weekly Jin's 52 Week Challenge for 2014 - Week 5: Smoke (although a bit late)

Jin

Jin

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Jin
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Week 1 - Linear / Lines

Good Start! I couldn't decide, the theme of linear / lines. How open for interpretation but I suppose how else could you challenge a communities creativity? So where do I start, the first place that popped into my mind was Reading train station. It has been going through a redevelopment for the last year and certainly has been a massive improvement to the pigeon infested crap hole that was the old complex.

I started from the long stay car park and found the 9th floor gave me the best angle overlooking the station and rattled of my first few shots.


Shot with Canon 5d Mkii with Canon EF 70-200 f/4.0 L @ 105mm 1.2 secs f/22 ISO:1600

Post Processing: Curves adjustment increase exposure to roof, decrease exposure to platform, High pass filtering to bring extra detail back and blue channel increased on blue elements.

Wanting to work fast with parking fees steep enough to make a billionaire wince I headed into the station. This proved much harder than I thought, it would seem that sign posting is the last task on the list during this redevelopment. First thing first was to find the security, these days if you so much as change a camera battery in a transport hub you will find yourself under the watchful gaze of more eyes than a unicorn at a zoo.

I found a member of security and asked whether it would be a problem taking photos in the station. I mean after all it was at 23:30 and only another 6 trains were due in the station. Well I was referred to the station manager, Andy from First Great Western, who despite working for the worst train company seemed to be a decent person. I explained why I was there and what I was there to do and he simply asked for a form of ID and signed me in as a contractor. The only restrictions were that no photos could be captured with CCTV equipment in, no flashes to distract the train drivers and the photos were to be reviewed by Andy before I left.

Seemed perfectly reasonable...

Shot with Canon 5d Mkii with a Tamron 28-70 f/2.8 @ 35mm 1/20 secs f/11 ISO: 3200

Post Processing: Horizon Straightened, Vignette added, High pass filtering to bring extra detail back and curves adjustment.

So time to leave, I checked back with Andy the station manager who gave me his approval of the photos I had taken. On the way to the car my attention was caught by the closed coffee kiosk I was truly shocked at how I had missed this kiosk when I entered the station and scrambled for my camera.


Shot with Canon 5d Mkii with a Tamron 28-70 f/2.8 @ 29mm 1/240 secs f/2.8 ISO: 800

Post Processing: Distracting elements removed.

Returning to my car I arrived home and uploaded my photos 48 in total and spent the next few days trying to whittle down my choice to these three.

Review: In the station shot I wish I had nailed the focus on the Reading signage. The vignetting in the staircase shot should have been blurred a bit more to make it a bit more natural. The blue stripes could have done with an increase in depth of field.

Cost: £7.50 - Parking.
 
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Hi Jin,

I like 1 & 2 a lot, well exposed and executed and you are over critical of your own work :coat:
 
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iPhoto said:
Hi Jin,

I like 1 & 2 a lot, well exposed and executed and you are over critical of your own work :coat:
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Thats sweet of you. I don't think I have ever taken a perfect photo not sure if one of those even exists so I try to find a flaw in every photo I take.
 
I like all three shots - but for lines #3 would get my vote - I do like a bit of abstract
 
I also think the first two are good shoots :), but 3 has to be the winner for me (y)
 
Well, it's good to hear that First Worst Western does have some redeeming features!

I like all of your shots. The station shots are all nice and sharp, and the colours and light look very true. Looking at the shooting data, did you use a tripod?

For sheer simplicity and impact though I go for #3.
 
mercurius said:
Looking at the shooting data, did you use a tripod?
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#1 and #2 are shot using a tripod, I use a manfrotto carbon fibre tripod (732CY) , it isn't hugely stable in wind and lacks a few common features found on most cheaper tripods but it is light and my hands thank me when I am using it in cold weather.

You can actually see the subject of number #3 in #1.
 
Week 2 - Play

So Week 2 of the Talk Photography 52 Week challenge sets the theme around "Play" now the first choice would be to find a child and attack them with my shutter. However, with no small children around in my life I had to reconsider if I wanted to avoid having to explain the situation to the long arm of the law.

I went with the games controller cliché, the lighting is provided by the screen. I think I was watching Archer on Netflix at the time.

I would like to revisit this theme as I did have another idea but didn't have the time to make it happen.


Shot with a Canon 5D MKii using a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 mkii @ 50mm 0.3 secs f/1.8 ISO: 800
Post Processing: Cropped to 5x7, vignette added, colour balance modified.

