weekly Elaine's 52 for 2015 - Christmas added - finished!

Manc Man said:
It a nice photo.

I find the trees are distracting me from the photo.. Chainsaw would sort it out lol

Love the old brick constructed viaducts
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alsjazzera said:
Hi Elaine, I quite like the composition with the train tight at the top, but the trees are slightly distracting do you not carry a chainsaw in your camera bag :LOL:

Have another good holiday (y)
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Thanks for the comments :)

Note to self: Need to check out the laws about walking around with a chainsaw and whether a violin case would be suitable camouflage :whistle:
 
Dem55 said:
Hi Elaine, scenic - lovely old bridge that, bit of a shame about all those trees though ;)

Have a good holiday!
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Thanks Lorraine. Please see previous reply :D
 
Bruja said:
Enjoy your hols Elaine :cool:

I'm going to disagree with your wait as I find the train a bit tight to the top of the scene, maybe portrait style would have allowed you to include everything you wanted to. IMHO it would look better cropped to the top of the viaduct and would be a cracking pic then. but I'll get my coat now :coat:
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Thanks Jill. I did take quite a lot of shots, both portrait and landscape formats whilst I was waiting for the train, but I felt that including the train made it fit better with my idea of a scenic railway rather than just a more general scenic shot.
 
sr1867 said:
As already mentioned for a busy looking picture it all works together really well for me
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Thanks Simon :)

pjm1 said:
Hiya Elaine... nicely spotted and well waited for the train! I'd be inclined to lift the shadows a bit (and perhaps reduce the saturation a smidge) and then for me you have a really strong image.

Nicely done just before you scoot off and make us all jealous with shots of sun and san and sea :(
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Cheers Paul! I actually increased the saturation in pp to give a bit more warmth to the image, but maybe that was because I was still suffering from hypothermia from the waiting around and needed something to warm me up rather than the image :eek:
 
NickD said:
I like that. It's on theme, and the train is well worth it's inclusion. I do find the extent of the branches a little distracting, but there's not really anything you could do about that.
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Thanks for looking and commenting Nick :)
 
XenosElaine said:
Thanks Jill. I did take quite a lot of shots, both portrait and landscape formats whilst I was waiting for the train, but I felt that including the train made it fit better with my idea of a scenic railway rather than just a more general scenic shot.
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Oops, my bad Elaine, sorry :( I missed that bit...:exit:
 
I'm not actually sure why the term Scenic Railway popped into my head. I had thought that it was an old-fashioned name for rollercoasters in general and so I used it as a play on words, but now I've just done a google search it seems that it was specific to one that used to be in Margate. I think I went there a few times as a kid when I had relatives living in Kent, so maybe the term just stuck with me and it's probably meaningless to most people :oops: :$
 
Hey Elaine.... You scenic image is a real teaser! I really want to see through that centre arch to the sun soaked area[emoji23] really like the darker autumn tones in the FG And bridge then the bright tempting BG. Such a shame the train that came along wasn't an old steam train - so inconsiderate of them [emoji23][emoji23]
 
Hey Elaine :)

I hope you had a great holiday !!! presuming you are back that is :)

Scenic - Sorry but this is way too cluttered for me, maybe a few steps further back to get the tree out of the foreground quite so much, and bringing the train into view a bit more, on a positive note that looks a great location for a return visit, just love the arches of that bridge :thumbs:
 
Dark Knight said:
Hey Elaine :)

I hope you had a great holiday !!! presuming you are back that is :)

Scenic - Sorry but this is way too cluttered for me, maybe a few steps further back to get the tree out of the foreground quite so much, and bringing the train into view a bit more, on a positive note that looks a great location for a return visit, just love the arches of that bridge (y)
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Still got another week and a half before we set off back home DK! 6 more nights here in paradise and then on to Kuala Lumpur for the city break part of our holiday, so I'm hoping for a theme that will let me get in some slightly exotic street shots this week :)

You're right about stepping back a bit to get a wider angle on the bridge, but if I'd done that I probably wouldn't be here to tell the tale, because i was standing on a very busy road bridge! I had a good walk around to see if there was a better angle, but if I crossed over the road I would have got lots of traffic in the foreground which might have spoilt the (false) image of being in some rural idyll :D
 
I'm back, so time for a big catch up :(

Week 4 - Companions. I saw this theme before we left home and knew exactly what I wanted to capture, but easier said than done! The first two are roughly what I was looking for, but strong sunlight and dark shadows don't help a lot.

