Mikes 52, week 33, Mobile, added.

Mike Jackson

Mike Jackson

Billy Brownnose
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Mike
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Started with week 9 so you could class it as a 43 but I'll run over into next year to complete 52 (or possibly start a complete 52 from scratch).

I had loads of ideas from this theme but none materialised so I've ended up with one of the dogs playing on Friday afternoon.

 
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Welcome to the 52. That's a nice fun filled shot Mike. Just looks a little dark and difficult to separate the dogs from the grass. A quick play with levels and a touch more vibrance added to green up the grass a bit should work wonders.
 
dlh said:
Welcome to the 52. That's a nice fun filled shot Mike. Just looks a little dark and difficult to separate the dogs from the grass. A quick play with levels and a touch more vibrance added to green up the grass a bit should work wonders.
Click to expand...

:agree:

I found myself leaning forward to try and get a better look at the shot. A good shot though, I have tried photographing my dog a few times but never seem to be able to pull it off.
 
Rich E500 said:
:agree:

I have tried photographing my dog a few times but never seem to be able to pull it off.
Click to expand...

I think a lot depends on the dog. I also generally use a longish zoom to catch them as they don't notice you. The dog doing the chasing is a friend's and she has never managed to get a decent shot because her point and shoot hasn't got a long enough zoom.
 
Subtle changes Mike, but the edit has worked well (y)
 
Thanks guys.

Running dogs is one thing I get a lot of practice shooting. If there's nothing else worth capturing I turn my attention on the dogs.
 
Welcome to the 52 Mike 2nd picture a lot better for viewing nice and big never done Dog photography so would not Know how difficult it is, in general better shots seem to be when you get down to the animals level (y)
 
Definitely looks better bigger, but I'm finding the dogs are blending in with the background a bit. Nice to have a new starter though! (y)
 
I think a crop would improve it - get rid of some of the foreground - this will help to focus attention on the subject.

Phil
 
Great action piccie, as has been said a crop would help since the foreground is too overpowering (and being oof makes it hard to look at the rest of the pic. I'd go for a 1/3 sky 2/3 grass crop but leave the width as you have in the second pic... that puts doggie with stick centre stage.

Arthur
 
Welcome to the 52!

I prefer the tighter crop and do like the low angle you took this at. Assuming you were low down, there's not much room to manoever to change your shot, so it's well done!

Ian.
 
Good luck for the 52!

I prefer the closer crop and you can see the dogs expressions more clearly and I love the ears, also taken away alot of the green and showed up the "real" subject, they look like they both can be quite naughty and mischievious at times!!:LOL:
 
:wave: Mike and welcome to the 52 (or 43 or whatever it is!)

Good shot to start with. I've got a real soft spot for dog photos and I know just how difficult it can be.
Even though it's taken at a distance you've still managed to get good focus on the eyes and some lovely catchlights. You've done well to get such a crisp shot of them in action too. :clap:

I'm not sure if it's my eyes or my monitor, but I can't see much difference between the original shot and the second one that you posted - other than the size :shrug:
However, I tend to agree with the comments above. I'm feeling that it could do with a bit more of a contrast boost and a bit of a tweak to the colours to separate the dogs from the background more.

That said, there's a lot to like in it. The emotional impact of those 2 dogs in action, clearly having fun far outweighs any technical imperfections IMO.
 
SarahLee said:
I'm not sure if it's my eyes or my monitor, but I can't see much difference between the original shot and the second one that you posted - other than the size :shrug:
Click to expand...

The change is definitely there. If you open both in flickr (click through) on separate tabs and flick between the two you'll see quite a difference :)
 
Mike, welcome to the 52's... the second is defo better... the dogs are cleared now. It's on theme and has worked well.
 
Thanks for all the comments. On to week 10, chemistry. I struggled with this one. I'm hopeless at people portraits so that sort of chemistry was discarded straight away. I liked the idea of chemical reactions etc. but couldn't work out how to do something safely. As I drove home this afternoon it came to me, smoke pellets. I've always got some handy as I'm a heating engineer but I hoped I'd still got some orange ones that I bought a while ago. When I got home I raided the garage and found a packet left so it was time to start playing.

2 for the price of one this time.

Initially it was just going to be smoke issuing from a glass.





As I cleared up and picked the glass up it occurred to me that I could try a mad scientist self portrait.





I personally prefer the first but thought the second is a bit of fun.

And finally just to show the pain I put myself through. That orange smoke smarts when it gets in your eyes.







 
Fantastic Mike, I like your first one, it is sharp and vibrant. Good take on the theme. :LOL: @ your other images(y)
Iain
 
Liking the effect in the first image. I thought it was flames to start with and wondered how the hell you'd done it. Only niggle with it is the background.

The others don't quite say mad scientist, but definitely mad photographer for shoving it in your own face. Next time use a model :D
 
First one for me.

I do like the mad scientist idea though. A white lab coat, pair of glasses and a blackboard as a background with loads of chemical equations on it would have pulled it off.

Coloured contacts (or photoshop) would have added to the jeckyl and hyde look :nuts:

Andy
 
Gorgeous smoke!! Yes admittedly the background may not be perfect but the rest more than makes up for it...positively glowing colour and the glass chosen compliments it really well :) The other shots are great fun :LOL:
 
Very clever Mike... it's worked well and is on theme... not sure on the mad scientist thing though... but defo mad :LOL:
 
:clap: :clap: :clap:
Very clever and I'm glad that you found those orange pellets. That smoke has come out brilliantly.
The background's already been mentioned, so I won't go on about it.

