weekly John's 2012 52 - Week 51/52 - Time/Fun (27th Dec) Finished !

Thanks Jean :D... no mirrors this time around. You may be right on a pose, but I was trying to show a relaxed pose...

Thanks Iain, I'd have squeezed another hand in, if I'd had the time and my other son at hand. I've a plan for the idea ;)... for my OH's birthday. Yep... a Selfie, I used my variable ND filter to get a usable shutter speed with the lens wide open (f/1.4). I'd been aiming to get the clouds in the background, no fence, but framed it wrong, and couldn't get a decent result with the camera any closer than this. But you're right, more fence, less building would have been better.

Thanks very much Michael
 
Eeek well late on comments for you John...my apologies...so lets catch up!

Linear - This is my kinda shot as well you know :) and its the wall for me for its symmetry and amazing dof! Love it to bits :) and so on theme. I like the wood shot but the lack of symmetry with the ledge (?) at the bottom edges the other into first place for me

Passion - Three great shots....and don't you dare say you're no good at astro and macro....you've not got that custom name for no reason :)

I like them all for different reasons, the moon and venus - simply for what it is beautifully captured and exposed, your first macro - great colours and detail and sharp where it needs to be and the final macro - great tones composition and dof

Hands - I love the idea and composition both excellent - but I fear for me its a little flat and could do with some kind of boost in contrast maybe....not sure, there is something not quite right for me in the processing (sorry :()

Reflection - ah the man himself :) Nice one and a very good interpretation, exposure is spot on and as for the background - I actually like it (sun shine against dark skies I always like) and I can imagine you sat there chilling for a moment away from the days hassles :) Great exposure to...nothing blown on that Persil white tee-shirt :)
 
Thanks for taking the time John, no need to apologies.

:D... Your name did come to mind when I was taking the brick shot John...
Wouldn't dream of it ... I know where my strengths lie, and both areas are both very technical, probably why I like them so much ;).

I know what you mean about hands... I actually had to decrease the contrast a bit to stop my hand blocking into shadow... not sure what to do about it... maybe a stronger vignette to darken the background ??

As for chilling... more, looking chilled :D... whilst I dashed back and forwards from the chair to the camera.. but thank you.

I think that Variable ND filter was a fantastic buy (for £17 new). Got two of them in fact, one for 58mm and one for 67mm so cover all my lenses :D.
 
John, I've had a play with Hands... increased the vignette and tried to control it... not sure I've done a great job on the edit, but is this better ??

IMG_3373-Version2.jpg
 
The edit is better for me personally John - although maybe the vignette is a bit strong - dunno - seems I'm a fussy bugger :) which one are YOU happy with :)?
 
I think I have to agree with you John... probably a bit much now, and I need to reach a fine line in the middle somewhere ... doncha hate those fine lines :D
 
As expected, this week has been mad... and there hasn't been time to get the camera out. So, I'm going back to last week.. and a shoot I worked on.

As some of you may remember, I'm sometimes engaged shooting AmDram for a friend of mine. I'm slowly getting better at them ;)... as I'm learning more of the capabilities and limits of me, my camera and my lens (there's only one I can use for this, the 50mm f/1.4, and this is the reason I upgraded from the f/1.8). It's surprisingly hard, with hot spots and dark spots across the stage, even when the lights are up, but nighttime scenes are just :puke:... I've had to use 1/50s, f/1.4 @ISO1600 on the odd occasion... Thankfully, this shot was not one of those, and there was a reasonable amount of light in use.

Sometimes I do long for a decent zoom... something like the 24-70 f/2.8 would do, as it can be quite hard jumping over seats and leaping around the theatre to get some of these shots.

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It's official... :nuts::bonk::nuts: I forgot to change the thread title :nuts:
 
Another catchup on your thread John.
The image is certainly bang on theme, the woman obviously upset about something, and at the other end, the bloke looks like he is smiling :LOL: so you've covered a range of emotion.
I like your back story around your work in the theatre/amdram it adds a little something to the photograph too, knowing the thought process behind it. Iain
 
Thanks guys
 
A bit behind, and struggled with this one. I had an idea, but no time to shoot it. Anyway, got out for a bit yesterday, first outing of my 70-200 in public...

and got this

IMG_3948-Version2.jpg


I'm sure some could guess what it is, but to my mind at least, there's no context to the image to tell you what it is, which, by my reckoning at least, fulfils the brief.

