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

We're certainly getting our money's worth on this thread.

The stone Figures look to be well lit and photographed. (y)

OCD ... more headlight on one side than the other. ;)

So many 87p's ... never seen such a thing.

Sporting Figures ... another well-spotted photo op.
 
Hi Elaine!
I'm gonna start all the way back at Companions, not sure how relevant that is as all the crit and comments have already been made however I do read other peoples comments before hand I like to make up my own mind then its my comments not someone else's .... hope that makes sense!

Companions.... Out of the 3 I think I'm going for the budgies! Lovely colour and sharp focus, I'm guessing these were wild? Close second was No2 nice composition and texture in the roof tiles. Not sure how sharp the monkeys are seems like point of focus slipped onto the roof. Roof works well strong diagonal always works well. DOF throws the background OOF but it seems rather grainy which I find distracting. No3 like this and I know its silly but would have been nice to se the rest of there tails OCD creeping in :eek:
Nice Set!

Elegant... Nice set again! But No2 has it for me, Great Shot! Not only composition, but subject and level of difficulty to capture. The flat blue hazy sky and sea makes the Eagle really pop.
No1 Very nice shot under quite difficult elevated backlight I think I might have pulled a bit of a grad over her head to try and dampen the effect of the overhead lights and nullify that blue cast over her head and also drop the intensity of the light on those branches on the top Left.
No3 Another good shot but I find the bits floating in the water distracting and the bird poo on the rocks:rolleyes:. I know there's nothing you can do about that. Nice sharp shot. Bit of a hot spot on the RH birds hat;)

Watery.... Nice set again (this what comes from a holiday in Malaysia:)) Number 2 Mr Frog has it here. Dead sharp, DOF spot on focus right on the frog. Nice detail and colour in the frog. No1 Great colour and lots to look at. I think I'd have come back a tad and have the front left flower in focus and let the rest run out with the DOF. Looks like the focus is on the flower top right, which has been partially obscured by the flower bud. Could this be the auto focus locking onto what you don't want? A great reason to manual focus;). I don't like the camera telling me where IT wants to focus. Guess the other alternative would be to have hooked the bud out of the way;) Still a nice shot!
No3 Nice shot, Love trees, and jungle (y) Like the lead in with the stream. you just want to walk up that stream don't you!!! Good foreground detail bit hot on the LH side though.
No4 Like this shot, nice contrast the Black against the backdrop of the sea. Good detail and bit of foreground interest and space on the RH side for the bird to move into.

Bold.... I'm torn between No2 and 3 here both nice shots... No2 this really says BOLD to me a bold little bugger (but then those monkeys all are). Guess this was a quick capture. Love the hands up the window and the expectant expression on his face(y) No3 BOLD again nice shot great composition, nice use of DOF here, beautiful colours. No1 sadly is a bit OOF for me but Monkeys are rarely easy to capture!

Relax... All the elements seem to work together well here I think the lighting reflects the mood trying to be created so no problems there. Just the top of the flowers missing and a titchy push of the lights... Works for me!

Vertical... Like that nice reflection! good thinking better than shooting the Chimney direct! Colour one for me Elaine! and the edited one you've done a good job on the poster! I think the B&W is fine and it loses the poster issue but I thing it also takes something away from the Chimney, its lost a bit in the reflection. Soooo No3(y).


****Boredom Alert**** if your still there .... time to go down the Pub, Slit your wrists or scroll to the bottom and hit LIKE!:sleep:


Mouth.... Ahh I have a great affinity with No1;) although I cant quite do that physically any more (yes I did just try:D) Metaphorically I've always got my foot in it! uummm looks like the lighting is an issue with your skin tones here. Not that I'm any cop at lighting indoors (part of the reason I thought id take part in 52!) However I think its the direct lighting that's causing the issue washing out and overexposing certain areas... Looks from the highlights in his eyes there was one source of light in No1 and 2 in No2? I think if it was flash you need something to defuse the light like greaseproof paper over the flash head, or bouncing the flash if its and off camera. If its lamps they need to be defused or the light reflected or bounced off some card. If its a in camera flash you could try using a piece of card taped to the front of the flash to bounce it off a ceiling or wall to give a softer light. (just thinking out loud). Like No2 best Zip It!!:).

Blimey Malaysia now Hong Kong!

