Karma's 52. Updated with all!

Ok, so I'm back from Greece (Zakynthos to be exact)! Thanks for the feedback again guys. I see I've missed Grunge week... I'll have to come back to that one... what a bitch of a theme! And I see this week is Respect, not as bad, but will require some thinking too. Ok, 2 photos to get working on.

In the mean time here's a link to my favorites from Greece:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karmagarda/sets/72157622285789858/

I made a few "beginners errors" on some by forgetting to reset the ISO from night shots :bonk: but anyway. You live and learn.

I'll be back with the theme photos late in the week.
 
Ok, no inspiration this week. So I'm posting 2, the grunge shot really just being a filler. God, such a hard theme!

Anyway, I was in Bath during the week taking photos of, what else, but the Roman Baths! Really interesting place with lots of really cool architecture. I really enjoyed it. So in regards to Grunge, this was the best I could come up with:



My own thoughts on this? ... no comment! It's mostly PP to bring it to the above level... anyway... The picture is of the water in the Bath, but I much prefer this picture!

 
Right, I had a think whether or not I'd try get a better photo but don't think I'll get a chance over the next couple of days. So here's one I spotted in St Ives while I was down in Cornwall. (had a nice little tour over the last few days!)

What I spotted here was more of a mutual respect as opposed to screaming out "RESPECT!" if you get what I mean... anyway, here it is:

 
Grunge - well that water is definitally grungey.

Respect - I really like this, my only complaint is the angle, if you had stood a little more to your right you would have caught a little more of there faces.
 
Toothie said:
Grunge - well that water is definitally grungey.

Respect - I really like this, my only complaint is the angle, if you had stood a little more to your right you would have caught a little more of there faces.
Click to expand...

Thanks. In regards to Respect, I have the same battle with that photo and it's why I nearly didn't upload it. Problem was, it's a semi cliff edge I'm standing at so didn't have much room to play with :D

Waiting for me down below was this (taken from the same place):

 
Just catching up! Seems to be the story of my life at the moment. :lol:

Grunge: Yeah - a really hard theme - but that water looks way too grungy to go anywhere other than down a drain. Full marks for grungieness. I prefer the other picture - sod the theme. :thumbs:

Respect: That is such a lovely picture. You can imagine that they've been together for yonks and are just content to look at the view and share a quiet moment. Ahhhhh :love: btw, that angle is great - given the alternative. Those rocks look a tad dangerous. :lol:

Jean
 
Grunge... That's grungy water ok, but it looks like the drain is to grunged up for it :D... well done. I agree with Jean on the other picture too.... much better

Respect. Excellent take on the theme, shame you couldn't get a little to the left, but I agree with you on the basis of what was on your left.
 
Yes grunge was a terrible week for most of us...:lol:

Ok for a filler shot, I'm sure your not that happy with it...

Respect is much more like it... yes a tad to the left would have been better but then so it staying alive to photograph another day...:lol:
 
Respect:

I don't mind the composition at all. I think the angle you caught them at is fine...

Personally I think a colour version would have been better....I'd like to see the lovely blues and greens of the sea and grass.....
 
I far prefer the second grunge shot - even though it's not really grungey :lol:
Bath is actually one of my favourite cities in the UK. Fascinating place.
I don't think you've done a bad job of pulling something back in PP on No.1, but it's just not quite working for me.

Now respect is great IMO :clap:
Personally I like the angle. It feels like you've just stumbled across them in that moment and maintains the feeling of them being in their own little world.
The processing really works for me too. I think it gives it a timeless quality to the image that you might lose in colour.

p.s. I like the shot of the waves on the rocks too, even though it's not part of the theme.
 
Respect... i think that says it all, the angle works for me and the shot conveys the theme.:clap:
 
karmagarda said:
Thanks. In regards to Respect, I have the same battle with that photo and it's why I nearly didn't upload it. Problem was, it's a semi cliff edge I'm standing at so didn't have much room to play with :D

Waiting for me down below was this (taken from the same place):

Click to expand...

yeah falling in not so good ;)
 
The wave shot has a lot more impact and is visually very striking (no pun intended). Personally, I'd have used this shot for the Respect theme, as an angry sea would definitely merit it. The contrast between the deep blue see, and the fizzing whie froth and spray is great.
 
