John's 2010 52, Week 27 Art (July 10th)

davidh6781 said:
I like that Mechanical shot. keep it up
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Cheers Dave :thumbs:

Harlequin565 said:
I really like that John. When you went into the description about how you went about it, I take my hat off. I tried a "macro" shot at 200mm the other day and it was awful. What was your shutter speed? 1/2oo with the flash??

I like the processing too, as well as the composition. Great stuff!

Ian.
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Thanks very much Ian... it's not easy is it ;)... The shutter speed was 1/160 at f/32 with the flash on manual, full power and set at 85mm focal length to try and squeeze as much as possible through my home made light guide.

aztec said:
One of the best so far in the mechanical section:thumbs:
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Thanks very much Shaun :)

dlh said:
Some really nice detail in mechanical John although I think it could do with a little more black in there. Not quite sure where the focus is but that doesn't really matter, it's a very interesting image (goes off to google Raynox) :clap:
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Thanks very much Darren. The focus is on the main watch cog. Even at f/32 there is no DOF with this setup.

robp said:
People - As another who struggles with photographing people (other than family and friend snaps) I congratulate you on your results. You have captured some lovely expressions here.
As far as the walls are concerned, if I have a busy background I tend to whizz round with the lasso and then gaussian blur it. Blimmin lazy, I know, but it does it for me.

Mechanical - I like everything about this shot: the composition, dof, motion blur and focus all work so well.
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Thanks very much Rob. I wasn't to bothered by the backgrounds so much, if I'm honest. These are all practice shots so I could get used to the settings, fov etc for the dress rehearsal, although under stage lighting, my 450d may be hard pressed. Although some of the shots are going to be used in the publicity.

justlooking said:
good detail in your mechanical shot. Can I ask why you chose to use mono?
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Thank you. I'd suspected mono was going to be the best option for this when I was shooting it. I actually preferred the result, as the gold colours are all very rich in the colour version. I can post it if you want.

The23rdman said:
Love the composition. Really good lines in that one.
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Thanks very much Dean :thumbs:
 
Fantastic! Excellent light, a very classy shot and a superb idea.
 
Thanks very much gents :thumbs:
 
Really like your mechanical shot. This is exactly what i would have liked to have been able to achieve. :clap:
 
Great pic for mechanical, love the DoF used and the angle it is shot from.

Wonder how it would look with a liitle more contrast.
 
Thanks all...

Dan it looks a bit like...

IMG_1125-Version3.jpg


I've had a play with the new Aperture 3 adjustment brushes too...
 
Stunning shot John, you have the lighting and DoF of to a tee, it certainly works for me. Very effective :thumbs:
 
Thanks very much Graham
 
Whatever the technical terms are, John, it's a cracking shot. That's pretty dammed macro'd as far as I'm concerned, and I can imaginge the dof is a nightmare, although you wouldn't know it from the end result! :thumbs:

Excellent interpretation of the theme and good b&w conversion, too. :clap::clap::clap:

Jean
 
jeangenie said:
Whatever the technical terms are, John, it's a cracking shot. That's pretty dammed macro'd as far as I'm concerned, and I can imaginge the dof is a nightmare, although you wouldn't know it from the end result! :thumbs:

Excellent interpretation of the theme and good b&w conversion, too. :clap::clap::clap:

Jean
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Thanks very much Jean... thankfully the cogs being so small... they are also really close together... that's the only reason I think the DOF has worked.

jennyb said:
That's a really nice shot, John. I like the version with the higher contrast and the DOF is perfect. Very "mechanical".

Jenny
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Thanks very much Jenny :thumbs:
 
Get a load of that micro-texture this week. Nice stuff... clean and simple. Can't grumble with that, and it certainly looks pretty mechanical to me. :)
 
Thanks very much Lee :thumbs:
 
Thanks very much Sarah... It's a tricky little devil to use, but the results are great, and it's a real cheap way of getting into Macro (when you can't afford an MPE65... or even a sigma 105 at the moment...) I heard about it on here, and I'm sure it was from Alby... the king of the extreme Macro...
 
I'm not really happy with this, and I may yet have time (that'll be a first this year ;)) to have another bash, but for now... This will just have to do...

I had another play with off camera flash, and finally worked out how to control the power (such control as there is) of my old manual camera flash. The setup was on the table, this flash was mounted on the red snapper under the table with an optical trigger thingy on the end of the PC sync cord, bluetacked to the edge of the table to it would fire the flash under it. That much worked at least :D... I used my 360afd on camera, bounced off the ceiling for lighting the scene and triggering the under table flash.

"Monkeh knew when he was beaten, Paddington was just too good at Chess"
IMG_1393.jpg


Lessons

1) It's far easier to achive an effect (like blowing out the wall) when you've worked out how to control the off camera flash power settings.
2) It's way to easy, when using more than one flash to blow the entire scene.
3) When you've not got the power set right, whilst you have no shadows as such, there's not much in the image either.
4) I've got a fair way to go till I've sussed this whole flash ballgame out.
 
