BarrySprout's 52 for 2011 Week 33. Record

Superb composition Colin! You're research into lighting has paid off, but if I was to pick at something :) it would be that maybe pp out the cutoff reflection at the bottom? It may well look better with it, but would be interesting to see a comparison.

Excellent image though mate :thumbs:
 
Sonriendo said:
I'm on your side Mr Sprout :) Prefer the first Accomodation shot :thumbs:

Hard is a well taken photo, but dosen't do anything for me I'm afraid :shrug:
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:plusone:

the first one is excellent and i dont like the edits, there not a patch on the original

just imo

mat
 
Hiya Colin,

Well done, a lovely product image you have captured here. The composition is great and I like the way you have the lid at an angle. At first I wasn't sure about the reflections, but the more I look at the image the more I like them as they add a depth to the overall picture.

Good control of lighting, what setup did you use?

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
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Hi Colin, great shot and nice take on theme. The set up looks quite precise and well thought out. Your reading up about the lighting paid off big style. The reflection adds depth to the image. Very nice work, pleasing shot.

Martin
 
antihero said:
Superb composition Colin! You're research into lighting has paid off, but if I was to pick at something :) it would be that maybe pp out the cutoff reflection at the bottom? It may well look better with it, but would be interesting to see a comparison.

Excellent image though mate :thumbs:
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Thanks very much. the reflection was intended and i spent ages getting the piece of glass clean enough for it. If I get a chance I'll do an edit to compare.

matty198111 said:
:plusone:

the first one is excellent and i dont like the edits, there not a patch on the original

just imo

mat
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Thanks Mat

drodd said:
Hiya Coling,

Well done, a lovely product image you have captured here. The composition is great and I like the way you have the lid at an angle. At first I wasn't sure about the reflections, but the more I look at the image the more I like them as they add a depth to the overall picture.

Good control of lighting, what setup did you use?

Cheers

Dawn :)
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Thanks Dawn. the lighting involved lots of white paper behind, under and to the sides of the setup. Dark folder behind the glass and a piece of glass on top of the inside sleeve of "power corruption and lies" Then the single flash placed centrally behind everything including the paper. hope all that makes sense.

Marts said:
Hi Colin, great shot and nice take on theme. The set up looks quite precise and well thought out. Your reading up about the lighting paid off big style. The reflection adds depth to the image. Very nice work, pleasing shot.

Martin
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Thanks very much Martin

michael23 said:
Hi Colin, I really like this image! Cracking composition and the lighting is brilliant. Only thing bugging me is the background, now it may be my screen, but it looks a little patchy in places?
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The background actually is patchy. The monitor which I used for editing (the one I believe to be calibrated better) showed the background as almost black. The one I am in front of now shows the patchiness. I really need to get a proper calibration device.
 
Barrysprout said:
Thanks very much. the reflection was intended and i spent ages getting the piece of glass clean enough for it. If I get a chance I'll do an edit to compare.

Thanks Dawn. the lighting involved lots of white paper behind, under and to the sides of the setup. Dark folder behind the glass and a piece of glass on top of the inside sleeve of "power corruption and lies" Then the single flash placed centrally behind everything including the paper. hope all that makes sense. <snip>
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Hiya Colin,

Thanks for the expo on how you set up for this shot, much appreciated as it adds to my own learning experience :thumbs:

Wow, you defo gave this a lot of thought and I personally think you have executed it very well indeed.

I will be adding your setup info to my journal as I think it has proved very effective.

To me, this has to be the best image you have produced yet and I look forward to seeing more of your project and will be watching it closely as I think I can learn a lot from you.

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Dawn thanks very much. Kind words indeed. However I cannot take credit for the setup, I knew the effect I wanted to create and simply copied someone else's way to achieve it.
 
Hi Colin, this is a good example this type of still life. The composition and colours are excellent. The reflections work well to give the pic depth. I prefer the version with the cut-off reflection.

The only thing I would to add to the crit other people have mentioned, is that the glasses seem a bit dusty or something.

Great pic :thumbs:
 
Hi Colin

really great Delicate shot , great lighting & prefer the 1st version with the reflections :thumbs:
But just to be awkward ....might have been even better without the reflections in the actual glass's ? though I have no idea how you would achieve that & it's only my thought & I know very little:)

The lighting is great...just wish I could understand your explanation of How you did it :lol:
 
Great photo for delicate. If I was going to criticize anything it would be this

blondie606 said:
But just to be awkward ....might have been even better without the reflections in the actual glass's ? though I have no idea how you would achieve that & it's only my thought & I know very little:)
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It looks like a reflection of your computer monitor or a picture. :)
 
Well done for taking on such a demanding and difficult shot. Glass ware is such a difficult thing to shoot, trying to highlight the glass but not get in distracting reflections.
I like the composition, but for me, the problem is the reflection of the room in the glasses. I have never tried to shoot this style before, and have no idea what would kill those, but i guess at something like a light tent would control the background reflections.

