robp's 52 for 2010 week 15 - Single

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rob
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Hopefully I'm here for the duration and so have inserted this edit to update the position of subsequent images.

Week 1 - Curves post #1
Week 2 - Poetry #7
Week 3 - Chopped #15
Week 4 - Street #26
Week 5 - Speed #37
Week 6 - Present #49
Week 7 - People #68
Week 8 - Mechanical #75
Week 9 - Play #98 Page 4
Week 10 - Chemistry #115 Page 4
Week 11 - Candid #131 Page 5
Week 12 - Produce #148 Page 5
Week 13 - Reshoot #161 Page 6
Week 14 - Shoot #171 Page 6
Week 15 - Single #181 Page 7

Well, I've oomd and aahd over this for a few days now, what with me being new to the forum and feeling very humble amongst the terrific array of expertise and talent that's around, and also still getting used to handling my recently acquired first DSLR.

Anyway, have just decided to take the plunge and will do so before I chicken out *gulp!*

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Plenty of curves in there, and I like the lighting and B/W treatment. I find the wood grain on the right slightly discordant and would have preferred a less identifiable texture like the background on the left. But that is only my opinion - it is a very nice shot with lots for the eye to explore - great start! :clap:
 
Many thanks for looking in, Tracer.

Yes, see what you mean about the wood grain.
I hadn't even noticed it! So thanks for pointing it out. Much obliged.

And that illustrates a pertinent point.
As I have looked through the various 52 threads I have come to understand that I am firmly lodged on the very bottom rung of the photographic foodchain - all this lighting, dof, composition etc seems daunting, to say the least.
I have always been happy with what I now realise is a 'snap'.

And so I hope that by the end of this challenge I will have learned enough to have clumsily clambered up a couple more rungs and be in a position where I can look back at these early efforts and notice their faults and how they can be remedied.
 
I like it. Some nice cuuuuurves and abstract enough to make my mind bend.
 
Welcome & good on you for having a go.
You saw something & went for it. That is good too.
Think Tracer has covered just about what I was thinking too.
It would have been nice to see your subject against a plain background.
 
Thanks for looking in and for your comments, gents.

As to the plain background; what a good idea.
I'm currently doing an evening class in digital imaging and this term we are going to be learning layers, cutting out, etc in Photoshop so I will make this one of my projects.
I quite like the idea of a metallic blue sort of background.
 
And so to week 2.

Sometimes my creative side needs a good prod in the right direction in order for me to see the bleedin’ obvious.

I wrote the poem about four years ago and took the photo about four months ago but until this prompt it had never crossed my mind to match the two.
And in any case, I only learned to combine image and print a month or so ago.

52week2resizeframed.jpg


The photo was snapped on a Lumix compact.
I gave little if any consideration to composition so I have had to clone out a dark corner top left where the background fabric didn’t reach to and there’s a bit of healing brush in here.
Other than that I was pleased with the image...until I signed up here.
It now appears to me that the middle fingernail is far too shiny and draws the eye too much and the shadow bottom left is too dark.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thus far I haven’t actually taken a photograph specifically for this challenge. I joined in on the very last day of week one and so frantically looked through my images for something curvy and as stated, the second image is months old.

My challenge to me for week three is to shoot specifically to prompt, bearing in mind all I have learned since joining TP.
 
I agree. Good one Rob. I'm not very good on PP for something like that, you could try Shadows and Highlights.. that might help reduce the effect
 
Hi Rob,

I missed your week 1 - there are so many on here.
Definitely curved and a really unusual angle. I want to keep looking at it to try to define what all the shapes are.
I'd agree about the wood on the RHS, but only a really minor niggle.

I gave little if any consideration to composition so I have had to clone out a dark corner top left where the background fabric didn’t reach to and there’s a bit of healing brush in here.
Other than that I was pleased with the image...until I signed up here.
It now appears to me that the middle fingernail is far too shiny and draws the eye too much and the shadow bottom left is too dark.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Week2 - This may be an old shot and poem, but they work brilliantly together. Very poignant and the poem is spot on.
Good to see that a few people have written their own poems and this is one of my favourites.

On the image itself, I agree with your self critique but these are again minor niggles and you've done a good job with the PP that you've used already.
A bit of selective dodging might help with the shadows in the bottom left corner. I don't think that there's much detail that you could recover from the shadows on the fingers themselves or that bright nail . . . although I'm new to PP and still learning lots myself.
A play with Shadows and Highlights as John suggested or trying a couple of tweaks in curves might lessen the overall effect though. :shrug:
 
I like week one, bw is best for shiny metal in my opinion, but as has been said, not so good mixed with wood... maybe also would have been better with just the spaghetti scoop alone?

Week 2, poignant and a soulful reminder to all of us - great pic that needs selective burn/dodge I think, as well as a little cloning on the nail as you have already said... any better? Bit of a rush just to see if it could be done with such a compressed jpeg.

