weekly pjm1's TP52 in 2016 - week 31 Fauna

I think the lighting adds an extra dimension that an even spread would fail to do. This way it gives the viewer something to work on in determining the extent by having to follow the curvature of the frond. I quite like that.
 
Have to say I'm not sure either, I do think its wrong that its upright so if you rotated it anticlockwise it would look as i would expect to see it, if you know what I mean :thinking:

lightings not what I would expect but to repeat what DK said if its the look you were after it's spot on
 
Carl Ayling said:
I think the lighting adds an extra dimension that an even spread would fail to do. This way it gives the viewer something to work on in determining the extent by having to follow the curvature of the frond. I quite like that.
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Carl, you've explained far more clearly what I was trying to do! I wanted the light to guide the eye but maybe I've got the fall off as you progress a bit too steep? It was an attempt to do something different with the light, rather than simply illuminate. Clearly very marmite and glad you "got it" although I still reckon a straightforward capture would have been preferred by all :)

alsjazzera said:
Have to say I'm not sure either, I do think its wrong that its upright so if you rotated it anticlockwise it would look as i would expect to see it, if you know what I mean :thinking:

lightings not what I would expect but to repeat what DK said if its the look you were after it's spot on
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To get it upright I had to tape it in place :) And it was still leaning too much so had to rotate in PS. So quite a bit of manipulation to get something which hasn't quite hit home... but that's the beauty of this challenge - to try different things and see what works. The lighting was a useful experiment - I think I've learned that changing the intensity through the image needs to be done more subtlely. So thanks!

Dark Knight said:
Hmmmmm I'm not sure either, but if it is the look you were after it's spot on :D
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Cheers Dean. I'm starting to doubt myself now, but as an experiment it served the purpose - and I do like my experiments :)
 
For me that's better and it has a good 3D effect. But looking at it again it could be that the subject is not helping. I guess you are achieving what you wanted to do by way of low key lighting but I wonder if the branch emerging from the dark rather than disappearing into it may be more appealing? That said I think that would be helped by something (pine cone, berry, etc) on the end of the branch
 
Paul, I like the green against the black background and the way your eye gets drawn to the end but tend to agree slightly with other comments. I find myself searching for the end
 
Hi Paul ....well I'm a huge fan of dark backgrounds, we're away this week, but if we'd been at home I would have gone for that idea.
It's definitely the second image for me ...it fills the frame, the lighting is much better, and the natural angle so much more pleasing on the eye. But I have to agree with Chris ...it's just not an eye catching subject, there are some wonderful leaves on the trees at the moment which I think may have fared better.
 
susiejb said:
Hi Paul ....well I'm a huge fan of dark backgrounds, we're away this week, but if we'd been at home I would have gone for that idea.
It's definitely the second image for me ...it fills the frame, the lighting is much better, and the natural angle so much more pleasing on the eye. But I have to agree with Chris ...it's just not an eye catching subject, there are some wonderful leaves on the trees at the moment which I think may have fared better.
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Hi Susie

Thanks for commenting as always. I'm probably swayed by the fact all I can see from pretty much every window are conifers! They surround our property on all sides bar one. Which does have some nice trees come to think of it! I'm not a big fan of plants etc., so just grabbed something convenient. I need to put more effort in next time!
 
Floral, I didn't see the original, but I much prefer the edit, the composition does not feel right in the original. I think it's the droop in the edit :)

Subtle lighting also works well the emphasise the detail.

Cheers.
 
I prefer the 1st offering, Paul. I like the way it merges with the back ground, its almost as though its being hit by the sun.
Its plain and simple ( just like me I guess :D )
 
posiview said:
Floral, I didn't see the original, but I much prefer the edit, the composition does not feel right in the original. I think it's the droop in the edit :)

Subtle lighting also works well the emphasise the detail.

Cheers.
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Cobra said:
I prefer the 1st offering, Paul. I like the way it merges with the back ground, its almost as though its being hit by the sun.
Its plain and simple ( just like me I guess :D )
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Thanks guys - it certainly hasn't been a roaring success but I think it's good to try different things. In fact, I usually learn more from the things that don't go so well than from the things that do :)

Nobody likes a droopy edit, do they? It must need a bit of stimulation :eek:
 
pjm1 said:
I like Red Bull too much... no chance of me wasting a can on a conifer leaf :)
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Fair point well presented (y)
(Although I prefer "Monster zero" :) )
 
pjm1 said:
To be fair, I've never actually tried any other brand. I just like the smell and taste of RB sugar free. Keeps me awake when I'm driving back from the mountains after a long couple of days walking/climbing!
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Give it a go, its cheaper ( £1 when its on offer or £1.49 "normal") and the can is considerably bigger too.
The "zero" is the one with the Blue "M"
 
