0ut 0f Focus 52 - I may catch up one day!

0ut 0f Focus

0ut 0f Focus

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Simone
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I didn't know about this challenge until well into it but think it will be great practice for me.

I don't want to miss out on over 3 months practice so am attempting to catch up from the start! :eek:

I'm a beginner and only have aspirations for it to be a hobby but would love to improve and hope to get plenty of great advice by posting on here.
 
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Week 1 - Curved

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Week 2 - Poetry

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The Garden of Love - William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briers my joys and desires.
 
Welcome aboard!

Great start with curved. Nice DOF, lead in lines and nicely on theme, I'm looking forward to more...

One piece of constructive criticism, I would have moved the shot so that the ball in focus was on the left third rather than in the middle of the picture, that way my eye would be forced through the picture rather than sit in the middle as is now.

Poetry is beautiful, really good use of focus and the picture is very peaceful and serene
 
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This is where I am up to so far (week 4) and will hopefully be up to date fairly soon!
 
MadFrankie said:
Welcome aboard!

Great start with curved. Nice DOF, lead in lines and nicely on theme, I'm looking forward to more...

One piece of constructive criticism, I would have moved the shot so that the ball in focus was on the left third rather than in the middle of the picture, that way my eye would be forced through the picture rather than sit in the middle as is now.

Poetry is beautiful, really good use of focus and the picture is very peaceful and serene
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Thank you for your comments. The cc is very helpful and I'll keep it in mind when shooting in future.
 
Hi Simone!

That's a cracking start. I don't think I'd be rushing to catch up with all the weeks so far. (Especially Chemnistry!!)

The strongest shot out of the lot for me is Curved. Really like the balls, and the strong line running through the shot. You have good depth of field control there and in Poetry. nice work.

Chopped doesn't do a lot for me, but it's bang on theme, well composed, and nicely detailed, so that's just me :)

Great street shot, with a lovely candid expression on his face. Composition is maybe slightly off, with a lot of space at the top of the frame. Maybe a non-portrait crop would have worked with a bit more bench and/or something for him to be looking at.

Some nice images overall, and I'll be trying to keep up as you catch up!

Welcome aboard!

Ian.
 
Hi Simone, welcome along. You have definitely come to the right place to get some practice and improve.

All your shots are good so far but the pick for me is poetry, absolutely brilliant and just the right dof to emphasise the shot.
 
A cracking start Simone.

I really like the poetry shot. Really well thought out and taken.

Your name is now on the list of those taking part as well.

Welcome aboard.

Andy
 
Hey - welcome to the 52! Of your first 4 I think poetry and street are the strongest.

I like the choice of focus on poetry and I'm a sucker for a decent candid.

Looking forward to the rest of the year pictures...

Phil
 
Week 5 - Speed

This was my first go at doing anything with a tripod and slow shutter speed so regardless of how bad the photo turned out I'm pleased I tried something new.

Saying that I almost pooped myself at the top of the wobbly bridge! Didn't realise I was quite so scared of heights/wobbly bridges over A roads! So obviously didn't hang around long enough to play around with lots of shots! :lol:

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Really glad to be getting comments even though you have seen these themes weeks ago already. Thanks :thumbs:
 
Well done on speed - a perfectly executed light-trails-at-night shot.

Phil
 
Hi, and welcome to the 52s, Simone.

You're doing a great job of catching up, and for me Poetry is currently #1, - a lovely, peaceful image, good composition and dof.

I also particularly like Speed. I would never have guessed it was your first go at slow shutter speed shots. I like the way the red and white lights are evenly balanced - I always seem to get more traffic on one side of the road than the other. :lol: The light trails on the flyover add another interest, as do the street lamps. Excellent! :) And all on a wobbly bridge, too! :D

Jean
 
You didn't need to take lots of shots Simone.

That one is fine. Bang on theme and well executed :thumbs:

Andy
 
philthejuggler said:
Hey - welcome to the 52! Of your first 4 I think poetry and street are the strongest.

I like the choice of focus on poetry and I'm a sucker for a decent candid.

Looking forward to the rest of the year pictures...

Phil
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Thank you! I was pleased with street as I'd never shot strangers before and was proud of myself for ignoring my embarrassment and the strange looks I was getting! :lol:

philthejuggler said:
Well done on speed - a perfectly executed light-trails-at-night shot.

Phil
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jeangenie said:
I also particularly like Speed. I would never have guessed it was your first go at slow shutter speed shots. I like the way the red and white lights are evenly balanced - I always seem to get more traffic on one side of the road than the other. :lol: The light trails on the flyover add another interest, as do the street lamps. Excellent! :) And all on a wobbly bridge, too! :D

Jean
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daddy day care said:
You didn't need to take lots of shots Simone.

That one is fine. Bang on theme and well executed :thumbs:

Andy
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Wow, thank you so much! :eek: Really wasn't expecting to get great comments like these.

I hope no one thinks me rude but I won't be commenting on other 52s until I'm caught up as I don't want to be influenced too much!
 
