weekly Ian's 52 for 2015: Week 16 - Experiment

I liked looking through the thought process, time for that and to take the picture - is a credit to you.

the brew is most certainly bliss after all that work.
 
Week 2: Fragile

Hah... Rules eh... Made to be broken. Leave it till Wednesday - broken. Only use prime lenses? - Broken.

In my head, I had the concept of "Fragile - pick something most people would see as strong and show it broken to prove frailty is relative." After a windy Friday night, I went out with camera hoping to see debris. There wasn't any. I'm also aware that the next couple of weeks are going to be busy at work so my weekly time to "take and edit photos" will be severely curtailed. When I found myself with time on my hands yesterday, I got cracking with some eggs.

Eggs are fragile. Simple theory. However I wanted to show them in a different light. I've done this sort of thing before (I think in my 2010 52 attempt?), but had many problems with it, so this is a reshoot of that with lessons learned. That's a good thing right?


Week 2: Contact I by Harlequin565, on Flickr

The timeline here is backwards (1st shot is bottom right, last shot it top left) and my setup shot is off my iPhone. First I took a pic of the eggs in boxes which isn't so bad when cropped (click through to Flickr to see the rejects). After finding 2 eggs of similar size and colour (our chickens all produce different coloured eggs) I gave them a wash and stuck them to the kitchen counter with strategically placed blu-tack. Positioned deliberately to get the light in the direction I wanted it.

Unfortunately, my longest prime is 35mm and the problem with this is that you have to be close to fill the frame. Being so close meant that even at f16, the front egg was in-focus and the back egg was blurred. This was the problem with previous 2010 attempted shot (I think) at f1.4/50mm which meant a really narrow DOF. For this shot, I ended up having to pull the camera right back and attach the 55-200 and zoom in. At high numbered apertures, a tripod was essential because of really slow shutter speeds. (My chosen shot is a 1.5 second exposure @ 200mm, f22)

Initial shots were over exposed, so I turned it down a bit to get the exposure right, then had to move things around a bit to get the eggs in the right place. The last 2 shots were my "keepers", with shot 1 having the front egg in focus and shot 2 having the read egg in focus. I blended them in Photoshop afterwards. Once I'd finished, I added more chicken related paraphernalia to the scene and pulled back a bit. Had to take multiple shots so I could shift my narrow background across the frame. Again, the resulting stitch is on my Flickr page and it's not a winner :)

Once I had my final image I flipped the image horizontally (I prefer reading L to R), and did 2 crops - one at 6x4 and one at 5x3. I preferred the 5x3 crop and ended up adding a bit of colour tweakage to the last shot. One last check in LR survey mode before settling on my final image. The right hand images in the contact sheet below show the different processing technique. Original on top, tweaked below.


Week 2: Contact II by Harlequin565, on Flickr

So this is it. The final image. A bit cheeky and a bit of fun. Does it need an NSFW tag? It's just a couple of eggs?


Week 2: Fragile by Harlequin565, on Flickr
 
Ha Ha very cleverly thought out, arranged and shot. :clap:
 
Really like this one, very clever lighting. At first glance I thought it was a Glamour image but then realised what they were, well done
 
Hi Ian

I'm catching up with this discussion a bit late. Am I right in assuming that when you use 'Survey' to pull out a set of photos, you then record that by making a screenshot? (I can't see any way in LR to export a 'Survey' to a single jpg file.)

I recognise your latest shot from another life! Last time, she was a lovely woman; now she looks a bit more textured, but definitely more fragile. ;)
 
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ammgramm said:
I'm catching up with this discussion a bit late. Am I right in assuming that when you use 'Survey' to pull out a set of photos, you then record that by making a screenshot? (I can't see any way in LR to export a 'Survey' set to a single jpg file.)
Click to expand...

Yep. "Print Screen" button followed by opening photoshop and doing File>New and it auto sets the size because it knows you've got a screen cap on your clipboard. Just click open and CTRL+V and you're away.

If you've got a Mac though, or some derivation of Linux & GIMP... I don't know...
 
That's a a craking shot:coat:

I thought about something to do with eggs but then realised I didn't have any eggs!
 
Cracking photo! Sorry.. had to ;)
 
Harlequin565 said:
Yep. "Print Screen" button... If you've got a Mac though, or some derivation of Linux & GIMP... I don't know...
Click to expand...
Thanks, Ian. Cmd+Shift+4 on a Mac lets you capture the contents of a frame you drag round any screen area; AFAICS you then have to resize appropriately in Photoshop.
 
Fantastic way to present your shot again Ian, if you keep this up all year that would be amazing !!!

A really simple idea that could soooooo have been done poorly, you have made an excellent image, love the composition, well set up, the detail and the light is excellent - no crit from me :clap:
 
Great shots, I really like the grainy, high contrast B&w conversion on your bliss shot, really makes the shot, especially seeing the shot as it was out of camera.

The Fragile shot of the eggs is brilliant, great idea and executed very well, Lighting is spot on and the crop is just right to be suggestive.

Keep up the good work, i look forward to seeing more.
 
Hi Ian, great idea with the contact sheets, I like it. Bliss, really works well for me, composition is nice and the b+w conversion is excellent. Fragile, the pics made me smile...I think you have picked the right image, nice close up makes an impact. I do like the top left image though with the eggs on the right. Wonder how it would look with very minimal lighting?
 
Fragile - cheeky little number![emoji23] can't add much crit wise, just wanted to say it's brilliantly done!
 