He-he, it's brilliant John.
I'll admit to being 'lost' when you started talking about the technicalities of flash though.
 
Hi John,

Great picture and interpretation of the theme.

1st thought was composition wise, Paddington is a bit distracting. He's OOF and we're looking at his back. However when I saw Monkeh's arm puching the king over, and read the title, it's quite good to be left to imagine what the look is on Paddington's face. So I've changed my mind and I like the composition now.

Lighting is good. I'm not sure why you had a flash under the table though. Was that to blow out the wall? I guess without knowing the goegraphy of the set it's a bit hard to understand.

Either way, overall, I think this is a good shot for the week. And you learnt something too, which is always a good thing.

Nice stuff!

Ian.
 
That's a great interpretation of Play John, I think my only issue is the brightness of Paddington's hat distracting the eye when the main subject is Monkeh, the lighting seems spot on for me.

Looking at it again the other thing I'd like to see is the king in the process of falling with monkeh's hand (paw?) pushing at the top of it (bit of blutac and some motion blur pp'd in?). But that's me being demanding :D
 
RobC said:
He-he, it's brilliant John.
I'll admit to being 'lost' when you started talking about the technicalities of flash though.
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Cheers Rob... I'm learning loads about lighting this and so far at least it seems to be working... :thumbs:

Harlequin565 said:
Hi John,

Great picture and interpretation of the theme.

1st thought was composition wise, Paddington is a bit distracting. He's OOF and we're looking at his back. However when I saw Monkeh's arm puching the king over, and read the title, it's quite good to be left to imagine what the look is on Paddington's face. So I've changed my mind and I like the composition now.

Lighting is good. I'm not sure why you had a flash under the table though. Was that to blow out the wall? I guess without knowing the goegraphy of the set it's a bit hard to understand.

Either way, overall, I think this is a good shot for the week. And you learnt something too, which is always a good thing.

Nice stuff!

Ian.
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Thanks very much Ian. Yeah the plan of the flash under the table was to blow the wall, it's a bit bashed and the thought of cloning/healing all the little lumps, although it may have been well oof anyway. I'll be needing this trick over the weekend for a friend so thought it best to test it out too ;)

Rudders said:
That's a great interpretation of Play John, I think my only issue is the brightness of Paddington's hat distracting the eye when the main subject is Monkeh, the lighting seems spot on for me.

Looking at it again the other thing I'd like to see is the king in the process of falling with monkeh's hand (paw?) pushing at the top of it (bit of blutac and some motion blur pp'd in?). But that's me being demanding :D
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Cheers Dave, The hat... check, I can deal with that, the new brush tools in Aperture 3 are great for that... (I didn't notice it... there's always something isn't there ;)). I agree with you on the king, I tried to setup Monkeh to have his hand on the top, but nothing would stay still enough for me to even get the camera to my eye... let along back in position, so opted for the reaching for it.. I should have thought of bluetack though, and maybe some double sided sticky tape too. I'll bear that in mind for one of the reshoot cards. Thanks.
 
Absolutely love the play shot!

Did you shoot against a white background or cut out the background in processing? I ask because I'd love to cut the background from my play shot (in my thread - see signature) but when I tried it in photoshop none of the automated tools would do it properly and manually I just couldn't get it right.

Would welcome any advice.

Thanks
Jonathan
 
Great composition, really amusing - love the expression on Monkeh's face.
I also particularly like the way the chess pieces pick up the light.
 
acrobatx said:
Absolutely love the play shot!

Did you shoot against a white background or cut out the background in processing? I ask because I'd love to cut the background from my play shot (in my thread - see signature) but when I tried it in photoshop none of the automated tools would do it properly and manually I just couldn't get it right.

Would welcome any advice.

Thanks
Jonathan
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Cheers Jonathan. I didn't do that in shoppery... I had a flash gun set to blind under monkeh pointing at the wall to blow it out.

clud17 said:
Nice idea John, personally i think i would shoot it without the toys or maybe with a hand in show making a play. Lovely chess set too is it for show or can you beet paddington?
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Cheers Chris, wasn't sure on that, I may yet make a small project of the idea though.... It's not for show, and get's plenty of use... I can beat Paddington :D...

lizbeth said:
Great composition, really amusing - love the expression on Monkeh's face.
I also particularly like the way the chess pieces pick up the light.
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Thanks very much Liz. They did didn't they ...

Dave, as requested.... is the hat better ?

IMG_13931.jpg
 
Brilliant shot. Lighting is spot on. Don't think much of monkehs chances though :lol:

I really need to get a couple of extra guns and get to grips with lighting.
 
Nice idea John. Any shot with Monkeh in has to be a goodun, but Paddington isn't quite working in the position he is in the frame for me.
 
I do like this shot, but until you said who it was, I didn't realise Monkeh was getting beaten by Paddington. Maybe if the shot was moved over slightly to take in more of Paddington?
 
