Rudder's 52 - Week 14 - Shoot... loaded :)

Rudders said:
Sadly the bridge goes over the East Lancs road, a dual carriageway, a view from the top...
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I am thinking the only way to get rid of the blue properly is to go back and do a retake, colour-wise my photo's from earlier on the walk look OK, it's only the last few that have the strong blue tint to them once it had started to cloud over, ho hum...
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I'm trying to figure out which part of the East lancs this is as I live just off the lancs in Lowton :|
 
Karlos said:
good idea, big improvement on the sword image
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Cheers, I was never happy with the original sword image, I'm just glad I had time to replace it

treeman said:
Nice one (y) not sure about the processing though, personally would have liked to see a nice orange carrot. Love the fact it's on a wooden chopping block :)
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Thanks for the comment, here's the original image from the camera, I feel it looks slightly more tree like with the processing that could be just me changing it because I can though...
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mowse73 said:
Hi Dave sorry for not commenting on your 52 so far.
1. i realy like the 1st post.Well composed.
2. I like the colour for this image and the vignetting looks good.
3. The second shot is great. I like the way you have tried tob different.
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Cheers Martin, I knew I had to be different because the quality of my camera isn't up to most on here and I've only got the inbuilt flash this forces me to try and be slightly more creative...

Jaffster said:
I'm trying to figure out which part of the East lancs this is as I live just off the lancs in Lowton :|
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This is the little blue bridge just up the road from the Tesco petrol station at Windle Island (at the Liverpool end of St Helens)


I've just discovered how to do multiple quotes... Can you tell? :LOL:
 
Love the second attempt at cropped - great image!

Phil
 
Your second "chopped" is brilliant! Very imaginative and I love the PP you have applied to it - it works reallyl well. :clap::clap:
 
Love the second chopped, it works so well. I recognise that sword though... ;)...
 
Having waited over a week to post my Street shot four come along at once!

I think I've posted four because there's something about each one I like but not enough to make any of them a good shot or a stand-out shot for this week.

This is taken from Chalon Way car park in St Helens, I like the two blokes standing talking while others blur past...
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Blackpool prom (does this count as a street?) I'm disappointed at the sky in this...
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The Shambles in York (I've not looked at many others so don't know if this has been a recurrent theme for this week:LOL:)
I'm not overly keen on this shot overall but I do like the man in the hat looking up
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And the same shot in monochrome
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C&C please!
 
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Love the processed chopped carrot Dave! Really imaginative. Took me a while to decide whether you had shopped the axe in or not! Really like the processing, and it works even better that its on a good textured chopping block! Such a massive improvement from your first image.

For week 4 number 4 is standing out to me from the set. Think the black and white brings out the texture in the stone street which looks good.
Like the man staring off into space also (y)
 
#3 for me. I'm a big fan of mono, but feel the slightly desaturated colour in #3 works best. I like this shot for the guy looking up at the window.
 
The b&w York shot is my favourite, I think it has the compositional edge over Blackpool and I love York. I think the gang of shoppers get a touch lost in the processing though.
 
Thanks for the comments, for the two York shots I took out some of the details of the other shoppers, a couple of them had distracting carrier bags that I felt jarred with the feel of the image, I also darkened the coat of the lady pointing at the shop windows a couple of notches as it distracted from the man looking up which to me was the only real thing of interest (apart from the lovely buildings of course!)
 
Liking your shots so far! If I had to pick favourites I really like the inventiveness of the carrot shot, and the B&W street shot is quite nice. I like how you captured the man stood still under "Little Shambles". Nice capture!
 
Love the first street image... this is on my list of things to recrete in my home town.

I like the Shambles images too, but I'd have cropped them a bit tighter to remove some of the black parts of the image and to put more emphasis on the gentleman. Or, if you have the RAW image, play with the levels a bit to tone down the sky and lift the blacks a little.

