weekly Manxmaid's 52 for 2018 - Week 52 Showcase added & COMPLETE

Interesting idea bang on theme as you say not technically perfect but it is nicely lit
 
It certainly works for the theme Andrea, and to be fair, I don't see anything wrong with it, at least nothing you could fix without make stacking it.

Thanks, Tim, focus stacking is something I've yet to try and would have helped here. I used extension tubes to get in close but of course was battling really shallow DOF then. If I hadn't been so grumpy with this theme after a couple of failed ideas I might have kept rearranging the pins, but the light was dropping and I'd had enough by this time so it ended up being a PABD :grumpy:

Great image for Sharp Andrea love the lighting

Thanks, Mark, there are some issues with the layout but the light and contrast helped me out a bit :)

nice lighting, nice b+w conversion too, like it.

Thank you, Michael. the B&W helped to pick out the details.

Hi Andrea, nice image for the theme, however the lack of focus on the pins at the bottom of the image spoils it a bit. Focus stacking or just removing them would improve it a lot.

I can't see any reflections on the background, I have not tried this yet so don't understand why they are not there, could it be the angle.

Pete

Thanks, Pete, I agree about the focus and should really have rearranged them again but, I as I've admitted to Tim above, I was pretty fed up with the theme by this time and it was very fiddly so it's ended up being a 'post and move on' image to catch up. The reflections were lost by the time I'd finished changing the angles and light so it looks just like a plain surface :exit:

Age; nice idea and credit to your son. I like the head-on angle and agree with you on a colour image.

Sharp; nice image, good lighting and spot on focus too.

Thank you for looking in and commenting, Stan (y)
 
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Sharp is a very nice image, good contrast and of course pin sharp focus ;)

Thank you :) It's honestly not pin sharp throughout, but not bad where it matters and the contrast does help :)

Missed this one - I like it a lot. You've gone to the effort, got the shot you liked and it's bang on theme

Thanks Ian, I was at the end of my tether with the theme and these sharp little pins but it allows me to move on (y)

Nice one Andrea; bang on for the theme. I can't see the reflections but the whole thing works well against that background.

Thanks John By the time I'd finished fiddling around with these and changing the angles the reflections had been lost, so I needn't have mentioned the surface in the description after all.

Hi Andrea,

Age came out well after all your effort :naughty: I like the ivy round the edge and I agree it works best in colour. The pins look good nice black bg, the only one that slightly annoys me is the one pin on the left that sticks in from the side, but thats just being picky. Anyway I told you there was barbed wire next to my house and I think I almost got caught in the same blizzard :D

I agree about the stray pins. I should have moved them and taken another shot but I was at the end of my tether by the time I got to this point :D

Nice one for sharp, well arranged and I like the light!

Thanks, Bernd, the light and contrast have helped to compensate for some of the focus issues.
 
Week 7 - Guarde(d)


07 Guard(ed)
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

This bright orange building is the former Coastguard lookout tower on the southern coastline of the Isle of Man, which permits observation of a wide east-west vista from Castletown bay to the Chicken Rock lighthouse to the very south of the Manx islands.

The dark clouds in the sky were the forewarning of the imminent arrival of "The Beast from the East". About five minutes after I took this image, a blizzard of snow blew in sideways off the sea and, needless to say, I walked the half mile back to my car at a very brisk pace!
 
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Nice capture Andrea,like the clouds and the tower stands out nicely. Looks a lovely spot for a walk that does.

Thanks, Michael, it is a lovely walk along that part of the coastline, although often windy and last Tuesday the snow arrived minutes after the image above and came in sideways off the Irish Sea :) The light was incredible as the weather changed and the tower stood out well against the dark sky.
 
Week 8 - Thick


08 - Thick by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I did take some photos of the snow that followed this weather front, although it wasn't very thick where we are, but when I saw this thick layer of clouds gathering off the coast as 'The Beast from the East' arrived, I reckoned I had my image for this theme. The light was amazing and I do like the rays of light breaking through the clouds onto the sea below.

