weekly SiblingChris' 52 in 2013

Hi Chris

think I'm with Alans comments on this........nicely blurred face to put the focus on the writing ,didn't notice the shadow round your head till you mentioned it :) now I'm trying to make out the process......
 
ams99 said:
Works for me.

I like the focus on the hand and blurred facials. Could an improvement be attempting to get focus on the pen nib?
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Yeah it was a little awkward to get the focus because I was not able to see whether it was right, it being a self portrait
I'd got it set up as a timed shot with auto focus on a specific point and had to make sure I got my hand in the right place when I returned round to the front if the camera

I suppose I could have gone with a smaller aperture, but I tried this and then my face was too in focus....yes I could have blurred it in the edit, but I prefer the natural bokeh from the faked....
 
I think this is 100% spot on Chris, when I first saw it, my immediate response was "boom, another top submission from Tony".. (Re-animated / HWest)...

And then I saw it was yours. (That's a Big compliment BTW).

Awesome idea to create it from 2 shots, super editing, nothing stands out to say it is a composition, the blur on the face easliy gets attributed to a slight opaqueness of the perspex screen you are writing on, and the focus on the hand works, as its closer to the "screen".

Well done. (y) :clap:
 
I also saw this on Google images when I was researching the theme word but I decided it was too hard to do.

So hats off to you for a bold effort, you have criticised it a bit too harshly in my opinion, it's better than you think & when you look back in a few weeks you will appreciate it more I bet.

Well done. (y)
 
I had a similar idea but Jackie wouldn't let me draw on the window :D

Like it. Great detail and fall off. Focus on the nib is my only crit.

Cheers.
 
A stroll round Nottingham last weekend gave me some inspiration for rock. four shots again :)

First of all, a favourite music venue of mine; Rock City.
Took a colour version, overlaid a b&w version, added an alpha channel and then used an eraser tool to reveal the red lit front section as the only coloured area. Out of the rock photos I took I think it is my favourite


Week 25 - Rock 1 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr


Next up, I had to wet my whistle down at the Vat & Fiddle, Castle Rock Brewery's tap house. So you get a shot of the brewery and then the rel thing from where it gets its name and Nottingham Castle is perched on top...

Now I'm a total noob at HDR, but I did do a subtle HDE effect on the brewery shot in order to bring the sky out a little more. I created three different exposures from the original RAW image in LightRoom and then combined in Picturenaut.


Week 25 - Rock 2 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr

The actual rock...

Week 25 - Rock 3 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr


Week 25 - Rock 4 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr
 
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So on my walk around Nottingham, whilst waiting for SWMBO to pay for her purchase in H&M I shot this through the window, with the polariser attached. Pleased to see I managed to get it without glass reflections.

The first shot is obviously an edit removing the manikins from behind, so focus being on the pair of sun glasses. As per usual tweaks in LR, before the main editing in GIMP.


Week 26 - Pair 1 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr

And then the second shot is sort of 2-in-1 theme wise, a pair of manikins, with one of the pair wearing a pair :cool:
It sort of shows what I had to remove from the first shot


Week 26 - Pair 2 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr
 
Flippin heck....thought I was all caught up then I spot this mammoth set from you.......

Rovk....think it's gotta #1 for me....I love a little bit of SC & it works really really well here ,good angle with no distractions of people in the shot :clap: The only thing I might change is to clone out the aerial that's been slightly clipped ?

The rest are also good shots with #4 looking like a very interesting place to live

Pair....the first one has promise but the shadows spoil it a little...but I have no idea on lighting so have no idea how you would overcome that ?

Shape...super set of images ,nicely framed as well...good thinking mister (y)
 
thanks both for the quick comments

the aerial in the rock city shot is now gone

not much I could do about the lighting in "pair" as this is just how the shop window was lit
I don't know if I could fix it somehow, but that's probably more hours than I have tbh!
Anyway, in an odd way I sort of like how the shadows give the manikin a moustache :)
 
Process - Ooooo clever! Just a really classy shot, hard to crit.

The Rock City shot gets it for me, partly due to the great memories it sparks. Beautifully done, and the selective colour makes something quite ordinary into something special.

I like the portrait version of pair. The additional figure and the colours add interest. Also gives it a bit of context.

Shape is a great idea, nicely executed too.
 
Not a fan of selective colour but rock city works really well, although No4 is a very interesting building/cave?

the first pair shot works for me bit a shadow issue maybe

Shape great idea well executed :clap:
 
Hi Chris, Its Beeeeeen a while,
Loving the take on Rock, No1 and 4 stands out for me, with No1 just taking it
(y) do love the colour popping just give it that extra kick IMO
 
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Rock - selective colour used perfectly here... nice technique to isolate the reds too - might have to look into that a bit more myself (y), wonder if you could loose a bit of the RHS. Well done for not clipping the top of the roof triangle bit - would have been easy to do, and it would have wrecked the shot!|

Liking the first for pair too - again good PP skills shown in cleaning it up. great straight on view - good "eye-contact" and simple limited colour palette all working well for me.

