weekly Elaine's 52 for 2015 - Christmas added - finished!

Hi Elaine,
I'm liking the re-shoot of geometric, I dunno, somehow it seems to pop more than the original.
Special - Quite a 'street' vibe to it, not something I think I could have done, it looks a really good shot to me :)
In answer to your question on the main thread, I see the heron shot the right way up.
Tim
 
Thanks Tim, yes I think that side of the Hall definitely looks better in the morning sun than late afternoon shade!

I was a little nervous about approaching the young man - especially when by the time I got around the corner and up the hill to the front of the building I found that he'd stripped off his top and was doing Tai Chi in just his running shorts (I thought it looked better for him to put it back on for the photos!) o_O But he shouted Hi to me before I could speak to him and he seemed like a really nice person with a lovely friendly little dog (Cavalier King Charles, 9 years old, called Holly apparently) so I was glad I made the effort. I suppose that one of the advantages of becoming an old lady is that people no longer see you as either a threat nor a challenge, just someone to be humoured :D

Glad to hear that the heron's standing upright - don't know what happened with my FB album :confused:
 
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Hi Elaine ...

Heron shot's fine and on theme more or less ;) and not sideways.
That building is now a lot sharper, especially the other bit behind, the cross sticking up on the roof.
The bloke with the dog is fab ... great detail, backdrop too, and I like the way you've caught him looking down at the dog and the dog looking at you. I normally do prefer people pics without the eye contact. (y)
 
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Hi Elaine, nice shot for chilled even with the slightly blown bits the colour is interesting almost Selective colour, well caught
Nice story behind the "special friends" shot so that would be my choice
 
Geometric: A little too contrasty for me, a little harsh on the eyes, same with special although both pictures really quite fine. I do like the heron shot, it's a bit of a Where's Wally picture.
 
Hi Elaine. Loved that Geometric shot first time around and this latest version serves to confirm that view. Absolutely incredible building. I hadn't spotted the man & dog until I'd read your write-up for Special. That bond between the two does seem special. Would have preferred the mans legs to be uncropped .... maybe that wasn't possible?!? Full marks to you for asking - I try and do that but not before endlessly worrying over it before plucking up the courage so well done you. :clap:
 
Hi Elaine your photo of the building definitely stands out more, although I loved the first one too, what an amazing place.
I really like Special, I find it so hard to ask people for photos for my Hands project, I miss loads of opportunities because I don't have the courage to ask, which is silly really, as you say the older we are probably the more eccentric we look ( it just took me five minutes to think of that word I kept wanting to type erotic lol :D )
No luck with your heron yet on the iPad or my iPhone, he's still reclining
 
Reshoot is awesome, pops a treat. always much nicer shot with a lovely sky with that, cracking job

Special friends is lovely...love a good dog photo me. Nicely lit and the emotion in both owner and dog is captured perfectly. Not overly keen on the heron shot. I can see it was a rare and special moment but for me it lacks some punch and more focal length to focus more on the Heron. ust my 2 penneth :)
 
Thanks for all the comments, just catching up before I go away tomorrow.

@d00d He was a very obliging model - asked me whether I wanted him with or without the jacket, sitting or standing and looking at the camera or the dog, so the shot's more posed than "caught" :oops: :$

@Carl Ayling The original shot was portrait format and included his legs, but I wanted to draw attention to the faces and didn't think his legs added anything to the image, so I went for a square crop in the finished version.

Edit to add: This is the portrait version for comparison purposes -

ndx8wo.jpg
 
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I suppose there are more distractions with the full portrait than the cropped version so you have a point Elaine. Both versions are excellent ... thanks for showing me the whole to help me understand your thinking.
 
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Week 38 - Despair

Just back from a week in La Palma in the Canaries with 2 ideas for Despair.

#1 A rather large and elaborate crucifix I found in the cathedral in Santa Cruz. Typical low level church lighting and candles gave everything a rather sickly sepia-tinted glow, so I went for a mono conversion.

