weekly DK's 52 of 2015 - wk 52 'Christmas' added - FINISHED

[Dark Knight]

Like the machine shot...and if there is a 'coffee' theme later you can use it again.

Haaaa is if I would do that

When I first saw the coffee beans I thought they were some sort of slimy creatures, I'll never look at coffee beans the same again. They do look very fresh...hmmm, I fancy a cup of coffee all of a sudden; sod that, more wine!

Goooood choice

Two more great shots there ..... coffee machine, coffee beans .... another rhyme.
Amazing detail on the coffee beans.

Thanks... nice job Bob

Quick catch up form me close up great framing nice focus on the center but a touch to bright on the petals for me.
Coffee machine I was going to do. Glad i didn't thats a really good capture and adding the coffee beans as a close up re shoot is nice the focus is spot on

Cheers Simon

Starbucks

Costa

Wonderful machine, nice motion in the coffee. Not an easy one to compose with all the interesting detail.

Cheers Andy

Close up. Good overall detail and nice rich colours, just the specular highlights by way of minor crit.

Cheers.

Thanks again... good crit mate, I did really struggle with the lighting, a mixture of dark beans and oily surface was a tough choice on detail or small blown highlights

Love the coffee machine dean.

Kept all of both handles in.. Nice and white on the cup and beautifully shiny on the metal.

Perfect catch on the drips, lovely use of shallow dof. Perfect.

Thanks a lot Graham - all well pointed out sections I did try to ensure we're right

And thanks for popping in mate

 

[Dark Knight]

Hi there,

A mega catch up from me - I am disappointed to say I have missed this thread so far - sorry about that

No problem Lee, I am certain there are threads I have not yet got around too - just the way it is at the start of the year

Patterns: Both in the pebbles and in the sand. Nice light too. The shallow DoF in the second one works for me

Thanks Lee

Bliss: Good idea and my kind of bliss too. I understand what you mean about the low light that are associated with movies but I have to say the FG is a bit too dark for me.

Was sure a tough choice that one

Fragile: Nice idea and that soft box works well. I have to agree it does look a tad staged.

Just a tad

Scenic: I prefer the windmill one too. I think there is potential there but the lines between the reeds and water and the reeds and windmill are a bit distracting if that makes sense. It's as if I would want the camera to be placed higher.

Agree that I wish I had a hop-up of some description with me, may revisit one day better equipted

Companions: I like the reshoot/edit of this one. The slightly blurred scenery really helps the pin sharp geese to pop out

Thanks again Lee

Elegant: I have no idea about Canon lenses but it certainly has an elegant feel to it. A good take on the theme.

A sneaky take it was

Watery: The one with the OOF gulls for me. It's just a bit different and the gap in the flock draws the eye in nicely.

Bold: The colour version for me. Nice diagonal that leads me nicely into the shot.

My choice too... really must try a full DoF shot one day

Relax: A really relaxing shot. Good light too. I wonder if it would help to have a bit more space for the dog to walk into?

Hmmmmm not even thought of that, I'll add that to my list tyo look at if I ever ghet a tog day on the PC again (Hopefully after I move <fingers crossed>)

Vertical: No. 1 for me - the sky and crepuscular rays really adds to it.

Thanks

Mouth: The dog shot for me. Looks like a nice place although it would take me all day just to get to the top!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be to be honest, great company probably helped though

Close up: I like the composition and the detail in the centre of the flower but appears too saturated and blown in places on the petals.

Most seem to think that - guess I was trying to be Too Funky

Machine: Great shot. The flash has 'frozen' the droplets of coffee in the cup. Nicely free of reflections too.

Re-shoot of Close up: Lots of detail in the beans Good lighting too.

Annnnd thanks again

Phew! Time for a cuppa now

Sounds like a great idea - Thanks for the mega catch up too

 

[Dark Knight]

ah, now then, I love the machine shot, and you got drips so lots of movement there. You've done a good job with the lighting.

Thanks Summer

I'm afraid I can't comment on your closeup cos it looks like dog droppings lol (sorry )

lol - Well... I wish all dog droppings smelt as good as them fresh beans... won't even think about the taste

Machine - great action shot and I think you've chosen the right angle with the nice diagonal of the lever.

