weekly overbez's 52 for 2013.... ** COMPLETE **

Cracking skies in 1 and 2; and I like both of them.

But #3 gets my vote. I like the miniature feel to it. Well composed and good detail. I'd like a tad more interest in the skies, not too much to detract from the lower section, though.

Cheers.
 
Cheers Andy - I too would sometimes like better skies... but we takes what we gets and makes the best of it... I kind of liked the blurry, streaky 10 stopper type effect to this one.

Speaking of miniature, I'm behind a re-shoot, so here's mine for, errm, size?, or below, or process / space / tacky,.. you get the idea. :nuts:



(y)
 
You're right Alan, it does need to be one further in, I agree. (y)

Cheers dean, yes 4!, there were a couple of others (Including a line of three windblown trees) I could have put in but the skies just weren't there.

Pleased I managed to find an angle on the windmill - It;s only "open" on Sunday afternoons, which I assumed meant you could get up to it, but not inside. But the gate was locked, so this was taken stood upon a litter bin in the car park!!!

I do think it sometimes worth posting up SOOC images, especially when the processing takes them so far from what the camera actually captured, cheers for looking!
 
Did originally go for the electrical connection... (on my Flickr here)

But decided I'd try and get something to show the connection between my two boys, they are very similar in many ways, and different in at least as many, but the brotherly bond between them is very strong. Even subconsciously dressing themselves in the same clothes... (y)

 
That's a lovely shot of your boys mate. (y)

Only criticism I can make is that they appear to be heading into no-where, maybe if we could see a path into the woods or something :thinking:

PS Like the pier edit (y)

PPSgood idea with the SOOC shots, might nick that one some time.

AND PPPS. good job you didn't post that plug shot with the bare wires and the switch on... Elf and Safetee would have been down on you like a ton a bricks :LOL:
 
Only criticism I can make is that they appear to be heading into no-where, maybe if we could see a path into the woods or something :thinking:

Ahhh, yes, spot on.... Yes a path into the trees just above litte'uns right shoulder would give a great lead through the image, and a purpose to their stroll.... :thinking: have to go to a different field for that though... One for the next re-shoot card methinks.

AND PPPS. good job you didn't post that plug shot with the bare wires and the switch on... Elf and Safetee would have been down on you like a ton a bricks :LOL:

this one?? :naughty:



All perfectly safe..... spare socket attached to piece of scrap plasterboard. ;) Didn't even have the screws in the socket face as I couldn't be bothered to go into the garage to get them (2 or 3 minute job), and then spent about 5 or 10 cloning out the empty holes. :bonk: Get it right in camera eh??
 
Hi Graham
Its a good pic of the boys but I do agree with Brian about them heading somewhere but its a small crit.
The socket well thats just plain scary :LOL: nice idea though (y)
 
Hi Graham,
I like both your ideas for connection but my vote would go to your choice (y)

I do enjoy when the personal touch is added to others 52 submissions, and you've done that with your two boys. It tells a little story about how close your lads are, fantastic.

I agree with Brian, give them a little space to walk into and it's spot on.
 
Hellooooo :wave:

that's a cracking reshoot...of whatever....tilt shift done really well (y)

Connection...can't really add to what's been said already....lovely n sharp & a great moment to capture....maybe even walking toward you or diagonally across the frame may work ?

loving the socket shot.....can you hear the H&S collective going in to meltdown :LOL:
 
Cheers... I did have my finger included :eek: in one of the connection shots but didn't think it really needed it.

The miniature car park is at a supermarket in Brighton Marina, waaaay down low below the cliff path, perfect subject for a bit of fake TS.

And a re-shoot of the boys.......



Same clothes, same processing, same pose (never thought I'd catch the in-step, same foot raised moment again....), but different background.....
 
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Hi...lovely shot of your boys. My preference is for the first one, nothing to distract my attention from them.
 
Hi, what a cracking Connection with your two lads :clap: yeah, like this one.

It is, as has been said, a shame that they seem to be walking towards the bushes. There's a quite famous photograph take I think about 50 years ago of a. Brother and sister walking up a garden path, and it's one of my all time favourites.

Overall, works well. Not keen on #2 because of the distracting object to the right.

Connection #2 is a well executed photograph.

Cheers.
 
Like the first one of the boys, the second ones looks a little artificial.

The backless plug is also very good, a nice dof just as it needs to be.
 
