Sarah's 52 for 2010 - Pt2 - THE END - Final reshoots added

Nice shot, good depth to the image and great colours. I like the composition of the swimming in alternating directions although im sure you had little control over that element, but patience has its rewards.
The negative space and darkness add to this shot nicely :)
 
Very well done getting that shot Sarah... shooting fish in a tank that are moving around is a real mare... Love the colours and the darkness... the tips almost glow... excellent
 
I'm a day late this week, but to make up for it I have 3 for the price of one. I've been sorting out my 52 album and revisited a couple of shots that I was unhappy with.

- Console Reshoot : The one consolation with the endless rain lately is that there are thousands of beautiful water droplets around.
This one isn't technically perfect, but aesthetically I find it quite pleasing. It's also the first semi-decent shot I've managed to achieve with extension tubes - I find manual focus very difficult on the 450D. It's really hard to judge what's in focus through the viewfinder.


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- Rage Reshoot : I know that John has already seen this one, but I'm using it to plug a gap.
I've struggled to find anything inspiring about this theme, so decided to go with a tenuous link to "raging colours" :LOL:


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- Faith : A bit Marmite I suspect. I didn't get chance for any of the obvious church photography, and this Buddha figure is the closest to anything religious that I own. The drapes of his robes seemed to lend themselves really well to an abstract effect.


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I like all of these, Sarah!

The droplet is really interesting - it has a very abstract feel to it & I like the composition.

The backlighting on the leaf makes it, and it definitely says 'rage' to me. I think I might have liked more green above the framing - I just feel compositionally it would have been stronger.

Faith is a very unusual (and good!) shot - it's tying my mind / eyes in knots!

Phil
 
You seem to have a bit of a tranquil period going on at the moment Sarah.

Share - well executed and good colours. I know how hard it is to get good fish tank shots.

Console reshoot - stunning. looks really calming and peaceful.

Rage - again, very peaceful. Probably not what you want to hear for a rage shot but thats my view of it. Lovely colours and contrast against the green.

Faith - really liking this one. Not what I had thought of at all but then again I haven't even taken mine yet :LOL:

I like your new borders as well Sarah.

Andy
 
I'm enjoying the bonus!

Console is lovely with all the different greens and mostly soft focus, with just the droplet with the reflection standing out. :clap::clap:

Rage - doesn't really say rage to me but I like the colours and detail. Perhaps cropped just a little too tight at the top.

Faith - I can't quite work out how you have done this but it is very clever and makes a very arresting image. Full marks for originality and execution. A nice colour palette too. :clap:

Oops - nearly forgot "Share". You have done really well to catch so many of the fish, and in different poses. The colours have come out really well. Ideally I think I would like one of them a bit further to the right to fill all that empty space but it is difficult to choreograph fish...though I'm afraid my husband would have no compunction about shifting the bottom one over in Photoshop :eek: :LOL:.
 
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Faith, had to look for ages to see the budhha, I found it hard to decide what I am looking at. Intersting shot though.
 
Catching up again Sarah.

Share: Lovely shot - personally I think my favourite of your 52 so far. I think you've managed to get the colours spot on.

Console Re-shoot: And this is another favourite - very nicely executed. I like the green freshness of the image too.

Rage Re-shoot: Another great shot - has a real autumn 'fire' to it.


Faith: Sorry. As you say it's a marmite shot. Cleverly done but not for me I'm afraid.
 
philthejuggler said:
I like all of these, Sarah!

The droplet is really interesting - it has a very abstract feel to it & I like the composition.

The backlighting on the leaf makes it, and it definitely says 'rage' to me. I think I might have liked more green above the framing - I just feel compositionally it would have been stronger.

Faith is a very unusual (and good!) shot - it's tying my mind / eyes in knots!

Phil
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Thank you Phil. With hindsight I'm with you on the framing of rage - that little bit of extra space would have made it.

daddy day care said:
You seem to have a bit of a tranquil period going on at the moment Sarah.

Share - well executed and good colours. I know how hard it is to get good fish tank shots.

Console reshoot - stunning. looks really calming and peaceful.

Rage - again, very peaceful. Probably not what you want to hear for a rage shot but thats my view of it. Lovely colours and contrast against the green.