Thanks Elaine

Close Up reshoot - not too sure about this. If you hadn't said it was coffee beans I would have been imagining something a bit less savoury.

Ha Haaaaa - they do look odd don't they

That is my favouriest machine in the whole wide world . Can't beat un cafe solo doble to wake me up in the morning :sleep:. (That's a double espresso over here )

Me too Jill - Me Too... but a triple shot Skinny Latte

Closeup reshoot definitely looks unsavoury

Another Ewwwwww

 

[Dark Knight]

Right... so on to my catch up YET AGAIN - I did say at the start of this year that it was going to be a bit erratic

So - Working hard on my house getting it ready to sell, spent the whole of last weekend (bank holiday weekend) and yesterday painting rooms inside, and the work week is extra manic due to opening/moving/re-fitting a new office, this is a bit manic in the timescale, fitting it in on top of my normal manic day job - but hey ho, hope to be moved in two weeks time <fingers crossed>

Moving on...

I was going to try and get some catch up shots done today, had a good 2 or 3 hours this afternoon to go out togging (this morning Re-assembling rooms I dismantled yesterday )

Mixed results - I took a 'Crowd' shot a couple of weeks ago on the way to scotland, a phone shot because I liked the light and with a very empty small plane I felt as far from any crowds as possible, it was a dreamy morning , BUT once on the PC it looked Cac to say the least, so today I tried to get a better shot, Nice sunny day and amazingly no big crowds on the local sea front

So - Not wanting to build up a big backlog of shots needed I am Posting the shot I took, so

Week 11 - far away from the 'Crowd's

- NOTHING TO SEE HERE - MOVE ON

Wk 11 - Crowd by TP DK, on Flickr

Next up... Alphabet, again hoping for lots of ideas to pop out today, but it just wasn't having it, so again as to not get behind I am posting the one shot I did get... and another subject for the next re-shoot week

Wk 14 - Alphabet by TP DK, on Flickr

 

[Dark Knight]

And onto this week... I again tried several places, my first choice was the pleasure beach at Great Yarmouth, I wanted to get screaming on nice fast rides, it wasn't my day for that either, poor attendance and high winds saw few people going on them sooooo a back up plan yet again...

Week 15 - Sound

End result I am quite happy with, although a few of the reflections I would have prefered not to be there but hey, can't have it all

Week 15 - Sound by TP DK, on Flickr

 

[rpn]

Crowd or should the shot be called Cloud?

Alphabet, I quite like that but I would cropped out the top and the bottom too. Are they bracelets? and you've rotated the shot too?

Sound, very nice speakers. I like the abstract feel of the shot and the reflections add to it too.

 

[Allan.H]

Hi DK, Crowd, love seeing clouds from above always makes me happy so not going to crit that, but I do believe "cac" has a k at the end thats always what I envisaged anyway

Alphabet, busy but quite interesting maybe if you flipped it to portrait just a thought

Sound, looks very sleek it would be very hard to lose the reflections there, I think you have done a good enough job on it, but again portrait maybe just because of the converging lines

well done for catching up, sounds like a busy time for you

 

[viv1969]

Hey DK.

Crowd....I thought you were going to say above the crowds (hearing chinese accent ) I do like the shot though.

Alphabet...Not a lot wrong with this. On theme and well spotted.

Sound. I like this one a lot, and I don't think the reflections detract.

All in all a rather good catch-up!

 

[Dem55]

Hiya, good catch up - specially with the manic time you're having.

Crowd - nice shot, clouds always look nice & unthreatening from above :-

Alphabet - good find for a difficult theme

Sound - i really like this one, and I like the landscape orientation as well (but I'm no expert )

 

[d00d]

Crowd/Cloud ... lovely, I love being up there.

Alphabet ... I see words like NERD & GEEK ... interesting and different ... fits the theme well.

Sound ... cool kit. I love this sort of stuff but not always easy to photograph, you've done well.

