The Ski Lite / XCD thread

[sportsdriven]

Anyone skiing at 49 this Sat

[Raventele]

HI Sd..I pm'ed you back ..While I really like 49, the coverage is so poor up there ATM that I would just go to MT Spokane and pay less and drive less and probably have more to ski..Happy to ski with you and show you what I know/do.. We usually avoid skiing Saturdays at Lookout until free Ski School is over in 3 more W/E's.. I like skiing Mt Spokane on wed--friday, really quiet..

[Raventele]

[Johnny]

Guys guys... Have a little thought for my poor old MySQL databases that I backup every month... (This place definitely needs more Ian MacKaye references!! ; )

Ron, I like and enjoy your pictures, I really do. But please, drop the cheap 1995 filter effects... Keep it real like the KTB would!

[Raventele]

Now Johhny..It's the newest lightly used effects and filters available..And there's just no way to not have to "fix" some of them ..This pic, for example, can be greatly improved ..show ya later

[connyro]

Now Johhny..It's the newest lightly used effects and filters available..And there's just no way to not have to "fix" some of them ..This pic, for example, can be greatly improved ..show ya later

Hi Ron. Let's try this again and maybe we can all be a little more civil.

Maybe I can offer a little advice about processing your photos. Like skiing, with photo editing it is oftentimes the case that simpler is better! Regarding resolution: Do you scan them or do you receive them as files? I only ask because it seems like maybe Teleman sends them to you printed and not in electronic format. Either way, they appear to be pretty low-resolution. I notice you post them at 72 dpi which IMO is too low and grainy. You could scan them at a higher resolution, then edit them, THEN knock down the resolution, color depth, and dpi.

Regarding editing: IF you get them in RAW format, you can adjust the exposure compensation, (NOT the same as brightness or lightness.) You can also mess with the white balance, color curve and/or saturation if you are not happy with the tone: some of your shots have bluish snow, some have reddish snow (adjusting white balance will fix this). Contrast can be adjusted in unison with exposure compensation (RAW) or brightness/lightness to help show the texture of the snow better. I like to get everything squared away in RAW before creating or editing the lower resolution version.

Regarding output: I like to use png or similar lossless formats (yes, I know that pngs CAN be lossy but generally they are considered lossless) instead of jpg: jpg is lossy and sometimes makes photos just look like crap for no other reason than they are jpegs. Sometimes though you can get away with 256 colors to dramatically save on file size while still preserving most of the colors/tones in the photo. Good luck! Oh yeah: GIMP works great for editing.

[Raventele]

Well, thanks for all the info..
I really do know what I am working with..
And years ago, Teleman used to send copies of originals which were, of course much easier to work with..There's not much by way of increasing resolution etc that can be done with 100k jpeg files and smaller !
I have nothing analog to work with so scan resolution etc is pretty irrelevant..
And sometimes the particular forum has caps on image size etc , in any case, for storage and bandwidth purposes..
It's just "sharing" and super-duper resolution is pretty irrelevant .. The KTB just likes to get that basic communication out there..grainy or not.

[Raventele]

Hey Sd,
just back from lookout where some friends told me that 49 is now in better shape than Mt Spokane -- Sun has been killing Mt Spokane and the depth at the Lodge is down to 6 inches but parts of the hill are ok!
The Montana side of lookout has taken quite a hit too but the front and the N sides are still holding..Good sugar and corn today and plenty of ice!
Snow forecast for Sunday .. Will be fun to ski with you..Teledance and Susan are the 2 other Tele skiers I know at Lookout..Susan skis 49 and Mt Spokane also..I don't know the instructor but I think he's "Mark"?
Happy to show you around either Mt Spok. or Lookout..
I don't obsessively worry about "how" I ski, but I am sure of one thing: rule your skis or they will rule you!

[connyro]

Well, thanks for all the info..
I really do know what I am working with..
And years ago, Teleman used to send copies of originals which were, of course much easier to work with..There's not much by way of increasing resolution etc that can be done with 100k jpeg files and smaller !
I have nothing analog to work with so scan resolution etc is pretty irrelevant..
And sometimes the particular forum has caps on image size etc , in any case, for storage and bandwidth purposes..
It's just "sharing" and super-duper resolution is pretty irrelevant .. The KTB just likes to get that basic communication out there..grainy or not.

Cool. I figured you knew what was going on but thought I might provide a method or tip that might help in case you didn't. You can't do much with low-res to begin with. I look forward to seeing some more in the future: it's actually pretty hard to shoot good action shots in the woods in deep snow with sweaty, shaky hands and snowy foggy lenses. Boy, those KTB sure don't trim any brush or clear away much debris at their stashes. Looks like fun although you might end up with some welts from getting slapped with brush!

[Raventele]

Well,
Back when they sent me analog prints ,I could scan them in at higher res..It's a lot of work for all parties involved and the truth is a lot of it still gets swallowed up at Picasa, Facebook (or wherever your files are hosted) and then the forum etc..Someone is compressing the shit out of them before you ever get them posted anywhere..generally speaking. It's like processing a guitar signal : if the chain gets too long, the sound quality is going to eventually suffer ..it's not really necessarily an issue of filter or effects..

Anyways..a 45k image..


Here it is with a bit of gamma, brightness and contrast adjustments plus a bit of sharpening.. And a bit of edge darkening to frame the subject better..As far as "realism" goes, it's not gonna get much better..


Now here's the type of edit I might personally prefer..Again, this is a 45k jpeg..floating
Needless to say, I am attracted to simplicity, minimalism..Decent form and color..