However, something that can be controlled is the crumbs in the bottom left hand corner. If they are intentional, i don't think that they add to the shot, if they are not intentional, clone em out ;-)

Well done

Adie
 
OK one last edit on this. Without a reshoot I don't think I can do any more.
Lessons learned, try to control reflections and when using a duster to avoid fingerprints use one with no dust on it :D The crumbs you mention Adie are bits of dust. Again something which shows on one of my monitors and not the other. Thanks everyone for the crit :thumbs:

Tried to address all issues raised as much as I can.

Final edit

Final edit by barrysprout, on Flickr​
 
Hi Colin, that final edit looks a lot cleaner and definitely has more impact.
A good shot made better.
Patrick
 
Thanks Michael and Patrick. Other lesson learned : don't be so lazy in pp next time.
 
OK just back last night after a week away so a quick edit on this shot for my week 8 entry. Not been online for over a week so not had a chance to catch up on a lot of peoples projects. And until I catch up with this week I have to stay away to abide by my no peeking rule.
So week 8 late rather than better but still better than never.

Chaos by barrysprout, on Flickr​

My first thinking for the shot was a macro shot of a few grains of sand, next thought was footprints in the sand and finally decided to keep a clear black sky as well. All three to my mind represent chaos. Shot this week on compact lumix LX3.
 
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Hiya Colin,

Oooh, I like this photo for week 8. All the patterns in the sand look very chaotic, and a nice lead in to the chaos of the lights in the distance.

Well done

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Thanks Dawn and Tina. Managed to get my Finish shot done today so caught back up after my weeks break. Hopefully can get time to view other peoples work this week too.
My idea for this week was fairly simple but trying to get the lighting right was a challenge again.


Finish by barrysprout, on Flickr​
 
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Hi, Colin, I wasn't sure about your chaos post, until, I saw the bird footprints and that made it for me.

Finished, yip, nice and simple, which works well. Nice set up as well, better not let my daughters see this picture...:shake:

Cheers.
 
Hiya Colin,

Agree, this fits the bill and well done with the lighting, I expecially like the green light behind the screen.

Wow your son is lucky to have such a fab game setup (my son would be so envious).

Well done on a great capture for the week.

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Marts said:
I like it Colin. My focus went straight to the screen and the word finish.
Nice shot.

Martin
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Thanks Martin, I wasn't sure of my f2.8 setting but your comment has supported my choice.

TinaC said:
Well done! The word stood out and I certainly feel you got the lighting right (must have done so quickly as your model stayed put ;))
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Thanks Tina, It looks like i got it right quickly but that was his 10th race.

posiview said:
Hi, Colin, I wasn't sure about your chaos post, until, I saw the bird footprints and that made it for me.

Finished, yip, nice and simple, which works well. Nice set up as well, better not let my daughters see this picture...:shake:

Cheers.
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Thanks :thumbs:

drodd said:
Hiya Colin,

Agree, this fits the bill and well done with the lighting, I expecially like the green light behind the screen.

Wow your son is lucky to have such a fab game setup (my son would be so envious).

Well done on a great capture for the week.

Cheers

Dawn :)
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Thanks Dawn, The green light behind the TV is from a set of colour changing LED's that come on with the TV.
It's my game set up and my grandson was just getting a shot :D
 
Feel like I have done three shots in the past week trying to catch up. Really can't believe we are 10 weeks in already.
The brass monkeys in the shot belonged to a neighbour of ours when I was a small child. Some of my earliest memories are of playing with them. She gave them to me years later and have remained with me since. When Trio was pulled from the hat this week I had to use them.
Shot taken with 105mm sigma macro lens at f11 iso200 for 30 seconds. Converted to black and white and a bit of noise added intentionally in pp.

Trio by barrysprout, on Flickr​
 
Hi Colin

Just having a quick catch up :

Chaos ...great idea for the theme & captured really well :thumbs: As someone else mentioned the tiny bird prints add to the feeling as do the lights in the distance

Finish....great focus in just the right place , it jumps out at you, really good idea :thumbs:

Trio...wish I'd thought of this one ! I have a simialr set in imitation ivory but the thought never entered my head:bonk: DOF looks just right,concentrating on their face's ,great shot :clap:
 
Hiya Colin,

Good shot for this week and the subject fits the theme well.

Only things for me are the crop looks a tad too tight, especially as it has cut off part of the right side and it looks a bit OOF especially on the left and at the bottom.

Like the processing though.

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
BRILLIANT! I was waiting for these to turn up! I knew someone must have them ;) The back story is lovely too :thumbs:

I think they deserve a little more space around them and all three are equally important so all should be in focus. The fabric of them really makes them hard to light and photograph - I rather like the treatment you have given them.
 
blondie606 said:
Hi Colin

Just having a quick catch up :

Chaos ...great idea for the theme & captured really well :thumbs: As someone else mentioned the tiny bird prints add to the feeling as do the lights in the distance
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So glad I took the time to draw the bird prints with that stick :D (not really)

blondie606 said:
Finish....great focus in just the right place , it jumps out at you, really good idea :thumbs:

Trio...wish I'd thought of this one ! I have a simialr set in imitation ivory but the thought never entered my head:bonk: DOF looks just right,concentrating on their face's ,great shot :clap:
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Thanks Lynne

fido18 said:
I like the monkeys. Great take on the trio theme.
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Thanks Ceri

drodd said:
Hiya Colin,

Good shot for this week and the subject fits the theme well.