Damnit... I never thought of that! When you get an idea in your head it's hard to start thinking outside of that box eh!
 
Ok, I've lost interest in the Friendship theme so I'm putting in a filler again!

The message I had planned to convey was pretty much the same as Kdot, but he got in before me! I think it's sad that friendship today seems to be electronic. Even relationships and romantic connotations have been reduced to facebook "poke" or "gift" applications as opposed to the good old fashioned love notes or bunch of flowers. There's a lot to be said for the old style of friendship, it was a lot more personal. These days people seem to sit behind the steely facade that is a computer, be it a laptop/desktop/mobile phone, and sometimes even publicly flaunt their friendship to the world. It's terribly odd!

Anyway, here's a mediocre photo to go with my thoughts

DSC_0191.jpg
 
Last edited:
Ooops catch up!

Grunge :) well its grungey alright - might have cropped a little tighter to focus more on the grunge reflections :) Good colours!

Respect: I like this :) nice study of a pair who obviously respect each other :) well framed!

Friendship: Good thoughts - the shot is minimal and kind of represents the soullessness of that kind of modern friendship that we all indulge in :) I think it conveys your ideas really well :)
 
I share you thoughts about Friendship, we should value are true friends more. That's not to say I don't enjoy my correspondence with my fellow tp'ers. The shot portrays the emptiness of so called electronic friendship very well. You've done well for a filler!
 
MASSIVE apologies for never posting on your thread before - I have no good excuse :bonk:

Easy - I like #1 the best - great sharpness for the book and then the DOF gives everything else a nice comfy, fuzzy "taking it easy" feel.

Colour - Fantastic sky and shapes of the boats. I'm not sure the trees on either side add anything - I pretty much agree with everyone elses comments on cropping it a bit.

Food - Too dark and central. I think your self crit is spot on and hope you get a chance to re-shoot this one because I think the simplicity of the idea could really work.

Exposed - Personal taste, it's too overexposed for me resulting in too musch loss of detail. Putting that aside I wish your feet were in frame. What I love is way you have twisted the theme - with the shot itself being over-exposed but you remain hidden behind your hat. Clever :thumbs:

Mono - Congrats on the published shot! I really like the feel of this one - the only crit I'd have is to get rid of the vase and have the flower slightly higher in the frame. It could do with a bit more oomph (technical term!) which I'm sure could be sorted in the PP.

Season - Fantastic - easily your best shot so far! Great DOF, colour, composition, the lot. I even like the border! I'd be well chuffed with that :clap:

Grunge - It's on theme but not doing much else for me I'm afraid. You can't have great ideas every week though and this was a damn tricky theme!

Respect - I would have used the angry sea shot myself - lovely colours and impact to that one. I like the idea behind the shot you did use but as others have said the angle isn't quite right.

Friendship - Not bad seeing as how you lost interest in it. The only thing I can suggest is to have a text message saying something that should really be said face to face just to bring it a bit more obviously on theme.

PHEW... I'll try to keep up to date from now on - looking forward to seeing your next shot :thumbs:
 
I love the sentiment behind friendship . . . something I totally agree with. The stark background and isolation of the phone really add to it. Is that a window with blinds that you've used? If so, it adds to the feel of being isolated at home on your own with just your phone or company.

The phone looks a tad soft on my monitor, but that could just be me.
But for a filler, that's pretty damn good IMO :thumbs:
 
Great sentiment behind this photo. It's sad that something as important as friendship can be relegated to facile electronic messages, but then mobiles, instant messaging and email help up to keep in touch with actual friends as well as virtual ones - so perhaps it's not all bad. :)

The photo may not be one of your favourites, but I agree it does show the bleakness of loneliness of e-communications. Not a bad filler at all, imo. :)

Jean
 
Dark Star said:
Ooops catch up!