Still, a good capture, especially with the gazing gent :)
 
Love your carrot shot! One of the best 'chopped' I've spotted. Wherever did you find such a large carrot. :)

Out of your Street shots, The Shambles is the winner for me. A nice scene, made better by the gut looking up at the top window. (y)
 
An interseting set Dave... the first might be better without the lamp post in the middle of the bloke... shame about the sky in the second... The B&W of the Shambles is the best and works very well. The man looking up makes it... as soon as I looked at it, I wondered if you'd shot in closer and just got him and the sign above him... ?? It's almost got an old film (that's movie, not camera film ;)) feel to it.
 
Hi Dave,

Retake for chopped is definitely a big improvement on the first one. Very clever and the subdued processing definitely works (y)

An interesting set for street too.

The first one I like because of the clean, crisp quality of the image. Love the concept and the high POV works well for me. On the downside, it would be nice if there had been a few more people around to give more motion around the frame and the lamppost in front of the one man spoils it a touch.

The second one isn't really doing much for me (sorry) but there's a strong linear composition and I think there's a good shot lurking in there. Would be nice to see it revisited at night.

Numbers 3 and 4 really are the standout shots for me though :clap:
I marginally prefer the colour version, but both work well.
That man standing under the sign and looking slightly baffled really makes the shot.
I love the way that you have all the hustle and bustle at the end of the main street and he's just stood there along, isolated from it all and looking so confused.
 
Week 05 - Speed

Here's my two submissions for Speed

First a photo of a remote controlled Aston Martin I bought in the Next sale a few years back...
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I produced the motion blur by having a piece of white cotton attached to the back, using a 4 second exposure and after 2 seconds dragging the car backwards.

I tried adding radial blur to the wheels using photoshop but it looked so wrong! :LOL:

My second, last minute attempt is of the speed rating 52X on a CD-R
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Having looked at it again when editing it it looks like the top of the 2 has gone out of focus.

I did have other plans for taking a photo last night but heavy fog kinda put paid to that!
 
really love the Carrot chopped shot!! prefer the Aston over the CD but the CD shot has brilliant colours!!
 
Hi Dave,

Agree with the colours on the CD-R shot - they're just gorgeous and it's another unique take on the theme. The top of the 2 is slightly oof, but it really doesn't bother me that much.

The first shot is my favourite though.
Ingenious use of the cotton to get the blur, it's really very effective.

Are the headlights lit up? It looks like they are, but kind of hard to tell against the white. As much as I like the white b/g (you've got it lovely and crisp) if there are headlights I think a darker b/g might have brought them out more.
 
The first Street shot is my favourite, it's a shame about the post being in front of one of the men but other than that I like it for the sense of movement around the two people chatting. This is something I need to have a go at I think! :)

Two good ideas for Speed too, the second one's my favourite here for the bright colours :)
 
SarahLee said:
Are the headlights lit up? It looks like they are, but kind of hard to tell against the white. As much as I like the white b/g (you've got it lovely and crisp) if there are headlights I think a darker b/g might have brought them out more.
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Thanks for the positive comments Sarah, the headlights aren't lit, but I do think there could have done with being a bit more contrast in the image, I need to start building up a collection of different colour A1 card (and find somewhere to keep them!)

SpidersEye said:
The first Street shot is my favourite, it's a shame about the post being in front of one of the men but other than that I like it for the sense of movement around the two people chatting. This is something I need to have a go at I think! :)
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Thanks Kay, I think I would have been a lot happier without the post and with a few more people about to get more of the sense of movement as I do like the contrast, I suppose I could always revisit or ideally find a better location to develop the ideas further :thinking:
 
Finally catching up a bit...

My fav street shot is the b/w Shambles - the processing really suits it the lovely old buildings and brings out the pleasing shapes and lines in the composition.

I love the Aston, and thanks for sharing your clever way of producing the motion blur. I must give it a go sometime.

(y)
 
Tracer said:
I love the Aston, and thanks for sharing your clever way of producing the motion blur. I must give it a go sometime.
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Thanks for the comments... I've got a feeling I must have got the idea from here somewhere although I can't remember where :thinking:

Week 6 - Present

Just one submission this week...

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After having a few different ideas, mostly weaker or unrealistic for me to be able to do in time, I decided to go for Present as in Presentation.