Shape - great idea, well executed, tiny niggles here for me, think the shadow could do with darkening a bit, not sure I like the grass being quite so visible in the shadow, and the rounded corners I think should be on all three images all round, or on none. Hey but if that's all I have to complain about - it means it's a good 'un! (y)
 
Great idea for shape, the shadows are really hard edged. I think I agree with Graham that they would look even better if all 3 shots had all 4 corners either round or square. (y)
 
Nice take on the idea, and yep plenty of fuel at the expense of plenty of cash!
 
Very very nice shot Chris. Great idea (I would say that as I was going to do the very same. think the engine needs to be on to clear all the waarning lights.

Apart from that.. works really well.
 
I too like your take on the theme Chris (y)

I like the symmetry and the close crop, with the clocks filling the frame.

Cheers!
 
Yup... that works.

Nice and sharp, nice DOF, and the long narrow crop works well.
 
Yup. On theme and sharp uh lovely colours.

Crit, I'd prefer the other dash lights to be off so focus could be on the fuel gague.

Oh, and nice car :D

Cheers.
 
Bit of a catchup!

Process - I've seen these type of shots before on various Stock websites, but you've executed it very well here! Nice bokeh to take the detail out of the background too. Maybe mirroring the text might it a bit more obvious theme wise? Nice work though, I'd like to give one of these shots a go too!

Rock - liking the first one, think that's my fav also! It 'pops' nicely!

Plenty - Nice and sharp and I like the shot too! It doesn't scream 'plenty' theme wise, so second the comments about emphasising the fuel gauge some how!

Nice work! (y)
 
posiview said:
Oh, and nice car :D
.
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It's a skoda :) :) :)

Thanks for all the comments guys...honestly the dash lights I didn't really think about. It was so hot in the car I was in and out as quickly as I could be! However, I understand what everyone is saying about focussing on what the theme is, but without the dash lights it would have looked almost b&w....I did think about taking one with the dash lit in the dark, but then the temperature wouldn't have worked so well for the theme.
 
Hi Chris, I'm a a bit late to offer any critique this week, everyone else got there first! - I think you have done a good job here, I do wonder if the image would have benefited from a little more room at the top though? (Just a minor thought though, not a criticism).

Come on now, keep up to SPEED! :)
 
Brian_of_Bozeat said:
Hi Chris, I'm a a bit late to offer any critique this week, everyone else got there first! - I think you have done a good job here, I do wonder if the image would have benefited from a little more room at the top though? (Just a minor thought though, not a criticism).

Come on now, keep up to SPEED! :)
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Cheers Brian

because of the curve of the dash, more room at the top would have meant bright light through the windscreen.....I cropped it just enough to keep that out
 
Hi Chris

Speed - top shot for me . Good comp and like the letter box crop. Good colour saturation. Maybe could do with a bit of a block on the light from the right to cut out the lightness on the LHS of the speedo. Don't mind the lights too much but if you had engine on to get rid of them then presumably the rev counter would be idling and not match the speedo.
 
Hi Chris, humungous catchup again, so several posts to come, one for each page.

Below: nothing much wrong with that shot, definitely fits the theme, and the eyes and face are in very good focus. It's a bit disconcerting that the DoF is so narrow, that the chest and the rest of the body are out of focus; I think a bit more depth of field would have been an improvement. But there's lots to like about the composition, with that nice curve tying thimgs together.

Size no1: I thought I liked this, but actually there's quite a jar with the front post leading up to that oof house. No 2 IMHO works better, although now the foreground oof post is a little bit jarring. No3... no, that's just weird with those out of focus things pointing up at us, sorry. No 4 I really quite like, though I think the composition would have been improved if the top right leaf was also in focus... somehow the out of focus bits seem to say: boring stuff, don't need to look here. But in fact there are lots of lovely lines all through this one. Actually a small sensor camera might have solved it! Like it, though! Next...
 
Blimey, there's loads on page 10!

Process: great idea, well executed, like it. Would it have worked better inverted (so we can read the writing more easily), or would that just have looked weird?

Rock no 1 for me, the highlight colour treatment really works in this case. The others are OK, but nothing like the impact IMHO!

Pair no 1: love it! So simple, terrific impact but so weird! Pair no 2 is so cluttered in comparison, I don't think the "double pair" idea quite makes up for it.

Shape: I really like the idea, and most of the execution, I just can't work out the point of the gun to the head in the last frame! They seem to be saying: Hi! All's OK! I'm shooting myself! (Or possibly I've gone mad!) Good thinking though...
 
Hi Chris... Plenty... not sure I'm afraid. Ticks the Plenty box but not the interesting photo box for me. Not sure what else I can say. Sorry!
 
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