Almost up to date again and trying to get around everyone's threads again...
 
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Sharp - yip that works for me, nice BG and them nails look very sharp and good lighting.
Guard(ed) - works for me, good sharp image.
Thick - wow that looks like a very menacing sky, you have captured some really good cloud detail, I love the ray of light breaking through the clouds and onto the sea.
 
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As Mandy says you've captured that light really well Andrea. Some great shade of light and dark in there. Those skies always look so easy to capture but they never are; you've nailed it(y)
 
Thick. Very nicely exposed and really quite a stunning picture. Well done.
 
Sharp is to the point and bang on theme Andrea, great dark BG really sets off the pins.
Guard is actually a beautiful shot imo, love how the eye just follows the wall round.
Thick and stormy looking clouds you had, and you did well not to blow the white bits in the clouds. Three great shots Andrea and all bang on theme (y)(y)(y)
 
Sharp - yip that works for me, nice BG and them nails look very sharp and good lighting.
Guard(ed) - works for me, good sharp image.
Thick - wow that looks like a very menacing sky, you have captured some really good cloud detail, I love the ray of light breaking through the clouds and onto the sea.

Thanks, Mandy, I wasn't sure whether the clouds conveyed 'thick' effectively enough if you weren't there to see it, so I'm glad you like it (y)

As Mandy says you've captured that light really well Andrea. Some great shade of light and dark in there. Those skies always look so easy to capture but they never are; you've nailed it(y)

Thanks very much, John, I'm glad it worked and you like it.

Thick. Very nicely exposed and really quite a stunning picture. Well done.

Thanks, Martin. I think the rays of light help to balance the whole scene.

Sharp is to the point and bang on theme Andrea, great dark BG really sets off the pins.
Guard is actually a beautiful shot imo, love how the eye just follows the wall round.
Thick and stormy looking clouds you had, and you did well not to blow the white bits in the clouds. Three great shots Andrea and all bang on theme (y)(y)(y)

Thanks Dave, and really good to see you back again :) Not much feedback on the 'Guard' image so thanks for that and I'm glad you like it.
 
I like your Thick entry Andrea. As others have said, very nicely exposed. Love the rays/rain streaks
 
Guarded and thick two nice shots like the splash of red in guarded and the light breaking through the clouds in thick is superb
 
Guard has nice leading lines and a good sky, good choice of subject for the theme ;) :)

Thick is an excellent cloud-scape IMHO, well done
 
I like your Thick entry Andrea. As others have said, very nicely exposed. Love the rays/rain streaks

Thanks, Ian, I like the sun rays too :)

Guarded and thick two nice shots like the splash of red in guarded and the light breaking through the clouds in thick is superb

Thank you, Allan (y)

Guard has nice leading lines and a good sky, good choice of subject for the theme ;) :)

Thick is an excellent cloud-scape IMHO, well done

Thanks, Chris, I didn't realise the Coastguard service had been such a popular choice for this theme until I started catching up on other peoples' threads. It was a tricky thread and that's all I could think of :)

That's a fabulous image. Love the black and white conversion, the streaks of ray and the dramatic moody sky. :clap:

Thanks very much, Stan (y)

Love looking at ans watching clouds and love the sea, the rays of light are really nice. A very pleasing picture Andrea.

Me too, Michael, and it was a great sight, although I couldn't hang around as the snow started blowing in moments later :D
 
Week 9 - Abundance


09 - Abundance
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I'm not 100% happy with this one as I struggled with the colours. It was a very cold late afternoon and only a narrow range of tones in the scene, and although this does look cold to me I'm not sure it's right. I've tinkered a little bit in PP but it's easy to overdo it with just a narrow range.

