weekly Phil Bennett's 52 for 2015 - Week 24 Spiral added

Nice Work, right up my street.
Think you have just about caught the RH corner. Sometimes hard to catch as you normally have to push the exposure to the edge to get the snow nice and white.
Shutter speed on the water is good, shows a nice bit of movement without over cooking it. The immediate foreground doesn't look quite as sharply focused as further back.
Nice strong diagonals leading you into the shot, with a dark row of trees on the horizon to anchor your eye... Great light on the hillside above.
I like the row of wooden posts and the road up on the right and the nice cloud layers.

I think if I were to change anything, personal choice of course! It would be cloning out the plastic black, white and red bollard at the end of the wooden fence, and the rear of the grey triangle road sign on the right.
I'd probably also either clone out or remove the highlight off the rock right dead centre of the river, my eye keeps locking on to this. Also if you follow the slope down from right to left there is small gremlin hovering above the slope that needs a cloning brush on it (probably a spot of water on the lens).

Great shot I really like it, Nice work Phil(y)
 
Watery on a number of levels and a lovely shot :) Hope you were wearing your thermals as pics like that make me glad I live in Spain now but I'm from the NE originally so remember snow on Cheviot and the Carter Bar being closed regularly in the winter :coldfeet:
 
Bruja said:
Watery on a number of levels and a lovely shot :) Hope you were wearing your thermals as pics like that make me glad I live in Spain now but I'm from the NE originally so remember snow on Cheviot and the Carter Bar being closed regularly in the winter :coldfeet:
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I had an extra Tee shirt on Jill;)

Phil
 
Philip. Good subject for watery. Agree with comments already made. Over exposed bottom right. If possible, I would have moved to a slightly different position to take the photo, so that the stream/river did not run almost straight up the frame. More a left to right direction would have helped. I like the general treatment that you have done to get the contrast of colours.
 
Hi Phil - a few catchups!

Companions - really like your lighting in this one. No need to see the face and a great diagonal created by the light itself across the frame. If I were being super critical, the only thing very slightly distracting (and it's sooo minor) is the shadow on your hand (rectified by positioning your hand somewhere else!) and what looks like a double-highlight on the port and glass - presumably from two different light sources? The processing and composition is absolutely spot on though and I like your key light a lot... was there a second light aimed at the table from almost camera position?

Great job.

Elegance... well first, well done you for having such a large garage and splashing out on a nice glossy marble floor for it. Looks lovely. A nice couple of motors you keep in there too ;) More great lighting as well. I wonder whether it would be stronger or weaker with a touch more DOF? Haven't a clue - just wondering. Another top notch shot!

Watery - a nice landscape for sure. Reasonably heavy processing on that sky (I know, because it looks like some of mine ;)) and my only crit would be the overexposure of the bottom right part of the frame. Not blown (just!) but to my eyes overexposed as the grasses are a stop or so too bright. Still a lovely image though :)
 
pjm1 said:
Hi Phil - a few catchups!

Companions - really like your lighting in this one. No need to see the face and a great diagonal created by the light itself across the frame. If I were being super critical, the only thing very slightly distracting (and it's sooo minor) is the shadow on your hand (rectified by positioning your hand somewhere else!) and what looks like a double-highlight on the port and glass - presumably from two different light sources? The processing and composition is absolutely spot on though and I like your key light a lot... was there a second light aimed at the table from almost camera position?

Great job.

Elegance... well first, well done you for having such a large garage and splashing out on a nice glossy marble floor for it. Looks lovely. A nice couple of motors you keep in there too ;) More great lighting as well. I wonder whether it would be stronger or weaker with a touch more DOF? Haven't a clue - just wondering. Another top notch shot!

Watery - a nice landscape for sure. Reasonably heavy processing on that sky (I know, because it looks like some of mine ;)) and my only crit would be the overexposure of the bottom right part of the frame. Not blown (just!) but to my eyes overexposed as the grasses are a stop or so too bright. Still a lovely image though :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking and commenting Paul.

In answer to your question, there was two lights, but they were from almost the same position (camera left), one high up on me, and a speed light lower down pointing at the table.

And I agree with the position of the left hand, it was a pain all the way through shooting this, I got sick of trying to put it somewhere else, I eventually just went with it.

Phil
 
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HI Phil


lovely wintery scene for Watery.....just the right amount of blur to the water, great light on the distant hill and fluffy clouds in the sky :clap: Others have mentioned the foreground snow being a tad on the bright side
 
Hi Phil

A good elegant shot, i do like the reflection very much, a touch tight at the bottom but the focus, dof and lighting are spot on
I think the water blur in Watery is good and what makes the image for me is the way those clouds mirror the snow from the hills. As others have said the bottom right snow is a bit bright but this location looks a lovely place to be especially at this time of year, so hats off too you for doing the legwork!
:)
 
A hard one this week, so I had to delve into the archives, so a little story on the image provided.

Friends of mine and local rockabilly favourites "Bessie & The Zincs Buckets" celebrated 30 years together in 2014, so they decided to do an anniversary gig. Now, Kev Charlton, the bass player had always wanted to play the Newcastle City Hall, he'd been there hundreds of times as a roadie to all the big bands, but never played.
So what did he do? in a "BOLD" move he booked it for the gig. I wasn't on photograph duties that night, but I did take my Fuji along to capture some of the night, and this was my favourite from the evening.

Kev came on stage with the biggest grin ever, not purely because he got to play "The Hall", but they had also SOLD IT OUT, all 2135 seats. The only non signed band ever to do that.

Bessie by Hamerrockopuss, on Flickr

Phil
 
Sold out, superb, they both looks so happy and proud.

Bold move indeed. Nice detail and good lighting. I was going to suggest a bit of a crop but that would result in the surroundings being lost.

Cheers.
 
Great story behind it and indeed a very bold move but one that paid off - excellent shot as well, their faces show how much enjoyment they are having
 
I agree...great timing.
They look like they're thoroughly enjoying themselves!
 
I agree with the others, great timing and a bold move indeed,
I'm glad that it paid off for them (y)
 
didn't seem bold at all until you explained it, you don't get the story from the pic so I have to say it doesn't really fit the theme for me. Newcastle City Hall - my old stomping ground :) saw many many bands there
 
They seem to be really enjoying themselves; very well caught shot.
 
Elegant - A nicely lit image of the two models. The use of the black reflective surface really helps with the elegance theme. The crop works very nicely with this subject as well.

Watery - That looks a good location especially with the snowy conditions. It’s unfortunate that the foreground is overexposed but I feel the motion of the water has been captured nicely.

Bold - A great live shot which has been well exposed. You’ve captured a definite connection between the two band members. Your story about the bass player certainly is reflected in his smile and enjoyment of playing there.
 
Lovely colours Phil (y)
 
I have no crit, just a lovely picture.
 
BOLD - what a great backstory Phil. I love the connection you've captured between them and the exposure is spot on in difficult conditions :clap::clap:

RELAX - Great colours and a lovely sense of calm (y)
 
Relax - All I can say is... I hope you've printed that and have it hanging on your wall.
Fantastic.
I googled "Bessie & The Zincs Buckets" - Pretty good aren't they. I must keep an eye out to see if they visit the smoke.
 
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What a beautiful landscape. Such rich colours.
 
Relax.....Amazing colours and beautiful scene.
 
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