Only things for me are the crop looks a tad too tight, especially as it has cut off part of the right side and it looks a bit OOF especially on the left and at the bottom.

Like the processing though.

Cheers

Dawn :)
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Thanks Dawn, I had doubts about the crop but wanted to fill the whole image. I even thought of cropping further so no edges could be seen:shrug: In the end I sacrificed a part of his leg because otherwise I had a lot of dead space above it. The focus I think is fine, looking at the middle monkeys head which was where I manually focused it looks sharp. unfortunately even at f11 with such a close shot the dof is very narrow. It's had a strange effect on "speak no evil" because his legs are just slightly further back than the other two. I normally try to avoid going any smaller with the aperture than f11 but I should have made the exception or stacked images to get the whole piece in focus.

TinaC said:
BRILLIANT! I was waiting for these to turn up! I knew someone must have them ;) The back story is lovely too :thumbs:

I think they deserve a little more space around them and all three are equally important so all should be in focus. The fabric of them really makes them hard to light and photograph - I rather like the treatment you have given them.
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Thanks Tina, I tried a few different shots/angles but was not really happy with the background, hence the really tight crop.
 
Thought I would use the reshoot this week to do another shot that i had thought of for last weeks trio theme. Whole new shoot with a whole new idea. A bit annoyed by the fact that the edges of the table that the other cameras are on is so noticeable but to be honest I had spent so long already setting everything up and moving it and reshooting that I just went with the best of the bunch.

Reshoot Trio by barrysprout, on Flickr​
Also did a new shot for this week's Knowledge theme. Had bacon for lunch today so was inspired to shoot this.

Knowledge by barrysprout, on Flickr​
 
Hiya Colin,

I really like your re-shoot for the trio shot, very ingenious indeed. You have mentioned about the edge of the table, but actually I don't think it detracts too much from the idea and photo. Well done :clap: I'd love to know how you did this (if you don't mind sharing your technique) as I have an old Konika Autoreflex that I might be able to achieve something similar (and also I have some other ideas for this kind of shot :D)

Your knowledge photo is once again a very clever setup ;) especially the way you have the light lit, yet the plug showing (brilliant) but I will put that down to some of your magic :p

I can see that you are trying to light the word 'knowledge', but unfortunately it isn't too clear as the focus seems to be on other parts of the subject.

Both brilliant ideas and bang on theme.

:clap:

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
ecniv said:
Its been enjoyable looking at your photos and thoughts behind them. Congrats on all the pictures, really good! the PP on the glasses is really good.
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Many Thanks

drodd said:
Hiya Colin,

I really like your re-shoot for the trio shot, very ingenious indeed. You have mentioned about the edge of the table, but actually I don't think it detracts too much from the idea and photo. Well done :clap: I'd love to know how you did this (if you don't mind sharing your technique) as I have an old Konika Autoreflex that I might be able to achieve something similar (and also I have some other ideas for this kind of shot :D)
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Thanks again dawn. The camera I used has a setting to keep the ******* open so it was just a case of opening the shiutter, opening the back of the camera and lens on biggest aperture.
Great to use on portraits by getting someone to pose with camera open and their eye showing through.

drodd said:
Your knowledge photo is once again a very clever setup ;) especially the way you have the light lit, yet the plug showing (brilliant) but I will put that down to some of your magic :p

I can see that you are trying to light the word 'knowledge', but unfortunately it isn't too clear as the focus seems to be on other parts of the subject.

Both brilliant ideas and bang on theme.

:clap:

Cheers

Dawn :)
Click to expand...

The knowledge picture looked fine at full size when I was editing it but when i resized and saved for web use it wasn't as good. Hopefully I can re-edit this week or look at the other shots I took for a better one.
 
Hi Colin

Love your reshoot of Trio , what a great idea & very clever :thumbs:

Fab idea for Knowledge , looked at it last night n tried to figure out how the light was on but the plug in view :cuckoo: Well , I was very tired ! Looking at it again today the word Knowledge seems to be clearer as well ,must be my age , unless you snuck in & edited it when I was asleep :lol:

Great shots Colin :thumbs:
 
TinaC said:
Colin those are brilliant!

I will endeavour to visit and do a proper critique each week from now on.
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Thanks Tina, but don't make me feel even more guilty about my lack of crit on others projects.

blondie606 said:
Hi Colin

Love your reshoot of Trio , what a great idea & very clever :thumbs:

Fab idea for Knowledge , looked at it last night n tried to figure out how the light was on but the plug in view :cuckoo: Well , I was very tired ! Looking at it again today the word Knowledge seems to be clearer as well ,must be my age , unless you snuck in & edited it when I was asleep :lol:

Great shots Colin :thumbs:
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Thanks Lynne. haven't re-edited knowledge yet. Maybe I'll leave it a few days and see if it sharpens itself more.:D
 
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