Ian's 52: Week 21: Isolation (pg 12)

Week 20: Stop

What a horrible theme.

I mean. Stop. Honestly. :bang:

I had a few things in mind this week. I've been up and down the motorway to Slough, so I took a couple of shots in the usual Birmingham car-park that is the M6. They were rubbish. No time to set up the shot, difficult to do when you only have a few seconds of stationary traffic, and it was a bit daft of an idea.

Stop smoking maybe - a photo of my electronic cigarettes. I may reshoot with this.

Problem was that Alison was in hospital this week. Quite a serious Op by all accounts and it's floored her pretty much. That leaves me to look after her which means no time for photography. To be honest, my mind's been on other things anyway. We're busy tomorrow, so tonight was my only time for the shot.

So I cleaned the outhouse out this week. The chickens have been sneaking through the cat flap and scoffing the cat food. I swear they would eat me if I fell unconscious on the lawn. Anyway, the problem with chickens is that they crap. A lot. And it's been hot. 2+2 = bad smell.

So I had to hose down the outhouse and scrape it all up. It was a horrible, filthy job and in the end, when it was nice and clean, in they snuck, ready to scoff more food. I chased them off, but I can't watch over them full time, so I needed a deterrent.

So I go looking in the garage to find something to replace the perspex flap, and I find a 6x4 photoframe. That's when the idea hits...

We have a natural deterrent in our 1/4 bengal psycho cat which #2 daughter calls Pixie. I call it Gismo after the Gremlin which doesn't go down well, but hey ho, I'm the adult :). When she's eating, or having a snooze and a chicken comes in, she sees it off quite violently. But Gismo isn't always around.

So here is my "A-Team would be proud" natural chicken deterrent. Something that makes them... Stop!

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I'm not happy with the composition, or the sharpness, but focussing on the head of a chicken is the toughest thing... They never seems to stand still...

I'll hopefully get round to commenting properly on other folks' 52s next week.

Let's have a decent subject for week 21 Simon. Please.

Ian.
 
Hope Alison is on the mend.

Love the story behind the image :) and the way you managed to capture the cat between the chickens.
 
Hi Ian, I hope Alison is recovering well.

I had a good chuckle at this week's image. It is a clever take on the theme and I cannot imagine how you managed to get the new cat flap between the two chickens! I love the story behind it and hope that it keeps them out. Maybe you should patent it!

Jenny
 
justlooking said:
Hope Alison is on the mend.

Love the story behind the image :) and the way you managed to capture the cat between the chickens.
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Thanks. She's still bed bound at the moment which means #2 daughter is grumbling about how much she has to do for herself. Teenagers.... :)

jennyb said:
Hi Ian, I hope Alison is recovering well.

I had a good chuckle at this week's image. It is a clever take on the theme and I cannot imagine how you managed to get the new cat flap between the two chickens! I love the story behind it and hope that it keeps them out. Maybe you should patent it!

Jenny
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Thanks Jenny. It was a case of lots of shots. Though I seem to have been very timely with my fixing of the cat flap. That photo of Gismo is all that's keeping them out at the moment, as the real Gismo is in comfort in the kitchen after having 4 kittens.

Didn't realise how ugly newborn kittens are...

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(More on my Flickr for anyone interested in cutesy kittens...)

Ian.
 
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The effect with the welding glass and the 7 shot HDR has worked well Ian :thumbs:

the Stop deterrent made me chuckle as did the story :thumbs:
 
Like the story behind the stop shot, can imagine it was hard to shoot with very active chickens running around, well done.
 
Best wishes for Alison having a speedy recovery!

Well done for your perseverance on reshoot....I think I might have lost the plot big time :lol: Nice result in the end and lovely to see Nellie and her eggs :)

I can SO identify with Stop....what an excellent idea. Now I have fenced the chickens into half the garden they don't manage to get in the house any more but if they get out of their half all my plants disapear in my bit :(

Glad to see Gismo had a successful birth, we have a new addition this week in the form of a small Rex rabbit christened Hovis by my 2yr old.
 
jgs001 said:
The effect with the welding glass and the 7 shot HDR has worked well Ian :thumbs:

the Stop deterrent made me chuckle as did the story :thumbs:
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Thanks John.

dan_yorkshire said:
Like the story behind the stop shot, can imagine it was hard to shoot with very active chickens running around, well done.
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They really are little buggers for being shot. Never still for a moment. We have a grey Aracana with bright orange eyes that I'd love to get a shot of but I've never known a chicken so camera shy.