Review: I wish for some extra DOF, the joysticks of the controller have a very interesting texture to them that would have added extra effect to the image. A bit too much detail has been lost in the shadows although the highlights on the directional pad and other buttons do compensate for it slightly. I do like the soft light the screen provided.
 
Hi, Lines #3 for me. Nice and minimal and that blue is super.

Play, on theme, but just doesn't grab me. Your crit covers most of what I'm thinking. I just don't think it's an interning subject.

Cheers.
 
Linear/Line - I like the abstractness of #3. The blues and blacks work together nicely.
Play - I like the self crit but feel the image is good and one that could be seen in a gamer's magazine.
 
Hi Jin...

Line - Has to be number 1 for me, a cracking set of images there, 3 is lovely and simple, bright but works really well, the second shot is lovely but doesn't compare to the 1st :clap:

The bottom RH corner keeps bugging me, other than that a great image of the controller, good self crit too (y)
 
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I like the soft lighting, but tend to agree that a bigger DOF would improve the shot greatly.
 
Works fine for me play - its an iconic controller that we all know as from a playstation.

I've been amazed when shooting close up things how shallow DOF often really doesn;t give the results you thought it would... I did a remote control, and ended up at f11 to get what I wanted.
 
Delta Skies said:
I like the self crit but feel the image is good and one that could be seen in a gamer's magazine.
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Really? I couldn't see it in a gamer magazine maybe on an article titled "Is video games turning our children into murderers?"

cowboy said:
Nice focus on the button, good product type shot, I like the lighting you've got as well.
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I was quite impressed at the lighting as well, it is literally just a 22 inch computer monitor playing a tv show. I think the general nature of the screen has made it act almost like a soft box. Though I think an actual soft light just in front of the controller would have been good to bring back some of the detail lost in those shadows.

Judi said:
Play.... is on theme , not sure, the bright bit top right grabs my eye :(
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Yeah I see it now. This one was quite rushed I reckon if I had the time to leave my computer and come back a couple hours later I would have maybe seen it as well.
It just needs to be knocked down a bit doesn't it to stop the eye from being drawn away from the controller doesn't it?

Dark Knight said:
Line - Has to be number 1 for me, a cracking set of images there, 3 is lovely and simple, bright but works really well, the second shot is lovely but doesn't compare to the 1st :clap:

The bottom RH corner keeps bugging me, other than that a great image of the controller, good self crit too (y)
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YOU CAN'T JUST DROP A STATEMENT LIKE THAT AND LEAVE! What about the bottom RH bugs you?

Pinkbikerbabe said:
I like your take on the play theme nicely done good composition.
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Thanks, it isn't my favourite as I did have some great ideas but there was no way I could achieve it in such a short time frame.
 
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Lovely 'Lines'. Great exposure and processing, nice narrative. I particularly like V1

Gerry
 
Not sure about the lighting on the left hand side of play. Technically it's clever but reminds me a bit of the prints you used to get back from the processing lab that were at the end of a reel. o_O

Gerry
 
I like this and the slight softness to it from the glow of the TV.....it seems like something obscures the bottom left area of the shot though as it doesn't look just like OOF...almost like you had it on a longer exposure and something wafted across the field of view....
 
siblingchris said:
I like this and the slight softness to it from the glow of the TV.....it seems like something obscures the bottom left area of the shot though as it doesn't look just like OOF...almost like you had it on a longer exposure and something wafted across the field of view....
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It may be a side effect of the colour balance being changed. You need to take it easy when doing things like that in post because sometimes it won't translate well when you export the image to web as the RGB colour space isn't massive.
 
Lines: All very nice pictures but I like number 2 best. The uncluttered symmetry and spotlights really grab my attention. Vignette works perfectly to focus attention of the stairs / escalators.

Play: I like the soft lighting which for me works well with the shallow DOF

Summary: All great shots and its clear that you know what you're doing with a camera, both technically and artistically. (y)
 
JasonGlyn said:
Summary: All great shots and its clear that you know what you're doing with a camera, both technically and artistically. (y)
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Whoa wouldn't go that far! But it's sweet of you. I have chosen the 52 week challenge to improve in both taking photos and processing them but there is still a lot I yet to desire to be.
 
Hi Jin

I love your text accompanying the shots , particularly the train station one....I had to do the same thing when taking shots from the roof of our local multi storey, the staff all seemed really good people....if slightly bemused by someone wanting to take shots of any empty car park on a sunday morning !

