daddy day cares Photo52 for 2010 part 1 weeks 1 to 26

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daddy day care

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Andy
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I though I'd better start my thread.

It will be a couple of days before I can get the photo up but I have an idea of what to shoot now.

I will try and comment on as many other 52s as I can. Hopefully we will all come out of this the other side with a new found enthusiasm and knowledge.

Thanks to Simon for starting it rolling :thumbs:

Good luck to the many who are taking part.

Andy
 
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Good luck Andy, look forward to your first post :thumbs:
 
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Thanks folks.

I hope to get some shots done in the next day or two. I need to really as times running out.
 
Hi Andy,
good luck and looking forward to number 1 of 52 :)
 
Ok here goes with the first of 52.

photo52week1curved.jpg


It was not my first choice. I don't do still life very well. Unfortunately my first choice was a sculpture that is underneath 6 inches of snow at the moment :bang:

The connect four game was placed on a sheet of black acrylic on my open guitar case. I don't have a lead to put my SB600 off camera so I put a diffuser on it.

Let me have your thoughts please folks.

I reserve the right to add another week 1 image or replace this one completely ;)
 
glad to see you've posted yours now!

it seems just a trifle flat - wonder if a bit of a contrast/brightness boost might lift the colours a bit :shrug:
 
That was quick :lol:

I told you I didn't like still life.

This is with brightness and contrast lifted:

photo52week1curvedb.jpg


I've tried not to post anything similar to other peoples so the guitar was out. I can get an image in my mind of what I want but struggle to get it into the actual image :(

Does this version look any better?
 
Thanks folks.

I agree that the increased brightness / contrast lifts it a bit.

I think I'll keep it as the week 1 shot and maybe go with the curved sculpture idea later in the year if a reshoot card is pulled out.

Depending on how this goes over the next 12 months I am thinking about getting a photobook made up of all the shots.
 
my target is make pictures each week that are worth printing on my new shiny A3+ printer
then they go on the studio wall :nuts:

photobook is a darn good idea too - I'll steal that - ta v much!
 
second is miles better.. the colours far more vivid.. good idea for the reshoot, wanted to take a great arched brick bridge in manchester but no way am I venturing out in the snow ;)
 
I haven't anything to fire my flash off camera yet but with 51 more themes to go it could be a useful addition to the kit bag.

Nice idea, could you have fired the flash by hand to change the lighting if you shoot in a dark room with enough exposure time? I've been thinking of trying it myself.(if that makes any sense:thinking:)
 
I think the second version is very 80s :D (not that I was old enough to remember..) although I feel like I'm missing the shadow of the board.. stand.. what ever it's called. although that was probably what you were going for!
 
80's!, 80's!

How very dare you young lady?

I'll have you you know this is the very latest 4 player version of a very, very old game :lol: :p

I never really thought about the shadow to be honest.

I quite like the look now but didn't put enough thought into it. I just felt I needed to get an image up and the weather stopped me going too far.

Good job I'm not doing a 365. The quality of images then would be awful :lol:
 
daddy day care said:
80's!, 80's!

How very dare you young lady?

I'll have you you know this is the very latest 4 player version of a very, very old game :lol: :p
Click to expand...

slight thread drift but why have some got holes and some not? :thinking:
 
foggy4ever said:
I haven't anything to fire my flash off camera yet but with 51 more themes to go it could be a useful addition to the kit bag.

Nice idea, could you have fired the flash by hand to change the lighting if you shoot in a dark room with enough exposure time? I've been thinking of trying it myself.(if that makes any sense:thinking:)
Click to expand...

I've seen a link to one on ebay for around 14 quid I think. I'm going to invest in one as soon as possible.

I also have a very old Jessops portaflash unit with an umbrella that I may be able to use somehow.

Flash is an area that I need to do a lot of research on this year.

and, yes, it did make sense :thumbs:
 
Hi Andy,

I'm surprised that you've had time for a shot after organising us all in that list of threads. Thank you again for that BTW :thumbs:

Connect4's definitely got more complicated since the version that I had as a child ;)
I love this interpretation and for somebody who doesn't "do" still life it's worked really well.
Definitely prefer the edit, it's just got a bit more impact to it.
 
mmcp42 said:
slight thread drift but why have some got holes and some not? :thinking:
Click to expand...

The board has 2 layers on it. The solid ones block off both layers but the open ones don't. It means that you can get 4 in a row even if somebody has put a counter in one of the layers. Hope that makes sense.
 
SarahLee said:
Hi Andy,

I'm surprised that you've had time for a shot after organising us all in that list of threads. Thank you again for that BTW :thumbs:

Connect4's definitely got more complicated since the version that I had as a child ;)
I love this interpretation and for somebody who doesn't "do" still life it's worked really well.
Definitely prefer the edit, it's just got a bit more impact to it.
Click to expand...

Thanks sarah.

Sssh. I did the list while I was at work. 12 hour night shifts give me plenty of time ;)
 
daddy day care said:
The board has 2 layers on it. The solid ones block off both layers but the open ones don't. It means that you can get 4 in a row even if somebody has put a counter in one of the layers. Hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

crikey 3D connect-4

you don't have to wear special glasses do you?!?:nuts:
 
Edit wins for me the colours pop now and it's a great start to your 52.
 
The edit is much more colourful but I feel a little too bright especially on the yellows and the frame. Perhaps would just have centralised the frame in the picture and make sure none of the pieces at the bottom were cut off.
 
