Stevesc's 52 for 2017 - week 32, 33 & 34 added

Reshoot of attractive is great, very unique and must have been hard to catch at the right moment of the spark?

Power remind me of the British Gas adverts, I like the deep rich blue against the black. The reflection in the last photo is also nice.

Dark 2 for me, all that lovely detail in the match end is where it's at :)

Numbers is great, out of interest what shutter speed did you use? And how did you make the background so black but capture the detail of the dice?
 
Thanks Dom.

Reshoot of attractive is great, very unique and must have been hard to catch at the right moment of the spark?

Not too difficult to catch the spark as I mainly used a fairly slow shutter speed, the bigger problem was getting enough light on the shot to get a big enough DOF but I also found I needed a fairly high ISO otherwise the spark was a bit thin. Still think I could get it slightly better so might have another go sometime.

Numbers is great, out of interest what shutter speed did you use? And how did you make the background so black but capture the detail of the dice?

The shutter speed was around half a second, I tried various speeds and had loads not work. The shot was taken in the evening in the kitchen with the lights out so fairly dark, then I added a black cloth behind the scene (which you can just make out in the picture to my annoyance!) I had the camera in front with a torch on the left to provide some continuous lighting to get the trails and a flash on the right to freeze the dice mid air. The flash was triggered by the slave on my camera which has meant some light came from the front which is a bit annoying as well. I have since brought some cheap triggers so if I do the shot again I can avoid the light from the front.
 
Attractive, the original looked fine to me, but then when you compare it to the reshoot, the spark is a bit sharper and it is subtly better. The narrow DOF is very clear. If you tried to get more DOF I guess you would need to crank up the ISO too much. Perhaps make yourself a vandegraaf (?) generator for some super sparks!
 
Power #2 (y)

and Attractive reshoot is an improvement, nice work (y)
 
Attractive, the original looked fine to me, but then when you compare it to the reshoot, the spark is a bit sharper and it is subtly better. The narrow DOF is very clear. If you tried to get more DOF I guess you would need to crank up the ISO too much. Perhaps make yourself a vandegraaf (?) generator for some super sparks!
Thanks Chris, A vandegraaf generator sounds like lots of fun :) Wouldn't have the first idea how to build one though....maybe time to google!

Power #2 (y)

and Attractive reshoot is an improvement, nice work (y)
Thanks David
 
Thanks for the teach in. I need to try some dark backgrounds in my photography, it will give me a few more indoors options :)

Cathy and I aren't sure what above is. It is a squidgy ball thing photographed from above?
 
Spaghetti?
Yes

Thanks for the teach in. I need to try some dark backgrounds in my photography, it will give me a few more indoors options :)

Cathy and I aren't sure what above is. It is a squidgy ball thing photographed from above?

I rarely get the background a black as I want so normally have to tidy it up when I edit, but find white backgrounds even harder.

It's spaghetti, hadn't thought to put a description.
 
Very nice spaghetti shot, great idea!
 
This weeks winner without doubt. Great perspective, lovely angles and all set against that super clean black background,

Head and shoulders winner for me.
 
Above, like the spaghetti from above, a nice dark BG really does bring out the shot nicely :)
Very nice spaghetti shot, great idea!
wooo ... like that, arty simplicity. (y)
I love that - it really made me think what it could be. Such an original angle and beautifully done. Who needs to go our with shots like that ;) :clap:
Ahhhh very cool, very effective angle that, like it :)
This weeks winner without doubt. Great perspective, lovely angles and all set against that super clean black background,

Head and shoulders winner for me.

Thank you all for your kind comments.
 
Above, Almost looks like a flower of some type from above.

Evolve, As you say a little rushed but other than the first needing a touch more light on the head to show more detail nice idea.

(y)
 
Great idea! And well done to find a dandelion at each stage of their evolution.
 
Smashing idea Steve, it's really not easy to get a whole dandelion clock from the ground and into the house to photograph, I've tried it lots of times and I usually end up with about two seedheads :) Just like your spaghetti one (which is excellent) it works well against the black, I use black a lot, and occasionally force myself to use white, but most times I think it lacks the visual impact.
 
