weekly pjm1's 52 in 2014 week 52 (Support) added... FINISHED!

Paul, I like both your SPARKLE shots ... two of the best sparkle entries I've seen. (y)
 
blondie606 said:
HI Paul

Sense...no crit , really fab shot , love the lighting & the perfect focus :clap:

Sparkle....you've added all crit , was going to mention the blue hue to the stone work but you covered that as well.......nice image in less than ideal shooting conditions

Sparkle 2......other than the downwards POV I really like this & top marks for egtting natural sparkle as opposed too pp'd sparkle :clap:

Ending...not quite what I expected after reading your words but kind of works.......maybe I have a macabre side but it's not nearly " dark" enough for me - not "dark" as in lighting but in conveying the tone of the theme . Hmmm, not explaining myself too well here.....a few more words on the letter , more pills scattered around , maybe in mono....you choose a serious dark take on the theme , I appreciate that it's a sensitive subject but I think you could have taken it further , you certainly have the skill to do so .
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Hi Lynne, thank you for being so kind again :) I've had a few shots over this last week or so and they haven't all worked. I'm also only really just getting to know "the forum" so didn't want to push things too far with Ending... but it looks like you're not all overly sensitive souls so perhaps next time I'll move the line a bit further ;)

Best of all, though, we all keep pushing one another forward with the photos - if someone has a relatively "bad" week, they almost always follow it up with a stonking picture, which keeps us all on our toes photographically. It's also great to pick up some superb ideas from everyone... basically good fun!

Crtm said:
Hi Paul,

Sense - Great shot love the dof and and the focus on the fingertips very much on theme too.
Sparkle - Nice shot, certainly does sparkle and bang on theme for me.

Ending - I followed your link...........
For me it works, death does not need to be gruesome and full of goar, it is sometimes a quiet relief for the person that has committed that final act.
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Thanks Carol. I did overprocess Sense slightly, but it was part of the overall effect I was looking for and decided to go for "obvious" rather than leave anyone in doubt over what the actual subject of the shot was supposed to be :)
 
Hi Paul, sorry seem to have missed sense no idea how that happened, on saying that can't add anything to whats been said, have to admire the focus though no idea how you did that
but very impressive :clap:
 
alsjazzera said:
Hi Paul, sorry seem to have missed sense no idea how that happened, on saying that can't add anything to whats been said, have to admire the focus though no idea how you did that
but very impressive :clap:
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Thanks for the very kind words, Allan. All I can say is a stiff drink was called for after about 30 takes over 15 minutes :( Oh, and a lot of cursing for not having bought a remote trigger already!

Let's just say I was pleased the minimum focus distance for my 35mm was only 30cm...
 
Week 36: Fall

It's silly week for me this week. I was really struggling with this theme so resorted to being a child again.


Fall: Accident at the construction yard by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

I'm not totally happy with the lighting if I'm honest. There are still some shadows which are bugging me, but I didn't want broad diffuse lighting and really wanted to try to extract some highlights along with textural shadow. The only problem is that gives me difficulties with shadows under the arms etc. So it's far from perfect, but come what may it's a bit of a laugh and gave me an opportunity to put into practice what I was trying to explain to Carol re: flash blending. This is how NOT to do it! :)

I started off with a shallower DOF but there wasn't enough of the scene in focus, so stopped down a touch to f/5.6 which I think works a bit better. The only thing I forgot to check was the shutter speed which I'd somehow knocked down to 1/4 sec (camera on manual for flash work). Not that it really mattered on the tripod as it was setup in a dark room so no real ambient to speak of.

Crit very welcome as I don't think this is one of my best so far... :thinking:
 
Hi Paul
Sparkle - like this comp and the bright sunny scene . A bit cool on the WB tho I think
Ending - must admit that i was expecting something more gory. :) good idea but feel that it is a bit too clean. Would prefer to see it a bit more messy, more foil from the tablets spread about, perhaps a pill or two. Maybe a lower pov also with the bottle more oof, hinting at its use:thinking:
Sense - excellent - on theme, good comp, detail, focus , dof. Can't find any fault (y)
Fall - another good idea and quite humorous. Like you , not sure about the lighting - seems a bit underdone. Also the green platform is not on the same horiz level as the base at the rear and this gives a strange effect. Perhaps one of the models at the side could be looking up at the bloke on the platform , to give variety to the head positions? Also , where is the victim's head:eek:
 
