weekly Mandy's first 52 challenge 2014 week 52 added and all finished now

Well I am running behind again sadly but here I am with my entry for week 30, my idea for " half " is a one half of a friends forever necklace pendant set i bought many years ago. I have one half of it and my close friend Sarah has the other half of it, a little simple on the composition front and was shot with my 400D and my kit lens with the raynox 150 and off camera flash was used.

Half

half by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr
 
Simple composition as you say, my first thought was for a more off centre comp, with some negative space on the shadow side to emphasise the 'missing' half?

Light on the face is really good, possibly a bit softer on the shadow maybe.

Liking the texture in your BG too, better than plain white for me. Spot on theme too. (y)
 
overbez said:
Simple composition as you say, my first thought was for a more off centre comp, with some negative space on the shadow side to emphasise the 'missing' half?

Light on the face is really good, possibly a bit softer on the shadow maybe.

Liking the texture in your BG too, better than plain white for me. Spot on theme too. (y)
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Thanks Graham the face is Winnie the Pooh, I was having a bit of a debate on how strong the shadow should be.
 
michael23 said:
Hi Mandy, the simple nature of this one works very for me, I too was thinking along the lines of an off centre composition and I think the shadow could do with being a little softer. My wife has a tatty teddy one of these somewhere, never thought of photographing it.
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Thanks for taking the time to look and comment, I agree with the comments about the shadows.
 
Hi Mandy, composition has been mentioned as for the shadow I quite like it (y)
 
Half, liked it as soon as I saw it one my phone this morning. I'm glad you didn't put it on the left third as I feel this would have spoilt it. Processing works well and the shadow is bang in for me.

Crit, well minor issue with the slightly uneven lighting, upper left is a shade brighter.

Chests...and Poo is my wife's favourite :)
 
posiview said:
Half, liked it as soon as I saw it one my phone this morning. I'm glad you didn't put it on the left third as I feel this would have spoilt it. Processing works well and the shadow is bang in for me.

Crit, well minor issue with the slightly uneven lighting, upper left is a shade brighter.

Chests...and Poo is my wife's favourite :)
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Thanks very much for the comments much appreciated.
 
Hi Mandy... nice take and well captured. Composition fine for me - central not an issue at all.

Texture and shadow are good (especially the angle of the shadow off the ring at the top). Only distraction for me is I can see a brighter band around the left side of the object (i.e. on the paper) which is probably a reflection of the light source back onto the paper, but it draws my eye.

I also really like the texture of the paper. Bang on theme too - good job!
 
pjm1 said:
Hi Mandy... nice take and well captured. Composition fine for me - central not an issue at all.

Texture and shadow are good (especially the angle of the shadow off the ring at the top). Only distraction for me is I can see a brighter band around the left side of the object (i.e. on the paper) which is probably a reflection of the light source back onto the paper, but it draws my eye.

I also really like the texture of the paper. Bang on theme too - good job!
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Thanks for the kind comments much appreciated.
 
Haha Mandy! One of my first thoughts when I saw the Half subject come up was "I wish I had one of those broken pendant thingies", so I think it's a brilliant take on the theme :D I don't know if it's a conversion or if that's how it came out, but the mono makes it a pleasing and powerful image.
 
XenosElaine said:
Haha Mandy! One of my first thoughts when I saw the Half subject come up was "I wish I had one of those broken pendant thingies", so I think it's a brilliant take on the theme :D I don't know if it's a conversion or if that's how it came out, but the mono makes it a pleasing and powerful image.
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Thanks for the comments and for taking the time to look it's not a conversion it's just naturally silver on white paper.
 
Hey Mandy :)

Loud re-shoot - A nice shot of the plane, shame you were not blessed with a better sky, some good detail there and nicely frozen :)
Skill - Damn that sure is a good skill, I'd like to see a landscape crop, with a tad more of the sky removed, if he has another couple of podiums to go on would add a bigger sense of skill for me, nicely caught again (y)
Rich - Looks like Phil has covered in great detail, certainly on theme for me :)
 
Tango32 said:
HI Mandy - Half great idea for the theme, the background texture really adds to this, shadow is nice good work
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Dark Knight said:
Hey Mandy :)

Loud re-shoot - A nice shot of the plane, shame you were not blessed with a better sky, some good detail there and nicely frozen :)
Skill - Damn that sure is a good skill, I'd like to see a landscape crop, with a tad more of the sky removed, if he has another couple of podiums to go on would add a bigger sense of skill for me, nicely caught again (y)
Rich - Looks like Phil has covered in great detail, certainly on theme for me :)
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Thanks very much guys for taking the time to look and comment.
 