Grunge :) well its grungey alright - might have cropped a little tighter to focus more on the grunge reflections :) Good colours!

Respect: I like this :) nice study of a pair who obviously respect each other :) well framed!

Friendship: Good thoughts - the shot is minimal and kind of represents the soullessness of that kind of modern friendship that we all indulge in :) I think it conveys your ideas really well
Click to expand...

Thanks dark!

maddog.mark said:
I share you thoughts about Friendship, we should value are true friends more. That's not to say I don't enjoy my correspondence with my fellow tp'ers. The shot portrays the emptiness of so called electronic friendship very well. You've done well for a filler!
Click to expand...

Cheers Mark! I won't lie, I enjoy sending the odd text myself :D.

Daysleeper40 said:
MASSIVE apologies for never posting on your thread before - I have no good excuse :bonk:

Easy - I like #1 the best - great sharpness for the book and then the DOF gives everything else a nice comfy, fuzzy "taking it easy" feel.

Colour - Fantastic sky and shapes of the boats. I'm not sure the trees on either side add anything - I pretty much agree with everyone elses comments on cropping it a bit.

Food - Too dark and central. I think your self crit is spot on and hope you get a chance to re-shoot this one because I think the simplicity of the idea could really work.

Exposed - Personal taste, it's too overexposed for me resulting in too musch loss of detail. Putting that aside I wish your feet were in frame. What I love is way you have twisted the theme - with the shot itself being over-exposed but you remain hidden behind your hat. Clever :thumbs:

Mono - Congrats on the published shot! I really like the feel of this one - the only crit I'd have is to get rid of the vase and have the flower slightly higher in the frame. It could do with a bit more oomph (technical term!) which I'm sure could be sorted in the PP.

Season - Fantastic - easily your best shot so far! Great DOF, colour, composition, the lot. I even like the border! I'd be well chuffed with that :clap:

Grunge - It's on theme but not doing much else for me I'm afraid. You can't have great ideas every week though and this was a damn tricky theme!

Respect - I would have used the angry sea shot myself - lovely colours and impact to that one. I like the idea behind the shot you did use but as others have said the angle isn't quite right.

Friendship - Not bad seeing as how you lost interest in it. The only thing I can suggest is to have a text message saying something that should really be said face to face just to bring it a bit more obviously on theme.

PHEW... I'll try to keep up to date from now on - looking forward to seeing your next shot
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks! Nice to get a full list of feedback on all the photos again. I like the idea about having something written in the text too... and yeah, I need to go back and reshoot that food shot. Just keep forgetting to do it.

SarahLee said:
I love the sentiment behind friendship . . . something I totally agree with. The stark background and isolation of the phone really add to it. Is that a window with blinds that you've used? If so, it adds to the feel of being isolated at home on your own with just your phone or company.

The phone looks a tad soft on my monitor, but that could just be me.
But for a filler, that's pretty damn good IMO
Click to expand...

Cheers Sarah. It's actually a window with bars. I thought it was fitting because it's almost like a jail! But I was trying to not make it take over the photo. I'm wondering now if I got a larger DOF would it have worked better... mmm, maybe.


jeangenie said:
Great sentiment behind this photo. It's sad that something as important as friendship can be relegated to facile electronic messages, but then mobiles, instant messaging and email help up to keep in touch with actual friends as well as virtual ones - so perhaps it's not all bad.

The photo may not be one of your favourites, but I agree it does show the bleakness of loneliness of e-communications. Not a bad filler at all, imo. :)

Jean
Click to expand...

