Author Topic: Another Starboard photoshop?  (Read 28391 times)

SUP Sports ®

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #60 on: January 01, 2011, 07:16:18 PM »

... I hope I can try out both of the new Wide Points someday.
Long live skinny paddles and fat boards.

In fact, we have a demo planned for next Sunday...weather permitting (long term forecast looks good right now)...only 4 hours away...not that far...it takes us more than 4 hours of work to load/unload...setup...shlep gear...breakdown...cleanup...etc...our day starts early demo day, we're at the beach at 6:00 AM to be ready by 9...

We just had a longtime Humboldt guy down picking up a board...and, a couple of guys just stopped in from Oregon...
We just met a traveler from the Central Coast at our shop an hour ago picking up an 8'10" Wide Point...another guy from Monterey drove down to pick up an Element a couple of days ago...we have yet another guy driving down the coast tomorrow to pick up a brushed carbon 9'8" Pro...get in your car and make it happen!!!...;-)

p.s. The drive down 101 right now through the ranches and vineyards of the Central Coast is like driving through the Emerald Isle...it doesn't get much nicer...
« Last Edit: January 01, 2011, 07:23:55 PM by SUPsports »
Mahalos...{:~)

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PT Woody

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #61 on: January 02, 2011, 12:39:51 AM »
Glad this one's been out to rest and delighted to have Margareta come by for a visit. Forget the Starboard riders, this woman is quite probably the best SUP photographer on the planet. And frankly, I don't give a rat's backside whether the shots are raw or retouched, either way, we are seeing the work of a true artist. And as for those self proclaimed experts who say these images are poorly executed Photoshops... I'm tipping you wouldn't have known it was retouched if it wasn't pointed out to you. As someone else pointed out, you don't buy a board based purely on a photograph, especially as the chances are, you will never have the skills of the team rider to be able to pull off that move. Look at the Uli website - who, other than Steamroller could make those inflatables shred the way he does? I'm very happy with the Starboard catalogue as it is. My only disappointment is that they did not include photos of the 2011 race boards.

Ake G

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #62 on: January 02, 2011, 05:41:12 AM »
 I feel that there are not enough photos of Margareta in the catalogue. Thanks for dropping in and for taking the time to offer an explanation, sorry it had to be under these particular circumstances!
« Last Edit: January 02, 2011, 05:48:43 AM by Ake G »

PonoBill

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #63 on: January 02, 2011, 08:50:18 AM »
Glad this one's been out to rest and delighted to have Margareta come by for a visit. Forget the Starboard riders, this woman is quite probably the best SUP photographer on the planet. And frankly, I don't give a rat's backside whether the shots are raw or retouched, either way, we are seeing the work of a true artist. And as for those self proclaimed experts who say these images are poorly executed Photoshops... I'm tipping you wouldn't have known it was retouched if it wasn't pointed out to you. As someone else pointed out, you don't buy a board based purely on a photograph, especially as the chances are, you will never have the skills of the team rider to be able to pull off that move. Look at the Uli website - who, other than Steamroller could make those inflatables shred the way he does? I'm very happy with the Starboard catalogue as it is. My only disappointment is that they did not include photos of the 2011 race boards.

So much for putting it to rest. And here's a nice little parting shot for you all...

Of course no one would have noticed, who bothers to look at photographs hard enough to see that the splash around the board has been blurred to mask where there has been a substitution, but once you do, it's obvious, and that's the difference between good and bad photoshop work. Saying "bad" is not as pejorative as it sounds, when quick and dirty is all that's necessary then that's what should be done. Good photoshop work is hard to detect down to the pixel level. I've seen good, I've seen bad. This is bad.

The points were:
a: The photo was photoshopped--yes, it was. 1688 people found that important
b: Not a good thing to do--regardless of the talent level or the quality of the catalog, I think that's been pretty well demonstrated too.

Sound like you're saying we are evil people for pointing that out and commenting on it. Be thankful for the art that is presented to us, oh thank you, can I have another.

Nice for you, doesn't work for me.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2011, 08:51:51 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

southwesterly

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #64 on: January 02, 2011, 12:39:51 PM »
a: The photo was photoshopped--yes, it was. 1688 people found that important


 More like 5 people found it important 335 times and a dozen or so found it important once.

Lobes

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #65 on: January 03, 2011, 06:40:39 AM »
Starboard got caught out here and look pretty silly. Margarete presumably was the art director ultimately responsible for the retouched photo so it was her professional obligation to respond. That response was couched very much in business speak and gave the feeling it had been run past the company PR dept before being posted. Quite a contrast to the studied insouciance that is the prevalent atmosphere hereabouts. However she seemed sincere and suitably chagrined about her role in 'Stargate'.