Hi Mandy...sorry I have not visited recently,

Loud: You've done really well to capture this fast moving subject as sharp as you have. Really like the angle of the plane too which show off nicely its lines. Good job Mandy!

Skill: Agreed, an abundant display of skill on show in this pic. Again, I think you've timed it perfectly to show the trick being performed and including a smidge of the road surface gives good context. I like the contrasty processing as it brings some life to what looks like a dull weather day.

Rich: A solid shot. lots of vertical lines in the sheds so you've done well to present a nicely straightend picture.

Half: I think Graham (overbez) raised good comment regarding composition. That said, I like the textures in the pendant and paper, and also the shadow, even if a little strong. A stong simple shot this week but my fav from all the above. Well done (y)
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JasonGlyn said:
Hi Mandy...sorry I have not visited recently,

Loud: You've done really well to capture this fast moving subject as sharp as you have. Really like the angle of the plane too which show off nicely its lines. Good job Mandy!

Skill: Agreed, an abundant display of skill on show in this pic. Again, I think you've timed it perfectly to show the trick being performed and including a smidge of the road surface gives good context. I like the contrasty processing as it brings some life to what looks like a dull weather day.

Rich: A solid shot. lots of vertical lines in the sheds so you've done well to present a nicely straightend picture.

Half: I think Graham (overbez) raised good comment regarding composition. That said, I like the textures in the pendant and paper, and also the shadow, even if a little strong. A stong simple shot this week but my fav from all the above. Well done (y)
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Thank you very much indeed for all your comments, very much appreciated.
 
I am a bit behind at the moment, I have not been able to get out and about with my camera of late so for week 31 I am going to have to go along with an old archive image that I took back in June just to keep me in the game for now. I still cant think of anything for the promise theme really struggling with that theme. My image for Architectural was taken at a lovely little village called Coln rogers, taken on my 600d and made into a HDR.

Architectural

Coln Rogers by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr
 
Purely a personal point of view, but I'm not a fan of HDR images. They put me in mind of early Tecnicolor movies and just seem OTT to me. Apart from that though, I like the composition with the trees framing the church and it's a good example of English country church architecture.
 
d00d said:
like that HDR effect ... and the disjointedness.
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Thank you for the comments.

XenosElaine said:
Purely a personal point of view, but I'm not a fan of HDR images. They put me in mind of early Tecnicolor movies and just seem OTT to me. Apart from that though, I like the composition with the trees framing the church and it's a good example of English country church architecture.
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Thanks Elaine no worries on you not liking the HDR effect not to every ones liking, thanks for stopping by and commenting much appreciated.
 
overbez said:
Simple composition as you say, my first thought was for a more off centre comp, with some negative space on the shadow side to emphasise the 'missing' half?
Light on the face is really good, possibly a bit softer on the shadow maybe.
Liking the texture in your BG too, better than plain white for me. Spot on theme too. (y)
Click to expand...

I agree with Graham on this one :)

Architectural...Not liking the HDR effect,but love the scene and composition(y)
 
Hi Mandy, not liking the HDR either seems rather overdone, the church looks ok but the sky and the grass seem very over saturated.
sorry just not my thing
 
Hi Mandy

I'm going to disagree with the majority and say I have no issue with "pumped up HDR" when it's done for the right reasons. It's a bit like saying a watercolour isn't good because it lacks the detail and clarity of a photo. They're different artistic impressions and mechanisms and I see maxed-out HDR as a similar device. I feel you've used it deliberately to pull us away from looking at the photo as a "photo" and turned it into an image and an impression, which I really don't object to - and as such a device, I think you've used it well.

However, in terms of crit, I think there's a bit which could be improved through processing: there is quite a lot of chromatic aberration on the vertical edges of the church (right edge of left most doorway (magenta), left (cyan) and right (magenta) most extremities of church but there are more examples); the sky is blown in a couple of places but in particular just behind the church which I find a bit distracting; lens distortion (and perhaps perspective) have thrown the verticals off, especially of the tower - which feels wrong in an architectural composition for me; and where you have ramped up the contrast (and clarity?) in the sky, your brush has gone over some of the foliage on the right.

The reason for saying the above is not to be harsh in any way - but simply because every one of those (I think) should be relatively easily fixable (and/or avoidable in future)! The blown areas of sky are the only questions in that regard, but I actually suspect they're a result of the contrast boost rather than in the underlying image (if not, then that is largely irrecoverable, I'm afraid). Basically, a few minutes in post can rectify those issues and lead to a much more "together" HDR-max image. Whether people like that style or not is obviously up to them, but at least you'll have a well captured shot with the technicals correct and an output which doesn't create any new "problems". Ok, it'll probably take more than a few minutes the first handful of times, but it's skill worth having and therefore developing, IMO.