And a quick edit of Hands, this is about right, after my discussion with John

IMG_3373-Version2-1.jpg


About half the vignette (can you half a vingnette :thinking: ??)
 
I'm a bit torn here... I've got one shot that's a from the week before (just), and one, that I messed up the framing a little from this weekend.

So ... I guess it'll have to be both...

The background is rather cluttered, but that's ok. Gotta love the shirt.

A man who has become a part of modern history
IMG_3861-Version2.jpg


A historical racing machine
IMG_3981-Version2.jpg
 
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Another week with not a lot of chance to use the camera... However, we had a superb display of a double rainbow, and I shot a 5 pane pano...

So, we have a couple of levels of complex here

The complexity of refraction of light, to produce not one but two bows
The complexity of shooting and processing a pano

Rainbowx5.jpg
 
Hi John,

Sorry I've not posted in your thread before -- I've had my hands full keeping up with the 2012 group and not had much time to even look at the 09:ers until now.

My favourite photos out of what you've posted so far has to be Hands and Emotion. Don't get me wrong - I like most of your images - but those two actually make me feel something, if that makes sense. Sorry I can't describe it better!
 
Thanks Nat for looking in. I understand what you say, but that's something I always struggle to come to terms with... probably why I like the technical stuff...

Thanks Michael
 
Boy do I need to catch up! Aplogies....lifes been mad recently!

Hands - I agree with Johns comments. Initial shot lacked punch. Im not a lover of vignetting either!! However, I like the composition and its very sharp. Just lacking oomph (is that a word?!)

Emotion - yes definately fits the theme. She could also be laughing (at a poor joke) Nice colours and sharp. I can imagine amdram is quite tricky so well done!

Out of context - I love your interpretation! Almost cheating!!! I looked at it and though what the heck is that!! Great!

History - Wow, what a shirt!! But I love the car image!! I like red!!

Passion - I love all three of these. The moon, flower and passion fruit...very nice indeedy.

Reflection - Great to see youve not gone for the obvious and nice to put a face to the name :)

Complex - I never knew you could get double rainsbows!! I thought youd done some complex manipulation at first!!
 
I'm as late as Miss C!!!!

So here's a catch up:

Your Emotion shot is very well done, I like the lighting and framing and it fits the subject perfectly - laughing or crying? Dunno but both work :)

Out of Context....haha different spin...looks 'car'ish to me but vivid and abstract and good :)

History - both good and in context - lovely portrait of PM, a long time hero of mine and I'm envious that you've met the great man :) (and I agree what a shirt) and the car shot is well done too, for a close up shot there's an awful lot to look at there :)

Complex - fantastic capture and what a great stitched pano - double rainbow, double complex - nice :)
 
No worries Miss C and John. Thanks for the comments.

Miss C, AmDram is really tricky with a 450d... I need a 7d or 5dmk2 (ha!!) to get a higher ISO... sometimes ISO1600 at f/1.4 isn't enough... As for Hands... I know what you mean, but I'm not sure what to do about it... The vignette was all I could come up with.

John, from memory... I think she's crying and he's trying to put a brave face on it... As for Out of Context, you're in the right ballpark :D... I was reading about Double Rainbows, and there's a lot more complexity involved than comes across in the image.. the dark band between the two for instance is an optical refraction effect...
 
Really struggled this week for time... been on leave so how can that be :thinking:... far too much decorating and other things to do... still, the building work is all but finished... a couple more days... and then if we can remember what normal is...

Anyway... a quick grab... with very little inspiration

IMG_4053.jpg


I don't have two pennies to rub together

it's kinda dull and very lifeless... just used a 25mm tube on the 70-200 and flash bounced off the ceiling.
 
Another mad week, another week with no time for anything... I had a few minutes this evening to try my one idea... having only done an SP a couple of weeks ago...