The whole micro-scandal has been very amusing and I have had many chuckles both at the bored outrage of the posters, some of whom couldnt decide if this sort of behaviour was more trotskyist or stalinist, and the uncomfortable squirming emanating from the starboard camp as the pressure grew.  ;D

I have owned and paddled many starboards and rate them very highly in both build and design so Im comfortable that this episode doesnt reflect the company as a whole. However those SUPrs who are unfamiliar with starboard may wonder about this sort of stuff...
« Last Edit: January 03, 2011, 06:43:13 AM by Lobes »

PonoBill

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #66 on: January 03, 2011, 09:20:24 AM »
a: The photo was photoshopped--yes, it was. 1688 people found that important


 More like 5 people found it important 335 times and a dozen or so found it important once.

Yeah, probably. Arms getting weak...must...get...breakfast. Goodbye thread. Goodbye.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Kevin

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #67 on: January 03, 2011, 10:10:06 AM »
Grow the Industry

Starboard

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #68 on: January 03, 2011, 07:23:13 PM »
Thanks a lot for your support and kind words.
Like I said, I truly agree with keeping the massage real. I suppose we all remember Nat Geo’s front cover of the pyramids, which been slightly “moved” to be more aligned, or the Afghanistan women with machine guns that actually held a newspaper or something a lot less aggressive. If you can’t trust the magazines, then who can you trust? Photoshop is a dangerous game for any photographer. We have actually put quite a lot of value on what is real or not, for example letting all our wave riders compete on stock standards production boards, and they are doing a fantastic job. Tama Audibert walked in to a shop and purchased his board just before he kicked butt and came 2nd in the Waterman league, Tahiti. Dave, Sean, Scotty - they are all on products anyone can buy in the shops. So please don’t take us wrong, we truly appreciate that what you can see in the magazine is what you can buy in a shop. 
However, in this particular case, we just didn’t really know how to go about it, but I agree with “you learn as you go along.” Thanks a lot for the feedback; we will defiantly take it in to consideration for future work. The suggestion of making a statement on the page is a good idea and makes a lot of sense.

(Of course I would run the text through my spell-check program before posting it online, but if you ever pass Bangkok please feel free to drop by a visit. You may be surprised over our PR department ☺)

For all of you who is wondering about the mermaid shot. That is as real as it can be. Here is actually a little youtube video from the same day;
Enjoy.

Starboard in Tahiti - Computer.m4v

DavidJohn

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #69 on: January 03, 2011, 08:46:14 PM »
Nice.. That clears a few things up.. Keep up with the great Starboard catalogues.. I wish Naish could do one as good..  :)

DJ

Lobes

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #70 on: January 04, 2011, 07:05:27 AM »
If there's one place you can defiantly keep the massage real it's Bangkok heh heh heh  :P

Aves

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #71 on: January 06, 2011, 12:40:08 PM »
at this point i must ask for a "happy ending"

CMC

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #72 on: January 06, 2011, 04:06:16 PM »
If there's one place you can defiantly keep the massage real it's Bangkok heh heh heh  :P

That's a classic.  "Hello, I'll make your banana cry!"  hahahah.

stillwater

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #73 on: January 06, 2011, 06:13:47 PM »
Starboard had a marketting position in Tailand. It might have been a great opportunity for someone to offer some great ideas. The world is not what it appears sometimes but getting out & paddling sure beats sweating the small things in life.

Starboard

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Re: Another Starboard photoshop?
« Reply #74 on: May 17, 2011, 09:38:00 PM »
Dear All,
We like to refer to Margaretas input in December.



Dear All,
You have a valued point on this subject. We fully agree with keeping messages real and honest in communication. One of the biggest challenges we have is to not only support our riders but also give them the space they need to show their true talents. This combined with an extremely tight time line force us to sometimes make the “wrong” decisions.
 
In this particular case, we wanted to give a new rider from Hawaii a chance, (later through the year he ended up winning the trial event for Waterman Leagues finals in Hawaii) But since he came on board so late, he had already missed our internal photo shoots.
Composing a 90-page catalogue, illustrating the characteristics of each product and pinpoint each rider’s talents is a quite complex task. We found a suitable page for this rider but due to the short time it was impossible to send him the correct boards, expect good forecast and photos in time for our deadline. This is why we organized a single person shoot to showcase his capabilities and highlight the purpose of the board, on the products we had. It is of course on a Starboard product, just a slightly different model.
The other alternative was to not give this rider any exposure at all.
 
All our riders are amazing athletes. We are extremely proud of every single one of them and we whish to help them in their professional career as much as we can and give them all equal exposure. It would be a lot easier and cheaper for us to only support and highlight one or two riders but since we have the opportunity to grow our Team, we feel obliged to help, support and together grow this industry.
 
We apologies for putting a “bad light” on this sport but hope you may understand that we only tried to leave room for more talents.

Margareta Engstrom

 


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