The mad scientist shot is good fun - and nos 2 and 3 made me laugh . . . you've got the mad bit spot on ;) :p
 
Thanks all. I had some other ideas that involved pyrotechnics but I went for a safer option that was slightly less insane.
 
Firstly the shot I took on Sunday which is candid but not very good.





Secondly I'm going to shoehorn this one in that I took in February.





I've been trying to find something that I could apply a similar technique to all week and failed so far. Today is out as I'm at a meeting all day but I may manage something tomorrow but I'm not over hopeful as people shots aren't really my thing.
 
Hi, I would have to agree with you there - the 1st shot is candid, but for me, there just isn't enough interest in the image - maybe a tighter crop on the people would help? :thinking:

That 2nd shot is cracking! Candid, yes (or was it? :D) and looks like they were having loads of fun and you've managed to capture the moments/actions really well.
 
The first shot doesn't do anything for me I'm afraid.

The second is much better. I find it a bit odd with the pictures merged together though. Have you tried losing on and putting them as 3 images in a triptych?
 
ProG77 said:
Hi, I would have to agree with you there - the 1st shot is candid, but for me, there just isn't enough interest in the image - maybe a tighter crop on the people would help? :thinking:

That 2nd shot is cracking! Candid, yes (or was it? :D) and looks like they were having loads of fun and you've managed to capture the moments/actions really well.
Click to expand...

I tried a different crop on the first and it's still rubbish I just wanted a new candid rather than the older shot. I'm not good at people.

Taken with my 100 - 400 at 400 from the other side of the field so definitely candid.

I initially tried a tryptich with the second but preferred the merge.
 
Hi Mike,

I love the second shot.
I know that it's not a new one for this week, but the PP on it is brilliant.
It's got a similar feel to those multiple exposures where you have the same person in different poses in the same room, but I actually think I prefer this treatment. It tells a story and the way that you've joined those 4 images is seamless.
Such a shame that you couldn't have found something this week to apply the same treatment to.

I'm not a huge fan of "normal candid shots", and I am struggling a bit with the first image TBH. There's something incongruous about the lady in smart black coat and heels walking across the football pitch. Maybe if you could have zoomed in on that it would have given more of a point of interest.
 
Thanks Sarah

I really struggle with people shots. I was hoping to get a candid this afternoon out with the dogs but as I was lining up for the shot the subject called out "Hi Mike, is that a 100 -400 you've got there?". Typical not only was it someone I knew, they spotted the lens. Mind you it got worse when he caught up with me and told me of his plans to get a 5DII or 7D shortly. Mind you I did point him this way for further info.
 
I'm another that is struggling with the first Mike... it's candid, but...

As for the second... that's excellent. Candid fun, and a great sequence too, and so nicely put together... lovely but of PP and Stitching...
 
You know how you said you were terrible at people shots so you didn't want to do it for Chemistry? That second Candid shot just screams Chemistry to me. I like.
 
As others have said there is little to recommend your first candid shot, but the second is a great little series of shots cleverly put together!

Phil
 
For produce I initially though of farm produce and thought a tractor in a field of produce would make a nice shot. Due to the weather so far this week there hasn't been a hope of getting any decent outdoor shots. Driving across to Ashford this week I've been going past a wind farm and and I thought it's a bit tenuous but it's producing electricity so will fit in with the theme (just).

My idea was to try a narrowish aperture with ISO 100 to try and get a bit of blur on the blades. As I left Ashford the light was poor so it was looking good. As I parked up to get the shot the sun came out. I shot off a couple but the shutter speed was too fast to get any decent blur so, lacking an ND, I chucked my circular polariser on to try and lose a couple of stops. This seemed to do the trick and I packed up and came home. When I checked the pictures on the computer screen there were marks all over them. My initial thought was dust bunnies but a quick test shot proved otherwise. I then looked at the filter. I wish I'd checked it before I'd slapped it on the front of the lens. It looked like I'd eaten a bacon sandwich off it. Grease and smear marks all over. I've got no idea how it got so mucky but the upshot is I didn't get the shot I wanted.

The forecast for the weekend is carp so unless something better materialises over the weekend I've run one of the non filtered shots through Dynamic Photo HDR to give it a bit more interest.



 
It's a real shame that you didn't manage what you wanted to do for "produce", but what you've pulled back out of it isn't bad at all.
I'm not particularly keen on the band of bright blue sky across the top. It's a bit too blue and seems a bit noisy . . . but I think this would actually work better as a pano crop anyway. Lose a bit of sky and a thin slice of foreground and I think it would have far more impact.

Candid - I'm glad that you got something you were happy with for this and it's a really great spot. I'm not sure if he's asleep or just lost in thought, but you've caught a great moment.
The angles in this one are confusing me a bit. The building seems to be sloping to the left and the truck to the right - only a minor niggle but it's a bit disorienting. I think by losing the roof to just above the railway sign (and losing the decapitated seagull with it), it would be a big improvement.
Sorry - I feel like I'm getting a bit "crop happy" with your shots this week :shake:
 
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