Thanks! I do agree, I think phones do help us keep in contact where we otherwise may not have done so. I do think that people have a habit of putting less effort in though, phones and computers have made things too easy! (Says me who works with computers for a living :thinking:)


Also, I'm late this week again. I had a stag weekend to both arrange and visit. And I forgot to charge my camera battery so I only have a couple of photos that aren't really suited to the theme :bonk:. Anyway, I'll get my ass in gear this week
 
Season - that's a great shot and well worth getting mucky for :D

Grunge - I can see what you were aiming for, and it was a b****r of a theme, but it's not working for me, sorry :(

Respect - I really like this, you can tell they look comfortable together and it's respect that keeps relationships together. I like the PP too :clap::clap:

Friendship - I agree with Dark Star, it symbolises the barreness of what we see as friendships :clap::clap:
 
i Agree with the others sentiments. only gripe i have is it looks a little soft. apologies if that was the intention.
Jon
 
I don't think your friendship is a filler, i think it fits the theme well and i know what you mean about moden friendship. :)
 
Bruja said:
Season - that's a great shot and well worth getting mucky for :D

Grunge - I can see what you were aiming for, and it was a b****r of a theme, but it's not working for me, sorry :(

Respect - I really like this, you can tell they look comfortable together and it's respect that keeps relationships together. I like the PP too :clap::clap:

Friendship - I agree with Dark Star, it symbolises the barreness of what we see as friendships :clap::clap:
Click to expand...

Thanks :). Don't worry about the grunge shot, it didn't work for me either :D


corky said:
i Agree with the others sentiments. only gripe i have is it looks a little soft. apologies if that was the intention.
Jon
Click to expand...

Thanks Jon. I don't believe the original wasn't quite as soft, I think it was an online resize that caused that. But it's not my best photo anyway!


Toothie said:
I don't think your friendship is a filler, i think it fits the theme well and i know what you mean about moden friendship. :)
Click to expand...

You're too kind! I did have good intentions, but I ran out of time. I suppose it's not that bad, but definitely not my best :lol:
 
The fresh start for me here is finally trying to retake that blasted mushroom shot! I think I'm going the right direction with these type of photos, so this is a fresh start in that manner for me. But I did decide to chose a slightlier stinkier subject just to twist the theme a little ;) (Plus, we're all out of damn mushrooms :lol:)

I must try to go back and retake the mushroom one too though. I think I'm getting the hang of these. Please feel free to correct my ass though :D

 
Last edited:
Just trying something different. Not sure if it worked. Not much words this week. I have a glass of wine waiting for me too ;) :exit:

 
Friendship, I really like what you've portrayed, very simple, with a sort of OOF electronicy type background too. I think the phone is a little on the soft side.

Fresh Start, doesn't really do much for me I'm afraid. I think the content is good and well shot, and the background good and black, but for me there's too much black and the garlic is a little small.

Passion, well done. There's a lot to see in such a limited content image. It fits the theme nicely :thumbs:
 
jgs001 said:
Friendship, I really like what you've portrayed, very simple, with a sort of OOF electronicy type background too. I think the phone is a little on the soft side.

Fresh Start, doesn't really do much for me I'm afraid. I think the content is good and well shot, and the background good and black, but for me there's too much black and the garlic is a little small.

Passion, well done. There's a lot to see in such a limited content image. It fits the theme nicely :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks! Looking back on it I'm not overly impressed with my fresh start shot. I think I've been trying too hard to squeeze them into a theme as opposed to waiting for the correct subject to come along. So I'm done with these for a while. I'm going to wait for the theme to fit this shot next time. Also, this isn't quite my style of photography, but it was fun learning how to do it.

Glad you like passion though. I think I could work on the composition part of that a bit better. It's a bit scattered, needs a bit more thought.

Seeing as I didn't add any thoughts with the photos I'll add them here.

First thing is I need to sit back and think about what photos and what style I want to get out of my photography. I'm at a bit of a standstill at the moment. I did have lots of ideas with different styles, but I might just go back to what I enjoyed at the start; which was evening to night photography.

Another thing I learnt from this. I need to figure out the focus settings of my camera. I'm not sure what it's set to focus on, but it refused to focus on what I wanted. 9 times out of 10 the particular object I wanted in focus was out of focus.

A passing thought though. How the hell did people work in the film days! Digital makes it so bloody easy to come back and reshoot. I'm so close to buying a film camera, learning the dark room, and see if that helps my photography. I think I nearly slipped back into my old way of relying on this a bit too much. What I'd started doing a lot is only allowing myself 1 or 2 shots of a subject. It's definitely make me think more about my shots as opposed to loading my camera and then figuring out the best one when I return. It does have the downfall of some of the particular things I've spotted come back as duds :lol:. But it's helped me think a bit more. I must start doing this again. I read an interesting piece once about photographers out on a walk but only allowed to take 5 shots (must look it up, it may have been on this forum). If I find it I'll post the link!
 