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superpippo said:
Hi Paul
Sparkle - like this comp and the bright sunny scene . A bit cool on the WB tho I think
Ending - must admit that i was expecting something more gory. :) good idea but feel that it is a bit too clean. Would prefer to see it a bit more messy, more foil from the tablets spread about, perhaps a pill or two. Maybe a lower pov also with the bottle more oof, hinting at its use:thinking:
Sense - excellent - on theme, good comp, detail, focus , dof. Can't find any fault (y)
Fall - another good idea and quite humorous. Like you , not sure about the lighting - seems a bit underdone. Also the green platform is not on the same horiz level as the base at the rear and this gives a strange effect. Perhaps one of the models at the side could be looking up at the bloke on the platform , to give variety to the head positions? Also , where is the victim's head:eek:
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Thanks Alan, appreciated as always.

Re: Fall, I think it would benefit from half a stop exposure boost although part of me does like the darker look. I certainly have plenty of flash to play with in the various layers :) Yes, the green platform is a bit wonky... although the lego is over 30 years old, so doesn't quite fit as well together as it once did. This morning I woke up and had the same thought as you re: one of the figures looking up - I think that sort of leading the eye would have made it a much stronger shot. Thank you for the very constructive crit!

Edited to add: the head is hidden behind one of the doctors - another oversight by me!! Aarghh...
 
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Right, here's a quick reshoot with slightly different composition, angle and tweaks to scene. I've also lifted the exposure a touch whilst hopefully maintaining a reasonable level of contrast:


Fall: Accident at the construction yard (edit) by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

For me, this works a lot better and addresses the issues I felt the previous shot had. Still not perfect, but better I think? Again, some slight sharpening artefacts on the scaled version here so best in Flickr lightbox.

Cheers for looking :)
 
Hi Paul, 2nd version of fall much better did look at the first one last night and to be honest wasn't doing anything for me lighting wise seemed a little odd and uneven

Its a nice idea for the theme I like the patch of red for the blood, its a nice touch, though I am a little perplexed as to why the lego men have made him walk the plank in the first place.
well you seem to have got it right this time so :clap: for not giving up
 
alsjazzera said:
Hi Paul, 2nd version of fall much better did look at the first one last night and to be honest wasn't doing anything for me lighting wise seemed a little odd and uneven

Its a nice idea for the theme I like the patch of red for the blood, its a nice touch, though I am a little perplexed as to why the lego men have made him walk the plank in the first place.
well you seem to have got it right this time so :clap: for not giving up
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Thanks Allan :) Practice makes, well... better if not quite perfect.

The back story is that the lego people are basically just terribly colourist. The red ones can't stand the blue ones, so they lay in wait, having greased the steps and at the top of the platform. Mrs Red (at the top of the steps) is particularly pleased with her handiwork, although the site foreman (Mr Red with hat) is a bit annoyed about the clearing up required and consequent downtime. The white ones think they're above it all, so just get on with doctoring, but secretly all of the others talk behind their backs.

Of course, all this intra-lego warfare gets brushed under the carpet as soon as the Duplo crowd arrive on the scene. They're probably the only thing that unites the different lego factions. Nobody likes Duplo.
 
The real triumph for this week is your back story here paul - :LOL:

The second shot is a big improvement over the first, my parents kept my lego box from when I were a boy, and I have a number of spacemen too. Currently is making a large lego town / base under my eldests (raised) bed.

I actually think a greater DOF still would benefit a shot like this, there is a lot to look at, all important to the "story", and I feel the natural edges left and right of frame are much better than in the first.

Can't believe I've only featured lego in 2 of my shots (out of 88 weeks now!!!).
 
Thanks Graham - I agree with you re: DOF... with the relatively small area of particular interest, it should all be in focus. That's definitely a useful learning to file away for these sorts of captures. Thanks for the comments and glad the story put a smile on your face :)

Ok, lunch break nearly finished so upload (catch up) time.

Week 6: Mineral... not many left to go now :) For this shot, I wanted something different, theme-wise. After deciding what I wanted to shoot, I had a quick look through and was pleased I hadn't just opted for another shot of a rock or a gemstone or somesuch. Not that there's anything wrong with those subjects, but as a catcher-upper, I feel I have a bit of an extra responsibility not simply to repeat what has gone before.

