weekly Rich's 52 of 2015 - Wk 14 'Alphabet' Added, back tracked to WK 11 and 12

Yeah, I have to agree...I don't want to like it, because swans are beautiful creatures and this is like a scene from The Lord of the Rings.

Quite sinister, and I like :)

Cheers.
 
Hi your not the only one playing catch up :rolleyes:.
Didn't like the processing at first but the more I looked at it the more it grew on me. I think the rear swan is a little OOF, did you ask them to stand still? And it's hard to get blue tak on a swan;). I think it might be a bit of movement blur perhaps. Good work.

Scenic.... Definitely No 2 light is 100% better it has eclipsed No 1 by a mile, great colour in the sky very subtle light nice bead of reflected sunlight in the lake, nicely exposed. No2 is too dull for me, lighting is as flat as a pancake, and generally too many tones of grey. Shots like this have to be really contrasty to work well. Although it gives the impression that it's off level it isn't. But the foreground is OOF that might have been due to where you we're focusing and the depth of field, google hyperfocal distance that gives you a great landscape result Richard.

Fragile.... Love the egg shot think you must be applauded for putting it on a mirror, a hard surface to control, I like the colour better in the first one and TBH hadn't quite noticed the double reflection straight away. Comments already mentioned a bit more of the yoke. Nice work I like it.

Bliss.... Love this shot, it's a real classic I think you have done a really great job here, the lighting works very well. Well done nicely exposed

Cheers
Steve
 
Scenic: I prefer the second image. A great fan of sunsets.

Companions A little too dark for my taste, Like the position of the two swans in the shot.
 
Super companions shot great capture and nice pp
 
69Bonni said:
Hi your not the only one playing catch up :rolleyes:.
Didn't like the processing at first but the more I looked at it the more it grew on me. I think the rear swan is a little OOF, did you ask them to stand still? And it's hard to get blue tak on a swan;). I think it might be a bit of movement blur perhaps. Good work.

Scenic.... Definitely No 2 light is 100% better it has eclipsed No 1 by a mile, great colour in the sky very subtle light nice bead of reflected sunlight in the lake, nicely exposed. No2 is too dull for me, lighting is as flat as a pancake, and generally too many tones of grey. Shots like this have to be really contrasty to work well. Although it gives the impression that it's off level it isn't. But the foreground is OOF that might have been due to where you we're focusing and the depth of field, google hyperfocal distance that gives you a great landscape result Richard.

Fragile.... Love the egg shot think you must be applauded for putting it on a mirror, a hard surface to control, I like the colour better in the first one and TBH hadn't quite noticed the double reflection straight away. Comments already mentioned a bit more of the yoke. Nice work I like it.

Bliss.... Love this shot, it's a real classic I think you have done a really great job here, the lighting works very well. Well done nicely exposed

Cheers
Steve
Click to expand...

Firstly, all thanks for taking the time to view, comment and critique, it massively helps with learning, and future ideas.

Steve, thanks for taking all the time to comment on each one like that, I really appreciate it.

I will take your comments on board and read up about some of the subjects you mention, and if only blutack could be used for swans!! it would have massively helped lol.

Again, thanks for the help
 
Really like the companions shot and PP, not sure cutting off the swans feet was the best way to keep it still though?
 
Hiya, fragile is a good idea. For me, the difficulty in this shot is by choosing a super high gloss surface to reflect the shell, it makes the yolk confusing (because of the reflections). I'd have been inclined to use a less reflective surface and maybe a fresher egg which could have kept the yolk's shape a bit better (I realise it's burst though)? Lighting works well and could stand a touch more exposure personally.

Scenic are nice shots - preferring the impact of the second but do like the calm of the first. For me both would have benefited from a particular subject? Again, shadow lift and/or exposure lift perhaps?

Companions - guess what, I'd like the brightness lifted a bit! I realise this is probably the effect you are going for, but for me the shot would pop far more (lovely timing on capturing them in that pose) with half a stop or maybe a full stop more and no vignette. Just personal preference, mind!
 
Week 5 'Elegant' and Week 6 'Watery' Added:

Here is my idea of Elegant, peacock feathers which were a complete pain to work with lol. Also, I was umming and arring about the vibrant background, I moved from purple to white to creamy to black to red, and I really find it striking - but feel there's possibly too much colour, or the red is overwhelming?

The other thing was, i used 2 different vases for this, and had many shots, all with the different backgrounds, with and without the vases in, and in honesty they did not add anything for me personally, so i worked tighter and excluded most of it purposely.

Elegant by ThyJones


Here are a few I took for the subject of Watery. The one image has been slightly PP'd differently as I couldn't decide which I actually preferred and their merits, and photo 2 is of something else, I really like this shot for some reason, the way the water just merges into the fog. I hope people can tell it's actually water, thats my worry, because it was excessively foggy!!

As usual, feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Watery (1) by ThyJones


Watery (2) by ThyJones


Watery (3) by ThyJones
 
Elegant: Lovely picture, well-cropped. good colouring, theme-fitting; altogether a good job.