#1 - Grooming session down on the beach
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#2 Look-out squad for the next tourists to scrounge an easy meal from!
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#3 Mr Xenos feeding the budgies at the bird park
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Week 5 - Elegant

#1 - OK, so we were in Malaysia, but the island we stayed on is right next to the Thai border and one evening we went to a Thai themed dinner. This lady was one of 3 who sat on podiums all evening demonstrating traditional Thai crafts and still managed to look as elegant by the end as she did at the beginning!

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#2 We took our lives in our hands each time we swam in the sea because the sea eagles were intent on dive bombing us! Very elegant on the wing, but also very fast and a b****r to get a decent shot of, so this is about the best I got.

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#3 - Back at the bird park. I thought these crested cranes were extremely elegant - they even wore Ascot-style hats!

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Week 6 - Watery

I obviously took loads of photos of beaches, boats and fountains, so it was hard to choose which to use for this theme. Finally narrowed it down to these 4.

#1 Watery lilies

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#2 One of the many tiny frogs who made the lily pads their home

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#3 - All those who didn't like the trees in my Scenic shot, please avert their eyes now - well we were staying in a 10 million year old rainforest, so a few trees were inevitable :p A rather watery stream running through the forest

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#4 Another bird - this one's a cormorant fishing on the water's edge. Wasn't sure whether to crop more from the top of this, but I thought the rolling wave in the bg fitted the theme, so decided to keep it in!

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With another 1200 or so shots to go through, I'm not sure whether I'll have the time or inclination to get my camera back out this week, so I may just have to cheat and use a few more holiday snaps for this weeks theme. I've already got a few in mind that may fit Bold :oops: :$
 
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It just has to be the colourful water lilies for a dull grey February day (y)
The frog is a close second though.
 
Some great images there for companion, elegant and watery. how does one choose.
Companion: Photo No 2 for me. Wonder what they were thinking?
Elegant: Well can only be the lady, she certainly looks very elegant indeed. Well Done on getting a sea eagle. Te crested cranes actually look very elegant so on second thoughts that have to share joint first place with the lady :)
Watery: The water lilies as they need a watery place to live and the colours are so vibrant and needed on such a cold misty day.
 
Companions.....Has to be the budgies for me...lovely catch.

Elegant. The Thai lady would be my choice, but it's a little soft, so I'm plumping for the sea eagle.

Watery. Waterlilies for me. The colours are lovely.
 
Pinkbikerbabe said:
A great catch up from you some cracking shots, really like the watery image.
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Thanks Mandy :)
Cobra said:
It just has to be the colourful water lilies for a dull grey February day (y)
The frog is a close second though.
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Thanks Cobra. The frogs were only about a cm long, but there must have been hundreds of them living in the lily pond and I took so many shots of them, I had to get at least one in :D
 
QUOTE="HeartandSoul, post: 6722709, member: 59779"]Some great images there for companion, elegant and watery. how does one choose.
Companion: Photo No 2 for me. Wonder what they were thinking?
Elegant: Well can only be the lady, she certainly looks very elegant indeed. Well Done on getting a sea eagle. Te crested cranes actually look very elegant so on second thoughts that have to share joint first place with the lady :)
Watery: The water lilies as they need a watery place to live and the colours are so vibrant and needed on such a cold misty day.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Mandy. The monkeys in #2 were just sitting on the roof watching what was going on below them and I thought that the one on the right almost looked like it had a walkie-talkie in its hand, telling the rest of the troop "tourists at 2 o'clock, send in raiding party" :D We were in our room one afternoon, when we saw one of them casually saunter onto our balcony, straight over to the patio door (which was thankfully locked) and tried to turn the handle. No wonder they call them cheeky :rolleyes:
 
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Mich56 said:
Really lovely shots Elaine - love the water lillies :)
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Thanks Michalene :)

viv1969 said:
Companions.....Has to be the budgies for me...lovely catch.

Elegant. The Thai lady would be my choice, but it's a little soft, so I'm plumping for the sea eagle.

