Hi Alan... a couple of great shots there.
Possibly two tiny suggestions/comments: a touch of shadow lifting on the black parts of the lens and, separately, I'm not sure the shadow onto the background adds anything: I'd probably prefer to see it missed out (although not easy to achieve with all of the other lighting challenges mentioned). But still a great shot!
The "nuts" shot for Smooth is good... loads of good curves. I actually rather like the processing / look you've applied. Sure, there are a few little glitches that you've mentioned (possibly over clarity?) but the look of the sea and nuts is very stark, which works for me. It looked deliberately treated, rather than someone who's ramped the sliders too far without care/thought... so well done! Great front-back sharpness too, and I really like the composition.
loving the camera, looks in excellent condition, very profeshunally shot too. Enough detail in the black bits for me, think the texture on the body is great, nothing is too shiny, and there is a beautiful "ching" of light above the lens. Well positioned in the frame and the tiny splash of green, yellow and red pops nicely.
Sea wall is nice too, curves away into the distance and up and over your position. The green of the seaweed is a welcome addition to break up the grey, blue and sandy colurs elsewhere.
I got LR earlier in the year... and love it. Agree with Paul, could be over clarity, or over sharpening that tends to give white lines or halos at high contrast interesctions. Also as ISO is getting up a (little) bit here, sharpening / clarity works less well on a "noisy" image.
I generally try and keep in mind, if in doubt, go with half of what you think looks good. Also, I try to view the image at 100%, or 1:1 when sharpeneing / adding clarity to really see whats happening. The adjustment brush is also useful if you only want to add it to a certain area.
Super smooth shot Alan .... I love the perspective, textures, and the soft curves... the top right of the wall looks like a wave ... a really excellent choice for the theme
Hi Alan, the camera shot is great, love the lighting on it you have done well with all those reflective surfaces, excellent work and it looks brand new
sea wall shot is another cracker plenty of curves, love the curve on the top of the right hand wall,
its worthwhile sticking with Lightroom started using it myself about 3 months ago takes a while to get used to still learning its possibilities,
there are some good tutorials on you tube, especially for the hard of thinking like me
First, cracking camera, nice low key lighting and the white text on the lens really pops. A little star burst as well
Smooth, like it as well. The perspective works well as does the, as Paul said, front to back sharpness. I did try a few crops, but could not improve on yours.
Cheers.
SMOOTH ... fantastic composition Alan ... can't work out if you're on the wall with camera over the side, standing on nuts or feet on firm ground zooming in!
Grow - We have oranges like this :-( What a great idea though. The blueish tint of the mould compliments the orange colour nicely. I like the side lighting plus the reflection of the colour on the surface. Nice one.
Live - A decent fish shot taken through glass which definitely makes the job a lot harder
First - Now this is a great image of the camera. I like the angle but most of all the lighting has been extremely well handled keep the reflections to an absolutely minimum whilst still retaining the detail in the metal. Super shot.
Smooth - I quite like this. There are plenty of lines to take the eye around the picture. Sounds like you've learnt some new editing techniques as well which must be a bonus especially as they seem to have turned out well.
Hi Alan
First - Nice bit of kit there mate, must agree with others here, really nicely lit, bringing out some real good detail - nice one
Smooth - I really like this, the jagged blocks on the smooth curve, the green band really finishes it off nicely too, well chosen PoV mate and nice even light
Hi Alan
super shot for 1st , proper product shot for a mag . Well positioned, super sharp , no really nasty blown bits & a hint of shadow....top job
Smooth....I've also just got LR & it takes some getting used to for sure ! I still keep going back to photoshop ! Love the curves you have going on there,the almost mono color palette & although the pp seems a little harsh I quite like the overall effect
Attached....I can see the middle hands are pushed out from the outer hands & the perforation type lines in the corner but have no bloomin idea what it's for / is / does Interesting piece of abstract art , nice touch with the shadow , only niggle is s bit of a red hue over the left most hand (4th & 5th fingers mainly then it fades over the rest )......
Blondie606Photography
MyFlickr My 52 2014
Attached, and there was me thinking you'd cut them out youself. can;t decide if teh shadow behind the third hand adds or distracts. Like that you can see the depth of the card and where the hands fold out from
Energy - WOWZERS.... that is a pretty awesome scene. At first look it looks like you're up in a plane above the clouds, then you get the sliver of land to ground and scale it, those cloud shapes are amazing and the sun looks very well handled.
To top it off you even have a heli flying towards the sun.
Round - it is indeed - simple, well composed for centrality and symmetry. Well found cross to add a bit of interest and story to it too.
