Monthly Southdowns' 2013 etc Thread - December Great Eggscape Posted

The bubbles shot is lovely, love the lighting in it! Not too keen on the triptych , it's just a tad too dark for me sorry. You must of had guts to do that multiplicity in Asda hahaha! Good work man!
 
Hi, Mark, min planet is well taken. We're you stood in the fountain :D. I'd like to see a tad more sky and a smaller water.

Have you photographed the rest?

Cheers.
 
Cheers Michael and Andy.

No, not stood in the fountain, but right on the edge :)

I've shot some of the others, but I'm going out tomorrow to get the rest (or at least some of them :))
 
Soooo, here are my March submissions; hope you like them :)

March

Revised Mini Planet

March Ken Dodd Mini World.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Tilt Shift. I thought I'd do a bit of an experiment here. I wanted to see if I could shoot a model so that it looked as realistic as possible out of the camera (the middle shot here), and then process it to a) look as real as possible (right hand shot), and then as "model like" as possible (left shot). I think it's worked OK :)

March Tilt Shift.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Panorama 1

March Panorama 1.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Panorama 2

March Panorama 2.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Harris Shutter Effect. Not an effect I like much, but I think this is OK.

March Harris Shutter.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Droste Effect

March Droste Effect.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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Hi, Mark :clap:

Nice.

Already commented on the mini planet.

Tilt shift, I see where you were going but I'd rather see the finished tilt shift because as a tryptic they are too small, even in Flick with black BG.

Panoramas, both good, nice FG in #1 and like the colours. I'd like to see it a tad brighter. #2, great symmetry and composition. Not keen on the vignetting.

Harris shutter effect, absolutely dumps on mine. What tutorial did you use for reference, if any, because I simply could not get a decent result. Well composed, nice subject matter and decent sky. Bottom of the buses look a tad dark.

Droste Effect, another good one but I prefer the one with you in it :D I didn't do this, looked for a tutorial and with CS6 not having pixel bender I'd have had to do it manually, and I decided against it.

Overall, cracking set,

Cheers.
 
Thanks Andy, Stan :)

Andy, I used this tutorial, with Elements. I think the key is filtering OUT the two other channels as well as filtering in the desired one (for the red channel, filter in the red, and filter out the blue and green).

I'll post the original tilt shift one tomorrow, and will also comment on other people's shots :)
 
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Thanks Andy, glad you like them :)
 
I like your harris shot it workd really well. your revised planet pano looks good, must have taken a lot of pre throught to get it so clean.
 
Cheers Adam. A lot of preparation plus a bit of cloning afterwards :) It was all great fun.
 
So here are two for the Black Card Technique (they also happen to be daylight long exposures, but that's not what I'm submitting them for).

The technique was surprisingly easy, with none of the misaligned card position or harsh lines I expected, and surprisingly effective; much better than an ND Grad I recon. I did use a stopwatch to get the timing spot on, and used the black wallet from my 10 stopper rather than an actual card.

I have adjusted the overall exposure a little in LR, but the dynamic range is pretty much as shot.

I've included a third shot which is the same lighthouse one, but without the black card, so you can see how much difference it's made. ALL LR adjustments are the same for both lighthouse shots, but the first was a 30 second total exposure, with the top half uncovered for the last 13 seconds, while the second one was just 13 seconds; i.e. exposed for the sky.


April Black Card 1.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr


April Black Card 2.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr


April Shot Without Black Card_.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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Two excellent shots there Mark. Out of the two the lighthouse shot is more balanced and the composition in 1 is great too. Can clearly see the differents between the 'with' black card shot and the 'without'.

I'm planning to tackle this technique this weekend, got a black card from work and just hoping for the weather!
 
Hi, Mark, good show with #1. Can't see the horizontal line from the card, obviously the card is evident on the RH bush. It does have a a hint of the hue I get when using my Pro Stopper.

The results of the card are evident in the FG of #2 and you've done well to retail the whiteness of the lighthouse.

Good show.
 
The lighthouse black card has come out really well , I cant tell where the card was and there is a significant improvement over the non black-card example
 
You've made a good job of those, I'm really surprised at the difference it makes to the whole photo.
 
Thanks everyone :)

Andy you're right about the bush on the right. Maybe I need to take some scissors to my card!!!
 
April Time Lapse

Two time lapse videos done and on YouTube (it's a shame YouTube reduces the quality; maybe it's a setting I haven't found yet - watch at 480p though):

London at Night

[YOUTUBE]A4tU9t1gjd0[/YOUTUBE]

and

A Country Drive

[YOUTUBE]QNy7iqYajy0[/YOUTUBE]

The London one was done using a motorised dolly I made out of a display stand base, drawer runners and my daughter's K'nex motor! Worked a treat, but I positioned it wrongly for the first section, so you don't see much movement. Here's a BTS shot:


20130417-203520.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

The driving one I wanted to end as I pulled onto my drive at home, but it started to rain at the end (you can see it on the lens), so I pulled over as I was worried about my camera, sticking out of the sunroof!!!

