PhiltheJuggler's 52! - Finally! Week 52 - Together - A mosaic finish..

Week 31- Electric

Portrait in an electric storm


Larger version here

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Week 31

The original shot was from a shoot earlier this week. I used an off-camera 580EXII firing into a gold brolly to the right of the model and underexposed the sky by one and two thirds stops to deepen the blue. I used the 1DsMKII, 35mm f/1.4L @ f/1.8, 1/320, ISO800. An on-camera 580EXII served as a trigger I think I had it set to provide some fill light.

I tried to create my own lighting in photoshop elements using gradients and rendering but didn't think the result was that convincing. I purchased a lightning image and then used a combination of cutting and lightening to blend it into the sky. I added a little Guassian blur to make it consistent with the blurring of the background.

Hope you like it!

Phil
 
Hi Phil. I've a feeling there might be more marmite on your electric shot than there was on endings :) Ignoring the lightning for the moment, the portrait itself is shot from a nice angle and the background is suitably dark and mood inducing. But for me it needs a little extra lighting from below to reduce the shadows under the nose, lip and chin.

The lightning, whilst necessary to bring the image in on theme, isn't convincing enough for me I'm afraid. It's a little too detailed and needs the number of branches reduced and some additional blurring to send it further back into the frame.

A nice idea though and all of the above is my marmited opinion of course ;)
 
dlh said:
Hi Phil. I've a feeling there might be more marmite on your electric shot than there was on endings :) Ignoring the lightning for the moment, the portrait itself is shot from a nice angle and the background is suitably dark and mood inducing. But for me it needs a little extra lighting from below to reduce the shadows under the nose, lip and chin.

The lightning, whilst necessary to bring the image in on theme, isn't convincing enough for me I'm afraid. It's a little too detailed and needs the number of branches reduced and some additional blurring to send it further back into the frame.

A nice idea though and all of the above is my marmited opinion of course ;)
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Many thanks for the detailed comments. I quite like lighting on her face - but that is a personal thing.

The lightning IS REAL! I've blurred it to match the background, but it is an actual shot of a lightning bolt so I guess it is realistic even if it doesn't look it! Maybe I should add more blur...

Phil
 
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jennyb said:
Hi Phil, that's a good idea for this week and fits the theme nicely. I love the portrait and the lighting of the portrait, but as Darren mentioned the lightning does not seem convincing. I actually think it needs less blur rather than more, maybe?

Jenny
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Thanks for the comments Jenny - I can fairly easily un-blur the lightning - I just worry it won't match the distant trees - I'll have a play and see.

Phil
 
Very nearly there for me Phil, the portrait is nice and the idea really fits the theme well.

I agree with you that the lightening bolt blends into the background better with a bit of blur, think I would just darken the backgournd a touch.

Good effort
 
dlh said:
Visually confusing or stimulating? I think the latter and it has certainly got my eyes and brain working to take everything in. It's nice to see an image filled with details rather than being a complete distraction to itself.
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Darren has put it better than I can. A cracking shot, with brilliant processing. :clap::clap:

Electric: fits the theme, of course, and you have blended in the lightning flash very cleverly. I like the overall composition, and the girl's expression is good, but her skin is a bit too plasticky for my taste.
 
dan_yorkshire said:
Very nearly there for me Phil, the portrait is nice and the idea really fits the theme well.

I agree with you that the lightening bolt blends into the background better with a bit of blur, think I would just darken the backgournd a touch.

Good effort
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Tracer said:
Darren has put it better than I can. A cracking shot, with brilliant processing. :clap::clap:

Electric: fits the theme, of course, and you have blended in the lightning flash very cleverly. I like the overall composition, and the girl's expression is good, but her skin is a bit too plasticky for my taste.
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Thanks for the comments. Her skin was fairly smooth to start with, but I did add a little smoothing, mainly to even out a slight undulation near the corner of her mouth.
 
Week 32- Transform

A property transformed to a ruin.


Larger version here

Version 2:
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First version: (clickable)

 
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Week 32

Finally caught up after the holiday!

This is a transformation in three ways - it's transformed from a building to a ruin, it needs transforming from ruin and also it's photographically an HDR transformation.

Although it is an HDR to retain sky detail as well as shadow detail in the interior (especially the brickwork) I've aimed to avoid a false-look.

I blended three exposures (-4, -2, 0) in photomatix. I was more interested in shadow and sky detail hence the balance of exposures being towards underexposure. This introduced some noise in the sky, so I used Noise-Ninja to reduce this. I then made minor adjustments and added a gradient exposure filter to the sky.

1DMKIII, 24-105 @ f/8, ISO 200, various shutter speeds (AEB). I hadn't got a tripod with, nor anywhere suitable to rest the camera so I shot the series of three shots using high-speed drive continuous shooting to minimise movement between frames.