Crowd.... No1 Like this, a myriad of colour! I always find these shots fascinating, people watching! No2 Crowd of Flamingos, fits the theme very well it looks like the Flamingos are a bit over exposed though maybe a tickle in PP would sort them, looks like the metering got a bit confused there. No3 Terrapins that's a great shot really funny too great colour. Split between No1 and No3 both fit the bill well(y) No 3 I think just has it!

Close up.... Beautiful plumage the Norwegian Blue!!!:) No2 for me here, great contrast, and really nice composition, coupled with Sharp focus and Spot on DOF(y) No 1 is very good too but No2 better looks very natural. the Exotic pigeon loos a bit dishevelled:eek:. But No2 has eclipsed them all.

Machine... Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine(y). What taste you have;) Love this shot, cracking idea and well shot all works for me(y)

Alphabet... My Mum always told me not to play with my food:) Nice and bright, like the little highlights, fits the theme well .... Think it could have done with some sort of frame just to pull it up maybe? Just a thought ... But works ok for me anyway!

Sound ... Well thought out shot like the concept and the nice clean clear writing, its good to think of something different(y) Nice Work.

Experiment... Like this, love all the little highlights around the inside of the glass, these are boosted by the blacks in the glass. Gives a great effect and works much better flipped, nice colours and your patience obviously held out and that's good as it has come out very well!

Hot ... The background does stand out here as it has given the products a bit of a floaty appearance and I can see something ... reflections to the top RH side of the 3 right hand pots. (nit picking) Love the colour of the background with the darkened edges. Like that lighting its pretty even. Love the colour of the Chillies(y)

I'll Be Back!:eek:
 
OMG he's back:eek: Yes sorry....
Figures.... I'm yet to do this :rolleyes: I like the figurines and with som much meaning behind them, makes them special, nice lighting too.
No2 ... Dig that number plate(y) Lovely 103E Ford Pop / Anglia great exposure and nice light like the POV nice shot.
No3 .... How much??? Certainly figures fits the theme! Did you get funny looks when you took that just like I did when I took Fragile:)
No4 ...we'll thought out there guess that one clicked when you saw it! One I hadn't thought of(y)
Gotta be the Ford Pop for me but pretty closely behind is the figurine. Nice Shots...

Just wanted to say all comments were made with constructive thought behind them and I have no intention to offend or upset or indeed to try and teach anyone to suck eggs. Mostly just my rambling thoughts..... Sorry for the boring monologue but at least I've caught up:D
All the best Steve
Keep up the good work!
Almost like writing a hundred lines
I must not forget to comment on people's posts
I must not forget to..............
 
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Hi Elaine.
The statues & the Intersport shots for me.
Nicely processed on the statues, with the deep black background.
And nicely cropped for the intersport shot :)

Hi Elaine - it's the number plate for me, well spotted!

Hi Elaine ....crumbs you certainly were inspired this week !

I think they're all an excellent choice for the theme, I think the car one is probably the wackiest ...that's a great numberplate, so well spotted with that one. The figurine is really nicely done too :)
Thanks for looking and commenting. It seems that variety is the spice of life :)
 
We're certainly getting our money's worth on this thread.

The stone Figures look to be well lit and photographed. (y)

OCD ... more headlight on one side than the other. ;)

So many 87p's ... never seen such a thing.

Sporting Figures ... another well-spotted photo op.

:p Thanks d00d!
 
Hi Elaine!
I'm gonna start all the way back at Companions......................

OMG he's back.......

Hi Steve. Thank you so much for taking all that time to comment on each of my entries. I promise you that I've read and digested each and every one and really appreciate all the feedback. To avoid repetition I've cropped the quotes, but please don't take that as meaning that I haven't taken note of all your suggestions and crit!

Just a few replies for the sake of brevity:-

The budgies in Companions were actually in a bird park not in the wild :oops: :$
The Bold monkey was wild and he was really bashing the window to be let in and I was terrified that he was going to break it, but I managed to hold my nerve just long enough to get a couple of shots before I let OH shoo him away!
"Beautiful plumage the Norwegian Blue" "Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine(y). What taste you have;)" A fellow Python and Floyd fan - :hug:
" Did you get funny looks when you took that just like I did when I took Fragile:)" Yes, but luckily only from other customers, I managed to avoid being spotted by any of the staff :naughty:
 
Week 19 - Household (Bills)
I think my Monopoly board must be nearly as old as I am, so it's had an awful lot of drinks of varying types spilt on it over the years ( :beer:) and I'm afraid that this is another one that really tested my pp skills to the limit! I keep finding more and more little stains and unidentifiable marks that need cleaning up, so I've finally decided that my patience has reached an end and it's time to PABD!