Watery: No 1: Nice but the exposure leaves a large white gap to the top left which is distracting.
Watery No 3: Pleasant but doesn't excite me.

Watery No 2: By far the best submission of the three. The white gap has gone, the background has an ethereal quality and the different flows in the water from left to right draw ones eyes across the scene. Excellent.

Edit: Just looked at the full-sized Flickr picture and find myself even more impressed.
 
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Elegant. The feathers certainly are!
Not loving the vividness of the red BG or the central composition though, sorry :(

Watery. I do really like the water movement in the shots of the weir, and the slightly spooky mistiness.
The lack of horizon in the third shot works really well :)
 
I'm really drawn to that third shot for watery.

The water's subtle, but it's definitely implied.
Lovely patterns in the tree branches and it's kind of hard to tell where the tree ends and the reflection begins . . . if indeed that is a reflection. It could almost be a tree leaning out over a cliff, silhouetted against the sky.
That ambiguity is part of the appeal for me and I could spend a long time looking at this one.

Personally, I'd have liked to see a little more cropped from the RHS so that the wall rested on the edge of the frame and there was a slightly larger expanse of blue to the left.
But that's just improving on what's already IMO a very good shot. Definitely already works for me as it is.
 
Peacock feather, what a good idea for elegant. But the red background doesn't work for me. It just looks too seventies. I'd like to have seen it on white, cream or even black to show the vibrancy of the colours in the feathers.

Out of your watery images its number one fro me. I like the darker rocks than 2 and I like the mist.

Good stuff!!
 
Hi Ya

Companions.......been back to look at this shot several times & still can't decide.......great detail in the feathers when viewed large on flickr, feet already mentioned & the pp is growing on me :)

Watery....I'm gonna be really awkward here .....I love the level of milkiness in the 1st shot & the better detail in the top half of the 2nd shot....any chance of combining them :D
 
Elegant ... Yes you've caught some lovely tones there ... the red BG works for me.

Watery #1 (y)... I prefer the contrast.
 
Week 7 'Bold' Added

For this one, I had a few ideas, such as a boat with its sale up, with the same colour selective theme, but I couldn't find any sailing boats due to the weather, so spotted this at the end of a photo session and really liked it. Fairly tight crop to the sides, but there were trees/bushes to the sides which didn't add anything and would only distract.

Bold by ThyJones


I did toy with making the plaque bold/red too, but it had lost the majority of its detail just to weathering/age, so excluded it.

I also did a second one but from the angle instead:

Bold (2) by ThyJones
 
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Hi Thy ... I like the simplicity of #1 ... SC works well ... nice idea.
 
I don't care what anyone says I love selective colour :clap: I like em both but prefer the 1st one, although the pic looks skewed I reckon someone didn't use a spirit level when adding the plaque to the wall, the wood is straight but the plaque isn't, or maybe it's my eyes lol
 
No 1. It's an interesting departure from the rule of thirds with the buckets being so low down.
 
sturisoma said:
I don't care what anyone says I love selective colour :clap: I like em both but prefer the 1st one, although the pic looks skewed I reckon someone didn't use a spirit level when adding the plaque to the wall, the wood is straight but the plaque isn't, or maybe it's my eyes lol
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments, and I know what you mean, it did to me too. I used the angle tool in lightroom on the plaque, buckets, bricks, wood etc, and none of the other elements matched up lol so I think they definitely do need a spirit level, in the end I went for the white bit of wood being as level as I could else it looked even more skewed. Thanks
 
Yep another vote for #1 nice simple idea but very well shot (y)
 
A bit behind, so here is my version of relax:

This really didn't go to plan, massive effort for little pay off, and i will probably do this one again. I know the lighting/shadows are off, and its too dark on the cup, I just couldn't get it, and ran out of time

Relax by ThyJones
 
2 attempts for vertical, i struggled with image 2, i couldn't get back far enough to get the whole cathedral in view, need a difference lens.. number 1, i found by chance when leaving the location, but i liked it actually, so stopped for a few minutes to get the shot.

Vertical by ThyJones


Vertical (2) by ThyJones
 
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For Mouth, i briefly borrowed a family members dog, which proved more difficult to keep her still than i imagined it would be..

Mouth by ThyJones
 
I have nothing to say except 'gorgeous'!
 
Super catch up relax is really well lit and composed i like.
Vertical #1 is simple and again brilliant in its minimalist feel
BUT! mouth is as Martin says gorgeous. If I had taken that of my pooch it would be framed and hung on the wall :clap:
 
Lovely shot for mouth and probably a lot more difficult than it looks to set up?

The full sized shot on Flickr looks a little out of focus but the smaller web version looks fine. The depth of field choice really adds to the image and focusses attention on the eyes. The vignette is probably a touch overdone for me, and with a circular vignette I'd prefer to see the dogs head a bit further up in the frame but they are really minor points.
 
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