The idea for the shoot was driven by something I think Graham (@overbez) mentioned - the frequency of product-type setup shots. Now, I'm still learning how to do these so I think there's a fair bit more experimentation I can (and want to) do, but it made me think about my default setup: carefully controlled (i.e. quite dark) ambient, simple black or white background, flash-dominated with reflector(s) and diffuser(s). How about I spin this around and do a product-type shot with quite different lighting conditions? So I set up outside, at midday on a sunny day. Of course, I had a big garden umbrella up to provide a blanket of diffuse background light. I then dialled the flash right up (1/2 or 1/4 power - can't remember which) and positioned it reasonably close (about 2-3 feet away) fairly high above the subject, camera left. The camera was metering about -.5 to -1 EV from ambient and that was after stopping down from 5.6 to 6.3 so the flash was really only to provide highlights and some selective shadowing. I had a white reflector very close to the right of the subject bouncing more of the flash back to in fill and particularly to soften the shadow cast from dish towards the right of the frame. I wanted a little shadow under the the dish and inside the dish but that was about it. A quick spray with water and I was ready to shoot - and here is the output, "Vitamins & Minerals":


Vitamins & minerals by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

I'm fairly pleased with the lighting given I didn't really make my life easy with the choice of such a high level of ambient. But this sort of experimentation is what I enjoy and learning to deal with challenges is half the fun. I might have had the flash power very slightly too high, but there isn't a huge amount of specular highlight detail, so I wasn't too fussed if it verged on blowing when you can see it. I do think I could have done with a much lower angled light skimming the top of the leaves to really bring out the glistening look, but I only have the single speedlight.

I'll also be first to remark the shot is boring. I know. And I apologise for making you all look at yet another frame-filling "product" type shot. I certainly could have added more interest with either condiments or serving forks... but for once I decided the theme was reasonably specific (mineral) and I was already pushing in one direction by adding vitamins into that :)

I ummed and ahhed about the DOF choice. Part of me would have liked a slightly shallower DOF so that the back of the salad really dropped OOF, but apart from stepping further back and zooming in more (although I had less than 25mm left on my zoom) I didn't have any option to do that since I was so close to exposing for ambient already (and close to my shutter sync speed). I really could have done with an ND filter to drop the exposure a stop or two... Or not shot at midday ;)

For me, the lighting, even though not perfect, does suit the subject - it feels (to me) fairly Mediterranean with so much ambient and just a touch of directional light. I think it might have looked out-of-place had the flash dominated more? I have certainly learned that there is a reason why shots aren't often done in the middle of the day - it just makes everything harder and you need to start adjusting other variables to counteract the bright conditions. It is good to take yourself out of your comfort zone and this certainly did that.

Comments very welcome if you have time (having read through my lengthy description!)
 
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Now this is a top shot IMO Paul, it's simple, clean fresh and bright. No concerns about anything being blown from me.

Nothing else is necessary for me, in our house we just dive in with fingers for the salad bowl anyway. :)

Background of the garden table is perfect and the lighting reflects this hint of location.

DOF is spot on too, just enough OOF to render it 'arty' or 'proffeshunal looking'.

Have you noticed that even the serving dish has a smile, and the half grapes could almost be eyes, and the curl of the lettuce leaf a nose! Tell me you didn't set that up. :LOL:

Well done mate! :clap:
 
overbez said:
Now this is a top shot IMO Paul, it's simple, clean fresh and bright. No concerns about anything being blown from me.

Nothing else is necessary for me, in our house we just dive in with fingers for the salad bowl anyway. :)

Background of the garden table is perfect and the lighting reflects this hint of location.

DOF is spot on too, just enough OOF to render it 'arty' or 'proffeshunal looking'.

Have you noticed that even the serving dish has a smile, and the half grapes could almost be eyes, and the curl of the lettuce leaf a nose! Tell me you didn't set that up. :LOL:

Well done mate! :clap:
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Ha ha - I never noticed that at all but now it's just staring at me laughing every time I look at it! In fact, I set up the shot and lighting, picked the bowl up to spray it (I didn't want water droplets on the table in shot) and ended up putting it around the other way (i.e. the way you're looking at it now)... so it was all completely by accident :)

I'm glad you like it. Thanks as always for the kind words (y)
 
Hi Paul, love your second Lego shot although as mentioned perhaps should have had a larger dof as I find the oof bit a bit distracting. That said I don't really do set up shots and don't feel I should criticise others. It's fun, bang on theme with a great story thrown in which really adds to the scene being portrayed in the photograph. Those naughty Reds! Lol

Minerals is good for me I have no cc as it is on theme and well shot and I do like the smiley face makes me smile too.