Faith - really liking this one. Not what I had thought of at all but then again I haven't even taken mine yet :LOL:

I like your new borders as well Sarah.

Andy
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Thanks Andy.
A bit of an ulterior motive for the borders. I've finally given in and opened a Flickr account (just a bit easier for sharing with friends / family) and I wanted to add a copyright symbol as a reminder to them.

Tracer said:
I'm enjoying the bonus!

Console is lovely with all the different greens and mostly soft focus, with just the droplet with the reflection standing out. :clap::clap:

Rage - doesn't really say rage to me but I like the colours and detail. Perhaps cropped just a little too tight at the top.

Faith - I can't quite work out how you have done this but it is very clever and makes a very arresting image. Full marks for originality and execution. A nice colour palette too. :clap:

Oops - nearly forgot "Share". You have done really well to catch so many of the fish, and in different poses. The colours have come out really well. Ideally I think I would like one of them a bit further to the right to fill all that empty space but it is difficult to choreograph fish...though I'm afraid my husband would have no compunction about shifting the bottom one over in Photoshop :eek: :LOL:.
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Thanks Tracer.
Those damn fish just don't take direction very well at all!
I did try cloning in a fish on the RHS from another shot, but I couldn't get it looking natural. I decided to live with the empty space instead.
 
justlooking said:
Faith, had to look for ages to see the budhha, I found it hard to decide what I am looking at. Intersting shot though.
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Thank JL. I knew that this one wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea - and it's a real shame that I'd done it before distortion was drawn :bang:

holryn said:
Catching up again Sarah.

Share: Lovely shot - personally I think my favourite of your 52 so far. I think you've managed to get the colours spot on.

Console Re-shoot: And this is another favourite - very nicely executed. I like the green freshness of the image too.

Rage Re-shoot: Another great shot - has a real autumn 'fire' to it.


Faith: Sorry. As you say it's a marmite shot. Cleverly done but not for me I'm afraid.
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Hi Paul.

I'm glad that you like share. This is the subject that got me into photography to start with - I desperately wanted some decent photographs of the fish, so I'm pleased that it's gone down well.

And faith . . . I knew that it would be a bit of a marmite shot, so no problem if it's not for you.

Distortion will be coming up this weekend. I was working away last week and the weekend just flew past !
 
Good job on the drip Sarah, which tubes did you get ? If you have tubes with electrical connections, do you not get focus confirm ? Otherwise, yes it's a complete pain to focus manually isn't it.

I recognise that shot :D... it fits here for the gap plug too ;)

Faith, very clever, very peaceful, it looks like it's floating in water.
 
Hi Sarah, I've got a lot of catching up to do, but I just wanted to say how much I've just enjoyed having a quick look through your last few weeks' shots.

I'll comment in more detail another day - it getting a bit late now to try and do them justice, but you've got some stunning shots in this thread. (y):)

Jean
 
jgs001 said:
Good job on the drip Sarah, which tubes did you get ? If you have tubes with electrical connections, do you not get focus confirm ? Otherwise, yes it's a complete pain to focus manually isn't it.

I recognise that shot :D... it fits here for the gap plug too ;)

Faith, very clever, very peaceful, it looks like it's floating in water.
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Thanks John.
Really cheapy tubes I'm afraid with no connections. Totally disposable at only about £5 though, so I thought I'd try them out before deciding whether the tube approach is right for me.

They're not too bad if using Liveview, but anything through the viewfinder is a complete nightmare.

jeangenie said:
Hi Sarah, I've got a lot of catching up to do, but I just wanted to say how much I've just enjoyed having a quick look through your last few weeks' shots.

I'll comment in more detail another day - it getting a bit late now to try and do them justice, but you've got some stunning shots in this thread. (y):)

Jean
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Thanks for dropping in Jean and I'm looking forward to your catch up. I always appreciate your C&C.
 
Hi Sarah, sorry I am still catching up.