Only tiny point is there is a lovely path leading up to the church and it'd have been great if you could have placed that more in-frame to use as a leading line... but then it would have been quite stereotypical, I guess!

Don't worry about catch-up... you'll probably find you have a flurry of activity and manage to grab a fair few shots in short order to catch up at some point. If that doesn't happen this week or next, don't worry - I'm sure it will.
 
Hi Mandy, Lovely building, great composition and interesting sky (y).........:thinking: do I like the HDR.....I'm not sure :D.....it certainly doesn't put me off the image :)

I've seen some images that I think suite it, some that I think certainly don't........yours has me undecided :D
 
alsjazzera said:
Hi Mandy, not liking the HDR either seems rather overdone, the church looks ok but the sky and the grass seem very over saturated.
sorry just not my thing
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Not to worry thanks for the comments.

Greengo said:
Hi Mandy... really liking your HDR image... I'm sure you will catch up in time... dont worry about it...
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Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

susiejb said:
Hi Mandy ...nice to see you're almost getting there...the green in the church shot is a bit bright for me, but I know things do tend to look different on different monitors so it can be hard to judge. lovely setting though and a good choice for the theme.
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Thank you so much for the comments and for taking the time to look.

pjm1 said:
Hi Mandy

I'm going to disagree with the majority and say I have no issue with "pumped up HDR" when it's done for the right reasons. It's a bit like saying a watercolour isn't good because it lacks the detail and clarity of a photo. They're different artistic impressions and mechanisms and I see maxed-out HDR as a similar device. I feel you've used it deliberately to pull us away from looking at the photo as a "photo" and turned it into an image and an impression, which I really don't object to - and as such a device, I think you've used it well.

However, in terms of crit, I think there's a bit which could be improved through processing: there is quite a lot of chromatic aberration on the vertical edges of the church (right edge of left most doorway (magenta), left (cyan) and right (magenta) most extremities of church but there are more examples); the sky is blown in a couple of places but in particular just behind the church which I find a bit distracting; lens distortion (and perhaps perspective) have thrown the verticals off, especially of the tower - which feels wrong in an architectural composition for me; and where you have ramped up the contrast (and clarity?) in the sky, your brush has gone over some of the foliage on the right.

The reason for saying the above is not to be harsh in any way - but simply because every one of those (I think) should be relatively easily fixable (and/or avoidable in future)! The blown areas of sky are the only questions in that regard, but I actually suspect they're a result of the contrast boost rather than in the underlying image (if not, then that is largely irrecoverable, I'm afraid). Basically, a few minutes in post can rectify those issues and lead to a much more "together" HDR-max image. Whether people like that style or not is obviously up to them, but at least you'll have a well captured shot with the technicals correct and an output which doesn't create any new "problems". Ok, it'll probably take more than a few minutes the first handful of times, but it's skill worth having and therefore developing, IMO.

Only tiny point is there is a lovely path leading up to the church and it'd have been great if you could have placed that more in-frame to use as a leading line... but then it would have been quite stereotypical, I guess!

Don't worry about catch-up... you'll probably find you have a flurry of activity and manage to grab a fair few shots in short order to catch up at some point. If that doesn't happen this week or next, don't worry - I'm sure it will.
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Thank you so much for your detailed comments, I was not aware of the chromatic aberrations you mentioned, I just load the images I want into photomatix pro and let it do it's thing.

Phil-D said:
Hi Mandy, Lovely building, great composition and interesting sky (y).........:thinking: do I like the HDR.....I'm not sure :D.....it certainly doesn't put me off the image :)

I've seen some images that I think suite it, some that I think certainly don't........yours has me undecided :D
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Thank you ever so much for taking the time to look and comment, I am glad you like certain elements off my image.
 
Hi, Arcitecture, it's a lovley building, as many of them are. Tree are often an issue and you've handled them quit well. I might have been tempted to use th path as a lead in line, but maybe not possible.

My main crit is the processing. I don't mind subtle HDR, but this is a little too much for me, but if you like it, then (y)

Cheers.
 
Hi Mandy

I'm in the camp that actually likes HDR , both subtle & not so subtle...yours is in the Not so subtle category but I do like the detail & warmth it's added to the church brickwork .A slight tone down of yellow & green on the grass & headstones would help a little , like wise toning the sky down a smidge . Like the tree's framing it as well . I also spotted the CA's mentioned by Pjm......easily rectified with a few minutes more in pp .