Good work Paul.
 
Crtm said:
Hi Paul, love your second Lego shot although as mentioned perhaps should have had a larger dof as I find the oof bit a bit distracting. That said I don't really do set up shots and don't feel I should criticise others. It's fun, bang on theme with a great story thrown in which really adds to the scene being portrayed in the photograph. Those naughty Reds! Lol

Minerals is good for me I have no cc as it is on theme and well shot and I do like the smiley face makes me smile too.

Good work Paul.
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Thanks Carol - glad you liked them. I agree with you (and Graham) - definitely more DOF on the lego scene required. It's all part of the learning experience though :)

I have a belting idea for Week 5 (Smoke/Smokey)... just need to get out there and shoot it. VERY weather-dependent though. This morning could have worked but by the time I got myself sorted, I'd missed the window of opportunity.

I have a busy few weeks work-wise, so I might not get much of a chance. Hopefully will before too long though!
 
Hi, Paul, I've never tried Lego but must do sometime :)

You have produced a thoughful photograph with good detail and with a cracking sense of humour. I especially like the blood on the floor. Crit, well I could be pedantic and say it pot rays fallen as opposed to fall, but I won't mention it :)

Minerals, good lighting and the colours are nice and rich. A little tight, maybe and it seems to lack something. Can't quite put my finger on it, some kind of utensil maybe :thinking:

Cheers.
 
posiview said:
Hi, Paul, I've never tried Lego but must do sometime :)

You have produced a thoughful photograph with good detail and with a cracking sense of humour. I especially like the blood on the floor. Crit, well I could be pedantic and say it pot rays fallen as opposed to fall, but I won't mention it :)

Minerals, good lighting and the colours are nice and rich. A little tight, maybe and it seems to lack something. Can't quite put my finger on it, some kind of utensil maybe :thinking:

Cheers.
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Thanks Andy - very helpful critique as always so thanks for taking the time to look and comment. I'm glad you liked the second lego shot and if I've inspired you to give it a whirl then that's a good result :)

Minerals felt to me like a technically decent shot, but image-wise it is a bit dull... quite possible for the reasons we both mention and you're right, there's a "can't quite put my finger on it" wrongness about the image. But I'm pleased with my improving ability to manage light conditions, so that was certainly a decent outcome in the circumstances for me, photographically (even if it's never going to be a wall hanger!)

Onwards and forwards. Well, in my case backwards, because this is another catch up shot. "Smoke/smokey" was always going to be an extinguished match/candle shot as I've never tried one of those. I also liked the idea of a composite adding a glowing match head or wick...

But then I changed my mind completely. It might have had something to do with Deep Purple playing on the radio at the time... but, living by the coast I decided a foggy (a.k.a. "smokey") beach shot might be in order. Now, a few hundred yards from our house we have a very strange phenomenon: Timber Ponds. They're basically a beach full of vertical wooden posts, now decayed, which used to hold felled timber many many years ago. I still don't really understand the purpose, but the great thing is it makes for quite an interesting beach shot. Sunrise or sunset can be amazing with the Argyll hills on the opposite side of the estuary (to the North) and at this time of year a sunrise camera right just out of view an/or a sunset camera left, again out of view. Perfect setting and I don't quite know why I haven't made more of it in my photos to date.

So, this morning I got up just before sunrise (the bonus of it being a few hundred yards unlike the 30 minute drive to somewhere like Loch Lomond... I can pretty much get up half an hour before dawn). After nearly getting stuck in the very squelchy sands, I managed to set up the tripod and shoot into the mist as the sun was coming up to capture this:


Smoke on the water: The Timber Ponds by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

I'm sure we can have a debate as to whether mist is near enough to smoke to qualify for the theme, but for a different take, I decided I just wanted to shoot this. I quite like it as possibly the least "conventional" sunrise photo you're going to see :)

A few other points relating to the photo and its general "oddness": the seaweed covered rings are old tyres that the crabbers (I think) put there years ago. They're now home to lots of crabs and they're harvested at sunrise and sunset every day (I got talking to a crabber who was down there this morning which I why I now know what they are!) As for the question mark... I haven't the foggiest (geddit?) - but for me it just adds to the sense of strangeness.