 

[blondie606]

Now then mister

Sound.....liking that , good focus, good DOF, lovely black bg sets of the silver & whites in the speaker plus you've managed separation between the black bg & the black on the speaker The only very minor point ( it is very minor) just above the far end speaker cone is a small splodge of grey ?

Crowd....love the fluffy white clouds matey...reminds of a certain trip in the not too distant past

Alphabet.....love your choice of words on those...bracelets ?

 

[Bruja]

I would hope any catch up I may have to do in the future will turn out so well

Far from the Madding Crowd I would crop the top to just see the sky, and, coincidentally, would put the cloud horizon on a third

Alphabet, just rotate this and I'd frame it for my wall it just says something really ironic to me about the times we live in so it works as a piece of social commentary

Sound just wouldn't be as good without the reflections so stop obsessing young Master Knight

 

[posiview]

'sup

You're being a little hard on yourself here, Dean.

Crown, lateral thinking here (shoehorn ) but I like it. I did wonder about removing the wing but that would ruin the narrative. Lovely clouds.

Alphabet, wondered if it was some weird abacus but realised it's bracelets I'll keep an eye out for the reshoot

Sound, good lighting and detail. I think there is potential for some nice minimal/abstracts there.

Cheers.

 

[susiejb]

Hi DK ...poor you, you sound so busy, well done for getting all those on.

Nowt wrong with clouds/crowds for me, it could be sharper but it still gives that lovely isolated floaty feeling.

Alphabet ...I would have nipped the top off but it's great for the theme, I like the landscape angle.

Same with the angle on sound, I think that's an excellent shot. I really like it a lot.
(Although you could have gone on a scary ride and done a selfie )

 

[LC2]

Hi DK - Sound: Very nice shot, nice DoF, sharp where it needs to be and a perfect black background.

 

[Deleted member 59779]

Crowd: good thinking outside the box. One can drift away in their own thoughts quite easily looking at this.

Sound: Nice angle of the mono image.

You are closer than me I am dragging again at the moment

 

[sturisoma]

sound is a good shot, sleek like the device I would maybe have got all of the nearest cone in though, or maybe not at all, it just looks sad all cut in half and all

 

[Dark Knight]

Crowd or should the shot be called Cloud?

Well.... it's meant to be far from the crowds, as in high up

Alphabet, I quite like that but I would cropped out the top and the bottom too. Are they bracelets? and you've rotated the shot too?

Yes they are bracelets... but this is the direction I found them

Sound, very nice speakers. I like the abstract feel of the shot and the reflections add to it too.

Thanks again Stan

Hi DK, Crowd, love seeing clouds from above always makes me happy so not going to crit that, but I do believe "cac" has a k at the end thats always what I envisaged anyway

Ahhhh really, thanks Allan, will try and remember that

Alphabet, busy but quite interesting maybe if you flipped it to portrait just a thought

Wasn't sure on the angle actually, so just went with how it was

Sound, looks very sleek it would be very hard to lose the reflections there, I think you have done a good enough job on it, but again portrait maybe just because of the converging lines

Thanks again Allan... and I may try that actually, as that would be the correct way up... I just prefer landscape crops for some reason

well done for catching up, sounds like a busy time for you

Cheers mate... yep busier than usual and that's too busy normally, BUT there is a cunning plan behind it all

Hey DK.

Crowd....I thought you were going to say above the crowds (hearing chinese accent ) I do like the shot though.

Haaaaa Ha ... thanks Ruth

Alphabet...Not a lot wrong with this. On theme and well spotted.

Thanks

Sound. I like this one a lot, and I don't think the reflections detract.

Cool... Thanks again :cool;:

All in all a rather good catch-up!

It's going to be like this for a couple of months this year unfortunately... but not unexpected

Hiya, good catch up - specially with the manic time you're having.

Thanks Lorraine

Crowd - nice shot, clouds always look nice & unthreatening from above :-

Cheers... me too, I really liked the light on these, looked very heavenly at that time of morning

Alphabet - good find for a difficult theme

Thanks again, sure was a toughie

Sound - i really like this one, and I like the landscape orientation as well (but I'm no expert )

Don't need to be an expert to like it... thanks for the great comments

Crowd/Cloud ... lovely, I love being up there.