Sonial said:
Best wishes for Alison having a speedy recovery!

Well done for your perseverance on reshoot....I think I might have lost the plot big time :lol: Nice result in the end and lovely to see Nellie and her eggs :)

I can SO identify with Stop....what an excellent idea. Now I have fenced the chickens into half the garden they don't manage to get in the house any more but if they get out of their half all my plants disapear in my bit :(

Glad to see Gismo had a successful birth, we have a new addition this week in the form of a small Rex rabbit christened Hovis by my 2yr old.
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Congratulations on your new bunny. We tried fencing our chickens in, but they jump from the roof of the henhouse, onto the border fence, then over next door and start scoffing their plants. Neighbours not chuffed despite the free range eggs.

So we decided to fence the plants in... :( Not good. We've given up on nice flowers in the garden and have turned it all over to veg/fruit. It's not so bad to be honest, because we'll take the fencing down in late autumn and let the birds go and weed & fertilise it for us.

Thanks for the comments all.

Ian.
 
A nice and different take on stop and the background story adds to the shot. Not an easy shot to get with a moving and white subject against a black background.


Love the cute kittens too.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Congratulations on your new bunny. We tried fencing our chickens in, but they jump from the roof of the henhouse, onto the border fence, then over next door and start scoffing their plants. Neighbours not chuffed despite the free range eggs.

So we decided to fence the plants in... :( Not good. We've given up on nice flowers in the garden and have turned it all over to veg/fruit. It's not so bad to be honest, because we'll take the fencing down in late autumn and let the birds go and weed & fertilise it for us.

Thanks for the comments all.

Ian.
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Thanks Ian. Yes keeping chickens is a challenge but worth all the effort in the long run :)
 
namllihs said:
A nice and different take on stop and the background story adds to the shot. Not an easy shot to get with a moving and white subject against a black background.

Love the cute kittens too.
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Thanks Steve. Glad people seem to be liking the back-story. It's half the fun for me.

Sonial said:
Thanks Ian. Yes keeping chickens is a challenge but worth all the effort in the long run :)
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Totally agree with you Sonia.

Ian.
 
Week 21: Isolation

What a week... Alison out of hospital but ordered to "rest" meant a fair bit of extra work for me. Not that I'm complaining! We all have to pull together at our place when someone's not well, and with no family to rely on, we are literally, all we've got.

I've also just finished a project for college, one of the shots was titled Isolation, so the temptation to re-use the shot was a little overwhelming... I wish I had.

Anyway, here's the shot.

4650613019_d11ae53307_b.jpg


And so beginneth the excuses. This was shot tonight, because I know we'll be busy tomorrow so time was against me starting at 10pm. I only have one tripod, and that was for the camera. No place to put a flash, or a lamp with any degree of control. After messing around with a lamp on an extension reel, at various heights, I just couldn't get the shadows right. In the end, I gave up, and relied on the room light (overhead bulb). The crop is quite tight. To my left is a door, and to the right is a pair of central heating pipes running down the wall, so being hunched in a corner was pretty much the only option.

Getting the focus was a problem. I ended up shooting at f16 and hoping for the best. ISO was set to 400, but the noise was still visible. I'm assuming that was the low light and high aperture, as the 50D normally gives exceptional results at ISO400 in daylight.

So when I finally got this on the computer, it didn't look good.

Self-crit:
- Not sharp enough. More practice required for distant portraits. I hereby promise to ease up on anyone's 52 where it's a soft self-portrait. Tried to fudge it with a "soft-glow" PP look which I'm artily referring to as "atmoshperic". I'd rather have had a sharper shot though.
- Composition is OK, but I look a little crumpled and I'm not sure what's going on with my head.
- Must Stop Using PP To Try And Rescue A Carp Picture. I'm going to try and have a PP holiday for a few weeks. I've tried a solarisation technique here, but the highlights are well blown and there is too much black. The overall effect, I quite like, but it's like papering over the cracks. Too much PP this week and it's the second time I've tried rescuing a poor shot with it.

Not overly happy with this, and I was looking forward to trying it, which is a shame. I envy folks who can envisage what they're going to shoot and then get the shot. I don't have that nailed down yet. Must Practice More.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. Another week done!

Ian.
 