Ooh I like it, for some reason I'm thinking of a gangster game of poker.. weird!
I do wonder what it'd look like with just monkeh playing, so it looks as though the viewer is playing instead of paddington :P
Excellent shot anyway, it's made me chuckle :)
 
great interpretation of the theme and with all the fuss with the lighting, i think its worked out really well!
 
daddy day care said:
Brilliant shot. Lighting is spot on. Don't think much of monkehs chances though :lol:

I really need to get a couple of extra guns and get to grips with lighting.
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Cheers Andy. It makes quite a difference having the extra guns. I can only mount one off camera though (at the moment) but have 4, 2 I can use on camera, although one has no controls, and 2 I can't use on camera. 1 of each can't be used as a slave without wireless triggers, and I don't have any...

dlh said:
Nice idea John. Any shot with Monkeh in has to be a goodun, but Paddington isn't quite working in the position he is in the frame for me.
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Thanks Darren... I think you and Rich may be right... maybe more or less of Paddington for the reshoot...

Rich E500 said:
I do like this shot, but until you said who it was, I didn't realise Monkeh was getting beaten by Paddington. Maybe if the shot was moved over slightly to take in more of Paddington?
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Thanks Rich... Gotcha... I shall bear that in mind.

louise-knight said:
Ooh I like it, for some reason I'm thinking of a gangster game of poker.. weird!
I do wonder what it'd look like with just monkeh playing, so it looks as though the viewer is playing instead of paddington :P
Excellent shot anyway, it's made me chuckle :)
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Thanks Louise... I must admit I dodn't think of that.. :bang:

davidh6781 said:
MMMonkeh. cracking, i like that.
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Cheers David

Peter-T said:
great interpretation of the theme and with all the fuss with the lighting, i think its worked out really well!
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Cheers Peter, I made use of what I learnt with the lighting on this yesterday for friends.

justlooking said:
Always good to see Monkeh .. nicely on theme. Like your chess set too.
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Thank you.
 
Excellent interpretation of the theme, John. When you mentioned Monkeh I wondered what he'd be getting up to - but honestly, taking Paddington on at chess, has he no ambition - and losing, too. :eek: :lol:


I like everything about this except that big white space (sorry - nicely blown out wall :)) on the left. I would be tempted to crop it almost square, but that would lose all the other very attractive chess pieces, but I think it might give the action of the chess game more impact. Just a thought. :)


Well done on yet anaother leap forward on the lighting front.

Jean
 
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jeangenie said:
Excellent interpretation of the theme, John. When you mentioned Monkeh I wondered what he'd be getting up to - but honestly, taking Paddington on at chess, has he no ambition - and losing, too. :eek: :lol:


I like everything about this except that big white space (sorry - nicely blown out wall :)) on the left. I would be tempted to crop it almost square, but that would lose all the other very attractive chess pieces, but I think it might give the action of the chess game more impact. Just a thought. :)


Well done on yet anaother leap forward on the lighting front.

Jean
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:lol: thanks very much Jean. It was a good way to learn how to do the lighting... I'll have a think about a better option for including the chess pieces etc for a reshoot... but in the meantime... something like this ??

IMG_13931-1.jpg
 
Love the idea for this weeks theme, you have got the lighting just right to blow the wall although I'm not to sure if this type of background suits the shot. I wonder how a shot of them facing each other would have worked as in the sketches from 'Alas Smith and Jones'. The bright colours are a big plus for this shot as well.
 
:lol: This is the first 52 I've looked at this week, and I see that you had the chess idea too!

Good fun shot, nicely set up and full of character :clap:
I agree with the earlier comments about Paddington. As much as I love him, I don't think he really needs to be there . . . but he certainly doesn't spoil the shot either.

I'm always completely baffled by your lighting stuff, but it's something that I really need to get to grips with - and it's worked perfectly on that wall :thumbs:
 
foggy4ever said:
Love the idea for this weeks theme, you have got the lighting just right to blow the wall although I'm not to sure if this type of background suits the shot. I wonder how a shot of them facing each other would have worked as in the sketches from 'Alas Smith and Jones'. The bright colours are a big plus for this shot as well.
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Thanks Scott... Interesting idea... another angle I didn't think of...

SarahLee said:
:lol: This is the first 52 I've looked at this week, and I see that you had the chess idea too!

Good fun shot, nicely set up and full of character :clap:
I agree with the earlier comments about Paddington. As much as I love him, I don't think he really needs to be there . . . but he certainly doesn't spoil the shot either.

I'm always completely baffled by your lighting stuff, but it's something that I really need to get to grips with - and it's worked perfectly on that wall :thumbs:
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Thanks very much Sarah... gotcha on Paddington. As for the lighting, I'm kinda guessing my way through a lot of it based on things I've seen and read on here. It helps having a bunch of guns to play with of course ;)

Nick T said:
Hahaha, good fun shot there - gotta love monkeh! I do like the lighting, good effort :)
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Cheers Nick :thumbs:
 
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