Comments and crit very welcome but I realise we're about to enter a new week so if everybody's busy grabbing that last minute Fall shot, I understand :)
 
be glad when you get back to week 1! Although you have bubble next, that should slow you up a bit... :naughty:

Really liking thios one too, the mist really making an already strange scene, even stranger.

Super graduation in blacks from the front to the back, well done to maintain separation between the line going in on the right and the BG poles.

The question mark is an oddity for me, if you'd added it in post for extra quirkiness I'd say get rid of it.... but as it was there, it was there! I agree, very strange.
 
overbez said:
be glad when you get back to week 1! Although you have bubble next, that should slow you up a bit... :naughty:

Really liking thios one too, the mist really making an already strange scene, even stranger.

Super graduation in blacks from the front to the back, well done to maintain separation between the line going in on the right and the BG poles.

The question mark is an oddity for me, if you'd added it in post for extra quirkiness I'd say get rid of it.... but as it was there, it was there! I agree, very strange.
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Thanks Graham... it is an odd one, isn't it? Apparently (upon further research) the question marks - of which there are quite a lot along the river - are "art". Well, if it's art it's beyond me: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/clyde-tribute-to-george-wyllie-leaves-1360730

It's funny, I didn't intend to shoot this in B&W but I waited... and waited... and waited... and after taking half a dozen shots, realised the sunrise simply wasn't going to be in colour because of the depth of the mist. So it was obvious I needed to flip it to B&W and boost the darks contrast, especially at the front of the image.

Glad you liked it - thanks for looking at taking the time to comment (y)
 
Right had my caffeine shot :)

Thats a very surreal photograph with the question mark in there.

Fog...Mist...Smoke...it's all a matter of interpretation anyway.

I'd love to get there sometime, they look like sculptures.

The reflections work well and the conversion to B&W was, I suspect, the only way to go.

Although it's got FG, MG and BG interest my eye keeps getting drawn to the upper right hand posts and feel they have more interest than the tyres. I think less would have been more, IYSWIM.

None the less, I do like it and it is on theme.

Cheers.
 
posiview said:
Right had my caffeine shot :)

Thats a very surreal photograph with the question mark in there.

Fog...Mist...Smoke...it's all a matter of interpretation anyway.

I'd love to get there sometime, they look like sculptures.

The reflections work well and the conversion to B&W was, I suspect, the only way to go.

Although it's got FG, MG and BG interest my eye keeps getting drawn to the upper right hand posts and feel they have more interest than the tyres. I think less would have been more, IYSWIM.

None the less, I do like it and it is on theme.

Cheers.
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Sorry I have to drive you to the hard stuff, Andy. If it's any consolation, I have a nice hoppy beer chilling down a touch which I'm looking forward to drinking. I'm all coffee'd out...

Yes, it's an odd one. Googling "Timber Ponds Langbank" gives some more normal images but even so, it's a strange thing they've put on the beach and the few dozen question marks don't make much sense to me, to be perfectly honest!

I am thinking a different angle at a different time of day (sunset perhaps) might be worthwhile - totally different conditions and hopefully be able to get fewer or maybe none of the tyres in shot. I know what you mean by less is more with these sorts of things. If I had have been able to construct a shot without any of the tyres, I'd have been happier... but I (and my tripod) were already sinking in the quicksand and I really didn't want to go any further out (beyond the tyres) in case I disappeared!

Thanks again for taking the time (and caffeine) to look and comment. As you've said - there are fewer of us managing the comments at this time of year. We need some dreary weather to keep everyone indoors with nothing better to do :)
 
Hi Paul, its becoming impossible to keep up with you,
thats an interesting scene, not sure on the comp its a little busy and seems slightly unbalanced in some way,
but on saying that it does work in a surreal kind of way
I honestly thought you had added the question marks which was a little confusing, there are some strange things about, i am sure they mean something to someone.
the B and W works well with the mist/smoke.
 
alsjazzera said:
Hi Paul, its becoming impossible to keep up with you,
thats an interesting scene, not sure on the comp its a little busy and seems slightly unbalanced in some way,
but on saying that it does work in a surreal kind of way
I honestly thought you had added the question marks which was a little confusing, there are some strange things about, i am sure they mean something to someone.
the B and W works well with the mist/smoke.
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Hi Allan. I must be responsible for the drop off in comments on the threads... I'm scaring people away with my constant snapping. Sorry everyone!

The good news is that in a few weeks I'll be fully caught up and will only be posting one theme a week. I'm also going to be travelling a lot more with work so won't have as much opportunity... talk about from the sublime to ridiculous.

