Monthly Southdowns' 2013 etc Thread - December Great Eggscape Posted

Two excellent shots and different takes on the themes. Like your self-portrait very much and very apt for the title 'Memories' to go with your recent 50th birthday. Happy belated 50th btw. :clap:

I like the middle image of the reflection shot but shame about the post is in the way to spoil the minimalist idea.
 
Hi, Mark, well SP, cracker. Can't work out if it's 'real' or a composite :thinking: Either way I like it. The wistful look on your face if great, and I'm really drawn to the photograph above your left ear. Your dad?

Crit, well as I've mentioned elsewhere, not easy with such a sentimental photograph...but..for me its your hands. Think I'd like the overlapping instead of interlaced...MINOR point in an otherwise cracker :clap:

Reflection, great like, and clarity is good. I feel the LH cold stand on it's own. Despite being taken near on midday, the light is quite soft and I like the blades of grass.

Crit, hmm, well, the BG looks a little too OOF IYSWIM?? Any PPing n this?

Cheers and looking forward to the rest.
 
Thanks all :)

Stan I wondered about that post, but cropping it out didn't work well. Thanks for the birthday wishes; I had a good day :)

Andy the SP is real. I created the montage in both colour and B&W, and projected it into the corner of the room. There's no composite element, and no selective colour :). The colour version of the projected montage doesn't work as well.

The guy in that photo is my father in law :)

No significant PP in the reflection set; it deliberately uses a shallow DOF, as I wanted almost all of the detail in the reflection.
 
Cheers Andy :)
 
Hi, Mark, Sequence. Yeah, nicely photographed and processed. Nice black BG but I can see some dodging issues around the machine.

Ideally, and it may not have been possible, I'd have liked a 4th with her fully stretched back. It's been a while since I've used the rowing machine at the gym :D so not even sure the wire is long enough :thinking:

Cheers.
 
Thanks guys :)

Andy I'm struggling to see the dodging issues myself. Maybe your screen brightness is set a lot higher than mine?

You're right it would be nice if she could be stretched further back, but a combination of both the cable and her being too short made it impossible!!!!
 
Here's July's set, starting with the ones I've not already posted. Hope you like them :)

From The Hip

Perving Walking around Southsea. Taken with my iPhone set to silent!


July From The Hip.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Joiner Effect

I must admit I struggled with this one as I can't really see the point of the effect, so maybe I've gone too far in trying to make it original?


20090720-201352.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

360 Degree Panorama

Lounge area in a hotel I recently stayed at.


July 360 Degree Panorama.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Sequence Photo:


July Sequence Photo.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Reflections/Mirror


July Reflection-Mirror 2.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Self Portrait


July Self Portrait.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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Is there any pp done to the 'Hip' shot? Great composition with her perfectly filling the frame and the angle just tops it off for me.

I'ld vote your Joiner shot as the best amount us. However not too keen on the individual image border, I find them just a bit too wide but the overall framing and the 'pin-up' is a brilliant idea.
 
Thanks guys :)

Stan, there is a little PP yes. It's cropped tighter than the actual shot (but not rotated at all), and I've cloned out a couple of distractions from the background.

The pin board idea for joiner didn't work without the white borders, but I probably could have made them a little thinner. More than anything though I'm pleased that I had the flash of inspiration to also "pin" my watermark into the image rather than overlaying it as I normally do!
 
Southdowns said:
Thanks guys :)

Andy I'm struggling to see the dodging issues myself. Maybe your screen brightness is set a lot higher than mine?

You're right it would be nice if she could be stretched further back, but a combination of both the cable and her being too short made it impossible!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks good on my work's PC.

I'll look at those I haven't commented on tonight, giving just attention to the hip photograph ;)
 
OK, OK, I'm 'ere :D

Thought I'd commented on all yours :thinking:

So, shoot from the hire, I'm sure hiring a model and discretely photographing her isn't in the spirit of thing :bat:

Was the title SOCO? Works really well, as does her 'pose'. I won't comment on the BG, peeping in tree, even thought I have, because they add to the SFTH feel. From an esthetic POV, they are some serious pins :nono:

Joiner effect, I guess it's an artistic technique, as you say, why do I t this way and not 'properly' join them. Good subject, well processed and great BG/border. No crit on ths one, I'm afraid.

Panorama, yup, lovely room and well taken. Nice reds. Crit, well the lower section seems a tad dark, and second, which you can't really effect is these only rally form IMO printed as thy are too small to be fully appreciated.

There you go, all C&Cd up.

Good show (y)
 
Cheers Mark :)

Hey Andy, nice surprise to see you here!

There was no Scene Of Crime Officer there for my hip shot, and I deny everything, as I did at the time to both the press and the magistrate.
 
Submissions for August :)

Ordinary Object to Create the Unexpected:

Scissor Paper Stone, except in my version scissors cut the stone, paper cuts the scissors, and stone holds the paper (yeah I know that last bit is weak!).


August Ordinary Object.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Dear Photograph:

My twin daughters taken 20 years ago on a log in the New Forest. The log has rotted a lot in the intervening years :)


August Dear Photograph.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Fisheye in Photoshop (Elements; has no fisheye filter as such):

I have a crop frame camera, hence the vignette with this full frame fisheye ;)


August Fisheye-2.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Digitally Merge Images to Play With Scale:

Lighting appears to be the key to these :)


August Play With Scale.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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Dear Photograph is great.

