weekly XenosElaine's 52s Thread - Support added

Hi Elaine


the 2nd shot of the Stairwell is a winner for me ( the one posted in the pic only thread )....really bold & striking , love the POV & the B&W has been well done :clap:
 
Well I looked in last night and read this week's theme with glee, imagining myself wandering around the park today happily snapping flowers, trees, streams, squirrels and birds :clap: Got up this morning to find that the weather has literally put a dampener on that idea and according to the forecast there's little prospect of a let up from this horrible grey drizzle for several days :( So just for now this will have to do and hopefully will get added to if the weather improves! By the way, no b&w conversion was necessary for this - unfortunately the monochrome effect is completely natural :grumpy:

Nature through my rain-splattered window

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My my, you do have monochrome weather where you are!

I like the picture though, it almost looks like you've taken pictures of live things.
 
Thanks Martin. Yes, I thought it sort of looked like it had been raining aliens, so maybe I should have called it "Supernatural" :D
 
Hi, thats a very grey day indeed isn't nature wonderful, makes quite a nice abstract but not doing much for me sorry
with your track record I am sure there will be plenty to follow
 
Nice pp (pre processing) .... a squirt of Windolene?

That's the nicest rain on the window pane pic ever. (y)
 
A nice abstract to show the great British weather! I think the dark murky background actually looks better than a blue sky one would!
 
Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Allan, I'm on half term child-minding duty for 4 days this week, so not certain I'll get chance for much else, but fingers crossed!

D00d, I don't think that particular window has ever been touched by anything but plain water and the window-cleaner's squeegee in its life :p
 
Thought I'd put the SOOC version up just to show exactly how very grey the day was before I got to work with some extreme cropping and a smidge of extra contrast o_O

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Oh, yes. Number 2 really works for me. I like the abstract dreamy feel of it and the b&w adds to the drama.

First thing I thought of was Saul Leiter who took quite if few similar. Here's one of my favourites of his linky

Cheers.
 
Step - #2 of the staircase is in a different league to the others. The contrast is spot on and the angled view really works. Definitely like it.

Nature - I think #2 says more nature but I actually prefer #1 with the focus on the raindrops. Definitely a very British view of our weather LOL
 
#2 in the stairwell set for me. Love the abstract feel of the lines and the great b/w conversion.
 
Good idea Elaine, sooc works more for me (y), certainly gives a good impression of how nature can be in April, wet and miserable :)
 
posted version for me - nicely abstract, and I like the inverted view of the whole tree you get in the big raindrop.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the comments. The rain finally stopped yesterday, so I combined child-minding duties with this week's theme and went out to the nearby deer park.

Here's one eye deer
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And another
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:oops: :$ It was Colin. There were various odd bits of other deer in the background, so I decided to get rid of them, but made a bit of a mess of it!
 
Well spotted Colin... Not sure I would have picked up on that.

I still like teh second though, hard to get an isolated "deer in the woods" shot. The only way to get good at "object removal" is practice, and it's sooo useful, it's worth the effort. (y)
 
Hi, it's not until it was pointed out that I noticed the faux blur. Good eye contact and by their nature...... These types tend to have distracting elements.

Cheers.
 
Like the 1st image best, but think it would look better in B&W with the contrast pushed up
 
Fine picture but I have to deduct marks for the dreadful pun! :facepalm:
 
overbez said:
Well spotted Colin... Not sure I would have picked up on that.

I still like teh second though, hard to get an isolated "deer in the woods" shot. The only way to get good at "object removal" is practice, and it's sooo useful, it's worth the effort. (y)
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posiview said:
Hi, it's not until it was pointed out that I noticed the faux blur. Good eye contact and by their nature...... These types tend to have distracting elements.

Cheers.
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Yes, there were probably at least 50 deer all gathered together with the few that had wandered off alone all seeming to be partially obscured by trees and as I had a lively 9 year old in tow I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked waiting around for them to pose for me :rolleyes: Although I've had PS for many years now, I've previously mainly just used it for a bit of cropping and contrast/colour balancing, so I'm still finding out about all its different toys and the problem is I've not quite learned when to stop!
 
