weekly SimonB - 52 for 2024 - Week 15 & 16 - Snappers (with tech) & Empty (with tech)

This a shot I've been meaning to take for a while at a station close to home, I was quite keen to get this right the first time as I didn't fancy waiting around for the next train to rock up. I wanted to take the picture from the other side of the tracks but there were a couple of lads hanging around which when you're carrying camera gear near them is somewhat off-putting. I used shutter priority set to four seconds which appears to be the right length of time and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.


Close to home by Simon Brown
 
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Well exposed and the colours work well against the dark sky. Love the diffracted light in the top corner too.
 
Nice long exposure night photography. I do like that light top left. I think I'd be tempted to lose that flat bit of pavement in the foreground and crop to the shiny road surface but it might unbalance things. Not sure, but either way - a good start!
 
BobBCN said:
Great shot to kick off your 52!!
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Thank you

eoSimon said:
Well exposed and the colours work well against the dark sky. Love the diffracted light in the top corner too.
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Thanks Simon, the light is in the corner was a welcome surprise. I was very focused on making sure the train was in the right place.

Harlequin565 said:
Nice long exposure night photography. I do like that light top left. I think I'd be tempted to lose that flat bit of pavement in the foreground and crop to the shiny road surface but it might unbalance things. Not sure, but either way - a good start!
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Thank you, you know you could be right. I might have a play with cropping it tomorrow. The light in the corner was a bit of a fluke really.
 
Great work. I think I agree with Ian, I think there's something to be gained by cropping the foreground? I love the red light everywhere. The lights and reflections make this for me. Looking forward to seeing more.
 
Cracking shot, just the right amount of blur. I can't decide if I find the light in the top right distracting or not??
 
Kell said:
Nice looking shot. My only observation is that I'd have looked to either bring that top light in more or lose it in the crop. It's sitting a little near the edge for me.
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Thanks, I agree it would probably benefit from a bit more of the light being included but I didn't capture it. I've tried cropping it out since and for me it loses too much of the picture. I appreciate the feedback (y)

SimonH said:
Great shot Simon. Fab start!
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Thanks!

PhotoVanGogh said:
Great work. I think I agree with Ian, I think there's something to be gained by cropping the foreground? I love the red light everywhere. The lights and reflections make this for me. Looking forward to seeing more.
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Thanks, I have cropped the picture since and reuploaded it in the next post and it does look better for it.

AlanDorset said:
Well captured!
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Thanks, Alan!

HelenC said:
Cracking shot, just the right amount of blur. I can't decide if I find the light in the top right distracting or not??
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Aha, that bugger of a light! Didn't see it until I got home.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Nice long exposure night photography. I do like that light top left. I think I'd be tempted to lose that flat bit of pavement in the foreground and crop to the shiny road surface but it might unbalance things. Not sure, but either way - a good start!
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PhotoVanGogh said:
Great work. I think I agree with Ian, I think there's something to be gained by cropping the foreground? I love the red light everywhere. The lights and reflections make this for me. Looking forward to seeing more.
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Cropped the foreground and you guys are right I think it does look a lot better for it.


Close to home crop by Simon Brown
 
I admittedly didn't come up with many ideas for this theme, but I didn't want to fall into the trap of letting the weeks and themes run away with me like last year. I then remembered a film called Paddington in which Paddington bear gives a hard stare! So this is my take on Paddingtons hard stare you'll have to excuse my ugly mug but needs must.

It was a little tricky to set up with a flash set up off to the side (had to use youtube to remind myself how to set it up) and after trying a few different angles and a lot of heavy lifting in lightroom. I eventually got the effect I was after.

So I hope you like my hard stare!


Hard Stare by Simon Brown
 
Hard stare for sure. Marmalade sandwich just out iof shot no doubt.
 
BobBCN said:
Well done on this one. Perhaps the most original take on this week's theme.
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Thanks, that's very kind.