52week2resizeframed.jpg



Arthur
 
Very moving poem and the shot works well with it. Considering it was taken on your compact, technical difficulties aside, an excellent job all round!

Cheers, Rob
 
To you all, Maria, John, Sarah, Arthur, Rob and Kitten, thank you for your kind comments.

I've written quite a bit about when Mr Breasty C comes to visit.
Much is kept private but I let the odd bit loose for all to read because I want to reinforce the vital message that ladies should regularly have a good ol' feel.

My wife didn't. Then one day a piece on a tv show prompted her to do so. It saved her life.

Thank you for your various suggestions regarding improvements. I have tried dodging and burning but as you pointed out, Sarah, there ain't much to recover.

Arthur, thank you so much for taking the time to demonstrate the cloning of the nail. Cloning is something I'm okay with but it hadn't actually crossed my mind that I could use it here. Tsk, tunnel vision or what.
 
I wanted to convey movement for this prompt.

My first (and still preferred) idea was to set my camera on timer then get in position to have a self-portrait of me wielding my hedgetrimmer. I wanted a slow shutter speed to blur the movement of the trimmer and I was going to point the camera upwards to show hedge cuttings flying against the sky.

anyway, a lack of tripod, decent weather and hedges that require trimming at this time of year caused me to postpone this idea. I certainly intend to come back to it because I think it will make a very dynamic shot.

I eventually went for this:

DSC_0290800.jpg


It's lit by kitchen wall light. I set the exposue at 1/10 sec to get the knife blur.
I made a mistake with the exposure: Having mainly used either shutter or aperture priority thus far I have been trying to force myself to cast off the shackles and go manual.
Thing is, I set the shutter speed and out of habit overlooked the aperture setting so it was over-exposed. I have had a jiggle in levels to darken it a bit.

As always, critique very much welcomed.
 
Cloning is something I'm okay with but it hadn't actually crossed my mind that I could use it here. Tsk, tunnel vision or what.

:bonk: Nor me. That's the beauty of being able to get different opinions though.

Thank you for sharing the background to the poetry shot. It was a poignant image anyway, but that bit of personal history really gives it some more context.


I absolutely love your shot for week 3 :love:
There have been a lot of similar ones this week, but this is the first I've seen with motion in it and it's worked really well.
Nice clean background and beautiful colours (y)
 
I wanted to convey movement for this prompt.

My first (and still preferred) idea was to set my camera on timer then get in position to have a self-portrait of me wielding my hedgetrimmer. I wanted a slow shutter speed to blur the movement of the trimmer and I was going to point the camera upwards to show hedge cuttings flying against the sky.

Maybe it's just as well - there might have been some chopped fingers flying too... :D

You have caught the movement of the knife really well - definitely one of the better chopped veg shots. :clap: A shame about the exposure (I've done exactly the same myself) but you have pretty much rescued it.
 
I like your set so far,
Week 1, shiny metal is a nightmare to photography
Week 2, simple and effective with important message within
Week 3, really like the chopping motion, works well ;)
 
I like that Rob, love the motion blur in the knife... this is the sort of shot I wanted to get, but couldn't get it sorted.
 
:bonk: Nor me. That's the beauty of being able to get different opinions though.

Yep, completely agree.
I also find that viewing other peoples' efforts and trying to make some sort of constructive comment, albeit in my 'beginner's' manner, is helping me to improve my own photography and my appreciation and understanding of photography in general.


I absolutely love your shot for week 3 :love:
There have been a lot of similar ones this week, but this is the first I've seen with motion in it and it's worked really well.
Nice clean background and beautiful colours (y)

Thank you very muchly :)

My daughter saw it on the pc screen the other day and was surprised when I told her it was one of mine.
She said, 'Wow, I thought it was a proper photograph.'
Not sure if that's a complement or not :LOL:
 
Maybe it's just as well - there might have been some chopped fingers flying too... :D

Actually I've got away quite lightly thus far - a scar on my left leg and one on top of my head, both as a result of slipping down banks whilst hedgetrimming.
Mind you, I have seen a fair few 'chopped' other peoples' fingers as a result of hedgetrimming accidents in my time.


You have caught the movement of the knife really well - definitely one of the better chopped veg shots. :clap: A shame about the exposure (I've done exactly the same myself) but you have pretty much rescued it.

Thank you :)
Unfortunately, I don't just cock up exposures - I've only had a dslr for five weeks and as I experiment with new buttons and settings, so I forget to de-experiment before my next shoots.
Most frustrating, but it's certainly helping me to learn!
 