Thanks for the comments folks.

I had to cut off some of the pieces at the bottom of the frame. If I had included the whole pieces you cut see the edge of the black acrylic :(

I see what you mean about the brightness. I will have a look at getting a better balance when I have time. It seemed the slightest movement of the slider was either too dull or super bright on the yellows and reds.

Lets see what next weeks theme brings us.
 
The edit is much better than the original shot!
 
Yeah, what Ed said - the edit is far more punchier than the original version. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the poetry round.

Also - I'll just echo what others have said and pass on my thanks for sorting out the 'index' :)
 
Thanks for sorting the list :)

The edit has more punch to it for sure - great colours against that background...I would have loved to to close in though and make the image a little more abstract rather than show the whole thing...with the right mix of colours I'm sure you would have had people guessing as to what it was :)

Good first shot though - look forward to the next 51 :)
 
Here's week 2 then.

Let me have your thoughts on this before I tell you what I think about it.

15011052week2poetry.jpg


Tulip,
Swaying in the wind
the smell floating away on the breeze
the sight so beautiful
as a butterfly lands
Tulip, precious tulip

The poem is by an online author called Fuzz.
 
That bad eh? :(

I had a few ideas for this theme.

I looked at my local area, family history, etc and came up with coal mining (Grandad and Uncle both ex-miners), Pottery (wifes family) or canals as they are local as well.

I could find poems to suit these themes fairly easily but taking the pictures proved more of a challenge. Everything was covered in snow, my car was off the road until Thursday and the sky was grey and featureless for the canal shots :bang:

Which left me with my least favourite subject - still life.

I wanted to shoot Daffodils as it was easy to choose the right poem for them. Unfortunately January is not the right month for Daffs in Asda :lol:

This left me with the tulips.

I tried to make the best of having the flash still mounted on the camera (I have got to buy a lead) I used a roll of lining paper for the background supported on a clothes maid with sheets of polystyrene as reflectors at the sides and top. I then angled the SB600 upwards to get the results shown.

I'm not overly happy with the results but the shot is growing on me slowly.

Any suggestions for how to improve and possibly reshoot this one before the tulips die ?
 
Hi Andy - sorry I didn't get round to commmenting on Week 1. Week 2 and I'm already into catch up! :eek:

Week 1 Curved: I like the edited version best, and think you've done well with something out of your comfort zone. :thumbs: John's (Dark Star) suggestion of cropping in tight on a selection of counters would look good, too.

Week 2 Poetry: I found this theme difficult, too! I like the composition and the three different colours looks really cheerful. :thumbs: The heads are a bit overwhelmed by the leaves, but the focus is on the heads (spot on, imho!) so it's a little confusing.

It's easy for me to sit here and make suggestions, but I would either make the heads focused and more prominent in the shot, or make a feature of the lush green leaves and have the heads slightly oof. Oh - and I like the poem! :)


Jean
 
Thanks Jean.

I see what you mean about the focusing. I'm not sure whether to re shoot it or not. I have just ordered a 32" light tent thingy from ebay so may have a look at it when that arrives.

My goal for this challenge is to learn how to use lighting properly.

I do have a hot shoe adapter with a PC socket on it but not sure if it will kill my camera. It does work with the Fuji bridge camera though, and that has a macro setting. I may use the Fuji for close up still life so I can have off camera flash until I get a Nikon lead.

I try and comment on as many as I can but there are so many this year.
 
:wave: Hi Andy.

daddy day care said:
That bad eh? :(
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Absolutely NOT bad at all!
I only got my week 2 shot in last night, so this is the first chance I've had to start looking at the others. (and wow! are there a lot to look at already!)

Great to see that the 52 is getting you out of your comfort zone, that's what it's all about :thumbs:
And for somebody who doesn't like still life, you're doing a good job of convincing me that you're competent at it.

The colours are beautiful in this. I really like the fact that you didn't do the obvious and go for 3 of the same colour. Your lighting set-up might have been improvised, but it's worked well - you've certainly minimised the shadows that you get from camera mounted flash (although it would be nice if you could have totally eliminated them)
I love the poem too. Works very well with the shot.

If you're going to reshoot while there's still some life in the Tulips, then the one thing I'd have a think about is the lay out of the flowers.

If you're going to shoot the tulips lying flat on the ground, I think it might work better with the heads nearest the camera and the stalks fading out to the distance.
As it is my eye's getting a little bit confused.
With the Tulips the "right way up" in frame, my brain wants them to be stood vertically in a vase, but the oof stems in the foreground and the shadows are telling me that they're lying down. I also think that by shooting from the other end you'd eliminate more of the shadows under the main focal point of the heads.

I'm not sure that I explained that very well, but I hope it made sense.
 
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Sarah you explained perfectly. The flowers the other way is such a simple change but would be really effective. Why didn't I think of that ? :bang:

Thank-you for your kind words about my still life abilities as well.
 
If you're going to shoot the tulips lying flat on the ground, I think it might work better with the heads nearest the camera and the stalks fading out to the distance.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

It may also be worth trying to shoot at a lower angle rather to give more emphasis to the heads

Really like the 2nd version of week 1. :thumbs:
 
I like the image but agree with Sarah that it would be more effective shot form the other end, having said that I do like the placement of them as they aren't too neat and separated and to me do give an impression of movement in a breeze...
 
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