Me too David - Thanks

Alphabet ... I see words like NERD & GEEK ... interesting and different ... fits the theme well.

Yeah they were a bit odd to say the least

Sound ... cool kit. I love this sort of stuff but not always easy to photograph, you've done well.

Thank you very much

 

[Dark Knight]

Now then mister

Hey Lynne

Sound.....liking that , good focus, good DOF, lovely black bg sets of the silver & whites in the speaker plus you've managed separation between the black bg & the black on the speaker The only very minor point ( it is very minor) just above the far end speaker cone is a small splodge of grey ?[/quote]Thanks Lynne - I think that is just a reflection

Crowd....love the fluffy white clouds matey...reminds of a certain trip in the not too distant past

Yeah me too... it went soooooooo quick didn't it

Alphabet.....love your choice of words on those...bracelets ?

They sure were... beats kiss me quick hats I guess

I would hope any catch up I may have to do in the future will turn out so well

Thank you Jill

Far from the Madding Crowd I would crop the top to just see the sky, and, coincidentally, would put the cloud horizon on a third

Ahhhhh good thinking, Thanks ... I may do an edit on that if I get the time

Alphabet, just rotate this and I'd frame it for my wall it just says something really ironic to me about the times we live in so it works as a piece of social commentary

Mmmmm another wants a rotate... guess I best do that, will add a note on my sheet - Thanks

Sound just wouldn't be as good without the reflections so stop obsessing young Master Knight

Haaaa you got me - Tis what I do lol

Thank you

'sup

Hey

You're being a little hard on yourself here, Dean.

Don't we all mate on the 52

Crown, lateral thinking here (shoehorn ) but I like it. I did wonder about removing the wing but that would ruin the narrative. Lovely clouds.

Thanks Andy... I did try it first but prefered the context that the wing brought

Alphabet, wondered if it was some weird abacus but realised it's bracelets I'll keep an eye out for the reshoot

You may well be waiting a Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time

Sound, good lighting and detail. I think there is potential for some nice minimal/abstracts there.

Cheers.

Thanks a lot Andy

 

[Dark Knight]

Hi DK ...poor you, you sound so busy, well done for getting all those on.

Thanks Susie

I know everybody is busy too, just seems to be extra manic from all fronts at the moment Ahhhhhhhhh

Nowt wrong with clouds/crowds for me, it could be sharper but it still gives that lovely isolated floaty feeling.

Thanks Susie

Alphabet ...I would have nipped the top off but it's great for the theme, I like the landscape angle.

Thank you again... I prefer it landscape too

Same with the angle on sound, I think that's an excellent shot. I really like it a lot.
(Although you could have gone on a scary ride and done a selfie )

Ooooo yes I could have... but a selfie with a 70-200 f2.8 spinning about may have got a bit dangerous

Hi DK - Sound: Very nice shot, nice DoF, sharp where it needs to be and a perfect black background.

Cheers Tim

Crowd: good thinking outside the box. One can drift away in their own thoughts quite easily looking at this.

Cheers Mandy

Sound: Nice angle of the mono image.

Thank you again

You are closer than me I am dragging again at the moment

The 52 sure is a bit of a rollercoaster at times, I'm sure you will get there too

sound is a good shot, sleek like the device I would maybe have got all of the nearest cone in though, or maybe not at all, it just looks sad all cut in half and all

Thanks Summer

I sure know what you mean I did try it actually, but the main in focus cone was then too insignificant in the image, I had not shopt a broad DoF so cropped it so that it was a main element in the image

 

[Dark Knight]

THANKS all that have popped in and commented while I have not been very active on TP - Really appreciated

Thankfully I have moved our business unit/operation and open the doors officially in the morning, hoping for not too many niggly issues so my evenings will be back to normal'ish again and not catching up on work issues ALL evening - Phew

So... back to the 52, quite a good day today, had a couple of hours with my camera and then loads of gardening, planting new flowers/shrubs/cutting grass, so it's all beginning to look nice again (hate the garden in the winter, soooo many fallen leaves) so hopefully loads of butterflies and bees will be visiting and posing for some macro shots soon

Onto last weeks theme... Experiment, having got to this one late and kept the spreadsheet up to date I decided to to stay away from the test tube type image, this shot was both an experiment in lighting and showing an image of experimenting in life as many people sadly do.