Hope you like it,

Phil
 
It certainly does look quite natural, but that top left corner is just a little too dark in the cloud and the wall. Any chance of pulling the exposure up a little there or is it (as I suspect) just me again? :D
 
Phil, you commented in your final tweaking of Endings that for you, the 52 is all about refining images and these last two weeks both benefit from the preparation, care and pp you've done. The final tweak on 'Endings' worked a treat, btw. (y)

Electric: The light works for me - the warm light from the gold brolly looks consistent with the sun coming out immediately after heavy summer rain. That golden light has a special quality and I think you've done a good job with recreating it here. The lightening looks like the sort of electric storms you see in the summer in, say, Florida. The flashes seem to last longer than here and they can light up the whole sky, so perhaps your shadows on the model are quite restrained! :D A terrific take on the theme. :clap:

Transform: I agree you definitely haven't over-HDR'd this (terrible crime!) but I'm not 100% sure you've got the very best from an interesting shot. Whereas in the Electric shot the lighting worked in the environment you were creating for the shot, I think in this one the sky needs something - not sure what, though - over on the right to make that golden light on the building look believable. Or, making the most of the interesting textures and stormy sky - conversion to b&w? :shrug::)

Edit: I think what's niggling me is the sky is warmer/sunnier immediately behind the ruin, but the shadows indicate that the sun is over to the right. :)

Jean
 
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Nice one again, Phil. You obviously think these through very carefully. I like HDR when it is not overdone. Although I could tell it was HDR at first glance, I think it looks very natural.

I really like the rich colours. One thing, though. My eye is drawn to the lovely green scenery on the right rather than the ruin itself. I am sure that was not the intention.

Excellent take on the theme.

Jenny
 
Nice composition and fits the theme. I'm afraid it is still too overcooked for my taste, though. The sky doesn't work for me at all, and I agree with Jenny that the green on the right is distractingly bright. Of course it may be my monitor - I'm not generally a fan of HDR, though.
 
Thanks for all the comments and advice. I've uploaded a second version. The graduated filter from the sky has been shifted and angled on the right hand side to enhance cloud detail and reduce distraction of green. Also increased the contrast and exposure.

Phil
 
jeangenie said:
Phil - I think the fog's come down on the second version - I can't see it. :eek:

Jean
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Hi Jean - it is updated in the original post for this week,

Phil
 
Week 33 - Mobile

Mobile Seating

Larger version here

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Week 34 - Surface

Moving across the surface

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Weeks 33 & 34

Apologies these are late - have been on holiday in Devon where both these shots were taken!

Mobile:

I really struggled with a decent shot for the theme mobile. I didn't want to do a product shot, but neither was I happy with my other attempts (a portrait taken on a mobile phone and a candid of someone talking on the phone). I ended up using the chairs picture primarily because I like it and it isn't tooo much of a shoehorn!

Taken in the fading sunlight, 1DS-II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/640 @ f/2.8, ISO 400

Surface

This was more straightforward - used the 1D-III, 70-200mm f/2.8 II @ 200mm, 1/2000 @ f/3.5, ISO100 on servo tracking to capture this surfer at Sidmouth beach.

I hope you like them, will catch up on commenting over the next couple of days!

Phil
 
I like the deckchair picture very much. I love the way the colour in the sky matches up with the colour of the chairs. The Surfaces picture is a very original idea and an excellent action shot. Two excellent weeks.:clap:
 
Two great pics Phil. Shame the whole of the front chair isn't in the frame for mobile (I guess something was in the way) but the overall composition is very nice and colours work nicely.

Your surfer image is a corker. Not sure if I wish more that I could take a picture like that or look that good in a wet suit :) I hope you grabbed his details to send him a copy (y)
 
(y) I can see why you like the chair shot Phil.
It's a tiny bit of a crowbar, but it fits and definitely deserves a place in the 52. The soft fluffy clouds and the quality of the light shining through the chair fabric really make it for me. My only complaint is that I would have liked a wider angle to include more of the row of chairs.

BTW : What's with the "Ducky's" written on the chair legs? :thinking: :shrug:


Surface : Brilliant action shot and one to be proud of :clap: :clap: :clap:
I don't think you could have composed this better if you'd consciously got somebody to pose and controlled the waves :LOL:
I love the way that the wave curves into the LHS, then the line of the surfer's body takes my eye up towards top right and back to the line of the wave. I love it !!!!
 