oa2fl0.jpg


Edited to add: Whoops! Just posted to the main photo thread and it looks like Monopoly could be a popular subject for this weeks theme :rolleyes:
 
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Hi Elaine, I quite like the car for "figures" interesting take on the theme and a nice old car,

"household" quick off the mark as always, got to say I did think of Monopoly too but we don't have any board games, nicely composed and nicely lit (y)
 
Hey Elaine :)

Experiment - Now that does look unusual, love the shapes, curves and colours on this :)

Heat - Quite liked the first one, but the edit sure does give it a warming boost, good collection there :)

Figures - Really like this first one, the lighting has brought out the detail beautifully, nice background too (y)

The car grill is a cracking shape and would really suite/take a much tighter portrait crop I think :)

Household - What a great idea, nicely set up, bang on focus, real good thinking on this one (y)
 
Phew, well it's taken several hours over the last 3 days, but thanks to a mostly cold and damp weekend I think I'm finally up to date with commenting on everyone else's photos - must try not to get so far behind in future!

Now to catch up with comments on here........
 
Hi Elaine, I quite like the car for "figures" interesting take on the theme and a nice old car,

"household" quick off the mark as always, got to say I did think of Monopoly too but we don't have any board games, nicely composed and nicely lit (y)
Thanks Allan. I think Monopoly is the only proper board game we have, but it's seen us through an awful lot of late night drinking sessions and more recently some very serious battles between equally competitive OH and 10 year old grandson :D

Really good take on he theme for Household Elaine, focus and lighting are spot on :clap::clap:
Thanks Jill :)

Works well. Nice play on the wording for household bills. :)
Cheers Tim :)

Hi Elaine, I really like your household shot - it's very well composed and fits the bill nicely for a difficult theme (y)
Thanks Lorraine - in the end the composition had more to do with eliminating as many stains and smudges as possible with as little pp as possible rather than artistic forethought :rolleyes:

Yep ....another excellent choice Elaine ....it's really frustrating when I'm here with my mind absolutely blank, and I come on here and see loads of ideas that I should have thought of :(....very nicely done with super bright colours.
Thanks Susie - you may start off with a blank mind, but your images really shine out in the end :clap:

Hey Elaine :)

Experiment - Now that does look unusual, love the shapes, curves and colours on this :)

Heat - Quite liked the first one, but the edit sure does give it a warming boost, good collection there :)

Figures - Really like this first one, the lighting has brought out the detail beautifully, nice background too (y)

The car grill is a cracking shape and would really suite/take a much tighter portrait crop I think :)

Household - What a great idea, nicely set up, bang on focus, real good thinking on this one (y)
Thanks for the comment catch up DK, very much appreciated (y)
 
Hi Elaine, my first time in your thread as I was planning to get completely up to date before venturing 'out' of my thread, but as you've been so kind to look through my thread I'm here to return the compliment :)

I've enjoyed looking through your photos and the ones that stood out for me were Bliss, which was a great idea for that theme and really conveyed your personal idea of bliss, the last photo for Companions with all the budgies picked out by the shaft of sunlight, for Elegant both the Thai lady and the cranes really conveyed that theme, your subject for Vertical was well seen and captured and your PP work in the edit removed the poster very effectively, and both Mouth images were good ideas but I prefer the second overall, which was a great idea well conveyed (y)

Your nest building bird in Close Up is a cracker - great details, colours and a lovely quizzical look - and Machine is excellent, both the idea and the execution, with the addition of sunglasses making it a really fun image. Experiment is really eye-catching and your explanation shows how much experimentation you had to do to get the result, and for Figures I really like the statue for the smooth shapes and details.

Using Monopoly for Household is something that came to my mind when I first saw the new theme and you've done a great job with it, conveying the theme perfectly. I will try to think of something else :)

I look forward to keeping up with your thread in future!
 
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Household ... good idea, well laid out & shot ... hand holding the Chance card like that. :clap:
 
Hi Elaine, my first time in your thread as I was planning to get completely up to date before venturing 'out' of my thread, but as you've been so kind to look through my thread I'm here to return the compliment :)

I've enjoyed looking through your photos and the ones that stood out for me were Bliss, which was a great idea for that theme and really conveyed your personal idea of bliss, the last photo for Companions with all the budgies picked out by the shaft of sunlight, for Elegant both the Thai lady and the cranes really conveyed that theme, your subject for Vertical was well seen and captured and your PP work in the edit removed the poster very effectively, and both Mouth images were good ideas but I prefer the second overall, which was a great idea well conveyed (y)

Your nest building bird in Close Up is a cracker - great details, colours and a lovely quizzical look - and Machine is excellent, both the idea and the execution, with the addition of sunglasses making it a really fun image. Experiment is really eye-catching and your explanation shows how much experimentation you had to do to get the result, and for Figures I really like the statue for the smooth shapes and details.