Wayy hayy.....back so quick , a 1st for me
Energy...works perfectly for me , cracking cloud formation, chopper in frame , sun beaming out.....super capture
Round....well spotted with lots of rounds going on in there Only miinor niggle ( I blame my OCD !)...can you guess ?? I really want you to be stood square on to the little wooden cross.....
Hi Alan you've been busy...
Attached .... that makes a smashing abstract type image ...I hadn't a clue what it was 'till I read the explanation , an excellent unusual choice for the theme.
Energy .... love this one ....cut a few millimeters off and you're flying high above the clouds ...great perspective, the helicopter is the icing on the cake.
Round ...round and round ...very well spotted and bang on theme ... and I like the little cross tucked in there.
Hi Alan, hands picture is very odd, there is a little red hue as Lynne points out obviously the reflection from the red hand, nothing you could do about that, works well for the theme
I get were you are coming from for energy, and I think it almost works though it does need an explanation its a great cloud shot anyhow, as said above the helicopter is a nice touch
round, couldn't get more round if you tried, strange place to keep a wooden cross though
Hi Alan
Attached - Nooooo what you doing to my brain !!!!
Love the colours, feeling it could be a tad sharper ?? but really like the idea, goodness knows how you have done this but it works really well
Energy - Not so sure theme wise, but boy what a great combination of stuff going on, a strip of land, heavy stormy clouds and bright sky above, that chopper looks minute in that vast sky
Round - Really like this, the green pole even works, a good spot seeing this cross, a good choice for the crop too... as round as round can be
Three good images Alan
Attached, great idea using the card with hands, I studied quite awhile before realising that the two middle hands were cut out from the bg card, then I read what it was
Energy- yep, link to the theme works for me, definitely energy in the weather. Nice bit of blue and the black, dramatic clouds below ..........I wasn't too sure on the helicopter but it does give it a sense of scale
Round- Good simple idea, works well ..........I did think it needed slight anti-clockwise rotation, but a quick check tells me it doesn't ....some sort of an illusion? or just my wonky eyes
Attached - This is really interesting if nothing else just to work out which bit are cut out and which sticking out. Almost like a Escher type image. Well done to choosing this for the theme
Energy - Definitely a sense of a storm brewing. I'm not too sure about the helicopter being so central and small in the image though. Maybe on the classic third would have helped.
Round - There's lots of rounds here. The cross is just an added extra which you usually associated with a cenotaph so I immediately wondered what the story was.
Hi Alan
Attached ... I like because I don't understand it.
Energy ... heavenly ... taken from another plane?
Round ... lots of roundness there ... and that little wooden cross, and the fact that is falling ... poetic.
Hi, Attached. I can't quite work out whether it's been 'shopped of not an interesting take but as lynne states some of the colours seem to have bled.
Energy, I've been keeping my eye out for an opportunity to take a similar photograph, with a very small strip of land and a great expanse of sky. I like it and the inclusion of the helicopter really adds scale.
Round, yeah, lots of rounds. I'd like a slightly higher perspective.
Cheers.
Hi Alan, it has to be one of the worst topics ever,
I do like a bit of Spike Milligan too
Hi Alan... a few interesting images here and sorry it's been so long since I last posted on your thread...
Attached - this is a genius idea: I really like it. I'm a bit confused why it seems so noisy as presumably it was a setup shot where you could have added more light? Maybe not though. I reckon I'm in the camp that finds the background shadow a bit distracting, but I can also see why you/others might prefer it left it - definitely a personal choice rather than one being right or wrong. I love the colours, too. I reckon it could do with a stop or so more exposure, which might also help make those vibrant colours pop even more, but it's still a good shot regardless - and a very smart take on the theme
Energy - It's on theme enough for me, partly because of the blown sun! It almost looks like a distant explosion, so ticks the energy box for me. Unlike everyone else, I'm struggling to fall in love with it as much as some of your other shots, but I think you've handled shooting into the sun well and I'll take the blown sun as a deliberate objective to convey the theme I like the sliver of land at the bottom...
Round - I like that composition... feels very "settled" for want of a better word. I also think the cross adds something. I wonder whether it could do with a tiny lift of maybe half a stop perhaps... obviously not sure how white the white grate really was!
Nonsense - well I really like this. I have no idea why... as it's almost not a photo, but I really like the image. I'll confess I'm less a fan of the type - I think it needs a different colour and something with a thicker typeface as I'm struggling to read it easily, but I do like the idea. For me, this is a good example of something which probably shouldn't work but does. Which begs the question... what on earth is it?!?
Hi Alan
Nonsense - Agree a difficult theme, the below quotation sums it up really well, must say the colour of text doesn't work for me very well, a bit hard to read, but really liking the background image