weekly SimonB - 52 challenge (2021) Weeks 48 to 52 catch-up!

Dirty
Great idea! A very alternative take on the theme. New to this challenge and it’s great to see the different interpretations. Lovely sharp image too. I think you’ve drawn attention to the word dirty by only partially showing the other words, which are also connected to the theme. Makes me think about what other words go beyond the boundary of the image.
 
The one you've chosen is the right one, IMHO. A brilliant take on the theme/tech, nicely controlled on the DoF, good colours and lighting.
 
It's a clever take on the theme :)
 
I like the scrabble idea. Clever thinking to add some synonyms in there too!

When I think of filled frames, I imagine the subject has to fill it. The subject here is the word dirty spelled out and that's part of the frame, so no frame filled for me, but it's all subjective anyway...
 
Great idea for the theme.. will probably work for a lot more too. Nicely composed and shot too.
Now where did I put that scrabble board...
 
Wow thanks everyone for the comments and critique, I’m looking forward to the next theme. I’m very glad I stuck with the scrabble picture in the end. Not sure how I would go about making monopoly picture appear dirty unless someone had their hand in the bank.
 
Wow thanks everyone for the comments and critique, I’m looking forward to the next theme. I’m very glad I stuck with the scrabble picture in the end. Not sure how I would go about making monopoly picture appear dirty unless someone had their hand in the bank.

Small hands sneaking houses onto the board or going through the Community Chest cards under the table to get a good one. Those are the first two that spring to mind. Not speaking from bitter experience you understand - except I never beat my sister, not once.
 
The Scrabble image is the better one for the theme, a clever idea well done.
 
I struggled to come up with an idea for a picture this week. I had envisioned taking my drone out to the beach but working nights and bad weather soon put that idea to bed. An old souvenir caught my eye and since I had recently acquired a flash, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put it to the test.

I took quite a lot of pictures and tried different things with the flash. It was a bit of a learning curve getting it set up. Since I don’t have any filters for the flash I found a red vase which seemed to do the trick nicely.


Volcanic-Skull-Rock
by Simon Brown

I took a picture without the vase filter and preferred the one that added a bit of colour. You can see in this picture that I haven’t cleaned the picture up editing wise.


Grey Skull
by Simon Brown

Cheers

Simon
 
First one works well. Not just the redness, but also the shadow.
 
The red vase has also diffused the light a bit which is more pleasing to my eye. Plus it's a bit spookier in red :)

Like it. Well done.
 
I definitely prefer the red one. The colour adds to the overall effect.

Cheers, I have ordered some filters so it will be nice to try different colours in the future.

I agree, the red definitely add something extra to the photo, that was an excellent idea to use the red vase.

I was looking for a sweetie wrapper but it would appear I ate them all!

First one works well. Not just the redness, but also the shadow.

Thanks, I found getting the shadow right the hardest part.

The red vase has also diffused the light a bit which is more pleasing to my eye. Plus it's a bit spookier in red

Like it. Well done.

Thanks, I was aiming for a spookier effect too :)

I thought I would put up a picture of the "set up" it was hampered on occasion by the cat jumping on the chair and moving the flash :rolleyes:


IMG_0242

by Simon Brown
 
What's most surprising about that set up (to me) is that I thought the skull was much bigger.

I'm also amazed at how little white light has spilled on to your set up. When you mentioned about the vase, I'd assumed you'd put the flash inside it.

I really struggle with how to use flash effectively, so am always interested in these pull backs.
 
What's most surprising about that set up (to me) is that I thought the skull was much bigger.

I'm also amazed at how little white light has spilled on to your set up. When you mentioned about the vase, I'd assumed you'd put the flash inside it.

I really struggle with how to use flash effectively, so am always interested in these pull backs.

Thanks, I held the vase closer to the flash when I was taking the picture, as like you said I had white light spill over and a nasty shadow too.

Striking photo and a fascinating back story.

Thank you :)
 
This week’s theme is a good excuse to get the drone out and a have a play with it. The weather hasn't exactly been very forthcoming for flying nor has my shift pattern recently. When I read what the theme was I immediately thought of the woods nearby but I suspected that a few other people may try and take a similar shot to what I had in mind, such as taking a picture from the base of the tree looking upwards. I thought it would be different to get a bird’s eye view of the trees looking down.

Here are the two I liked the most from the many that I took.


Winding Path
by Simon Brown


Tall Trees
by Simon Brown

I did take some pictures from the base of the trees too. However I ended up preferring the aerial pictures instead. Still it was nice to get out and take some pictures outside for once. I’ve probably used my camera more times this year than I have from all of last year! Here are the other pictures I took.


Canopy
by Simon Brown


Black and White Canopy
by Simon Brown

A picture of me from above!


Look Up!
by Simon Brown, on Flickr

Thanks for looking

Simon
 
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Rock
A good bit of improvisation using the red vase. The red skull is my choice.

Tall
They're all good shots.
 
