weekly ams99 - 52 Challenge - Week 52 Water

Thanks for the feedback guys. I did do a B&W version of solitude as that was the "shot" i was aiming for. However, it just didn't work and i preferred the colour with touch of green grass and yellow baccy packet
 
Sweet.

Ok. The reason for this upload is because i need a little help.

My idea was to experiment with white sugar against a white background to see what results it would give. In manual mode and spot metering i metered off the white paper and set the exposure +2EV to make the whites white as opposed to grey.

I then ran into serious WB issues. As i was in sunlight i set the WB to "sunlight" and ended up with a blue image. I then set it to shade and ended up with an orange image.

So, my question to you good people is how do i get whites white? E|ven in elements 9 when i attempted to remove the colour cast it still didn't look anywhere near white.

Question number 2 is what on earth are the black bits (like mouse droppings) all over the sugar?? Bemused!!

Because of the above issues ive converted to B&W

Thanks,
Alan

 
Hi Alan,
In these circumstances, I would do a custom white balance.
What I do, which may not necessarily be by the book but works for me is set the camera to custom white balance and take a photograph of a sheet of white paper, setting your lens to manual focus will help here.

If the white balance is achieved, 'good' will show in the top screen of your camera (that is if your d5100 works the same as my d700)

What you are actually doing is telling the camera that what you are setting it to is white in whatever light you are shooting in.

I hope this helps and I have described it sufficiently enough.

Iain
 
Brian_of_Bozeat said:
Yes it does, page 84 of the manual. ;)
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There you go Alan ;)

On reading back my post above, I thought you needn't use a piece of paper, use the sugar to set the white balance on :bang: :LOL:

You are effectively telling the camera, this is white under whatever light you are using HTH (y)
 
Hi
now the WB issue seems to be sorted,
the pic is a little unexciting shall we say no problem with it being on theme but its just a pile of sugar,
I do believe I did pretty much the same thing last year and then deleted it and replaced it with something else
 
It is indeed a pile of sugar. However, it is an important pile of sugar because it has allowed the good folk of TP to help me with my learning. I haven't experienced WB issues like this before and now understand how to set my own WB via the manual route.

Thanks all.
 
Power is a nice shot of the bike, tricky with reflections and background objects but you've done well here! That's not your bag on the floor behind the bike is it??

The chair with the cuppa and ciggys does say solitude really well, love the angle of the shadow formed by the chair (y)

and sweet, lets just hope that its the shadows you can see and you don;t have mice living in your sugar bowl!! If you shoot in RAW, then there's nothing you can;t do with regard to WB when you develop (that you couldn't have done in camera). That's one of the most powerful arguments in the RAW vs jpg debate.
 
Sweet - Well, points for being on theme! :cool: Not so sure how to crit that to be honest, but my two 2c on the WB issue is - shoot RAW. I know that might be seen as cheating, but use the levels eyedropper tool and it's a few seconds to fix. Found this on a quick Google search! I guess it's the same principle as the 'on camera' method, only this time you're telling Photoshop what to treat as true white rather than the camera! :)
 
Alan is always very honest.
I actually thought the sugar was a good idea even if it failed to be "sexy". The fact that you were learning something and pushing your boundaries fulfilled the objective of the '52 as far as I'm concerned. When I stop learning I'm dropping out. :|

Anyhow, the one with the caramel is the keeper for me. Somehow you captured the "movement" and that's not easy. could be used in an advert. Well done :clap:
 
Just to echo what Brian has said Alan, thats a very good point about the learning aspect of this 52 (y)

Oh and the second one of the chocolate gets my vote too.
You've captured the scene well, I can sense the movement and my eyes are drawn into the frame, centring on the caramel, which could easily be a product shot (y)
 
Thank you for the comments guys. Also a big :clap::clap: for Allan for spurring me to get off my backside and learn.

Having taken Iain's points on board regarding WB i took the following image under orange tungsten lighting having pre-set the WB with the paper. Blooming heck. It worked.

I also tried manual focus for the first time using live view and zooming in. Whilst not a stunner, i'm really pleased with the WB and the focus being where i aimed it.

Thank you TP people :clap::clap::clap: (y)

 
Hi

Firstly I apologise if I upset you, not my intension at all.

I have learnt so much from doing this and its only through people pointing out my mistakes :cautious:

As for the other pics for sweet, both are so much better than the other image which shall remain nameless :eek:
have to agree the second one works really well :clap:

The WB on the garlic is spot on too (y)
 
These last few posts IMO symbolise what the TP52 is all about.

It's vey easy to slip into a "if I say good things about his/her photograph she/he will say good things about my photograph".

We MUST be honest. If we aren't we ain't gonna learn owt.

Sometimes it's not easy to give honest crit, someone it's not easy to receive honest crit.....but you'll learn nowt from, "Great photograph" comments.