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ladysue said:
I like the deckchair picture very much. I love the way the colour in the sky matches up with the colour of the chairs. The Surfaces picture is a very original idea and an excellent action shot. Two excellent weeks.:clap:
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Many thanks - glad you like them!

dlh said:
Two great pics Phil. Shame the whole of the front chair isn't in the frame for mobile (I guess something was in the way) but the overall composition is very nice and colours work nicely.


Your surfer image is a corker. Not sure if I wish more that I could take a picture like that or look that good in a wet suit :) I hope you grabbed his details to send him a copy (y)
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SarahLee said:
(y) I can see why you like the chair shot Phil.
It's a tiny bit of a crowbar, but it fits and definitely deserves a place in the 52. The soft fluffy clouds and the quality of the light shining through the chair fabric really make it for me. My only complaint is that I would have liked a wider angle to include more of the row of chairs.

BTW : What's with the "Ducky's" written on the chair legs? :thinking: :shrug:


Surface : Brilliant action shot and one to be proud of :clap: :clap: :clap:
I don't think you could have composed this better if you'd consciously got somebody to pose and controlled the waves :LOL:
I love the way that the wave curves into the LHS, then the line of the surfer's body takes my eye up towards top right and back to the line of the wave. I love it !!!!
Click to expand...


Glad you both like the deck chairs. To explain the framing, unfortunately there were various uglinesses either side of the cropped area so really I had to stick with the shot as is!

Ducky's is the hire company for the chairs.

I was really pleased with the surfer shot - there wasn't much surf and I only had one go at catching him, but rattled off about 4 or 5 frames of which this was my favourite.

Phil
 
Hi Phil, I love both of these. My first question was going to be how many takes did you need for the surfer shot, but you have now answered my question. I am really impressed. I would have had him backwards and forwards all day trying to get a shot like that! (and still would not have captured anything as good as this). Love everything about it, but what a funny colour the sea is?

The colours on the deckchair shot are stunning and I don't think it is a crowbar at all. Definitely mobile seating and a very clever take on the theme.

Hope you enjoyed your holiday.

Jenny
 
Cracking picture of the surfer in action Phil, the fast lens works well with this type of shot. You caught the action well with the angle of the surfer dude and the frozen spray.

interesting shot for mobile, i like the emptiness it represents at the end of the day and the great colours in the sky.
 
Mobile - an interesting take on the theme that works very well. I like the repeating shapes of the deck chairs, and the way their colours are echoed in the sky. (y)

Surface - fantastic action shot. You've really nailed this one! :clap:
 
Electric, I like it... it fits the theme nicely. I think that perhaps the lightning could do with slightly more blur... but...

Transform, it fits the theme nicely, and there's some great details in there. The HDR is subtle too and works nicely.

Mobile, very clever. It's simple, yet works very well. Love the colours and balance, the clouds really help set it off.

Surfaces, excellent action shot :clap: lots of surfaces in there too.
 
Love your Mobile shot Phil. Great idea for the theme and your Surface shot is superb - lots of action and you have nicely captured the concentration on the surfers face.
 
Many thanks for all the wonderful comments - sorry it has been two weeks since my last pictures.

Phil
 
Week 35- Light

Portrait with single light

Larger version here (another one better on black!)

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Week 35 -

So sorry this is a week late, but I won't post anything I'm not happy with just to get a shot up in time.

Any photo could come under the title 'light', but I felt one which was strongly lit would most closely meet the theme. This was lit with a honeycombed snoot from behind and slightly above the model, with a reflector in front for fill. CORRECTION! I lit this with two adjacent softboxes to make a fake window - sorry!

1D3, 70-200 II @ 90mm, f10, 1/125 (wireless sync speed), ISO100.

I would also like to include an outtake, although I didn't go with it as my first choice as there is no shadow detail at all.

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Hope you like them,

Phil
 
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Catch up time for me!

Mobile: I've looked at this several times, because although I like the idea, the colours and the interpretation of the theme, something was bothering me a bit. Finally I've worked it out! The tops of the chairs line up very neatly with the horizon on the left and the bottom of the cliffs on the right, and I think the chairs would have had more impact with a lower pov which would take them over that barrier which is at the half way mark in the frame. That's OCD isn't it. :cautious: Nevertheless, it's a very pleasing shot with a definite feel of being the end of a busy day when all the holidaymakers have gone. (y)

Surfaces: This is an absolute cracker, Phil. Perfection. :clap::clap::clap:

Light: Another cracker. I love the lighting and the pose, expression and processing all add to it. Fabulous shot. :clap::clap::clap: I also like the outtake, but prefer the one you chose. :)

Jean
 
Light

An excellent pose and facial expression on this one and bang on theme. I wonder if the skin and hairline on her forehead are a bit sharp as it shows imperfections in her skin but I dont know a lot about portraits. I think I prefer the outtake.
 
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