Oh, and I just love having a camera with built in GPS! Here's the map view from LR, showing the photo's used for the drive video. The numbers are the numbers of shots close to each point. Can anyone see where I was stopped at the lights? ;).


Screen Shot 2013-04-18 at 18 Apr 13, 16.43.41.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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Hi Mark,

I've yet to do the Time Lapse or may not so can't really critique too much as I don't know how much effect been involved. However, I found both quite interesting and the home made stand too. For the Country Drive I guess 214 is where you stop for the lights?

Zoom burst is very smooth and well balanced exposed. I like the mono tone of the shot and I supposed that shot can also be used for the Duetones theme!
 
Thanks Stan :)

It's difficult to say about effort in time lapse shots. Really, the effort is in the planning (what to shoot, how many shots, how to expose, interval etc etc etc), and making the dolly, because once you've set it all up you just sit back and wait for it to finish; I ate a MacDonald's while chatting to people as the Trafalgar Square one was underway! It's amazing how much interest that dolly setup attracted :).

The London one has 600 shots per location, over about 20 minutes, which is how long it takes the dolly to go from one end to the other. The drive one has 2086 shots, but closer together because of the speed of movement.

It then takes quite a while in PP, just importing all those shots and then exporting them to compose the video. Plus finding legal music etc.

So it's not hard, but it is laborious, and not something you can just do on the spur of the moment.

And yes, 214 shots taken while sitting at the lights!
 
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April Shallow Depth of Field

Mandy and I on a woodland walk. It may not be to everyone's taste, but I'm really pleased with the desaturated treatment :)


April Shallow DoF.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
Hi, Mark, you should have reminded me to comment :D

Timelapse, well these are crackers. Obviously deserve plenty of comments because if the effort you've put into them.

Of the 2, it's #1 for me. Just a slight judder at the start, possible knock of the camera? You've got some cracking detail on there are the frame rate is bang on. However, I prefer the sky in #2. I wasn't sure about the post moving in front he right but after a few watches i rather like it.

The car timelapse is well taken, but I've never been a great fan if these. I see outside of a car every day so, unlike the other timelapse, they don't get the wow factor.

Shallow DOF, yeah, I agree the processing really works and plenty off creative detail in the figures. Just the lighter areas of the BG drawing my eye.

Overall, you've produced a cracking April set :clap: :clap: :clap:

Cheers.
 
posiview said:
Hi, Mark, you should have reminded me to comment :D
Click to expand...

Bloomin' heck, didn't think of that ;)

posiview said:
Timelapse, well these are crackers. Obviously deserve plenty of comments because if the effort you've put into them.

Of the 2, it's #1 for me. Just a slight judder at the start, possible knock of the camera? You've got some cracking detail on there are the frame rate is bang on. However, I prefer the sky in #2. I wasn't sure about the post moving in front he right but after a few watches i rather like it.

The car timelapse is well taken, but I've never been a great fan if these. I see outside of a car every day so, unlike the other timelapse, they don't get the wow factor.
Click to expand...

Thanks :). The judder is from the wind; my dolly (no, Andy, not the inflatable kind!), is pretty stable, but it was incredibly windy. I put some extra weight on it after the first judder, probably causing the second one, and that helped a lot.

I agree the car one is a bit generic, but it was a good learning exercise none the less :)

posiview said:
Shallow DOF, yeah, I agree the processing really works and plenty off creative detail in the figures. Just the lighter areas of the BG drawing my eye.
Click to expand...

Thanks again. I do have a version without the lighter background, but it loses something due to the lack of context I think.

Thanks for commenting Andy (eventually :)). I'm going to keep at this because I'm learning from each new technique, but it really is pretty disheartening that there's so little interest :(
 
Haha, excellent and unusal take on the Shallow DOF theme, put a wee smile on my face :)

You have taken a really nice set of images this month and well done on completing another month. :clap:

Agree with you about the lack of interest in this project, it's a shame that there are only 3-4 of us left after such a promising start at the begining. :(
 
Cheers Stan and Mark. Onwards and upwards as they say!
 
Hi Mark :wave:

I just wanted to say that I stumbled across your thread at lunchtime today and I am very impressed with your lovely pictures, considering you are learning these techniques you are doing a fantastic job.

I have subscribed so that I can have a proper read when I have more time to spare (and look up the "how to's").

I also wanted to let you know that I have tried physiogrammes for the first time tonight based on your efforts (y) keep up the good work. :)
 
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Thanks Brian, I'm really glad you like them :)
 
Here's my first for May.

Leading Lines

The lines are subtle I know, but I'm really pleased with how they still draw you quite powerfully to the rather small subject :)

The black border isn't meant as a border, but as a background, because this one really really does work best on a black screen.


May Leading Lines.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
Awesome leading lines Mark. Viewed in Flickr and pressing 'L' really gives it some BOSH. The perspective is awesome. :clap:
 
Implied leading lines, yup, works well. Liking the subtle processing and the detail front to back is great. Few bits of detritus in the sand do distract, though ;)

Cheers.
 
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