I printed out a Photoshop texture and rolled it up to use as a scroll (not having any parchment or heavier weight paper). I wanted to use some ribbon to tie it with but couldn't find any at home so went with some green string.


Not a shot I'm overly happy with, too much of my forefinger is in shadow, but at least it fits the theme...

C & C please!
 
Dave,

I think I was last in this thread when you chopped a carrot with a sword. Having seen the revised version with the little axe, I think it's much better and one of the best Chopped shots I've seen.

Street #1 was also well done with the blurry people and the long exposure. I like the way the lamp posts lead the eye into the shot. Nice composition.

I also like Speed#1. Seems like quite a lot of people went to a lot of effort and it's good to see!

As for Present. I think you did a good job with it, and the lighting is top notch apart from...
too much of my forefinger is in shadow
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Which you already know.

Nice work!

Ian.
 
Very original present idea. I didn't think of that at all :D

The only thing i don't like about the image is the string. Looks like that nylon/plasticy stuff that you use in the garden for tying plants :thinking:

If you had used some ye olde looking string i'd have been sold :)
 
Cheers for the comments, the finger issue is annoying but I was only lighting with an ikea desk lamp and I was trying to keep the floor in darkness...

The string was definately a matter of just using what I had to hand... I used a bleach bypass on the pic to try and tone down the brightness (you got it bang on with the string being cheapo garden stuff!)
 
Brilliant idea Dave. I haven't looked at many 52s yet this week, but I think this is going to be quite unique.
The parchment effect has come out really well.

My only criticisms you've already picked up yourself . . . the shadow on the finger and the use of string instead of ribbon.
But you can only work with what you have, so don't be too hard on yourself about it.
 
Good idea and nice shot. I would like to try it with the hand rotated a bit so that it is more palm upwards - at the moment to me it looks as if you are trying to hit someone with it! However it might make the hand look a bit ugly - I don't know.
 
Speed - an interesting pair of takes there Dave... love the colours in the cd speed, the Aston looks good, but needs a little motion in the wheels.

Present works really well too.
 
Cheers for the comments everyone,

Tracer said:
Good idea and nice shot. I would like to try it with the hand rotated a bit so that it is more palm upwards - at the moment to me it looks as if you are trying to hit someone with it! However it might make the hand look a bit ugly - I don't know.
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The hand reminds me more of someone passing a baton than a presentation but ho hum... I did want to include an offered handshake but couldn't see a way to get it to work.

jgs001 said:
Speed - an interesting pair of takes there Dave... love the colours in the cd speed, the Aston looks good, but needs a little motion in the wheels.
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I did try to apply blur to the wheels but the end result was definitely an epic fail!:LOL:
 
Week 7 People

All these photo's were taken on holiday in France over the last week

First a sneaky one. I actually took this the day before the theme was announced so by my rules it doesn't really count, I really liked the look of the woman but I'm gutted that part of her hair and coat are totally overexposed.
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A couple of map readers in Paris
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I quite like all the little groups of people in this, however at home it looks ok but in work the foreground and people look very dark, I'm hoping it's just my settings in work :shrug:
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And my first ever Triptych, again taken at the Loevre. Rather than any technical quality I love the little story in this, wondering who the photo's for, is it for her or someone else? is she lonely visiting somewhere like that on her own & having no one to take the photo of her?
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C&C always welcome...
 
Oooh really like the B+W pic of the woman. I still can't figure out what the guy in the background is doing though :LOL:

Is it a poster or a TV by any chance? :thinking:
 
RichM said:
Oooh really like the B+W pic of the woman. I still can't figure out what the guy in the background is doing though :LOL:

Is it a poster or a TV by any chance? :thinking:
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It's actually someone in the cafe window behind, here's the unedited photo...
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I had to photoshop myself out as well as quite a few other changes!
 
Like the processing (and the story) in the triptych - that's very well done.
 
I really like that Tryptich - even if I can never spell it.

The last photo in the three though isn't as strong as the others for me, due to the people in the distance.

It's a damn good idea though, using a triptych to tell a story.

(y)

Ian.
 
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