Nice work Paul ... your first Flora. That uneven lighting with black BG ... like a branch caught in the car headlights on a dark night. Atmospheric for sure. (y)
 
Jill's Photo's instead of Viagra... I know what you mean :pompous:

pjm1 said:
That's where my creativity hides! :) I'm not sure that the shallower depth of field we get with full frame cameras is particularly helpful with macro?? Should I be stopping down to f/22 do you think?
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As far as I am aware you would struggle to get enough speed to get a steady enough shot to make any difference, not sure how it works technically, but I find with full frame better shots are had be being further back and cropping in, not a great deal further back, but it sure does increase it nicely :)
 
d00d said:
Nice work Paul ... your first Flora. That uneven lighting with black BG ... like a branch caught in the car headlights on a dark night. Atmospheric for sure. (y)
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Thanks David :) Maybe I'll get into this planty-flowery-thing photography lark!

Dark Knight said:
Jill's Photo's instead of Viagra... I know what you mean :pompous:


As far as I am aware you would struggle to get enough speed to get a steady enough shot to make any difference, not sure how it works technically, but I find with full frame better shots are had be being further back and cropping in, not a great deal further back, but it sure does increase it nicely :)
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Cheers Dean...

No worries about holding the macro lens steady with small f/numbers - I have complete photonic overkill at my disposal :) I set up one of my (lower powered) studio heads firing through a large 120cm softbox held on a boom above the flower. It looked quite stupid really - I had maybe 8-10 inches between the softbox and the flower into which space I took my camera (required me to lie on the wet grass though). Radio trigger means I just moved myself and the camera towards the subject to get it into focus, shoot and BOOM, portable nuclear reactor.

The good thing about this setup is I have a decent amount of very very soft light on tap. Unlike the pringle tube setup, I don't have to try to position the light - it's basically my own overcast sky which is static but unlike the sky, I can dial it up to 11. I have 1.5 stops still to go on my lower power head and by switching to a 400Ws head I have another stop. This was all at (I think) ISO 200 so, again, there's plenty of latitude there too.

God I love lighting equipment :)
 
I really like your 1st image of the fern Paul good to see something different.
 
pjm1 said:
Thanks Mark... looking forward to the next theme now - hope you're still hanging in there ok!
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My too. Well I'm still here :D work is chaos at the moment (this is a good thing!!) and been slightly distracted by scanning my grandparents old slides
 
Hi Paul - I'm massively behind on comments - sorry!
I really like your edit of the Fern - much improved over the original. Extra points for taking a different approach to the theme too! I also really like your daisy shot too - I appreciate you've maybe included it as a throw-away shot, but I really like it. You clearly know your way around lighting equipment - very impressive stuff! (y)
 
Hi Paul, my first attempts at macro were to be honest 'awful' I joined the macro thread on the forum and had some great help from Timmyg and Gardenershelper both were really helpful. I practised on the edge of pound coins with different f stops and then when I was happy with the DOF etc I tried again with different lighting. I have now a happy medium of f16 with my 100mm f2.8 macro lens and iso400 as a starting point. My issue was trying to get as much in focus as possible but taking advice from the macro forum members I learned how to stack the images. My macro shots are still awful but I do enjoy the images I get. Hope it helps

Chris
 
I've missed two lovely shots of your daughter - those eyes! And the expression caught in your son's shot is priceless :)
It's the second flora shot for me, I think - I find the the positioning of the branch and lighting more pleasing...probably a bit unadventurous of me, but true!
I really struggle with the ideal aperture for macro. I often go for wider ones just to give me the cleaner bg I'm looking for or a higher shutter speed to work with...so unless I can get better at stacking it's going to have to be very selective focus, but I do like that look :) I think in the case of your daisy I would have moved a little further back to give more depth of field and cropped if necessary.
 
Bruja said:
It's fern #2 for me it just engages me more I guess.

Glad my photos help with your droopiness :ROFLMAO: :whistle: :p @pjm1 @Dark Knight
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The fern is still going strong some days later. I think you should patent whatever you're up to ;)

Downton Mini said:
Anyone know the bast way to get Tea out of a keyboard?..........:LOL::naughty:
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Please don't ask Jill questions like that... it's just inviting some shockingly filthy response!