I love the fish image and it was really interesting to read about them. Very unusual take on the theme. I know that this was not an easy shot to take. I tried photographing tadpoles earlier in the year and did not get any decent results. I love the colours, lighting and the composition (y)

Console: The water droplet is just beautiful. The colours, composition and reflection are excellent :clap::clap::clap:

Rage: It does not actually say rage to me but it is a lovely shot. I think the colours and backlighting are very effective and I love to see the veins on leaves. It makes you realise they are living things, too (y)

Faith: I love this one. It is a very intriguing shot. I could see immediately that they were Buddhas but the kaleidoscope effect is really good. Love the colours, too. :clap::clap::clap:
 
Faith is such a cool shot, i love the symmetry and colours, very clean simple and strong :)

Btw I like you new presentation style too, sets the images off wonderfully (y)
 
Right . . . card reader replaced (y) . . . forum back up and running (been having problems all weekend) (y) . . . Let's get this back on track!!!

I've also got a massive catch-up to do on all of your threads.

Distortion and lead I think speak for themselves.
Space is a bit of a stretch, but I drew a complete mental block. This is a bit of PP on a raindrop shot, but I thought the end result was vaguely sci-fi / space-like :shrug:









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Nice bit of catchup Sarah.. all three are good and I like them.... The first two are clearly on theme... The third has a feel of a spiral galaxy to it. Nice bit of PP.
 
Hi Sarah, glad you are back on track.

Distortion: I love this one especially the colours (y) and fits the theme perfectly.

Lead: I find this shot really amusing. Poor old Ted is sitting there with a bemused expression and a ridiculously overkill lead :D Love the composition :clap::clap::clap:

Space: Yes, it fits the theme very well, but I think I would have been more enthusiastic if it had been more different from distortion.

Jenny
 
Glad your back on track Sarah ;)
picky picky.... ... DISTORTION: the first great 'twist' on the subject works well nice colours and abstract nature.
LEAD: I like it but the bear and floor seem to blend together, I think its the pattern running through the floor boards or maybe its a layer you added?!
SPACE: too much like Distortion which I think is stronger, reshoot? go on, go on, go on ;)

Sorry its not all positive feedback, just my input

ps - MICROWAVE the teddy!??!?! what kind of evil world do you live in?
 
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good too see you have caught up. Distortion and space look as if they could be swapped. Love the colours in the first one and sapce does look like a "galaxy far far away".

love the texture of the wood that ted is sitting on. He does look a bit sad .. perhaps he needs a hug !
 
Good catch up Sarah, glad you sorted out your technology problems.
All on theme, and some top notch processing as always. I particularly like the teddy photograph, there is some lovely detail in the wood floor and bear. Iain
 
I like all three and they definitely do have a 'classy' feel to them. Your excellent presentation of the photos adds to their appeal.

Phil
 
Good to see you back on course and hope your tech problems are over.

All three are excellent and fit the themes perfectly. Ideally I would have liked 1 and 3 to be a bit more different, but I suppose like the rest of us you are struggling for time.

I love the teddy idea and the way you have treated it. I presume it is a hot 'water' bottle? I was horrified at first by the microwave label :D.
 
Well done on the catch up Sarah.

The teddy is my pick of the three. Do I detect a tiny bit of Fractilus in the PP on it? The composition is great.

The other two are a little 'samey'. I prefer the second of these two.
 
Thank you all for taking the time to comment.
I'm really starting to struggle with the 52 this year. Especially with Christmas to deal with too. But only one more week to go (plus a couple of reshoots I want to get in to finish it off)

Dade - Teddy only goes in the microwave when I'm not keeping him chained to the floor! :nuts:
 
Last week was almost impossible for me with Christmas coming up, so it's another 2 in 1 week for me this week. And apologies once again for not getting around every one else's threads.
I'll catch up again in the next few days.


Week 50 Close
Milk, a bit of food colouring to give it a tint and some close-up fun with splashes :

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Week 51 Romance
Not sure about this one :thinking:
I left the rose outside for a while to get some frost on the edge of the petals. I've deliberately kept this quite low key and tried to go for a slight soft focus effect to bring out the velvety feel of the petals. I'm not completely convinced that it worked.

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Reshoot of week 49 Space
:LOL: OK Dade called me on this one. It was a bit of a poor effort and had made it onto my reshoot list. While I was playing with water splashes earlier I came up with this. It still has a sort of spacey / sci-fi feel, so I think it fits well enough.