IMG_4077.jpg
 
Thanks very much Michael
 
I did grab a shot, from the last stages of the build, that sort of fulfilled the theme... but frankly it's a bit like dishwater. Lit with flash bounced off a piece of white card on a table

IMG_4085.jpg


But I managed to get this, whilst helping out at a scout evening.. bit of off camera flash (on a cord) aiming for a moody low key image

IMG_4117-Version2.jpg
 
Oops I got the tense wrong, it should be exposed :D
 
Well Im pleased to see that you didnt combine Self Portrait with Exposed :)

Well done on the self portrait shot....and I with B & W (stubble looks good in B&W :) Your eyes nice and sharp (y)

Poverty is such a cool idea! Ive struggled with Poverty so havent done it yet LOL. A picture of a tramp immediately springs to mind but thats boring. Your idea is great :clap:

Exposed. I much prefer the building one although I would prefer it more if it wasnt at that angle. Not liking the dark moody one, sorry. More fitting to grunge!
 
Hi John Just popping in for the first time, sorry it's taken me so long to get here!

I saw your comment on Andy (Posiviews) thread calling all 52'ers about all your shots being rubbish! I beg to differ, there are some cracking shots here, I particularly like 'hands' and the rainbow panoramic, but lots of other good work:clap:
 
Thanks for the comments, I can see how the tree would appear a bit too dark, it was the feel I was going for... but I guess I overdid it...

Thanks for stopping by Marsha, I'm trying to find the time to go around some other threads, but it's just so mad at the moment.
 
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Why oh why did this come out after all the grunge has been cleared away and things are returning to normality :thinking: typical... anyway, I was already to dredge up one of the grungy early on shots, but was able to get these... I'm hoping they give the idea of grungy metal... so a couple for your perusal

IMG_4223-Version2.jpg


IMG_4275-Version2.jpg
 
Just a quick grab, no time for anything else... I wanted to get a more unusual view, hopefully that's worked

IMG_4350.jpg
 
thanks Michael
 
Ok this is well well overdue but you're not doing this alone :) I'm back!

Poverty: Clever - well lit and well thought out - my eyes are struggling a bit with the angle you've shot the penny at but that just adds to the interest for me :) Good one!

Self: Nice B&W SP! At least you keep your free eye open (unlike me :)) and its nicely sharp too. What is it about SPs that make us do them in B&W :) Works well!

Exposure: Both shots meet the brief but the first is, well, a grab shot and doesn't really float my boat lol (seen too many wires and floorboards eeek!) the second I like but is just a tad too dark to me...slightly spooked by the 'eye' on the right hand piece of trunk!!!

Grunge: I like 'em both. The detail, light and colour in both is good to my eyes! If I had to chose one it'd be the sword - nice spattering of grunge there too :) Out of interest where were these taken?

Food: I love a food macro :) Thats a great and tasty shot - I would have preferred more plate on view or no plate on view as it kinds detracts from the bun a little. But again nice detail and nice light (natural?)

Now to continue my catch up :)
 
Thanks very much John, it was a struggle to get my eye open for that shot in Self... not sure on why B&W, but that was shot under mixed lighting, so no real choice to be honest.

I'll look at the tree, and see if I can't pull it out of the dark a little... the eye was something I was trying to include for that reason ;)

I'll give you a clue, One is a door lock, the other a chess piece ;)

I was trying to get the idea of the bun rising over the rim of the plate sort of thing... not explained it very well.. that's why I was aiming it the way I did. Top down or eye height is the norm, and I wanted to avoid that, as normal though, the reality doesn't come close to my imagined image... Yep, daylight only.
 
Hi John.

I don't think poverty is as bad as you suggest. It doesn't really say poverty to me, but it is a nice picture.

I like your self portrait a lot, especially as you've kept your eye open; how on earth do you manage that?!

Exposed, I think you could have been a lot more artistic with the cable given time, but as it is it's a bit of a snap shot IMHO. The tree looks interesting, but I'm afraid I can't see enough of it to be sure, as it's so dark.

Grunge, both are great, but the lighting and composition make the serpent a winner for me.

Food, I like a lot. You've done really well to expose such a contrasty subject perfectly, and I like the colour, but think the edge of the plate is a mistake. It either needed more of it in view, or none at all IMHO.
 
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Thanks Mark. Keeping my eye open was really tricky, and took a lot of concentration and effort to achieve.

For exposed, I've adjusted the tree... how's this ??

IMG_4117-Version21.jpg


Thanks for the comments, I'll look at cropping out the plate...
 
I couldn't get what I'd thought of, or at least, couldn't manage a decent image of it... still I came across this, and to my mind at least it fits the theme...

Death surrounded by Life
IMG_4509-Version2.jpg


Tricky to shoot, as only one angle (this one) was available to me and I couldn't get that close either...
 
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