Hi Graham

Mono - #1 is my fave. Lovely sweep to the downs and super sky .. posting SOOC just shows how PP can improve; for e.g in this one the dark area upper right in the colour is really distracting, yet in the mono has no effect.
#2 - good pov and excellent PP. Super image . I think that it might look better with the bush at the right cropped out, creating a square image - but I may be wrong

Other 2 don't grab me as much

Connection - I find it very difficult to photo people well ( but why do I stop there :D) and yet they can add so much to a shot and this one where your boys are the subject is really good. I take the points made by others about the b/g but even then the shot is so strong and my overwhelming feeling is of the connection . (y)

Electric plug is very well executed with good colour rendition. appropriate dof too.

Reshoot car park - I am a real sucker for these miniature shots ( I used to love being taken around model villages when on holiday when I was a lad) and this is excellent. Every element looks spot on - the cars , the yellow lines, the lighting columns, the car park red and white barriers, the building and the bollards around it. Lots of interest (y)
 
Cheers guys, I also felt the second connection shot of the boys didn;t have quite the same spontaneity as the first, although I was really pleased to catch the same position.

I also do like a bit of fake TS miniaturisation effect - it reallt needs the right subject and viewpoint to make it work.

Onto week 33 now..... Still finding some weeks easier than others, and trying keep a high(ish) standard and try something different to previous weeks.

Beginning of a game of chess,

 
Very nice - strong contrast image, perfect lighting and texture - the blown out upper left really adds to it too :clap:
 
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Thanks John, I do have a love of HDR and trying to have detail in both shadows and highlights - but have found that doesn't always need to be the case - glad you like the blown section. It did have a few light hints of flooring in it, but I cloned those away. And darkened the shadow area too.

I did have the white pieces at the top in an earlier shot - before realising that the bright behind the dark pieces, and the dark behind the light pieces worked so much better.
 
Hi Graham
I really like that great placement in the frame and like a previous comment the blown white is really good with the black chess figures :clap:
 
Thanks Allan, tried a few angles, high up, low down, straight on, top down etc but found this the most pleasing, all have plusses and minusses, wrt background items, reflections, depth or lack of, DOF or lack of.

Andy, I couldn't say I had this exact shot in my mind and I set out to take it...... I had the subject, and just needed to find a way to make it stand out in an image. As above, different angles, backgrounds, locations, light directions were shot, with different apertures as well.

Once I had come to this arrangement, and small aperture for required DOF, shutter was the only variable... too long to handhold even at mega high ISO, so tripod came out. Previous shot with 0 EC did blow the highlights a little (in the jpg preview), but left the backs of the light pieces quite dark, so also shot with +1 EC which was the one I used.

So yes, it was intentional ;)

amazingly, from the jpg here, there is still detail in the highlight that can be extracted from the RAW file, not in the shiny surface of the board, but certainly in the wooden floor. Quick version with highlights protected (-2 EV and shadows lifted in RAW conversion too) here.

cjl2.jpg


Was still a fair bit of processing done, perspective correction, distortion correction, gradiented darkening of foreground, vignette on the three dark corners, cloning etc but having detail behind the black pieces doesn't have the same dramatic appeal as the "blown" white. (IMHO). ;)

I'm pleased with it, just wish I'd left a bit more room above the King, as the rotating & distorting cut into the small space I'd left above him anyway. And I think diffraction is possibly at work too... shot at f/25 which has left the pieces a bit soft, sharpened with high pass filter which has made a big difference.
 
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Thanks for the info, very informative, it's funny I know how much post processing can go into an image but the fact I didn't realize you'd done much to that shot is a real credit to your skill
 
Hi Graham,
I agree, your chosen submission works well.

The contrasty processing works. The blown area I think is a bold choice but effective.
The fact the black pieces are to that side obviously helps them against being lost against the strong light.

Good work (y)
 
All the mono shots work for me, but the clouds and the windmill are crackers. Even with no discernible subject, just the depth and sense of scale in the cloud shot carries it beautifully, and the processing, both in that and #2 suits perfectly. Love the angle of windmill too.

Re-shoot - The more I look at tilt-shift style shots, the more it freaks me out. Impossible to crit, as I just don't understand it, but it's an interesting image.

The second shot of the boys is just really nice. Well done, and a lovely take on the theme.

I love the chess shot too, and the harsh glare from the left of the frame makes for a really striking image. The only tiny fly in the ointment for me is that the shadows of the pieces suggest light directly from the rear, contrary to that low left side glare, which looks a little odd to me.
 
