like the image without compression more, Steve. But it's just a matter of taste.
Thank you for having checked you edits.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Et voila...

Sydney CBD - how would you manage the highlights?

I posted this image over on RPF some time ago, and it sparked an interesting discussion over highlight rendering. 🙂 . In my original below, I’d used the target white and skew in sigmoid to give a very flat feel to the highlights, which I’m now not sure about, hence the second version, how ever...

discuss.pixls.us

Sitting back expectantly, I love the (usually) high quality of feedback from the RPF and Pixls community it's a good place to be!

I got myself banned from the site, remember? Nonetheless I will download your raw file and will give it a run through Filmic RGB and Sigmoid.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

I got myself banned from the site, remember?

Yes, I wasn't sure... That was in my mind when I suggested making a thread here on RPF! Didn't want anyone to miss out.

Edit: I made a little typo above... Sounded like Pixels and RPF are the same community. Sorry!

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

give it a run through Filmic RGB and Sigmoid.

Post your results here in this thread actually, why not. I'm looking forward to seeing them!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Indeed, I have to be honest, the difference between Filmic RGB and Sigmoid is not that large. At least applied to this picture.

This is Filmic RGB with the default settings:





and this is Sigmoid:





And this is me trying to be pathetically cool:

 

[Laurence Griffiths]

Approaching Mount Isa in north-western Queensland.

Taken with an Olympus E-3 using an Olympus Zuiko 12-60 f/2.8-4 SWD lens.

 

[Laurence Griffiths]

On the way to South Straddie:

Taken with a Canon EOS 6D using a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens.