weekly Manxmaid's 52 for 2020: Week 51 & 52 - Showcase & Decorate

Great colour matching in the shot and it pops nicely against the background.
Loving the rich Fuji colours and interesting to see you didn't need to go fully wide open whilst getting in that close.

I am seriously going to have to consider getting a native telephoto for my Fujis. I'm not that enamored by the adapted Canon Ls on the Fuji.

Thanks, Tim, the natural Fuji colours really do show up well in this one. I stopped down a little bit to try to get most of the nearest bloom in focus, so I'm a bit disappointed to see that it wasn't quite enough to get the nearest bud completely sharp. It was hard to tell at the time though; my fault :)

You wouldn't go far wrong in getting the 55-200 lens if you're thinking about a zoom as it's sharp, light, and a pleasure to use and very adaptable, of course. I haven't used the 90mm but people seem to rave about that one if you were thinking of a prime and they come up used on here from time to time,
 
Beautiful colours Andrea lovely use of DoF

Time
Good job, I think it was the right decision cropping in. I particularly like the 3 seedlings standing out.

Snappers choice
Lovely colours in that bluebell.

Thank you both for your comments; I enjoyed both of these images :) I have had both of your threads open in my browser for a couple of days and haven't quite got there yet, but I will be along later!
 
You wouldn't go far wrong in getting the 55-200 lens if you're thinking about a zoom as it's sharp, light, and a pleasure to use and very adaptable, of course. I haven't used the 90mm but people seem to rave about that one if you were thinking of a prime and they come up used on here from time to time,
I was actually thinking about the cheap 50-230 xc lens. For something you can pick up grey for >£150, it gets some good reviews.
Though the 55-200 does make more sense...
 
I was actually thinking about the cheap 50-230 xc lens. For something you can pick up grey for >£150, it gets some good reviews.
Though the 55-200 does make more sense...

I'd forgotten about that one; never used it but Dave among other has spoken highly of it. But yes, the 55-200 makes more sense... :D
 
Week 16 - My First Initial A


16 The Initial A
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

We're fortunate to have two lovely Acers in the garden and the first leaves are just starting to unfurl. I adore the colour, especially when backlit by the sun, so after considering my options for 'A' and 'M' I headed for the Acers and picked the time and angle to show off the colour as well as some lovely bonus bokeh from light spots on the bushes beyond.
 
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Very nice Andrea (y)
 
Hi Andrea.. just saw your 'Manxmaid' tag and thought it might be you. Remember the vicar and husband from Castletown and Arbory? well I'm the husband. Joined here recently to try and get information of medium format stuff. I have just bought myself a nice Bronica ETRSi and was looking for likeminded people. We will, once all this Covid-19 stuff is over, visit the club. See you there. Stay well, keep safe.
 
Very nice Andrea (y)
Lovely bokeh and the reds of the Acers really pop from the green background.
(y)


Thank you both. I think these trees are one of my favourite things about this time of year so it was nice to work them into a theme :)
 
Hi Andrea.. just saw your 'Manxmaid' tag and thought it might be you. Remember the vicar and husband from Castletown and Arbory? well I'm the husband. Joined here recently to try and get information of medium format stuff. I have just bought myself a nice Bronica ETRSi and was looking for likeminded people. We will, once all this Covid-19 stuff is over, visit the club. See you there. Stay well, keep safe.

Hi Tom, of course I remember you both! Your email addresses are still on my list and I was going to drop you a line before the meetings start again, whenever that may be. Hope you've found some good folks here; I think it's a great forum. Hope you are both keeping well and look forward to seeing you again.
 
Week 17 - More Than One of Something


17 More Than One
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I don't think I have ever taken so many photos of flowers and trees! It must be a sign of the lockdown times.

At this time of year, the island's glens and footpaths are alive with the sight and smell of wild garlic, and its prolific swathes of tiny white flowers make the ideal subject for this week's theme. I was directly above this central bloom, which has given an almost vignetted effect as the flowers around the edge fall out of focus.

Woohoo, that's me up to date again apart from this week's theme!
 
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The acers are lovely - not s plant I'm familiar with (albeit that is a very large list...)

I rather like the wild garlic shot as well - the sharp centre and blurry vignette works really nicely to add interest.

I had to do a survival course quite a few years ago and managed to find a patch of wild garlic - fantastic stuff for keeping over zealous and sadistic directing staff away from you!
 
Two beautifully taken images Andrea, love both but the initial shot is the winner as great smooth bokeh and liking the red pop.

Thanks Dave, I was pleasantly surprised by that lovely bokeh in the Acer image. I'll be looking to create that again!

The acers are lovely - not s plant I'm familiar with (albeit that is a very large list...)

I rather like the wild garlic shot as well - the sharp centre and blurry vignette works really nicely to add interest.

I had to do a survival course quite a few years ago and managed to find a patch of wild garlic - fantastic stuff for keeping over zealous and sadistic directing staff away from you!