-Oy- said:
Hard stare for sure. Marmalade sandwich just out iof shot no doubt.
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The sandwich is in my belly!

eoSimon said:
Original idea and well executed
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Thanks very much.

DB5 said:
Great shot, black and white and lighting helps with the hard stare.
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Thanks, it took a few go's to get it right. Lightroom was a big help.
 
rpn said:
I think you've done a great job here. As you said the setting up is not easy but the result is excellent. I like the soft light on the background to highlight the outline of your left face.

I'm sure you are just a softie inside! :LOL:
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Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad the effort seems to have paid off. My wife says I'm a massive softie! :ROFLMAO:

RyanB said:
Great lighting and take, a very effective portrait!
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Cheers! :D
 
LOL, Great image. I'm laughing because I had a similar delima and thought. My thought wasn't Paddington Bear, but hard light. Keep it up
 
Close to home, the crop really works showing the red reflection
Hard, great lighting
 
Very difficult to do as a selfie Simon. Well done indeed! The light just needs moving a shade round to the right to ease those shadows on the (camera) left hand side of your face, but this is almost impossible to do when you're not behind the camera.

Excellent selfie.

As to the stare - look up the "squinch" by Peter Hurley on YouTube for a proper hard stare :)
 
PhotoVanGogh said:
LOL, Great image. I'm laughing because I had a similar delima and thought. My thought wasn't Paddington Bear, but hard light. Keep it up
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Thanks, yes hard light would have worked!

nog said:
Close to home, the crop really works showing the red reflection
Hard, great lighting
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Always good to get feedback and try out other ideas, the crop certainly improved the shot. Thanks.

HelenC said:
Fab mono image. The lighting is spot on.
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Thanks, it took a few attempts to get it right but I learned a couple of things along the way.

Harlequin565 said:
Very difficult to do as a selfie Simon. Well done indeed! The light just needs moving a shade round to the right to ease those shadows on the (camera) left hand side of your face, but this is almost impossible to do when you're not behind the camera.

Excellent selfie.

As to the stare - look up the "squinch" by Peter Hurley on YouTube for a proper hard stare :)
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Thanks very much, I looked up the video, and what a difference a "squinch" makes. I'll definitely have to remember that for a future selfie!
 
I'm posting this picture without having looked at what everyone has submitted. Hopefully, I'm not adding to a very common take on the picture but great minds and all that. Ice cream is not the dessert of choice at this time of year bloody cold!

I used my macro lens for this picture and the extra lighting from the kitchen cabinets helped out quite a bit. So soft ice cream to tick the box for the theme and perhaps the soft focus around the edge too?


Soft Ice Cream by Simon Brown
 
Simonbrown16 said:
I'm posting this picture without having looked at what everyone has submitted. Hopefully, I'm not adding to a very common take on the picture but great minds and all that. Ice cream is not the dessert of choice at this time of year bloody cold!

I used my macro lens for this picture and the extra lighting from the kitchen cabinets helped out quite a bit. So soft ice cream to tick the box for the theme and perhaps the soft focus around the edge too?


Soft Ice Cream by Simon Brown
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Works for me.
 
It's a unique one for the week. It's a scoop! :)

Nicely done.
 
I like that, good interpretation
 
Boots said:
Very good - that certainly works.
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Thanks :)

PhotoVanGogh said:
Works for me.
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Thanks :)

BobBCN said:
Well done on that shot. Nobody else (so far) has submitted an ice-cream shot. Maybe nobody else has ice-cream in the freezer these days.....
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Thanks, it might be worth checking the date on the tub!

-Oy- said:
It's a unique one for the week. It's a scoop! :)

Nicely done.
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Haha! nice pun!

JayceeC said:
I like that, good interpretation
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Thanks :)

Adamcski said:
That's a cracking image for wk 3 and soft. Lovely.
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and tasty too!

Cloudforest said:
That certainly works for the theme ( and makes me want to eat ice cream :) )
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It was bloody cold! :ROFLMAO:
 
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