Anyway, this little flock of hill sheep was busy feeding with heads buried deep in the feeder, but of course as soon as they sensed me they dashed away before I even lifted my camera. Fortunately they stopped and eyed me over their shoulders so there was still a subject. The feeder was full to the brim and they had already spread quite a bit of the hay on the ground and trodden it in, so you can see there was quite an abundance of food for these tough little creatures.
 
Good to see you back, you've been busy catching up(y)

Sharp ... good detail, light, focus .... not sure about the BG scratches ... o_O

Guard ... nice/interesting idea, nice compo, fab colour & detail. (y)

Thick ... absolutely glorious. :clap:

Abundance of sheep or hay? .... I really like, looking down on them like that. The muted tones adding to the cold feel. (y)
 
Guard - Nice Image Andrea, the orange on the Hut and the blue of the Sky and water make a good combination. Nice detail in the clouds.

Second cloud shoot is giving good detail and contrast. It would be nice to see if having the boundaries between the sea/sky and sky/dark clouds on lines of thirds would improve it.

Abundance - the muted colours are no doubt due to the cloud coverage, not much you can do and I think they look true to life. Good on theme image.
 
Abundance

Well they're not short of hay.

As for the colours, it's a tricky one and I can see why you may have had some problems. Sometimes you can play around with the sliders and still not get what you want. Maybe come back to it at a later date, just to see if a fresh look can help.

Looking at your photo (I'm by no means a pp guru), maybe there's a bit of blue in the whites. I don't know what software you have, but try and reduce the blues a fraction. I had a similar problem with a photo I took at the weekend, the air was full of mist and for some reason gave my photo a blue tint.

Edit- sorry for waffling on.
 
Hi Andrea.

Guard(ed) - Is this with the X-T2? It's certainly an interesting looking building, it kind of reminds me of the bridge of a tug boat, but on stilts. The sky certainly looks ominous.

Thick - That really is amazing lighting you've captured there, and those dark clouds, wow!

Abundance - Ah right, got it now. As you say, not many colours to work with, but with the sheep eyeing ewe up, I think you did alright. :)
 
Abundance of food is on theme Andrea, like the two sheep looking back at you, good colours too imo :)

Thanks, Dave, it was frustrating that they scattered before I could get the image of them with their heads buried in the food, but thankfully they didn't run too far. I waited for a little while but they weren't coming back and it was too cold to wait for long!

Good to see you back, you've been busy catching up(y)

Sharp ... good detail, light, focus .... not sure about the BG scratches ... o_O

Guard ... nice/interesting idea, nice compo, fab colour & detail. (y)

Thick ... absolutely glorious. :clap:

Abundance of sheep or hay? .... I really like, looking down on them like that. The muted tones adding to the cold feel. (y)

Thanks, David, it's mad how easy it is to fall behind and then have lots of catching up to do, so it's nice to be up to date again. I'm embarrassed about those scratches! I didn't notice them until viewing the image on another computer, so clearly I need to check the calibration of the screen I use for editing... and probably discard that sheet of acrylic!

I was aiming for an abundance of food, given that the feeder was overflowing with hay and when I saw the sheep they all had their heads buried in it. Unfortunately they scattered and refused to come back, but for such a little flock I thought they were very well catered for :)

Guard - Nice Image Andrea, the orange on the Hut and the blue of the Sky and water make a good combination. Nice detail in the clouds.

Second cloud shoot is giving good detail and contrast. It would be nice to see if having the boundaries between the sea/sky and sky/dark clouds on lines of thirds would improve it.

Abundance - the muted colours are no doubt due to the cloud coverage, not much you can do and I think they look true to life. Good on theme image.

Thank you for your feedback, Pete (y) That's a fair point on the Thick image, but I don't have many options to crop, and with the wind howling in at the time I was concentrating mainly on the clouds and didn't think too long about composition :D Normally, as you say, I would look to have the horizon positioned differently. Good point too on the colour in the Abundance image. It was a very cold and flat light and I think that's as good as it gets for that one.

Abundance - Abundance of food indeed. Love the sheep in the middle having a good old chew.