Once you start commenting on the others you won't have any time left to take your own pictures :lol:

Andy
 
Week 6 - Present

Couldn't think of anything to shoot for this theme so out came the dictionary. Of course it was my plan to practice in Macro and not to wimp out of coming up with an idea for week 6!! :whistling:

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Two more great catchup shots there Simone. The light trails in Speed are lovely, but I think my favourite has to be the DoF you've got going on in Present.

Keep it up!

Ian.
 
Welcome aboard Simone... Well done on getting through the original images too.

Curved, great idea, and it works well, good use of DOF.. I'd suggest putting the in focus ball on the third too

Poetry, nice job, that works very well and fits the words

Chopped, clear what it is, and clearly on theme :thumbs:

Street, I really like this image

Speed, excellent light trails, as Jean said it's nicely balanced and the lights add to it.

Present, it's a great idea, and works well... the DOF is great, it might have worked better with the DOF shifted slightly forward, at the moment, I'm drawn to Presense as the definition it just that little bit sharper.

As for commenting on the rest... you'll have your work cut out for you... :lol: but makes perfect sense to me to get your images done first and avoid any influence from the rest of us.
 
Week 7 - People

Tried to catch some Morris Dancers today but it was really difficult. Most came out with people chopped in half or oof so this is best of a bad bunch!

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The morris dancers themselves have come out very well. The DOF is very large though, as you've got a lot of background in there. I'd have been tempted to open the lens up, reduce the DOF, and increase the shutter speed without resorting to ISO800...
 
Kind of agree with John on this. Those folks sat on the wall are so clear they almost look like the subject.

It's always easy to have 20/20 hindsight though when you're looking at Street photography. Not an easy subject!

Ian.
 
I'm determined to get all the past weeks themes done before doing present ones but have lost a bit of motivation recently. Having 2 jobs didn't help but I'm down to 1 again now so hopefully have more time for shooting!

Thanks so much for all the comments so far. I was definitely not happy with People so will reshoot that at some point. Anyway....

Week 8 - Mechanical

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Week 9 - Play (plus a little message to myself)!

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I'm with you in playing catch up at the moment!

I like both of these. 'Mechanical' has a really nice depth of fieldd effect and the composition is nice with the lead leading the eye into the shot.

'Play' is a nice idea and looks like an antique version of Scrabble.

Which got the bigger score - motivate or lazy? LOL
 
Mechanical, I like a lot, good DOF, and the wire as a lead in is excellent... Personally, I think I'd be tempted to lose a lot of the brickwork and bring the attention more down to the sander... in fact, that's how I thought it was because of how I'd position the image in the browser ... :D...

Play is a great idea, not sure on the DOF... it works, but then I also think I'd like to see more of the crossing point... A lovely looking scrabble set... if I've scored it correctly, Motivate scores higher... Which is the message ?
 
Being naughty and skipped Week 10 Chemistry as I was at a complete loss! :shrug:

So this is Week 11 Candid (from the Morris Dancers)

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Plus in the interest of catching up I am bypassing Produce (just for now) to add week 13. I did a reshoot of Chopped while visiting Becky Falls in Dartmoor.

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Just an excuse to get a picture of the waterfall in my 52. I loved it there!

This is Shoot, week 14. I'm not that pleased with the focus though as I didn't have a high enough shutter speed and it was a bit breezy!

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Thanks for all your comments (and patience) so far! :D
 
Some lovely shots in here Simone. I particularly like Candid and Play. Especially play as I know exactly what you mean about inspiration loss :)

Ian.
 
Hi Simone,

I've been trying to avoid this thread until I get time to have a proper look at your catch up and offer some meaningful comments.
And I've finally come to the conclusion that time is constantly against me at the moment and if I keep delaying I'll never look in here :lol: :lol: :lol:

Anyway, I'll pick out a few to comment on :

Play is probably my favourite out of the set.
Wooden games are so much more tactile than the modern plastic ones and you've caught the texture in the tiles really well.
I love the angle of composition and the focal point on the "double letter" square really draws me in.

Poetry is another top one for me.
I really like the framing with the leaves and the fact that you've focussed there, rather than going for the obvious focus on the headstones. A lovely serene shot.

The reshoot for chopped is a big improvement on the original.
Not that there was much wrong with the original, but it just wasn't a very inspiring subject.
A lovely peaceful shot, although for my personal taste, the milky water is a little overdone. I think you could have gotten away with a faster shutter speed to tone it down a bit and a larger aperture to narrow the DoF and really focus in on one area as the main focal point.

And finally, as has been mentioned by a few others already, your light trails have come out beautifully - I'd never have guessed that it was a rushed effort from a wobbly bridge.
 
Simone, Candid, he look a happy chap, and it looks quite a good candid, so it works for me. Technically, there's a few overexposed bits, on the top of his head and down the left sleeve, but I'm not sure what you could have done to prevent them, and get enough detail in his face. I don't think they are too much of a problem though.
Chopped.. it's a lovely shot of the falls.. not sure on the fit but that's ok.
Shoot, Lovely colours, there... I'm not sure on the focus/motion blur... the image is a bit small to tell what it is that's going on for me.
 
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