.............. the fact I didn't realize you'd done much to that shot is a real credit to your skill

Cheers John, dunno if it's possible to get it like that in camera - if it is, I couldn't do it.. :LOL:

The contrasty processing works. The blown area I think is a bold choice but effective.
The fact the black pieces are to that side obviously helps them against being lost against the strong light.

I'm feeling a bit drawn to B&W at the moment - and feel I'm starting to understand it a bit too.

I love the chess shot too, and the harsh glare from the left of the frame makes for a really striking image. The only tiny fly in the ointment for me is that the shadows of the pieces suggest light directly from the rear, contrary to that low left side glare, which looks a little odd to me.

Hi Nick, the light is from directly behind the black pieces, maybe slightly to the left side of shot too, wonder if its the shine on the board that gives the contradictory feeling.......

You're right about the chess shot, the first one is the better one.

Cheers Mark, you're right - it is .:LOL: Just posted the less blown version to illustrate my point.
 
Hi Graham

Beginning.....that's some processing to go through but it is interesting to see the original so thanks for that (y)

I'm still pondering the blown bits....has an almost alien invasion feel to it :thinking: good low POV , focus sharp , angle good ....I think I like it....probably...yeah I do (y)
 
I like that Graham, nice light & shadows, technically very good indeed.

My only negative is that the glow upper left must be the black players astonishment at how badly white has opened! :LOL: For me, a stronger opening would have made this a 10 out of 10 hang on the wall image. (y)
 
Thanks dean and Lynne....

Thanks Brian, I think........ :LOL: Positioning of the pieces was one thing I didn't give a great deal of thought to.... obviously it's the beginning so not many can have moved..... think I actually had three black pieces moved to whites 2 at one point :eek:

Well, week 34 it must be...... next week we'll be over 2/3 of the way through...

My turn with the shoehorn this week, but this Snow Leopard was quite still, or I had to be very still to take it...... ;)

 
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Nice image Graham. Good focus on the eyes. I like the processing too, the desaturated look helps to put the creature in context with its surroundings. (y)

PS. If there were a prize for the worst shoehorn of the year, this would get my nomination! :LOL:
 
I'm a big fan of the shoehorn and am always happy to borrow anyone's!

Its a lovely shot but I think I'd have take it the other way and been heavier on the contract to bring out the textures and fur detail - but then we're all different :)
 
I'm really liking this, nice sharp eyes and something I can't quite put my finger on, angle, colour, position ??

Really nice (y)
 
Hi Graham
Thats a great capture, Sharp and a good BG which is sometimes really hard to get in a zoo, I don't think its too much of a shoehorn it is "still" ;)
 
I like the processing too, the desaturated look helps ..................

Cheers Brian, glad you said desaturated look, there's actually very little processing in this week, bit of midtone contrast to bring out the texture in the rock, but the leopard is pretty much as is, with a bit of contrast boost, sharpening and saturation increase on the eyes only.

Its a lovely shot but I think I'd have take it the other way ........

as in landscape John?? possibly, was kind of an instinct shot, and that's the way the camera went.. :LOL:

:LOL: I was wondering where that shoehorn had disappeared to again !!!

Thanks Sarah, when I said shoehorn, when you have a trip to the zoo, which is a once year treat for us and the kids, the weeks photo is going to be of an animal no matter what the theme, so it could have been worse.

I'm really liking this, nice sharp eyes and something I can't quite put my finger on, angle, colour, position ??

Really nice (y)

Its the colours, or almost lack of I think that I like.

Hi Graham
Thats a great capture, Sharp and a good BG which is sometimes really hard to get in a zoo, I don't think its too much of a shoehorn it is "still" ;)

It wasn't in that position for long though Allan, the big cat's are not easy, and that's also part of the appeal of this one for me, not through fence, or glass, no fence in the BG etc, pretty much the full frame too, just a crop off the top.

Had a quick look through the photos only page, love some of the shots especially that snow leopard, great shot Graham.

Thanks Marsha - appreciate the comment. (y)
 
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Hi Graham


now that kitty is lovely....perfectly sharp , good bg...shoehorned or not it's beautiful :clap: Not so sure on the position tough ( might just be my ocd again!) I'd maybe have lost a little to the left & put a bit more to the right :thinking: but that may not have been possible....
 
Hi, you've done well with your exposure which could have been tricky.

I don't mind the wall, but would have liked to see both paws.

Cheers.
 
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