Thanks, Ross. They scattered as soon as they sensed me coming but didn't stray too far from the food :)
 
Abundance

Well they're not short of hay.

As for the colours, it's a tricky one and I can see why you may have had some problems. Sometimes you can play around with the sliders and still not get what you want. Maybe come back to it at a later date, just to see if a fresh look can help.

Looking at your photo (I'm by no means a pp guru), maybe there's a bit of blue in the whites. I don't know what software you have, but try and reduce the blues a fraction. I had a similar problem with a photo I took at the weekend, the air was full of mist and for some reason gave my photo a blue tint.

Edit- sorry for waffling on.

Thanks, Dominic, and don't apologise; I appreciate your thoughts (y) I think there is a slight blue cast and it's a combination of the cold and flat light at the time, and my attempts to 'warm up' the scene in PP and then pulling it back again as it looked too artificial. I'm no PP expert so I tend to keep any editing on the light side, so I will go back and have another go at this one.

Initially, looking at the image I didn't get the theme until I read your narrative. Like the idea and the composition.

Thanks, Stan. it seemed to be a lot of food for this little group :)

I like it, subtle colours and the sheep stand out well.

Thanks, Chris (y)

Hi Andrea.

Guard(ed) - Is this with the X-T2? It's certainly an interesting looking building, it kind of reminds me of the bridge of a tug boat, but on stilts. The sky certainly looks ominous.

Thick - That really is amazing lighting you've captured there, and those dark clouds, wow!

Abundance - Ah right, got it now. As you say, not many colours to work with, but with the sheep eyeing ewe up, I think you did alright. :)

Yes, the Guard(ed) image was from the X-T2. I don't know why the Exif isn't included with that one. Yes, it's an unusual building and stands out a mile on that stretch of coast with its height and bright orange paint job! Glad you like the clouds in Thick; that was Storm Emma racing in off the Irish Sea to chase me back to my car :D
 
Guard - the tower really stand out and the moody sky ads some drama to the scene.
Thick - a really dramatic scene well captured
Abundance - looks very cold, I didn't get what the abundance was till I read your description and now I see you are quite right.
 
Love the cloud shot for Thick, really nicely done.

Thanks, Mark, it was dramatic as the storm rolled in.

Guard - the tower really stand out and the moody sky ads some drama to the scene.
Thick - a really dramatic scene well captured
Abundance - looks very cold, I didn't get what the abundance was till I read your description and now I see you are quite right.

Thank you for looking back (y)
 
Week 10 - Heavy

A catch-up image for me as I was struggling with this one. I got an image I really like but wasn't sure it really conveyed the theme clearly enough so I think some of my son's weights and dumbells are the better option. There's even some heavy shadow for added value :)


10 Heavy
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr
 
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Week 11 - Wet

Time and elements have conspired against me for this one, and if I get the chance to do something else I will, but this is a big puddle and wet road after a heavy downpour. The reflections of the stone wall and electricity poles caught my eye as I drove past, so I nipped out to try to get this. Of course someone drove straight through it and I had to wait for the water to settle again :banghead: and I found myself dodging a silly amount of cars for what is usually a quiet road, but eventually the reflections became clear again!


11 Wet by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr
 
Great submission for thick, I love that very moody photo of thick clouds and rain!
Great photo for heavy, right on theme, well composed and great lighting!
Nice photo for wet, I like the reflections!
 
Hi Andrea

Good work on Heavy, fits the theme and nice feel to the image.
Wet, Nice colours in the reflection, but I would have cropped the top off a slight bit, where the wall seems to end.

Pete
 
Great submission for thick, I love that very moody photo of thick clouds and rain!
Great photo for heavy, right on theme, well composed and great lighting!
Nice photo for wet, I like the reflections!

A bit lazy, but I couldn't have put it batter myself! Nice images.
 
Heavy & Wet shots work very well Ma'am, both really on theme and well presented.(y)

George.
 
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