WMD said:
Hi Paul - I'm massively behind on comments - sorry!
I really like your edit of the Fern - much improved over the original. Extra points for taking a different approach to the theme too! I also really like your daisy shot too - I appreciate you've maybe included it as a throw-away shot, but I really like it. You clearly know your way around lighting equipment - very impressive stuff! (y)
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Cheers Matt. A bit different but it wasn't one I was totally happy with (all of the attempts for Flora). I'm not happy with plants as you can tell! Cheers :)

chrispp said:
Hi Paul, my first attempts at macro were to be honest 'awful' I joined the macro thread on the forum and had some great help from Timmyg and Gardenershelper both were really helpful. I practised on the edge of pound coins with different f stops and then when I was happy with the DOF etc I tried again with different lighting. I have now a happy medium of f16 with my 100mm f2.8 macro lens and iso400 as a starting point. My issue was trying to get as much in focus as possible but taking advice from the macro forum members I learned how to stack the images. My macro shots are still awful but I do enjoy the images I get. Hope it helps

Chris
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Hi Chris... ditto re: early macro attempts. This one isn't much better, but to be fair in the last 2 years I've taken precisely zero macro shots, so I guess this still counts as an early one :)

Stacking might be worth a play if I get my camera and laptop to talk to one another properly!

Emja said:
I've missed two lovely shots of your daughter - those eyes! And the expression caught in your son's shot is priceless :)
It's the second flora shot for me, I think - I find the the positioning of the branch and lighting more pleasing...probably a bit unadventurous of me, but true!
I really struggle with the ideal aperture for macro. I often go for wider ones just to give me the cleaner bg I'm looking for or a higher shutter speed to work with...so unless I can get better at stacking it's going to have to be very selective focus, but I do like that look :) I think in the case of your daisy I would have moved a little further back to give more depth of field and cropped if necessary.
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Hiya Emma... your macros are lovely, so I'm looking to you for advice :) Stacking is something I've tried but my laptop hangs after about 2 frames because of driver problems. Need to get tech support onto it! Oh, that'll me me :(
 
Cheers for the comments on a fairly mediocre week last week. It's nice to get a pep up when it hasn't worked and even the more critical comments have been very nice and supportive. Thank you!

Onwards... active.

Well, we had an active day today. Lots of playing between the rain showers, a day out in Glasgow and then back home for more playing. Mummy then went out so daddy and the kids made a mess in the kitchen, watched a film downstairs then fell asleep after all that activity :) So this is my story of today...



I haven't put up individual pictures except for the grub because I was quite pleased with the lighting on that one: http://www.pjm-images.com/home/products-commercial/#!gallery-14-155... edited to add Ollie bouncing: http://www.pjm-images.com/?page_id=379&preview=true#!gallery-23-157 too!


Edited to add: first shot in late afternoon sun (behind subject) so fill provided with on camera flash. s/s 1/250th (I don't have HSS on any of my lights) and f/5.6... shooting with this low a shutter speed on a trampoline (which I was also lying on!) isn't easy... and no, despite the "theory" flashes don't freeze action when you only have them set to 1/64th power!!

Second shot was under a giant softbox held about 1 foot above the plate. It was angled slightly towards the camera but basically a load of massive soft light... shot at a shutter speed of something or other (doesn't matter - there was no ambient) and f/11.

Final shot was without flash and as much ambient light as I could get! I even had a studio flash head with full beam modelling light to throw a bit more onto him. I was struggling with eyelash sharpness so stopped down to f/2.8 and upped the ISO to 200 to get a fast enough s/s of 1/160. I know I've done a similar shot to this before, but since it's part of a triptych I thought I could get away with repeating the setup :)
 
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Not generally a fan of montages, unless they tell a story that is. You're onto a winner with your selections with enough variation to show the story in three shots and tying in with the theme.

My favourites are the food and the sleeping portrait so to speak. Sounds like the first one was quite challenging to say the least! Well done :)
 
Ian W said:
Not generally a fan of montages, unless they tell a story that is. You're onto a winner with your selections with enough variation to show the story in three shots and tying in with the theme.

My favourites are the food and the sleeping portrait so to speak. Sounds like the first one was quite challenging to say the least! Well done :)
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Thanks Ian... likewise to be honest with multiple images unless they're there for good reason. I thought the story of the day's activities was good enough reason!

The trampoline shot would have been easier if I had HSS or had shot it just with natural light, but that would have required my son being up at 5am to get the light coming in from the right direction!

My daughter is a difficult eater and she devoured the lamb, so I think it was a hit!

Cheers
 
Hi Paul,
Sign - I do love the look on her face, not sure it's terror, more screaming at her brother :) It's a great shot.
Flora - As you say, it's a simple looking shot, but well executed with the lighting where you wanted it to highlight the (is frond the right word?) and deep blacks. I'm torn between the original and re-edit. I prefer the composition of the original, but the lighting of the second.
Active - 3 nice shots, the 2nd & 3rd could stand alone. I prefer the 3rd of the set for the theme (y)
 
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