Bit of a catch up for me, Ian.:)

Week 19: I like your Blue Peter filter - it looks engineered to last and is definitely a good bargain! :D

I love your story behind the Reshoot - and it was worth all the swearing/deleting/swearing. It looks well-balanced and doesn't shout HDR at me (that's a compliment, btw!) There's plenty of interest in the shot - the reflections in the water, the patterns of the two bridges (or should one be called a viaduct - even though it looks like a railway line?) the varied greens of the trees and bushes, just enough cloud in the sky for interest and (my favourite bit) the house peeping through the archway. Isn't it great when it all works out well! :thumbs: It was certainly worth the bike ride - I hope you didn't suffer too much the next day! :D


Week 20 Stop: This has to take a prize for the most original interpretation of any theme! Excellent. Pixie/Gismo is certainly giving your poor hens the evil eye! You've caught a great pose - you must have bribed those hens to stand like that for you! Priceless, Ian :clap::clap::clap:

Those kittens are soooo cute! Are you keeping any to even up the odds in the chicken/cat contest? ;)

I hope Alison is much better now, but taking it easy! I remember having teenagers in the house. :lol: (Actually, I loved it - but don't tell them! :D)

Jean
 
Catching up in haste -

Stop is a wonderful capture which made me laugh out loud. Great timing. (and cute kittens, too)

Isolation is very effective - it may not be what you had in mind but it works very well for me.

Hope Alison is making good progress.
 
Ian, you're putting me to shame.
You've had a crap few weeks and still managed to get out there and get something decent. Makes my feeble attempts at staying up to date last week look pathetic.

I really hope that Alison is making a good recovery - and that you'll have at least a few weeks respite from cleaning up chicken poo.

I've bought myself one of those slabs of welding glass, just not got round to working out how to attach it to the camera yet, so you're a step ahead of me there too.
Despite all the faffing about that week, you've ended up with a result to be proud of, so worth it in the end.
Your story also made me fell better about my failed exploits with the IR filter today (Long story, but very similar to your welding glass experience)

Stop : Made me smile. I really love the story behind it. The chickens stand out great against the black door and they look sharp enough to me :thumbs:
And how can you say that baby kittens are ugly? They're absolutely gorgeous.

Isolation : I think you're being far too harsh on yourself here.
Your critique around the blown highlights, sharpness etc is all valid - but do you know what? It actually works in this.
It might not be what you set out to do, but you've done an admirable job of creating something effective in PP. That's something to be proud of not ashamed.

I've only ever tried SPs once before and they are incredibly difficult, so absolutely 10 out of 10 for getting something that works well :clap:
 
Its all a learning process and if you can look at your image and see where you can improve then next time you achieve it you will have learn't. To add to that if you can sqeeze a bit of time for photography in while looking after your wife then you have to commend yourself for that. The picture is interesting, i like the texture of it and the picture turned over adds to the atmosphere and emotion behind the shot.
 
I hope Alison recovers fully soon Ian.

Isolation works perfectly. I understand about the corner of the room, although I seem to have more tripods... it's not easy though. I think, that in spite of the flaws, although actually, it may be because of the flaws, this one works very well.
 
Hi Ian, I also think you are being a bit harsh with the self crit. I think this works very well (even if it is not quite what you were aiming for). It is a very powerful image and shouts out isolation. Nothing wrong with a bit of PP.

I have never tried an SP and probably never will. They must be incredibly difficult.

Hope Alison is doing okay.

Jenny
 
SarahLee said:
Isolation : I think you're being far too harsh on yourself here.
Your critique around the blown highlights, sharpness etc is all valid - but do you know what? It actually works in this.
It might not be what you set out to do, but you've done an admirable job of creating something effective in PP. That's something to be proud of not ashamed.

I've only ever tried SPs once before and they are incredibly difficult, so absolutely 10 out of 10 for getting something that works well :clap:
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My sentiments exactly!! I really like the feel and atmosphere of this...the theme lends itself ......some amazing images are born from shots that some people would just disregard, it's called having an eye for an image and making it work which you have undoubtably done here :thumbs:

Hope Alison is feeling better.
 
Very original idea and it fits the theme Ian. I think we've all tried to rescue an image in PP before now that should have never made it past the recycle bin (hell, that's most of my pictures :lol: ) But i think that if this is one of your worse shot's then you're doing something right. Composition must have been tough in such a small shooting space but you managed with what you had. Valiant effort :thumbs:
 
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