Monthly A Father vs Daughter 12 for 2013 Challenge

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Good luck with the challenge :)
 
Some interesting themes chosen, good luck to both of you. I'm looking forward to July!
 
#1 - January 2013 -Curves


20130117_Curves by David M Bloor, on Flickr

Ingredients : Dark downstairs loo, dark grey fleece blanket as backdrop, set of 8 battery powered LED lights, tripod, Canon 400D, and one colour filter applied in GIMP
 
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Wow, two very different takes on the theme.

I like the abstract shot, and it definitely says curves, but it's a little too random for me, and I think it'd be a little uninteresting if it weren't for the colours added in PP. I do like that its difficult to see the beginning and end of the line though.

The frosty shot is lovely. Fantastic exposure with a difficult subject, and fantastic textures. The DoF is perfect too.

Looking forward to more :)
 
dmb - March - Clouds


cloudscape1 by David M Bloor, on Flickr

Who would have thought finding good clouds in March would have been tricky - it was either total overcast, blue skies or snowing most of the time. Decided to do a 3 exposure HDR +/- 2 stops bracketing to get contrast in range and a better sky colour.
 
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Pyir March Clouds

March Clouds by Pyir92, on Flickr

Took a long time to get some nice clouds in March and my dad said it was going to be easy.
 
Hi,

For Feb I think the clear winner is Pyir; great moon shot :). DMB I think your stars are neither short enough to be a sparkle, nor long enough to be a trail. I also think you could have made more of the church you can just see :)

March, hmm, dead heat I'd say. DMB has great cloud shapes and a fantastic exposure, but maybe could do with something else in the composition for interest, while Pyir has that additional interest, with great clouds, but has some blown highlights. They don't spoil the shot overall, until you remember that the sky IS the subject.
 
Pyir's got a great eye! I think she won this month, I adore all the colour and sparkle :)
 
Ooh, it's tough this month!

I love dmb's composition, sharpness, tones and effort, but also love Pyir's colours and close POV.

Dead heat again I recon!!!
 
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#5 May 2013 - Perspective - dmb


Canal Sluice by David M Bloor, on Flickr

Canal Sluice - Canon 400D - 30s at f16 - using No 8 welding glass filter (approx ND3000) - Colour corrected and then monochrome conversion.
 
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Toughie! dmb, I find your shot very interesting, wanting to spend time exploring it, and technically it's spot on, but Pyir's does say perspective more. It's just a slight shame the people are where they are; it'd have been better either with them more as a subject, or not there at all IMO. id have cloned them out, which would actually be dead easy :). Also, the trees leaning in a touch from the right are distracting me just a little.
 
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Tough to choose this month :), as they're similar subjects. I like David's isolation of the subject using depth of field, but Ruth's subject has a fascinating texture that works well in B&W.

Crit, David has missed focus on the eyes, which is surprisingly distracting (the hands and part of the wing are very sharp), and Ruth's shot has a bit of clutter that's also distracting, e.g. the leaf on the left. I think I prefer the alternative shot; cherubs are just baby angels aren't they?!!

Dead heat?
 

20130718_0134efl by David M Bloor, on Flickr

Swallow Falls - Betws-y-Coed
1/8s (hand held) f29
Canon 400D 18-55mm (at 25mm)


Swapped out the one below as it was very similar to one Pyir submitted


20130718_0100_e by David M Bloor, on Flickr


Pistyll Rhaeadr (near Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant)
1/8s at f22 - with ND8 grad filter - Canon 400D with 18-55mm (at 18mm)
 
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You've made it tough to judge this month! If it had been DMB's original vs Pyir's shot, I'd say she'd won because of the extra detail in the shadows, but the lens flare in his substitute is really nice and adds to the mood for me.

I would like more shadow detail in both, but you've got the water movement spot on :)

DMB by a tiny whisker for me :)
 
We (dmb and pyir) would like to thank :clap: Southdowns (Mark) for the regular critique. Only 4 months to go and we will need to think up a new challenge.
 

Mining is history here. by David M Bloor, on Flickr

This area was rough grazing and woodland when I was a child at school in the village. Later it was open-cast mined and the area turned into a country park. This is one of several memorials in the area to those who spent their lives mining for coal and ironstone.

First film taken on my partially refurbished Rolleicord 1a(3) which is now over 70 years old - did find one light leak , through a missing screw on the tripod bush.
 
Great idea, shame not been more input into your thread, but not sure how many people venture into the 12's..

anyway, I reckon you've both done well, obviously spurring each other on.

dmb.. love the clouds - HDR used well to bring detail to the midtone contrast rather than simply the extremes of highlight and shadow
, your angel has used the shallow DOF to really isolate it from the background
I really really love the fence - super colours and shallow DOF again, working really well.

pyir,
the cupcake is a real stand out shot, love the colours and again great use of DOF, perspective is a great one too, well alligned and the echo of the path in the tree / skyline.

Love panoramas but feel this is a bit too wide for the height, and looks like it could do with a straighten.

Well done again - few months to the finish for you both. :thumbs:
 
Bit late getting here this time around - sorry :(

Landscape, I absolutely love dmb's shot. I'm a huge fan of shallow DoF in landscapes, and think the colours, movement and composition are spot on here :)

Pyir, great composition, and a lovely reflection, but I think you needed to bring the shadows out quite a bit without sacrificing that sky (it's close to blown out already, but not quite). Do you shoot in raw? If you do I think this shot could be improved quite a bit in Lightroom or similar.

Also, you could waterski downhill on that lake ( ;) ). It definitely needs straightening up.

Both very good, but dmb wins by the biggest margin yet IMHO, though it'd be a LOT closer with a bit of PP on Pyir's shot.

I won't comment re history until they're both up.
 
My August image was taken on my phone so its just a small jpeg as I was on hoilday. So hard to edit. I normal shoot in RAW
 
It's a good shot for a phone one :)

For history, I have to say that again I think Pyir's shot is a bit too dark. I know the building is the subject, but never-the-less think we need to see a bit more detail and colour in the foliage. Just a slight increase in the shadows setting would have made all the difference I think. It's a nice evocative composition though, doing well to exclude anything modern to keep to the theme :)

DMB I think I'd like a little more contrast to give it a slightly grittier industrial feel, but as it's on film you probably didn't want to play with it too much. Nice shot, bang on theme :)
 

Crewe_Green_Sunrise by David M Bloor, on Flickr

Very early this morning pyir asked whose bright idea it was to put 'Sunrise' on the list of themes for this year - just checked - it was hers :lol:. I suppose we should be thankful it landed in October when sunrise is not quite as early.

3 shot HDR on Canon 400D
 
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Two great sunrise shots. I love the fact you can see the sheep and foreground grass in DMB's photo, but would like a little more contrast in the sky perhaps, while Pyir's sky is just beuatiful, and the silhouetted tree line works very well. I think a portrait crop would look good too, to remove the black mass to the left and highlight the tree that's just left of centre a bit more.
 
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