I'm actually quite pleased you find the composition slightly at odds... I personally think that suits the whole eeriness and discomfort of the scene. Things like the question mark struck as so inappropriate in context yet "literally" quite right!

It's funny that I completely intended to shoot a colour shot with lovely warm oranges and yellows and had to totally change and slap together what I shot. That's pretty much the photo as well: an incongruence of things which at very first glance seem "ok" but on closer inspection is actually so many disjointed parts: the tyres, the strange wooden poles, then the random question mark and the whole mistiness.

I think this is definitely a scene I'll be returning to (in small part because it's so close) but really because I think it offers up so many different photo opportunities.

Right this minute, I might be heading back out because the sky appears to have completely cleared in the last half hour and there's a slim chance of the aurora... let's see what happens!
 
Hi Paul ...well done with yet another catch up...I can't believe you've almost got right back to the start, well done to you :)

I really like the Lego shot...I can just imagine you having great fun setting that one up...I think I'll be reverting to the grandchildren's toys soon, I'm running a bit short on ideas at the min. Super bright colours against that deep black background....a very imaginative choice for the theme.

Mineral....is good, but not a shot that grabs me.

On to Smoke....I really love this one ...what an enviable location...it's so mysterious looking ...it has that real eerie feel to it, and the black and white just adds to that. I'm sure it looks totally different in colour and it would be good to see one sometime. I tried it in a dark frame with very thin line of grey in the surround :) If I was being picky I wouldn't have the single front tyre in it ...but that's just a personal thought. I would love to see more shots of that location ...I think it looks fascinating.
 
susiejb said:
Hi Paul ...well done with yet another catch up...I can't believe you've almost got right back to the start, well done to you :)

I really like the Lego shot...I can just imagine you having great fun setting that one up...I think I'll be reverting to the grandchildren's toys soon, I'm running a bit short on ideas at the min. Super bright colours against that deep black background....a very imaginative choice for the theme.

Mineral....is good, but not a shot that grabs me.

On to Smoke....I really love this one ...what an enviable location...it's so mysterious looking ...it has that real eerie feel to it, and the black and white just adds to that. I'm sure it looks totally different in colour and it would be good to see one sometime. I tried it in a dark frame with very thin line of grey in the surround :) If I was being picky I wouldn't have the single front tyre in it ...but that's just a personal thought. I would love to see more shots of that location ...I think it looks fascinating.
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Thanks for the comments as always, Susie. Nearly there and I'm sure everyone will be delighted when I stop posting two or more themes each week!

Lego was great fun but I don't want to over-use it. Although my son is always pleased to see that I've built something new "for him"... not realising it has had a dual purpose!

Mineral was more about me experimenting with lighting, so a very selfish shot. Not hugely exciting, I agree.

Smoke has worked in some ways but compositionally slightly lacking, as you've alluded to. I'm definitely going to be back for sunrise/sunset etc. and maybe even a blue hour shot. It's so close, it'd be rude not to :)

Thanks for taking the time to comment (as you always do!) and your feedback always helps. (y)

Right, another catch-up as I'm still struggling with Communicate, to be honest. So here is a duo of images for Week 4, Bubble:


Bubbles: 1 by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr


Bubbles: 2 by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

Both were taken looking vertically down over a small glass filled with erm... bubbles. Both required my Raynox to get close enough which obviously results in a thin DOF (hence f/14) and the rim of the glass being OOF. I shielded the flash so that it didn't light up the black background, but it was pointing pretty much parallel to the table, so straight through the glass from one side to the other. This gave me the hard lighting I was looking for to bring out the structure of the bubbles - and also some interesting lighting on the second. I don't have any gels to change the flash colour, so I added a drop of red food colouring to the second, which effectively gave the flash a pink glow as it shot through the liquid. It's worked more or less how I wanted, but I think I prefer the structure shown by the first?

I'll not pretend they're great and they're certainly not original in any way. I'll see if I get any more inspiration for a reshoot of this...

And now I really need to get my thinking cap on for Communicate!
 
Hi, #1 for me. Cracking detail in the bubbles and I've always liked how bubbles can have straight edges :)

Crit, well, they look a little under exposed. Touch of reflected light or bounce flash maybe.

Cheers.
 
posiview said:
Hi, #1 for me. Cracking detail in the bubbles and I've always liked how bubbles can have straight edges :)

Crit, well, they look a little under exposed. Touch of reflected light or bounce flash maybe.