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I've been meaning to have a go at water splashes but not had a chance yet. Close has come out really well, with lovely subtle colours. Ideally I would like to see more of the shadow on the right, but that is being really ultra picky - you have caught the moment beautifully.

Similarly with Space - lovely colour and it does indeed have a spacey / sci-fi feel. (I really must try this - NY resolution!)

Romance - Good colours and composition, and I think you have judged the soft focus just right. Maybe the visible weave just right of centre should be softened a tad as it is quite a contrast? I don't know - overall I like it very much as an image and think it fits the theme well enough.

:clap::clap:

Hope you had a good Christmas - only one more week to go :D.
 
You are very good with the water splashes. That is certainly something I need to learn next year. The rose is absolutely beautiful. I think it is one of your nicest images. The deep colour and softness are lovely.:clap::clap:
 
Hi Sarah, three real winners this week. I love them all. Your water splash is amazing. It is something I have never tried but I know I couldn't manage anything as good as that (y)

Rose is gorgeous, lovely and soft and deep rich colours. The only niggle I would have is that when I looked at it I could see it was an artifical rose (it was, wasn't it?). Being a bit of a nature freak I would have preferred real but at this time of year you are unlikely to be able to go outside and pick one :LOL:

I love the space reshoot. Definite space feel to it. Lovely colours.

Excellent week :clap::clap::clap:

Jenny
 
Close is really appealing and I'd love to know the technique you used - I must try one of these shots.

I'm not sure about the rose shot either - I quite like the low-key soft focus effect, but there's also something a fraction strange about the picture I can't quite put my finger on.

The re-shoot of space is great - I love the flying-saucer look to it with the vivid colours.

Phil
 
Excellent water/milk splash for close, I've tried but can't get anything close to like this.

Romance, I love the effect, and think it's worked really well..

As for your UFO ;)... very good, and it works for the theme.
 
Just a quick pop in! So so sorry I've not popped in here more often, I think it's twice in the whole year. So sorry.

Really like some of these shots, the roll of film and milk drop are fab. Some of them to the processing is a little over the top for me, but as with everything it's all subjective and doesn't always detract from a good shot! :) keep it up. hope 2011 treats you well
 
Tracer said:
I've been meaning to have a go at water splashes but not had a chance yet. Close has come out really well, with lovely subtle colours. Ideally I would like to see more of the shadow on the right, but that is being really ultra picky - you have caught the moment beautifully.

Similarly with Space - lovely colour and it does indeed have a spacey / sci-fi feel. (I really must try this - NY resolution!)

Romance - Good colours and composition, and I think you have judged the soft focus just right. Maybe the visible weave just right of centre should be softened a tad as it is quite a contrast? I don't know - overall I like it very much as an image and think it fits the theme well enough.

:clap::clap:

Hope you had a good Christmas - only one more week to go :D.
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Thanks Tracer.
This year has been much more of a struggle than last year, but we're close to the end now.

Strange that you wanted to see more of the shadow in close - when I was looking at it I actually wished that I'd tweaked the lighting to minimise the shadow.
You should definitely give these a go though. A pain to set up, but great fun once you get going on them.

Glad that you like romance. I think you might be right about the weave. Overall I like it, but there's something that's not quite working for me :shrug:

ladysue said:
You are very good with the water splashes. That is certainly something I need to learn next year. The rose is absolutely beautiful. I think it is one of your nicest images. The deep colour and softness are lovely.:clap::clap:
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Thank you Sue - and yes, you should definitely get the water out. It's great fun if the weather keeps you indoors.
I'm really pleased that you liked romance so much too :)

jennyb said:
Hi Sarah, three real winners this week. I love them all. Your water splash is amazing. It is something I have never tried but I know I couldn't manage anything as good as that (y)

Rose is gorgeous, lovely and soft and deep rich colours. The only niggle I would have is that when I looked at it I could see it was an artifical rose (it was, wasn't it?). Being a bit of a nature freak I would have preferred real but at this time of year you are unlikely to be able to go outside and pick one :LOL:

I love the space reshoot. Definite space feel to it. Lovely colours.