Using Monopoly for Household is something that came to my mind when I first saw the new theme and you've done a great job with it, conveying the theme perfectly. I will try to think of something else :)

I look forward to keeping up with your thread in future!
Many thanks for your comments Andrea. It's really difficult trying to keep up with commenting on everyone else's threads and I was really behind before the miserable weather that kept me in this past weekend!
 
Household ... good idea, well laid out & shot ... hand holding the Chance card like that. :clap:

Second Monopoly :)

Nice and tight with good detail. I'd have left all the stains in there, they add character :)

Cheers.
Thanks for the comments guys. Not sure about leaving the stains in Andy - a little too much character imo :eek:
 
Well the sun finally reappeared yesterday, albeit it briefly - it's lashing down again now :( So I took the opportunity to go for a long walk and seeing as how I missed out doing a reshoot for Week 13, I was on the lookout for ideas to fit previous themes. Took loads of watery, close up, scenic and vertical shots, but in the end my heart went out to these two cute-in-a-weird-kind-of-way moorhen chicks for Companions (suppose they could also fit with Watery!) The sort of looks that only a mother could love :hug:

Reshoot - Companions

8vuuc4.jpg


Am I allowed two reshoots? When I arrived back home I inadvertently disturbed a neighbour's cat that was lurking in our bushes. The startled glare he gave me just made me want to reach out and say "Relax - it's only me!" Yeah, yeah, bit of a shoehorn I know, but a much more tasteful shot than the other one I took for Relax - a portaloo in the park :p

Reshoot 2 - Relax

2u8l3ea.jpg
 
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Hi Elaine
Figures.....Another vote here for the car number plate...made me smile.

Household...Very nice pick for the theme.
 
Week 20 - Limit

This is just down my road and I've been wanting to use it for something for ages, so as soon as I saw the theme come out I grabbed my camera and dashed out whilst there was still a bit of sun on the trees. Two limits for the price of one!

dwqonc.jpg
 
Ah, a pair of limits to be broken (I am a truck driver and nutty biker).
 
household - nothing wrong with Monopoly - I collect sets and have 10 sets lol - have to say despite my obsession I wouldn't have thought of using it :eek:

good shot too, I like the card adding to the overall theme :clap:
 
Hey Elaine :)

Re-shoot - I am not sure the second has quite got focus, eyes look sharp'ish, but much prefer the colours in the first shot anyway, odd looking creatures them :D

Limit - I know it would be a bit anal but I'd be tempted to clone out the cars on the bottom left, Perfect for the theme and also liking that you caught a cyclist in the shot too (y)
 
Hi, Limit, certainly on theme and well spotted. I'm turning into a right geek because I'm quite drawn to the reflection of the yellow ones on the lower RH car :)

I'd like to see this at night as a ling exposure with car light trails.

Quick off the mark :clap:

Cheers.
 
Hi Elaine

I really like your reshoot - as you say, they're cute in an ugly kind of way, very appealing
Limit - great fit for another tricky theme :)
 
Thanks for all the comments everyone.

I was struggling a bit with this week's theme and the best idea I could come up with was to go for a wander into the park and try to get up really close to one of those slightly bizarre-looking moorhen chicks like I saw last week. However, as I walked up to the first pond something caught my eye sitting on a log. I think he looks fairly bizarre to start with, but the fact that somebody has seen fit to "liberate" what google tells me is probably a species native to the somewhat more tropical climes of Florida and South Virginia into a pond in the north-west of England - and not only has he survived, but appears to be thriving - makes him seem all the more bizarre.

2cr93le.jpg


Edit to add: Oh, and if I've got it right, he's called a Yellow-bellied Slider - so that's pretty bizarre in itself :p
 
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Hi Elaine certainly a bizarre find its obviously adapted well to its current environment must have been quite a surprise for you
 
Hi Elaine,

Bizarre - I didn't quite get this when I first saw it, but reading the back story I agree, a super choice for the theme, and well done for spotting it :)
 
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