*Sarah* said:
#2 for me, like Andy said - good eye contact, i wonder whether a tighter crop would work but then i think I like to see it in its surrondings!:)
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Thanks Sarah, I did try cropping it a bit tighter to save me a bit of photoshopping on the background, but I was getting towards the limit of my camera's zoom capabilities on that particular shot and so more cropping meant less clarity of the main subject :(
 
Hi Elaine
The raindrops for Nature.....I like the clarity & focus on the drops in the 1st shot but the more obvious tree's in shot of the 2nd image.......

The one eyed deer shot...looks a little oof to me but like the idea
The wider shot I like ,as others said,I didn't notice the the bg particularly as my eye went straight to the Deer...needs a little crop to the lhs just to take it slightly off central
 
Tango32 said:
Hi Elaine

Nature - the deer picks are difficult to do they dont like to keep still I think you have done well
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blondie606 said:
Hi Elaine
The raindrops for Nature.....I like the clarity & focus on the drops in the 1st shot but the more obvious tree's in shot of the 2nd image.......

The one eyed deer shot...looks a little oof to me but like the idea
The wider shot I like ,as others said,I didn't notice the the bg particularly as my eye went straight to the Deer...needs a little crop to the lhs just to take it slightly off central
Click to expand...
Thanks for looking and commenting Craig and Lynne.
 
Week 15 - Action.

Just back from a week in Corfu Town for the Easter celebrations. Easter is the most important celebration in the Greek Orthodox calendar and Corfu Town is where the biggest and most spectacular of all the celebrations are held, so when I saw the theme Action I was hoping for some shots that would fit.

First one is something I'm sure that many people are familiar with, but maybe not in Greece! It's a legacy of fifty years of British rule in the 19th century - cricket action on the "village green".

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Another British legacy is the pomp and ceremony of brass bands marching through the Town. The local TV stations have their rigs set up days in advance to get the best shots amongst the crowds. Lights, Cameras, Action!

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The Bishop of Corfu leads a brief mass on the Esplanade just before midnight on Saturday night and at exactly midnight he ends with the words Christos Anesti - Christ is risen - which is the cue for a massive firework display to commence - Firework Action.

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Finally, the shot that I most hoped for. On Saturday morning thousands of people gather on the streets and the Esplanade, taking great care to stand well back from the buildings, because at precisely 11 o'clock hundreds of enormous clay pots, decorated for the occasion, are thrown from windows, balconies and rooftops onto the streets below. Despite the crowds and being constantly jostled and stood in front of, I managed to capture quite a few of the pots being thrown and this is my favourite of a 3-foot high pot being thrown from the roof of a 7-storey building. Dangerous Action!

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Better than average holiday snaps! welcome back Elaine!

Firework Action: quite incredible, never saw Firework Action quite like that before. Is there a trick involved or is it just a different type of firework?
 
And so to Mono......

#1 Couldn't believe my luck when I spotted this graffiti-ed sign for a new marina that was due to be completed last year, but somehow stalled about 5 years ago! Being Greece, I thought at first that it was a political comment, so I was slightly disappointed to learn that AEK are a football team and it's basically just the Greek equivalent of our "One Man United" :oops: :$

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#2 A monochrome pigeon

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#3 Monolithic fountain. Because of the "ancient-ness" of the fortress in the background, I tried a mono conversion on this one, but felt that the rock that the fountain is made of lost a lot of detail, so I've left it in colour.

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d00d said:
Better than average holiday snaps! welcome back Elaine!

Firework Action: quite incredible, never saw Firework Action quite like that before. Is there a trick involved or is it just a different type of firework?
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Cheers d00d - I did try and make a bit of an effort ;)

No trick with the firework. There were hundreds of more conventional ones in every colour imaginable, but these particular ones were really unusual and spectacular and brought lots of Oooohs and Aaaahs from the crowd :)
 
Fireworks is the absolute pick of the lot there Elaine....

Super colour, sparks, movement, a real flowery feel to it, set off well by the black sky behind.

Rather like the pigeon too... super detaill retained in the white feathers, and a lovely catchlight in the eye.
 
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Sorry, messed up the link on the photos only thread, but I think it's fixed now :oops: :$
 
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