Excellent week :clap::clap::clap:

Jenny
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Thank you Jenny.
And you're right, it was an artificial Rose - unfortunately there isn't much of anything floral in the garden right now. I suppose I could have bought some from the supermarket, but it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision to shoot that for the theme.
 
philthejuggler said:
Close is really appealing and I'd love to know the technique you used - I must try one of these shots.

I'm not sure about the rose shot either - I quite like the low-key soft focus effect, but there's also something a fraction strange about the picture I can't quite put my finger on.

The re-shoot of space is great - I love the flying-saucer look to it with the vivid colours.

Phil
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Thanks Phil.
Close was quite a simple set up - just took a while to drag it all out and get it in place.
-A shallow tray with about 2mm of milk in it (and a dash of food colouring mixed in)
-Lighting from window on one side and off camera flash on the other. With hindsight I wish that I'd spent more time in arranging this and balancing the light from the 2 sources a bit better.
-Camera on tripod and pre-focused on where I was going to drop the milk.
- For the actual drops I used a pipette to suck up a bit of milk and manually drop it. After a few test shots it actually became quite easy to synchronise the dropping with pressing the remote shutter release to catch the splash.

Lots of different tutorials and methods out there, but this is the way that I found easiest to work with.

jgs001 said:
Excellent water/milk splash for close, I've tried but can't get anything close to like this.

Romance, I love the effect, and think it's worked really well..

As for your UFO ;)... very good, and it works for the theme.
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Thanks John.
I can see me getting addicted to these water drops in the same way that I got hooked on insect shoots in the Summer.

Shorty said:
Just a quick pop in! So so sorry I've not popped in here more often, I think it's twice in the whole year. So sorry.

Really like some of these shots, the roll of film and milk drop are fab. Some of them to the processing is a little over the top for me, but as with everything it's all subjective and doesn't always detract from a good shot! :) keep it up. hope 2011 treats you well
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Thanks Leanne and a belated Merry Christmas to you.
I know some of this year's are starting to border on "graphic art" rather than photography, but one of my aims this year was to work on PP as well as pure photography.
Some I like better than others, but I think it's fair to say that I've learnt something from every shot this year, even the ones that ended up in the bin!
 
I gave myself a joker to play this year, and so far I haven't used it . . . so since this is the last week I thought I'd use a photo that I wanted to take rather than one to a theme.

Another aquarium photo I'm afraid.
This is a Marbled Hatchetfish - a lot harder to shoot than my previous ones. They're much smaller than the Tiger Barbs I shot last time and far more timid. But they're one of my favourites and this is a photo that I've wanted for a while.

Despite not being the most colourful fish, the hatchetfish are absolutely fascinating. They're the only true flying fish in the aquatic world. A lot of fish that are said to fly in reality only use their fins to glide- hatchets are the only fish to use their huge pectoral fins (the ones just behind their eyes) to actually propel themselves in the air.
In nature they float immobile just below the surface of the water and when an insect comes near they launch themselves into the air to catch it. Their thin aerodynamic body (hence the name hatchet) helps them to get incredible height and reach for their size.

The marbled hatchets are one of the smallest species of hatchetfish and brilliant additions to an aquarium - you just need to be sure that you have a tight fitting lid :LOL:

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Happy New Year all and well done to everyone who made it to week 52.
I have a few shots in mine that I'm not quite happy with and may well reshoot over the next few weeks, but for now I'm feeling a mixture of sadness and relief that the project has come to an end.

A huge thank you to everyone who's offered encouragement and critique over the last year :hug:
 
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[Lady Bracknell voice] A Joker? [/Lady Bracknell voice] :LOL:

It is a lovely shot - those pectoral show up really well. How many attempts did it take? And how do you clean the tank without them taking off all over the room? :D

Well done for posting a truly stunning collection of photos over the year, and thank you for all the thoughtful, constructive crit you have posted for the rest of us.

All the best for the new year - I'm looking forward to seeing your pics in some of the other challenges.

(y)
 
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love the colours of the little fishy.

Well done on getting through all 52 weeks.

Have a good 2011.
 
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