Cheers.
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Thanks Andy... appreciated :) I think I prefer the first as well - the only thing going for the second is the colouring which I felt was additive (quite literally additive as it was food colouring - badoom tish!)

Funnily enough, I deliberately reduced the exposure in post. I really wanted the structure to jump out, which meant I had to massively increase the contrast and make the shadows darker... but yes, you're right it results in an underexposed image.

Unfortunately, with any sort of fill flash I think I would have had white reflected light straight back at the camera, hence the reason I tried hard to keep the light running parallel to the table, with as little spill as possible towards the camera. It makes for a slightly odd-looking image, but avoids the conventional white look of anything bubbly...
 
Sparkle #1 - The reference is definitely on the water which is a thumbs up. Nice fluffy clouds in the sky although the saturated blue isn't consistent under the right hand arch. As a result it doesn't quite look right/real to me - although

Ending - Good idea for the theme. I've no problem with the subject matter. You've obviously thought about the lighting on this one as it works nicely. Two minor crits would be just to reduce the reflection at the top of the bottle label and also there appears to be something (looks like a credit card?) at the top of the table just as it goes into the shade.

Sparkle #2. More good lighting and well done for handling all the reflections and highlights especially in the silver of the shaker.

Sense - Super shot and great use of a very shallow DoF. I wondered if you've put the finger tips on some glass to get them all in focus but I think the reflections would have killed it. So a big thumbs up from me.

Fall - I definitely laughed at this one. Very amusing. I feel #2 works better for me as you can see more of the action - and the head LOL

Mineral - Nice simple shot that could easily be in a food magazine or restaurant menu

Smoke - Interesting shot which makes me ask questions - where? what? etc. Most of all why is there a question mark in the image?

Bubbles - #1 is the better of the two as I feel the light is hitting the joins between bubbles better. I can;t work it out. Have you converted to mono or is this straight?
 
Hi Paul, bubbles what can I say it was a dull theme when it was announced, I think you have done as well as you can with it but neither grab me in any way
the second one for the colour maybe, not much else I can add to it.
sorry for the poor comments
 
Delta Skies said:
Sparkle #1 - The reference is definitely on the water which is a thumbs up. Nice fluffy clouds in the sky although the saturated blue isn't consistent under the right hand arch. As a result it doesn't quite look right/real to me - although

Ending - Good idea for the theme. I've no problem with the subject matter. You've obviously thought about the lighting on this one as it works nicely. Two minor crits would be just to reduce the reflection at the top of the bottle label and also there appears to be something (looks like a credit card?) at the top of the table just as it goes into the shade.

Sparkle #2. More good lighting and well done for handling all the reflections and highlights especially in the silver of the shaker.

Sense - Super shot and great use of a very shallow DoF. I wondered if you've put the finger tips on some glass to get them all in focus but I think the reflections would have killed it. So a big thumbs up from me.

Fall - I definitely laughed at this one. Very amusing. I feel #2 works better for me as you can see more of the action - and the head LOL

Mineral - Nice simple shot that could easily be in a food magazine or restaurant menu

Smoke - Interesting shot which makes me ask questions - where? what? etc. Most of all why is there a question mark in the image?

Bubbles - #1 is the better of the two as I feel the light is hitting the joins between bubbles better. I can;t work it out. Have you converted to mono or is this straight?
Click to expand...

Peter - thank you again for the very comprehensive, detailed comments. I don't expect them because I'm creating so much work for you all by catching up in half the time everyone is supposed to take :)

I'm glad you liked so many of the shots - there were a fair few styles in there and I always think some will appeal more than others to different people. It definitely seems Fall and Sense have struck a chord, while Smoke has caused a lot of confusion! The explanation for that one is back up in my posts which followed the picture... I sort of worked it out by the end, I think! Thanks again... it's appreciated.

alsjazzera said:
Hi Paul, bubbles what can I say it was a dull theme when it was announced, I think you have done as well as you can with it but neither grab me in any way
the second one for the colour maybe, not much else I can add to it.
sorry for the poor comments
Click to expand...

Allan, they are not poor comments at all - I can't say I was particularly excited by the shots when I posted them but I honestly didn't think I'd end up with anything that much better if I stood there for hours redoing and recomposing. Bubbles are pretty but also pretty boring after you've seen 30 different entries for them! Thanks for taking the time to drop in and hopefully I'll reinvigorate things with my next image...