However , I digress......Lines #3 for me without a doubt , strong punchy & they seem to move as I scroll up n do

Play.....it may be my screen but I see a soft hazy area starting approx. 1 inch in from lh corner -draw a line down from there just clipping the bottom of the lh joy stick , on down over the bottom of the controller ? I've tried tilting my screen but it's the same ? No idea what it is but it's bugging me :confused:
 
I like the story telling, but really it is just my way of reminding myself the effort I went to to get the shot. I am hoping in the future when I feel lazy I can look back on this thread and the encouragement people have given and then read to the efforts I went to that made people say those things. I am effectively sowing the seeds for future self motivation.

it's not your screen. It is my Post processing heres my process of editing.

1) When I first look at an image, I create a duplicate layer and draw and doodle on it about what I want to change with the photo. It gives you a good way to keep track of things.

2) Every comment I make is grouped as one edit. EG "Remove distracting reflections" - would be grouped as "- distractions"

3) At the end of the edit the last thing I do is walk away, a good few hours I go do something else and clear the image from my mind and after those few hours when I have forgotten about my image I return to it and just take a second look.

It is there where I pick out the things that look weird, such as this haze or the distracting brightness at the top of the case. Unfortunately I skipped this step on this image and this is why I am a little disappointed with the image overall.
 
michael23 said:
Play, this is one of those that grows on me, the more I look the more I like it, getting the joysticks in focus would be good. I wonder what it would be like without the game case underneath?
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Thats nice of you. I wonder that myself I would love to revisit the idea of play but I don't think I would reshoot that exact shot.

mtjhome said:
Hi Jin - a super set of pics for Line - but the first one gets my vote
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Thanks, :D 500px showed a really similar trend, there are groups of people that seem to like one photo more than the other but it is always a different photo with no true winner.

Just proves that peoples tastes really can vary.

I myself can't decide which one I like the most which is why I had to post all three.
 
Week 3 - Close

Well screw you all! When this theme came up my first interpretation was close as in closeup. Well it seems that more than a few of the other participating members came up with the same idea. I like my shots to be unique, sometimes I replicate other peoples shots just because I feel you can learn a lot from being able to deconstruct an image. I don't like to rush my photos, probably why I am a week late with this one (though core concept was derived in the same week).

I had the benefit of people able to borrow some Elinchrom Studio lights from a good friend who actually stood in as the model and whose girlfriend jumped at the opportunity to paint him. The setup wasn't as straightforward, we were working in a cramp garage. A projector screen hanging from the ceiling made an adequate background and a two light setup both with soft boxes provided the lighting.


Shot with a Canon 5D MKii using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM @ 113mm 1/200secs f/8 ISO: 100
Post Processing: Cropped, Exposure dropped, skin retextured with high pass filtering, eyes enhanced, blemishes removed and face shaped and contoured.

Review: This is one photo I am going to abstain from self-critiquing.
 
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Pinkbikerbabe said:
That's a very close image indeed, wonderfully sharp detail I really like this.
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I really like my 70-200mm f/4 L USM!

You can pick them up second hand for around £360 and I do think as far as the L range goes it is a bit of an under appreciated lens. Every time I use it I am pleasantly surprised at it's performance and feel a bit guilty for neglecting it so much. Thankfully this 52 week has had me picking it up a lot more.

I really really suggest it is the next lens your purchase.
 
Jin said:
I really like my 70-200mm f/4 L USM!

You can pick them up second hand for around £360 and I do think as far as the L range goes it is a bit of an under appreciated lens. Every time I use it I am pleasantly surprised at it's performance and feel a bit guilty for neglecting it so much. Thankfully this 52 week has had me picking it up a lot more.

I really really suggest it is the next lens your purchase.
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It does look like a cracking lens, but I am not buying any lenses for a while until I have bought my first full frame camera.
 
Pinkbikerbabe said:
It does look like a cracking lens, but I am not buying any lenses for a while until I have bought my first full frame camera.
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NOOOOOOOOO. Lenses make such a difference even on crop sensor I bought that lens with a 550D for £700 off the forum and I feel like lenses are for life whereas bodies are there until the next thing comes along.

Now I am on a 5d mkii hopefully moving onto the mkiii later this season but I still wouldn't trade that lens so if you are after a secondhand Mkii with original invoice and box then give us a shout and I will tell you when I list it.
 
Jin said:
NOOOOOOOOO. Lenses make such a difference even on crop sensor I bought that lens with a 550D for £700 off the forum and I feel like lenses are for life whereas bodies are there until the next thing comes along.

Now I am on a 5d mkii hopefully moving onto the mkiii later this season but I still wouldn't trade that lens so if you are after a secondhand Mkii with original invoice and box then give us a shout and I will tell you when I list it.
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Thanks but given I am on benefits at the moment ( due to ill health ) I don't have that kind of money spare. So I will be looking to get the first 5d off mpb photographic when the time comes.
 
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