Hi, fragile seen a similar image on this site cant remember where but I do know thats much better, you have the light and comp just about right
 
Thanks for all the comments folks.

alsjazzera said:
Hi, fragile seen a similar image on this site cant remember where but I do know thats much better, you have the light and comp just about right
Click to expand...

I found my old 52 thread where I did this (here). After reading my own bumf I wondered why I didn't use a tripod. It's nowhere near as good as this one which shows what 5 years development can do!
 
Just playing catch up with the feedback... Great to see you using a contact sheet dont see that to often nowadays! I really applaud your approach to this Ian.

Fragile..... Oh Its 2 eggs!!!;). Excellent lighting and really impressive write up take 5 gold stars! Wondering now if i am that methodical?:rolleyes:... Love this shot well planned and well executed, the trouble taken is certainly reflected in your work. I dont think i have any thing constructive to add, other than the light being a tad brighter on the nearest cheek..... uuurrr i mean egg;). Not that that is an issue its personal preference isnt it.
Love the shot, Nice work, Well done!

Bliss..... Love the subject matter and Tea, there's nothing like a brew! Its quite powerful PP, and i know im gonna regret this.... Its not everyones cup of tea. I think its probably the top RH corner and that tinge of colour on the surface of the tea that throws a little me, coupled with the grainy table surface. I'm not very arty TBH so im a bit of a philistine, just ignore me mate.... I like cup and the Angular shadow cast by it and the shaded text on the handle. Nice shade on the surface of the tea and i like the translucent rim of the cup, highlighted by the lighting.
Fits the theme perfect!

Well done Ian, Nice work...
 
Ha ha love it :clap: First glance I thought "blimey she's got a lot of cellulite" then I realised what it was :p Great humour, spot on for the theme and really well captured.
 
Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
 
Fragile - Cracking shot ;) Really like the composition and simplicity of the shot. Made me smile too.
Thanks for all the background too. It's interesting to read / see what goes into the final image (y)
 
Pattern - I'm partial to an electricity pylon and this is a good example made better by the symmetry

Bliss - Great gritty mono conversion. Good off centre composition as well

Fragile - ooo er mrs :D OK this sort of thing has been done before but you've made a very good job of it. It certainly makes you look twice. The lighting and the blacks look spot on to me
 
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Very cheeky :) and very fragile, again thanks for taking the time to show the process.
 
Hiya Ian... that's a belter and I have to say, I'm loving your contact sheet and explanation. For me, this raises your photos to an even higher level because they're not just images, they're a journey. Super stuff.

I think the lighting is super - you've handled the micro DOF really well by stacking (perfect use of the technique in this case) fantastic stuff :clap:

I know you're not supposed to comment on models, but this one does have quite bad cellulite :exit: :D
 
Thanks for taking the time to comment everyone! It's been a busy week so far, so will try and get around a few of your threads over the next few days.
 
Week 3: Scenic

What a week eh? Probably this would be my favourite theme, and I've been caught up doing other things and only managed to get out on my bike locally twice. So no exotic landscapes here! In part - I'm OK with this. I started a project in 2013 to do a "Cycletog 52", combining exercise and photography. Since then I've developed a scenic 7 mile circuit that I try to get round every day. I also use this as an opportunity to try and make the ordinary stand out. In my mind, it's easy to make the Grand Canyon, the Lake District or Yosemite stand out, but it's a bit more of a challenge to make something close to home work (unless you live somewhere exotic!). Here's the contact sheet...


Contact : Wk 3-1 by Harlequin565, on Flickr
Images counted top left to right

I've deleted the total carp and just left the rest. I've also had a play with some images which were HDR (2 in Photomatix, 6 & 7 in the Nik offering), and the top left image is a Panorama (which I screwed up with when stitching the two images together!). The 2 Nik HDR shots had their colours pushed hard because I knew I was going to convert to B&W later and having saturated colour meant more control in the B&W conversion. Shot #17 (the last one) is probably one of my favourites too, but not very "scenic" so whilst good, it didn't make the final cut.

So after B&W'ing the two HDR shots and a bit of croppping, I was left with...


Contact : Wk 3-2 by Harlequin565, on Flickr

Now this is a problem I run into a LOT. My over post processing of images. Those 2 B&W shots are way too over processed (IMO) and the machinery is totally lost in the field. The sky looks almost unreal due to the cloud movement in-between exposures, and the fringing around the trees in the background due to the HDR conversion process is unacceptable to my eye (and something I find that's worse in the Nik software compared to the Photomatix offering).

So the winner this week is...

Week 3 - Scenic by Harlequin565, on Flickr

After a bit of PP to clone out the errant branches on the right hand edge of the frame (they're in the contact sheet for reference) and tweak the colours a bit, I'm happy with this one. I actually like the branches clawing their way into the frame as they provide both an unusual foreground interest (it's not where you'd expect to see foreground) and they fill out the foggy unremarkable sky. There are a couple of similar shots on the contact sheet that I like too (in particular #14), but this is the winner for me. I loves my Fuji 14mm :)

Question: Branches in the foreground: Does the fact that I've deliberately included them make a difference? i.e. if there was no commentary, would you say "the branches are in the way!" I'm just interested to see whether explaining the methodology improves the image in the eye of the viewer.
 
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Because of their high figure-ground contrast, the branches are the most noticeable element in the picture. That has the effect of making them the main subject - good if that's what you wanted; perhaps a bit unusual for a "landscape". It becomes a picture in two parts, with the viewer's eye bouncing backwards and forwards between the branches at top right and the group of trees mid left. My feeling is that the effect is slightly uncomfortable, and makes looking at the picture subtly less pleasant than one expects it to be at first glance.
 
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