Right, bed time :D
 
alsjazzera said:
Hi

Firstly I apologise if I upset you, not my intension at all.

I have learnt so much from doing this and its only through people pointing out my mistakes :cautious:

As for the other pics for sweet, both are so much better than the other image which shall remain nameless :eek:
have to agree the second one works really well :clap:

The WB on the garlic is spot on too (y)
Click to expand...


You didn't upset me Allan. You spurred me on.
I was getting lazy and just taking random photos to get through the challenge without too much thought or effort. I knew this and was pretty disappointed with my own application. You then came along and confirmed my own inner thoughts and that, my friend, is the kick up the backside i needed.

So, a big thank you from me mate :ty::ty:
 
Cut, quick of the mark :clap:

Like it. Nice and sharp with shallow DOF. I'd like to see the near corner in focus and a plain white plate.

Bought for the theme? :nono:

:D

Cheers.
 
ams99 said:
I agree. I missed focus slightly. And yes, I popped up to Tesco just to buy a prop. I enjoy the type of photography where you get to eat the props. Lovely jubbly.
Click to expand...

Edible props Alan, its the future of photography ;)

A little more dof and you're onto a winner here (y)
Lovely colour tones in the cake, some nice detail in there too.
WB bang on ;)
 
Hi ya

chocolate cake ......the best sort of prop :D Love the shot ,good colors & texture in the cake , a smidge more DOF on the top edge & it's a belter :clap::clap:

Love the garlic shot as well ,bit late but also echo others comments about the ability to learn through others help in this challenge.....I've had plenty over the last couple of years & have really benefited from it , I've also jjust learnt how to set custom wb thanks to Iain (y)
 
cor blimey - someones been busy......

love the sweet shot with the caramel, really pops and captured the falling well.

great detail and spot on WB in the garlic shot

liking the uber shallow DOF on the cake shot, is there something amiss with the angle of cake edge to camera as the lower part of the cut is spot on, but the point of focus drifts away by the timne you get to the top. Nice having the tip of the nice in as well. Suppose its too late to do anything about it now.. :LOL:

zoom burst not really doing much for me, nothing in sharp focus. sorry

but i like the leaves against the nice pale blue sky, just clipped the leaf on the bottom of the shot though. But the colours do make it a strong shot in spite of that!
 
Hi

Cut i agree with both Iain and Lynne who have said it all really, you dont need me going on but I will say excellent colour (y)

Movement is a great idea but very hard to perfect as graham said nothings in focus it needs the middle to be sort of in focus a little clearer, I am sure there are plenty of examples on the net.

Shape the colour is outstanding the blue, green and the hint of red in the stem just need to add a little to the bottom as the crop is just touching the leaf
 
I like the zoom burst, but there's a dust spot that I find distracting.
The leaves would be better if cropped tighter or given more room.

Sorry Allan, I must be in a grumpy mood. Feel free to ignore my negativity.
 
Movement, on theme and good colours. I might like to see a square crop.

Shape, well spotted and decent focus, just missed it overall due to shallow DOF. Shame you clipped the bottom.

Cheers.
 
Hi Allan

Not tried one of those zoom bursts so not comfortable giving crit...but I do like the colors (y)

Curve , like the angle the branch is coming from ,could maybe do with some more contrast to really make the green's pop ?

Dust bunnies....the clone tool is your friend ......or clean the sensor ( in my case send it to someone who know's what their doing :LOL: )
 
Week 41 - Live

A couple of firsts for me:

1. First time ive attempted shooting and editing in RAW. The detail is much better.
2. First time ive managed to put two photos together in Elements
3. First time ive used remote shutter release. I like this :)



Areas for improvement:

1. I need to improve my editing skills with Elements as it is still very limited and i wanted to clean up the shadows but didn't know how. Anyone able to offer advice?

2. I need to sort out my backgrounds as crumpled T Shirts don't really work!
 
Hi ya

one word...HOW ?

I figured it must be 2 shots but it really does look like your holding it....was it just the glass part you pasted in ?

& whilst I'm thinking of it...there appears to be a mans face ( possibly Bart Simpson on a bad hair day !) in the glowy bit :D

Can't help with the pp...struggle myself but try doing it in camera with exposure compensation....failing that it'll probably be something to do with layers which I don't yet understand !

Good work & good result mister :clap:
 
Hi

Its always an achievement to learn something, you have done a fairly good job the edges of the glass need a little tidy up,

a great first attempt (y)

can't offer any advice though have only just learnt how to do layer masks myself
 
Hi Lynne,

The first image was with the bulb illuminated..... obviously in a lamp :)

I then took the bulb out and held it in roughly the same position with the lamp removed. I then simply copied the illuminated glass portion from photo 1 and pasted it onto the bulb i was holding.

Allan, coming from your good self "a fairly good job" makes me a happy man. :LOL::LOL:
 
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