2s9vqx5.jpg


On our last night there I had a small brainwave and went in search of 4x4 vehicles. There was one conveniently parked up just opposite the bar we were in and I went over and fired off a few shots. When I returned to the bar, Mike said "You only just got away in time!". I'd been so concentrated on the spare wheel that I hadn't noticed the car's driver getting out and apparently giving me extremely dirty looks - and he was a lot bigger than Mike :eek:

#2 - Di Spare
jqpzkx.jpg
 
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Hi Elaine. #1 definitely despairing .... of humanity. Nice take and I like the mono converysion. As for #2 - brilliant idea - bet Mike was despairing of your antics in the circumstances though! :)
 
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Week 39 Noise

Hope I can be forgiven for making use of a "shot" that I took last week for this one.

i6jjpj.jpg
 
I suppose you are going to tell us that this "shot" was taken with a "Canon". Very smart Elaine - I like it :clap:
 
rpn said:
Like the idea Elaine, very cleaver. :clap:Personally I Would like to see the 'star-shape burst' more balance. It's slighty lopsided.
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Yes, it's slightly right of centre. The problem is that I can't seem to find a way of actually moving a shape once it's drawn in, so after deleting and re-drawing about half a dozen times I decided it was close enough :oops: :$
 
Hehe. Not really sure about the comic book *BANG*, I actually think the picture stands up by itself.
The smaller cannons work as leading lines onto the primary subject, which in itself seems pretty sharp with the shadows giving it depth.
(y)
 
Despair: You have done a good job with this photo, it is clean and tidy with nice soft shadows that show the form well. I'm not sure of the message, but I have no interest in religion so that's no surprise...

D' spare: Ouch! :LOL:

Noise: Another horrible pun. You should be ashamed...:D Looks really naff, which I hope was Your intention! well done. (y)
 
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Thanks for the feedback. Opinion seems to be a bit mixed about my big bang! I felt a bit guilty about using an old shot (well it was nearly a week old, so it wasn't taken specifically for the theme) and I wanted to do something with it, so I thought I'd add a bit of humour :)

Week 40 - Envy

Decided to make use of a willing model whilst I had my grandson staying the night. I've probably overdone the white of his eye, but I wanted to pump up the contrast to make the green pop out.

sb0het.jpg
 
Great shot, one where selective colouring is absolutely the right thing to do.
It's interesting that the lower eye lashes are sharper than the higher ones. Not sure how that's achieved as teh shot doesn't appear to be taken from below.
Trying to work out if that's a refelction of you in the pupil.
 
Hi Elaine, nice idea but the white of the eye is a little too much, the green is excellent though,
overall just needs a little refinement
 
Hi Elaine. Good idea for Envy - I had something similar in mind as an option. Love the vibrancy of the green.
 
Hi Elaine ...

Despair ... great idea using a crucifix for the theme. (y) And Di Spare wheel :LOL: great word play without a pear in sight.

Envy ... very well done ... good & sharp ... and yes, overdone the white a bit.
 
Thanks for the comments. I've done a little bit of tweaking and I think this is a slight improvement on the white, but the green bit doesn't really pop like it did on the first one :banghead:

zjh1jp.jpg
 
:banghead: ... Elaine, couldn't you have just left the white (of the eye) as it was, as you seem to have done in the outside corner, LHS of pic?
 
Hi Elaine, Great idea, but As you say, it's overdone. What are you processing this with? If possible I would suggest that you layer the coloured one under the original and mask the eye through...
 
d00d said:
:banghead: ... Elaine, couldn't you have just left the white (of the eye) as it was, as you seem to have done in the outside corner, LHS of pic?
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Wish I had now :(
 
Brian_of_Bozeat said:
Hi Elaine, Great idea, but As you say, it's overdone. What are you processing this with? If possible I would suggest that you layer the coloured one under the original and mask the eye through...
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Thanks for the suggestion Brian, but the problem is that the finished shot is only about 6% of the area of the sooc, so I don't think I'd have any chance of getting the cropping exactly the same the second time around to get them to fit together :(
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
Lovely idea (pun intended :p ) I agree on the white though in the first it looks too bright and the second a little unnatural due to lack of blood vessels.........
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Yup, you're right.
 
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