Watery. Waterlilies for me. The colours are lovely.
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Thanks Ruth. I tried to take some shots of the Thai dancers who were even more elegantly dressed, but the combination of low lighting, hand held camera, no flash and abundant Tiger beers meant that they all just came out as a blur :beer: At least the craft demonstrators stayed reasonably still, so they were only a bit oof - relatively speaking :oops: :$
 
Hi Elaine - great catch up.

Companions - I like the first shot best.
Elegant - the Thai lady is a great choice , so very elegant, though I like the cranes too
Watery - it's the bird again, nicely shot andI like that you've kept the wave in at the top
 
Hi Elaine, welcome back!

Companions ... those budgies are lovely colours! (but the white one didn't come out so well).

Elegant ... Thai lady is very lovely.

Watery ... the lillies ... great shot.


Now you've got 10,000 crits to make.
 
Companions: Don't like monkeys, not at all, so the shot doesn't appeal to me however I do like the picture with the budgies, I'll bet it's not hard to get them to do that, I'm the same with my guinea pigs!

Elegant: Perfect interpretation, elegant indeed.

Watery: I like all your wartery shots but I go with your original submission of the watery lilies; sharp good DoF and well-composed.
 
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Phew, well done on being so dedicated to the challenge on holiday :)

Water lilies for me for Watery although the toad is a close second

Elegant - The birds in their Elegant Ascot hats (y)

Companions - I prefer the first one but it looks a little over sharpened?
 
Hey Elaine - some fab holiday photos!
Companions: definitely the first one - that's what are for right?? [emoji23]

elegant: the lady wins it for me - exotic and elegant combined

Watery: wow, love the frog but the colours and feel of the lilies get my vote[emoji4]
 
Many thanks for all the comments. It's been a very busy week, so I'm sorry for not responding individually, but I really do appreciate the feedback!
 
So, Friday again. Been back a whole week now and the only time I've touched my camera was to take out the SD card, so as I'll be away again in about 3 weeks' time and I don't want to get too far behind I'm resorting to shoehorning some more holiday snaps into week 7's theme of Bold.

#1 & #2 are monkeys again - sorry Martin, but I reckon nearly half the 1300 shots I took were of monkeys! Of the two different types of monkeys on Langkawi, the leaf monkeys are my favourites, they pretty much ignore humans and mind their own business of spending all day searching out the trees with the tastiest looking leaves. I love the way their bold white eye patches give them a permanent look of surprise and amazement at everything that's around them.

#1 Bold Markings

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Not quite so keen on the macaques as the leaf monkeys. They'll eat just about anything they can lay their hands on and are constantly on the look out for an opportunity to rob the tourists. The young ones are cute enough, but I find the adult males a bit scary - specially when they're banging on your window to be let in!

#2 Bold as Brass

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Finally, in response to all the positive comments about the waterlilies, a few more boldly coloured flowers (not a clue what they are!)

#3 Bold Colours

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Bold as brass for me Elaine, it works on a few levels :)
 
Cobra said:
Bold as brass for me Elaine, it works on a few levels :)
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Dem55 said:
It's the second one for me too Elaine - as Cobra says, bold in more ways than one, nice shot
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Thanks for the comments. Yes, it was a bit of a fluky bonus that the brass lamp happened to be in the window :)
 
Week 8 - Relax. This was a bit of a "get it in before I have time to start pondering on it" type of shot. Not altogether happy with the lighting - I used a soft flash and added a touch of spotlight in pp - and it all looks a bit too soft and dark to me. However, I've concluded that that helps to add to the relaxed feeling and decided to PABD - and at least it's not another holiday snap :rolleyes:

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Hi Elaine, now that looks like a good recipe for relaxation and nicely composed, if I had to offer some (small) crit, it's a shame you've cropped the top of the flowers in the vase off, but I do like the shot :=_

By the way, your linky's not working
 
Thanks Lorraine, link fixed!
 
That's certainly a nice relaxing subject Elaine :thumbs:
I understand what you were trying to do with the mood,
but maybe just boost the highlights a little?
And the flowers have already been mentioned ;)
 
Bold, I like the wonderment in #1 money's face. Looks a little OOF, though.

Relax, I'm not one that can relax in a bath, I get bored very quickly :)

On theme, nice elements, as said flower, and it would improve with a little more pop to the colours and a little lift in the light, but not too much to loose the relaxed feel.

Cheers.
 
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