I have tried to get this to appear dark and gritty yet still give enough definition, I set myself up in my garage and positioned myself so that daylight was above and behind me, no flash was used so really upped the iso to 20,000 to get a grainy look with the minimal light, hoping it has worked by doing it this way

Wk 16 - Experiment with life

Wk 16 - Experiment by TP DK, on Flickr

 

[viv1969]

Quite a disturbing Experiment image DK.
Beautifully shot though and a very interesting take on the theme.

 

[susiejb]

Quite a disturbing Experiment image DK.
Beautifully shot though and a very interesting take on the theme.

A thought provoking image DK

 

[Dark Knight]

Quite a disturbing Experiment image DK.
Beautifully shot though and a very interesting take on the theme.

Thanks Ruth

I thought I may get a few surprised comments... I'm sure the cold tea/coffee mixture in the syringe would have given me a great buzzzzz

A thought provoking image DK

Thanks too Susie

 

[d00d]

Experiment with life ... clever take ... Just enough face showing from behind the hood, interesting/clever use of light, and high ISO.

 

[Allan.H]

Hi DK, thats a good take on the theme, BG suits the image perfectly

 

[Dark Knight]

Experiment with life ... clever take ... Just enough face showing from behind the hood, interesting/clever use of light, and high ISO.

Thanks a lot David

Hi DK, thats a good take on the theme, BG suits the image perfectly

And thank you too Allan

 

[Bruja]

This definitely fits the bill for Experiment and the set up really suits it. My only slight niggle is one of authenticity, and I don't mean the cold tea The crook of the elbow into a vein is usually where it's at (so I'm told )

Still a great take though

 

[Dem55]

that's a really different take on the theme Dark Knight, I really like the lighting an the gritty feel of it and as Susie says, it's very thought provoking

 

[posiview]

Experiment, so that's why you are a bit weird

Nice one. It screams a high contrast B&W, though not had an edit.

Well composed, the hoodie adds to the drama and I like the lighting.

Cheers.

 

[Dark Knight]

This definitely fits the bill for Experiment and the set up really suits it. My only slight niggle is one of authenticity, and I don't mean the cold tea The crook of the elbow into a vein is usually where it's at (so I'm told )

Still a great take though

Ha hAaaaaaa - Good thinking, now you say it it sure doesn't look right now lol

that's a really different take on the theme Dark Knight, I really like the lighting an the gritty feel of it and as Susie says, it's very thought provoking

Thank you Lorraine

Experiment, so that's why you are a bit weird

Haaaaaa

Nice one. It screams a high contrast B&W, though not had an edit.

Now that does surprise me

Well composed, the hoodie adds to the drama and I like the lighting.

Cheers.

Thanks Andy

 

[Dark Knight]

Right and now for this weeks...

Nothing special but I quite like the flames, although not as fiery as I hoped this will do while time is short

Here we have - Wk 17 'HEAT'

Wk 17 - Heat by TP DK, on Flickr

 

[posiview]

Hi, Dean, on theme and nice oranges.

Though I actually prefer the detail on the upper section of the burnt wood

Chests.

 

[rpn]

A nice sharp image. Both the orange and blue flames were nicely captured. Personally I would incline to exclude the torch.

 

[d00d]

Nice. Is that a blow torch? Think I'd prefer that out of the picture, if poss. Good colour & DOF.

 

[viv1969]

I can almost hear it crackling

 

[susiejb]

I can almost hear it crackling

captures the topic perfectly DK.

 

[BobBCN]

EXPERIMENT - I like this one. Did you try different angles? Maybe facing the camera? Or perhaps BW?

 

[LC2]

Experiment: Not sure what I could add to the other comments. A most disturbing shot, one I could have expected from @Phil Bennett !

 

[ShinySideUp]

Experiment: Another for the B&W option, but I am biased that way.

Heat: Nice detail in the burnt wood and the smoke coming off the top adds to the impression of heat.