After catching up with my own images I'm returning to visits to everyone else's and this is my first visit since week 0, so I've just looked through the rest of your thread :)

I remember you commented on my image for Order as I used Russian dolls for that one too, and had the same difficulties with light and reflections. I especially like the first shot from above - an unusual POV - and the colours made them look like little planets at first glance! Other favourites are the colour image of the eye and lashes for Hairy with lovely soft tones but sharp where needed, the first shot for Smooth with the gentle curves, colours and light, the excellent close-up for Mineral with those interesting angles and details, the clever shot for Numbers with all the motion blur but again sharp where required, all of the shots for Power but particularly #2 with the second ring - really well executed - and Above for another great idea and super final image. In fact, I really like your whole thread and it's been a pleasure looking through :clap:
 
Hi Steve.
Re-Shoot (Attractive). Yes, the re-shoot is definite improvement, and yes, it's due to the deeper DoF.
Above - I would never have guessed spaghetti, like Dom I thought it was a a squeezy ball of some sort. Nicely vibrant against the black background even though there are really only 2 colours.
Evolve(d) - Clever idea and quite impressive to have all the stages together. Again, good use of the black background and some good detail, especially of the right hand two.
 
Oooo very good Steve, I like that idea :clap:
Ta :)

Great interpretation Steve.(y)
Thanks (y)

Above, Almost looks like a flower of some type from above.

Evolve, As you say a little rushed but other than the first needing a touch more light on the head to show more detail nice idea.

(y)
Thanks, I agree I could have had a bit more light on the first one. Might try and lift it a little in editing if I get a chance.

Great idea! And well done to find a dandelion at each stage of their evolution.
Thanks, they were found by my daughter so can't take credit for that.

Smashing idea Steve, it's really not easy to get a whole dandelion clock from the ground and into the house to photograph, I've tried it lots of times and I usually end up with about two seedheads :) Just like your spaghetti one (which is excellent) it works well against the black, I use black a lot, and occasionally force myself to use white, but most times I think it lacks the visual impact.
Thanks Susie, my daughter collected them for me and managed to bring it back without losing all the seeds. I actually tried it on a lighter background first as I have used black a few times this year already but didn't feel it worked so went back to the black.

Excellent idea I like the lighting, one of the best of the week
Thanks Allan :)

I like that idea a lot and the black shows off the flowers and seeds perfectly (y)
Thanks Emma (y)

That is a super shot Steve, great black bg and I like the arrangement of the dandelions.
Cheers Michael, I was fortunate that the first and last curled the right way for it to work.

A great take on Evolve Steve, showing just how evolved it has come and gone plus good BG too :)
Thanks Dave,

After catching up with my own images I'm returning to visits to everyone else's and this is my first visit since week 0, so I've just looked through the rest of your thread :)

I remember you commented on my image for Order as I used Russian dolls for that one too, and had the same difficulties with light and reflections. I especially like the first shot from above - an unusual POV - and the colours made them look like little planets at first glance! Other favourites are the colour image of the eye and lashes for Hairy with lovely soft tones but sharp where needed, the first shot for Smooth with the gentle curves, colours and light, the excellent close-up for Mineral with those interesting angles and details, the clever shot for Numbers with all the motion blur but again sharp where required, all of the shots for Power but particularly #2 with the second ring - really well executed - and Above for another great idea and super final image. In fact, I really like your whole thread and it's been a pleasure looking through :clap:
Thanks for looking through the whole thread! Must be taking you a lot of time to catch up with everyone, I appreciate the time you've taken and your positive comments on so many.

Hi Steve.
Re-Shoot (Attractive). Yes, the re-shoot is definite improvement, and yes, it's due to the deeper DoF.
Above - I would never have guessed spaghetti, like Dom I thought it was a a squeezy ball of some sort. Nicely vibrant against the black background even though there are really only 2 colours.
Evolve(d) - Clever idea and quite impressive to have all the stages together. Again, good use of the black background and some good detail, especially of the right hand two.
Cheers Tim, the reshoot was better but I still feel there is room for improvement. Thanks for your positive comments on the last two. :)

I've been caught up with school holidays and family but will try and catch up with comments on other threads this week as I've got rather behind.
 
I actually got outside to take this weeks photo, even if it was just out the front of the house!

Managed to persuade the kids to hold hands and pose for me last night while they were playing outside, reasonably happy with how this came out. I liked the light on the hands and the shadow behind them but should have moved them further forward to try and avoid the path cutting across behind them.

Hold 005 edited by Steve, on Flickr
 
There goes my idea. I don't think that the path is that much of a problem and I like the shadow. :)
 
... would rather a lower pov, no path, no shadow, perhaps a crop too! Maybe a B&W conversion would add.

But top idea.:)
 
I like the shadows, don't mind the path but a little crop off the top just to the grass would be nice
 
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