I use Photomatix pro & have learnt that sometimes it's worth spending a bit of time processing the images before feeding them in to photomatix .Once pm has done it's job you can spend a little time tweaking it to really make it work ....technically speaking it;s just twiddling the sliders till everything looks right :)
 
posiview said:
Hi, Arcitecture, it's a lovley building, as many of them are. Tree are often an issue and you've handled them quit well. I might have been tempted to use th path as a lead in line, but maybe not possible.

My main crit is the processing. I don't mind subtle HDR, but this is a little too much for me, but if you like it, then (y)

Cheers.
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blondie606 said:
Hi Mandy

I'm in the camp that actually likes HDR , both subtle & not so subtle...yours is in the Not so subtle category but I do like the detail & warmth it's added to the church brickwork .A slight tone down of yellow & green on the grass & headstones would help a little , like wise toning the sky down a smidge . Like the tree's framing it as well . I also spotted the CA's mentioned by Pjm......easily rectified with a few minutes more in pp .

I use Photomatix pro & have learnt that sometimes it's worth spending a bit of time processing the images before feeding them in to photomatix .Once pm has done it's job you can spend a little time tweaking it to really make it work ....technically speaking it;s just twiddling the sliders till everything looks right :)
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Thanks very much for the comments, will pay more attention on the next time I do some HDR work.
 
Catch up time........

Vertical - Looks like midday-ish by the shadows so not the best time of day for photos. However you've done a very good job at it. The symmetry of the subject is nice as is the colours - not too saturated

Yum - Not sure these go together although I wouldn't say no. Lighting is great giving a lovely glow to the cider.

Loud - I'm afraid it has the feel of just placing the subject on the side of the sofa to it (sorry). That said the speaker does have a nice level of contrast to it.

Loud (reshoot) - I'm a sucker for a military jet having previously worked for British Aerospace for 12 years. This one is an Italian Tonka (Tornado). I've seen one of these crash which wasn't pleasant. In fact the navigator's map landed in the garden of the house opposite ours!

Skill - I would normally say use a shallower DoF but the people are slow close I don't think you could have done anything about it. I do like the PP you've given this. It really suits the subject nicely.

Rich - A good record shot of the light aircraft. Given the distance I guess different angles would have been difficult.

Half - The shadow is fairly harsh but for this shot it suits it well. The side lighting has also nicely brought out some of the texture of the paper as well.

Architectural - I'll just have to apologise that I'm not into the over-HDR'd effect on this. A pleasant scene though so feel a more subtle approach could still work
 
The church is well composed and framed nicely by the trees, but the verticals and the CA jump out at me. Also that is an awful lot of HDR effect there, and I like "HDR" but that's too much even for me!

Worth revisiting it though I would say as I think there could be a good image in there!

Actually, toning down the lightness / luminosity of the yellow channel (and a bit on the green) makes it quite a bit easier on the eye.
 
Delta Skies said:
Catch up time........

Vertical - Looks like midday-ish by the shadows so not the best time of day for photos. However you've done a very good job at it. The symmetry of the subject is nice as is the colours - not too saturated

Yum - Not sure these go together although I wouldn't say no. Lighting is great giving a lovely glow to the cider.

Loud - I'm afraid it has the feel of just placing the subject on the side of the sofa to it (sorry). That said the speaker does have a nice level of contrast to it.

Loud (reshoot) - I'm a sucker for a military jet having previously worked for British Aerospace for 12 years. This one is an Italian Tonka (Tornado). I've seen one of these crash which wasn't pleasant. In fact the navigator's map landed in the garden of the house opposite ours!

Skill - I would normally say use a shallower DoF but the people are slow close I don't think you could have done anything about it. I do like the PP you've given this. It really suits the subject nicely.

Rich - A good record shot of the light aircraft. Given the distance I guess different angles would have been difficult.

Half - The shadow is fairly harsh but for this shot it suits it well. The side lighting has also nicely brought out some of the texture of the paper as well.

Architectural - I'll just have to apologise that I'm not into the over-HDR'd effect on this. A pleasant scene though so feel a more subtle approach could still work
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Thank you ever so much for your massive catch up on the comments, I really do appreaciate it a lot, you have some very valid points which I take on bored whole heartidly.

overbez said:
The church is well composed and framed nicely by the trees, but the verticals and the CA jump out at me. Also that is an awful lot of HDR effect there, and I like "HDR" but that's too much even for me!

Worth revisiting it though I would say as I think there could be a good image in there!

Actually, toning down the lightness / luminosity of the yellow channel (and a bit on the green) makes it quite a bit easier on the eye.
Click to expand...

Thank you ever so much for your comments, I know HDR is not to every body's tastes and I am still perfecting the perfect recipe as it were.
 
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