I like your set so far,
Week 1, shiny metal is a nightmare to photography
Week 2, simple and effective with important message within
Week 3, really like the chopping motion, works well ;)

Thank you very much:)
 
I like #3

Thank you:)

What I like about it is its highly unique capture.
You see, my wife doesn't cook yet here she is swiftly chopping through a pile of Basil...not!
I did all the set up and then asked her to move the knife up and down:LOL:
 
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I like that Rob, love the motion blur in the knife... this is the sort of shot I wanted to get, but couldn't get it sorted.

Thank you.

Yes, I saw on your thread that you ran out of time. Try to give it a go when you can though. It's quite good fun. Unless this happens:

I actually tried to do a chopped onion with a difference for this. I got it frying and then tried tosssing it like all those celeb chefs do on tv.
So there I was, frying pan in one hand, Nikon in the other...and onions all over the blimmin cooker.

Here are a couple of less messy efforts:

DSC_0279800.jpg


DSC_0278800.jpg


DSC_0270800.jpg
 
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Week 4 - Street

I had three ideas for this:

1. A group of people huddled around a smoking brazier

2. Pop into town any night at club chucking out time and photograph a fight

3. Bin day in a terraced street (looks rather colourful on recycling bin week, as opposed to ordinary black bin week)

Despite driving around likely neighbourhoods I couldn't find 1, or anything similar.

I thought 2 was a tad foolhardy so I went for 3. It's shot at about 7.30am
Handheld so it's a bit unsharp - I didn't think to turn on the vr!

DSC_0337800.jpg
 
When I saw this I'll admit, it's the sort of shot I'd look through my viewfinder at and at the last second kick myself. BUT y'know what? I bloody works and I can't put my finger on why. I do like the contract in texture between the platsic of the bins and the bricks. I like the colours too. Well done on a brave shot.
 
You've really caught the quality of the early morning light in this one Rob (y)
At face value it should be a boring shot, but there's something about it that really draws me in - I think that the strong lines help with that.
Compositionally, it's a little bit too central for me . . . I'd prefer the line of bins to peter out on the left third and have a bit more of the RHS in shot. There's something about it that works though.
 
Rob, you're a much braver man than I, and the thought of you stood there with the pan in one hand, camera in the other and spreading hot onions around :LOL: (sorry :D)...

Street, I like it, everything works really well together, the colours in the sky, the bins and cars etc.
 
When I saw this I'll admit, it's the sort of shot I'd look through my viewfinder at and at the last second kick myself. BUT y'know what? I bloody works and I can't put my finger on why.

Thank you Rob.

Yes, it had me pondering along the same lines. I took about fifteen shots in all along the street and have experimented with various crops. But this is my fave and I really can't say why.
I liked the orange light reflecting from the house wall, not to mention the odd combo of blue and orange.
 
You've really caught the quality of the early morning light in this one Rob (y)
At face value it should be a boring shot, but there's something about it that really draws me in - I think that the strong lines help with that.
Compositionally, it's a little bit too central for me . . . I'd prefer the line of bins to peter out on the left third and have a bit more of the RHS in shot. There's something about it that works though.

Yes, it should be boring, shouldn't it, but it just kind of does it for me. I agree about the composition and tried various shooting angles to overcome this but failed dismally. I tried a close crop of the bins which offset the central element but then I lost the orange on the house wall.

The one thing I wish I had done and will come back to when I am more skilled in Ps is clone out the telegraph pole.

Thank you for your comments.
 
There's something slightly surreal about this - I love it! (y)

Thank you Tracer.

I'm very self-critical and rarely really like my efforts, but this simple snap pleases me.
 
Hi Rob - sorry I've not visited your 52 before but I'm glad I've finally popped in because it's so interesting. There's a really feeling that you're going to take this challenge by the throat and really get loads out of it - everything is possible. Enjoy! :):):)

You've got loads of good feedback and comments and there's nothing I can add, except to say that Week 2, Poetry, is a very moving poem and powerful image. I'm so glad your wife acted in time - and it's a salutory warning to us all. :)

Week 4: Street: I agree that this 'works' when it could have been a boring empty street scene. One of the components that make it for me is the irregularities in the pavement, highlighted by the orange glow from the street lamps. It's an excellent take on the theme. (y)

Looking forward to Week 5! :)

Jean
 
Week 5 - Speed

This is kind of what I wanted to achieve this week from the very moment I read the prompt, so I am pleased about that. However, it hasn't turned out quite how I wanted - current lack of Ps experience and ability is to blame:)

speed4800.jpg
 
Works very well fella, very interesting take on the theme.

Thumbs up from me :)
 
Hi Rob - sorry I've not visited your 52 before but I'm glad I've finally popped in because it's so interesting.

Hi Jean, and thanks for popping in:)
And my apologies to you, too, cos I haven't visited your thread yet. I've had, shall we say, internet connection issues this week, but now I'm back up and running I'll nip across and have a butcher's over the weekend.
 
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