SO. Communicate. Lots of ideas (some have already been posted) and I'll confess I was in fear of walking down a dead end with some of them. So, as I was driving back across the country after a long day of work at 7pm, I saw some nice colours in the sky starting to emerge and decided to make a quick detour to the airport (which I pretty much drive past). I thought there must be some communication towers somewhere... that's an idea!

As it happens, directly due WNW of the road I was driving along, is a radar station - a short distance from the airport itself, but I presume their outpost. Now, being directly in line with the setting sun, it was too good an opportunity to miss :)

Only problem: I had my camera (just in case) but no tripod. Now, I could have upped the ISO and opened up to f/2.8 but that wouldn't have suited the scene I wanted. I wanted some motion in the radar dish and obviously I wanted as low an ISO and long a shutter speed as I could get away with. I found a fence post to lean against and decided to try snapping a few shots at 1/5sec handheld. I've always been dubious about the merits of image stabilisation for wide angle lenses but I have to say I'm delighted I had it this evening!

So, here is my submission for Week 37, Communicate:


Communicate: The Radar Station by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

I realise the image is technically underexposed, but that was pretty much how I saw it as the sun had gone down. The radar station in particular was really quite dark. So it's as close to "eye" as I can get.

Thanks for looking!
 
Hand held @ 1/5th, nice :)

The narrative helped me as I didn't see Communication straight away, but now I look I can see motion blur in the radar and even zoomed in it still has some definition. Lovely colours in the sky.

I don't think you could have improved the exposure in camera due to the very bright sky. I had a quick edit in PS, but it wasn't working. Increasing the exposure distracted from the sky and tower. I did add a slight vignette, though that seemed to draw attention to the tower.

Then I started with bloomin' content aware and removed some of the stuff :)

Anyways, cheers (y)
 
posiview said:
Hand held @ 1/5th, nice :)

The narrative helped me as I didn't see Communication straight away, but now I look I can see motion blur in the radar and even zoomed in it still has some definition. Lovely colours in the sky.

I don't think you could have improved the exposure in camera due to the very bright sky. I had a quick edit in PS, but it wasn't working. Increasing the exposure distracted from the sky and tower. I did add a slight vignette, though that seemed to draw attention to the tower.

Then I started with bloomin' content aware and removed some of the stuff :)

Anyways, cheers (y)
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy... it was a nice sunset this evening - a pleasure to drive home under. In camera it was very much ETTR - I had it on manual and I think the meter was at about +0.7 which makes sense given the sky was the largest part of the image and would have represented the biggest influence on its metering.

I did use a lot of C-A fill as the road was really messy... loads of rubbish all over it and also on the grass. Nasty people chucking litter around. So I digitally tidied up a bit... I could have removed the salt bin and the like, but that was there, it's part of the scene and I don't object to it as it makes it "real". Litter on the other hand shouldn't be there!

Thanks for commenting and looking - fast off the mark as always!
 
michael23 said:
Communication, nice bit of colour left in the sky there and i like the position of the tower.
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking & commenting, Michael. The sky was brighter in real life than SOOC, but then I could see the foreground more clearly, so I have to lift everything... by the time I'd correctected the FG the sky wasn't far off (I had to adjust the relative exposures a bit between them, too). Cheers...
 
You'v captured some lovely tones in the sky which has helped provide more interest into the image. I see you've opted for the rule of thirds and I think that works for this one well. I also like how you've included some movement in the rader dish.
 
Delta Skies said:
You'v captured some lovely tones in the sky which has helped provide more interest into the image. I see you've opted for the rule of thirds and I think that works for this one well. I also like how you've included some movement in the rader dish.
Click to expand...

Thanks Peter. After mucking around with compositions for a bit, I decided to go back to traditional "rules" - as you say. So that governed my placement of the tree tops (rather than horizon) and radar station. It also meant I swapped to the side of the road I ended up on as I wanted the road to lead into the picture rather than lead out which would have happened had I shot from the other side. I also thought the bright part of the sky helped balance the subject (both compositionally and in terms of overall frame brightness).

Having said all that, I would never have taken this shot in a million years, were it not for this challenge. It's a bit of an ugly monstrosity and although that probably provides some contrast/juxtaposition with the pretty sky, it's certainly not a construction which jumps out and says "photograph me". In fact, I was slightly worried passing cars might think I was a terrorist for taking a photo of a radar installation!
 
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