Fisheye looks like the world.

Scale is like land of the giants, just needs a big ant or spider. There is a very small bright spot behind her head which may be one of the twigs though, other than that it looks right.
 
Cheers Mark. I see what you mean about the bright spot, but yes it is a twig, and at 100% it looks pretty natural to me. I'm not sure what I could do about it :(


20130820-082245.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
Hi, Mark, 'pologies for not commenting.

Ordinary Object to Create the Unexpected: cracking idea, well executed and composed. The sparks and the movement in the scissors are a great addition.

Crit: just the teniousness of some parts. Not sure about the paper cuts the scissors, and stone holds the paper. But plenty of thought put into it.

Dear Photograph, didn't know you had twins. Well composed, nicely balanced and I like the minimal feel IYSWIM. No crit on this one.

Fisheye in Photoshop, no longer showing but as I recall, it just seemed like a normal photograph with a circle added. I'll have another look if you put back up.

Digitally Merge Images to Play With Scale, like it. Has a real Land of the Giants feel to it. Good bit of masking there, as well. As already said, a big spider would really set it of, expecially with a frightened look on her face.

Good overall standard, as expected.

Cheers.
 
Cheers Andy :)

I don't know what's up with Flickr; I've had a few shots not show for no apparent reason. Should be back up now :) Maybe it needs to be seen bigger as it's definitely not just a circle added; how very dare you! ;)

Re a spider in my scale shot, I don't think Izzy would ever forgive me, as that was her fairy village, all pretty and sweet! Girls are so very different to boys, aren't they!

And yes, I have twin girls, plus Izzy :). I try not to mention it online, because last time I posted that I had 22 year old female twins on a forum, I spent the following two weeks beating 40 and 50 year old blokes off with a big stick!! :bat:. I've never been so popular!
 
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Some excellent shots this month Mark.

Ordinary Object; I feel the slight burry scissors handles spoiled an otherwise superb image.

Dear Photography; perfect alignment and dof and of course, to you, the memory.

Fisheye; not too sure about that one :thinking: I feel, overall for everyone it is quite difficult to convey the theme in photoshop processing.

Scale; very clever ideal and two brilliant images perfectly exposed with just the right amount of dof.
 
Cheers Stan.

I can't quite agree with you re the blur on the scissors though; I think i's essential, in order to convey some movement as the handles fall away from the cut. I'm not that happy with the shot overall, but the blur is one bit I think is right!

That said, it's all about interpretation anyway, so I take on board what you said :)

I think fisheye depends on having seen the original. To me it looks obviously fisheye, and is the sort of shot I might use a fisheye lens for, but I can see it from the other point point of view too :)
 
posiview said:
15th and no photographs.....I expect to be wowed after such a wait :)
Click to expand...

You'll be lucky!

But I did try to explain :)

Southdowns said:
Hi Mark, me too (moving house). I think I'm probably going to do it in bursts; most of my shots will probably go up in one go, and then I'll also have a one off commenting session.

So people, I'm not ignoring you!!!
Click to expand...
 
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Hi, Mark, Shadows, hmm, I rather like the shadow but not sure about the feet. The greens looks bit odd on my ipad:thinking: can you explain the feet and I might 'get it'?

Jigsaw, cracker,really, like this one. Looks like you out a lot of thought and execution into this one. The addition of the lead and the saw really add to it. Crit, well just the second thumb :D

Good show....and wonder what tomorrow will bring :thinking:

Cheers.
 
Cheers Andy :)

The idea of the feet was to give a hint of what's behind the shadow (girl on a playground ride). Maybe you need to have seen the whole scene?

The greens are a bit odd! I deliberately processed it that way, as I wanted a slightly certoony feel. It just seemed to fit the style of the shoes!!!

Second thumb, yeah. I thought it didn't matter as the point is it's someone holding a jigsaw of a jigsaw in use, but I agree it just adds a bit of unnecessary confusion. The trouble is that after taking the various shots, it was too late to do anything about it!
 
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Liking the jigsaw jigsaw, get it sold to Black and Decker :)

In shadows the feet looked a little disjointed and out of place until I looked properly, nicely done.
 
Well, LastMinute.com big time here :(

They say moving house is a stressful time; you better believe it!!!!

But, doing these tonight has been a great stress reliever, so I hope you like them:

CD Cover

Completely made up band. It was a bit of an exercise in product photography as well as Photoshop, and I'm pleased with it.


October CD Cover.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Promo

Not strictly a flyer, but it is promotional; it's the "business" cards I made for when people ask me whether I'm on Flickr and no-one has a pen, stuck on a board!!!! The photography was not done this month, but the presentation was, so I think it counts as this is essentially a graphic design theme.


October Promo.jpg by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr

Off to comment now, just in time for midnight on 31-10-2013!!!!
 
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Two nice, clean and on theme photographs there.

CD cover, the starburst works well.

Promo, well composed and decent card. You do like your corkthingy board don't you ;)

No crit.

Cheers.
 
Thanks Andy :)

I do like the cork board yes, but I have only used it twice, ever!!!!
 
Thanks Stan, I'm glad you like them.
 
Here's my first one for November. I might have another go at this because I was mostly getting the hang of the technique, but now I've got that there are all kinds of possibilities springing to mind :)

Cinemagraph


November Cinemagraph by MarkBerry1963, on Flickr
 
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