Thanks Alex, the Acer is usually a compact tree with large flat leaves in a deep red colour that light up when backlit; very pretty. The wild garlic is surprisingly photogenic with those pointy petals. You're right about the smell; we are used to it but it would come as a surprise if you weren't! Glad you evaded the DS :)

Like you say, the focus fall off is vignette like in it's quality. You also have the outer blooms almost in a ring which accentuates it.
Very nicely done (y)

Thanks, Tim - I must admit that I only noticed the shape of the outer and lower rings once I was looking straight down at the top centre flower, but it gave a really nice effect. It's a handy reminder to me that it's worth trying different viewpoints :)
 
Nice use of DoF Andrea, it works very well
 
Lovely simple image for Initial Andrea love the red colour.

Great image for more then 1 lovely use of DoF
 
I love the Acer leaves and the bokeh Andrea.
The wild garlic pic is beautiful. The whole thing looks like a big starburst.
 
Nice use of DoF Andrea, it works very well

Thanks Chris, I do love me a bit of shallow DOF!

A lovely crisp shot. I can almost smell it.

Thanks Helen, I must admit I was surprised at how pretty the flowers are close up, but there is no missing that smell :)

Initial A nicely lit and the broken and colour are really nice, more than 1, nice having lots of white flowers in the shot, like it.

Thank you, Clive, I've never taken so many photos of nature and I am enjoying it.

Lovely simple image for Initial Andrea love the red colour.

Great image for more then 1 lovely use of DoF

Thanks Mark, the light behind the Acer leaf was exactly what I was hoping for, whereas the wild garlic was more of a 'try a few different angles and settle on one that works'!

I love the Acer leaves and the bokeh Andrea.
The wild garlic pic is beautiful. The whole thing looks like a big starburst.

Thanks Pete, I really like the accidental starburst effect from the wild garlic plant, too :)
 
Week 18 - Music


18 Music
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

I'm not as happy with this as I have been with the last few images. Not many subjects to choose from and those I tried I didn't like. I did a close-up of my son's guitar for this theme two years ago so tried several things with the well-used keyboard this time, but nothing really worked so I've settled in this bland image. I may try a reshoot in future when I have a few more options.
 
That's a great close up image, I love the bokeh, the composition doesn't mess with my OCD mojo and its right on theme. Well done, brilliant.
 
I don't think the image is bland at all, it looks simple but the DoF is perfect as is the composition, it all works very well indeed my favourite one for the music theme

Excellent image :clap:
 
That's a really nice image - it's the symetry that does it :)
 
Not bland at all, its a great close up and another good use of DoF (y)
 
More than one
There's nothing wrong with flower photos and yours is a good composition, I like the top down look, with the blurred leaves as a background.

Music
Again, another good composition, I like the three black keys.
 
Just catching up!!

More than one of something - Great detail, colours and lighting, looks slightly unbalanced, keep expecting to see the main flower back in the centre of the image.

Music - I like the way image dissapears into the distance, would be interested to see one from a lower persective and closer to the horizontal.
 
Initial is a very nice image with the red positively popping out of the muted BG.
More than one is a similarly very good image. Loads of detail.
Music - A well lit and processed image. Nice PoV too.
 
I failed again! :(

I haven't visited the forum since summer and not sure why, really. I was really busy getting our local photography club back to meetings and probably just got out of the habit.

We were lucky here on the island that the Government was able to close the borders decisively and Covid-19 was eradicated from the community by late summer, so since then life has returned to 'normal' really. No need for social distancing; shops, restaurants, pubs and businesses all open as normal.; residents can travel off the island but must isolate for 14 days on their return, and after a few people were thrown in prison for breaking isolation rules it hasn't been a problem! VIsitors are not allowed though, and probably won't be until April/May next year at the earliest.

It's way too late for me to catch up with my 52 now and I am annoyed for not keeping it going as I was enjoying the challenge again this year. I am going to look around my regular threads and hope to catch up soon with anyone who may read this.
 
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Week 51 - Showcase


51 Showcase
by Andrea Thrussell, on Flickr

What the heck! Having decided to start another 52 next year I thought I would get back into the swing of it by posting the final two themes of 2020,

For "Showcase", this is one of my favourites of this year as I was forced out of my comfort zone to creates image for a club competition themed "Food and Drink". This was my favourite because of the colours and dark contrasts, and as a bonus it placed second on the night.

Edit: it looked a bit fuzzy on here compared to the version on Flickr so I have linked to a smaller version to try that. After seven months I may be out of practice!
 
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The forum can do that. I try not to downsize in the forum, using a reduced size image from flickr (and even then, they tend to be subtly different).
Great shot. I agree, it's the light and dark that makes it. That and the combination of black & red.

nom nom nom.
 
The forum can do that. I try not to downsize in the forum, using a reduced size image from flickr (and even then, they tend to be subtly different).
Great shot. I agree, it's the light and dark that makes it. That and the combination of black & red.

nom nom nom.


Thanks very much, Tim - I have seen others commenting on it but not experienced it myself. Perhaps it's something that has changed since I was last posting but this smaller version looks a bit better,

Nom nom indeed, they were tasty as well as photogenic! :)
 
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