The Winding path shot works very well leading you along it, would it work as a square crop loosing the trees on the right hand side.
Also like the Canopy shot as its the same style of pic that i have taken in the past.
 
The Drone shots give an unusual view, but I think the others give the impression that the tree are tall a bit better.

Pete
 
Dirty: the scrabble board fits the theme for me best too. I like the monopoly shot and suspect that game might come in handy for some future themes too.

I really like the red skull: I cannot remember this theme - must be stone? Sorry I’m catching up after barely being on here lately.

Tall : I like the last image best - the black and white canopy. The trees and gaps seem to make the best composition, in my view.
 
Stone.. seeing the setup I am most impressed with the results.
Tall - I much prefer the creativity of the the black and white canopy shots .. the drone shots seem rather flat to me.
 
Really like "Black & White Canopy". The drone shots are cool, but fulfill more of a "high" theme than "tall". Looking up works much better for the theme.

I do like the drone shots, they're just less on-theme for me.
 
Stone - I too thought the skull was bigger, very inventive set up to get the effect you achieved. I too like the red on best.
Tall - I like the 1st drone shot with the river winding through it, but I like the colour canopy shot too.
 
Stone is great - the red vase has really give the picture some character.

Shot for for the canopy picture - your aerial pictures are really nice, but the tree coming out of the corner on your canopy shot just shouts tall to me!
 
Rock
A good bit of improvisation using the red vase. The red skull is my choice.

Tall
They're all good shots.

Thank you :)

The Winding path shot works very well leading you along it, would it work as a square crop loosing the trees on the right hand side.
Also like the Canopy shot as its the same style of pic that i have taken in the past.

Thanks, it was the path that caught my eye too.

The Drone shots give an unusual view, but I think the others give the impression that the tree are tall a bit better.

Pete

Yes looking at it again, I agree the tree shots match the theme better.

Dirty: the scrabble board fits the theme for me best too. I like the monopoly shot and suspect that game might come in handy for some future themes too.

I really like the red skull: I cannot remember this theme - must be stone? Sorry I’m catching up after barely being on here lately.

Tall : I like the last image best - the black and white canopy. The trees and gaps seem to make the best composition, in my view.

You're right the theme for the skull was stone. Thanks (y)

Stone.. seeing the setup I am most impressed with the results.
Tall - I much prefer the creativity of the the black and white canopy shots .. the drone shots seem rather flat to me.

Thanks it was quite a challenge to get the shot to work with the vase. :)

Really like "Black & White Canopy". The drone shots are cool, but fulfill more of a "high" theme than "tall". Looking up works much better for the theme.

I do like the drone shots, they're just less on-theme for me.

Haha well thats the high theme sorted then! Hopefully that will be the theme tomorrow!

Gosh, these drone shots are incredible.

I'm still amazed too when I get to use it. (y)

Stone - I too thought the skull was bigger, very inventive set up to get the effect you achieved. I too like the red on best.
Tall - I like the 1st drone shot with the river winding through it, but I like the colour canopy shot too.

Would you believe that the river is actually a path! We have had so much rain recently that everywhere is just waterlogged.

Stone is great - the red vase has really give the picture some character.

Shot for for the canopy picture - your aerial pictures are really nice, but the tree coming out of the corner on your canopy shot just shouts tall to me!

Cheers for your comments glad you liked the pictures. It does scream tall to me too!

Thanks for your comments everyone I'm enjoying the weekly challenges and the comments help me look at different ways to improve the shots. I probably got a bit hung up on wanting to put a drone picture when the tree pictures meet the theme better. Still I had fun taking the pictures and it was nice to get the camera out and try different methods.

Cheers

Simon
 
Would you believe that the river is actually a path! We have had so much rain recently that everywhere is just waterlogged.
Funny you should say that our school field was so waterlogged there were 2 Egyptian geese on it earlier in the week, sadly I didn't even have my phone on me to capture the scene, They may have been disappointed it was not a pond but they did have a paddle before flying off together.
 
This week’s theme was surprisingly harder than I imagined, so I took it upon myself to seek out a subject. So once my night shifts had finished, I went for a walk around our local area and I was amazed with how many things I found worth taking a picture of.

A nearby frozen lake gave me lots of wildlife to take pictures of and here are my favourite two.


Ice Swans
by Simon Brown


Robin
by Simon Brown

If only you could tell the birds exactly how you wanted them to pose!

Cheers

Simon
 
Two good wildlife shots Simon. I think I prefer the robin - he's looking at the camera and is nicely framed among the branches.
 
Two good wildlife shots Simon. I think I prefer the robin - he's looking at the camera and is nicely framed among the branches.

Thank you he was tricky to get a clear shot of, thankfully he kept pretty still

I prefer the swans with fewer distractions.

Yeah it was one the one I liked the most out of the two as the light falls on them quite well.
 
Choice
I like the swans, it's got some really good light. It's a shame you didn't take it for this week's theme (pair).
 
The harsh light can make such wildlife shots a challenge.
 
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