Last edited:
For Fresh Starts, I agree with comments that the shot is well taken, but the garlic needs to be a bit bigger in the shot.

Regarding passion - that's a great shot, and well devised, I like it - although haven't you confused passion with lust!!!??? :lol:
 
Fresh Start :

That mushroom shots really been playing on your mind hasn't it?
This one is so much better. You've got far more light on the garlic than you got on the mushroom. Nice detail on the garlic head (love the really deep shadow underneath it) and great dof on the cloves :thumbs:

My only niggle is that I had to lean right in to the screen to see all of that. For me there's too much black and not enough garlic in the shot. I think that a crop to lose some of the blackness and make the garlic larger in the frame would really work wonders . . . I'd like to see the image displayed a bit larger too to make the most of all that detail.

Passion :

Great idea :thumbs:
I know that we had a similar shot from somebody in one of the other weeks (sorry can't remember who) and I loved the concept then too.

The way that you've arranged the glasses and the angle that you've shot them at is spot on.
I can't help feeling that the condom is a little bit lost down on the bottom all on its own though (although you could read more meaning into passion from that ;) )
Personally, I'd quite like to see all the elements grouped a little bit closer together. I think the glasses are just a touch too close to the top of the frame.
 
Fresh Start: Well done on getting such a good black background. I'd crop to make the garlic larger, too.

Passion: I like this - a good idea and the composition suggests the idea of choice. Very clever, methinks. :)

As Sarah said, a wee bit more space above the glasses would be good, but it doesn't spoil the shot for me.

Jean
 
Kdot said:
For Fresh Starts, I agree with comments that the shot is well taken, but the garlic needs to be a bit bigger in the shot.

Regarding passion - that's a great shot, and well devised, I like it - although haven't you confused passion with lust!!!??? :lol:
Click to expand...

Thanks! Maybe passion is depicting a bit of both ;)


SarahLee said:
Fresh Start :

That mushroom shots really been playing on your mind hasn't it?
This one is so much better. You've got far more light on the garlic than you got on the mushroom. Nice detail on the garlic head (love the really deep shadow underneath it) and great dof on the cloves :thumbs:

My only niggle is that I had to lean right in to the screen to see all of that. For me there's too much black and not enough garlic in the shot. I think that a crop to lose some of the blackness and make the garlic larger in the frame would really work wonders . . . I'd like to see the image displayed a bit larger too to make the most of all that detail.

Passion :

Great idea :thumbs:
I know that we had a similar shot from somebody in one of the other weeks (sorry can't remember who) and I loved the concept then too.

The way that you've arranged the glasses and the angle that you've shot them at is spot on.
I can't help feeling that the condom is a little bit lost down on the bottom all on its own though (although you could read more meaning into passion from that ;) )
Personally, I'd quite like to see all the elements grouped a little bit closer together. I think the glasses are just a touch too close to the top of the frame.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sarah. I've replaced the garlic shot as per advised. I think everyone was spot on about it getting lost with all the black. Larger version is availble by clicking on the link and changing the sizes. If you can't see that button here's the larger size: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2558/3974851183_91983e9e54_b.jpg

I felt the same about passion myself after I uploaded. It feels a bit scattered. It would have been better grouped a bit closer.

jeangenie said:
Fresh Start: Well done on getting such a good black background. I'd crop to make the garlic larger, too.

Passion: I like this - a good idea and the composition suggests the idea of choice. Very clever, methinks. :)

As Sarah said, a wee bit more space above the glasses would be good, but it doesn't spoil the shot for me.

Jean
Click to expand...

Thanks Jean! Garlic photo updated too.
 
I like what you were trying to achieve, but this doesn't work for me. I checked out the largest version on flikr and still had to work out what the other items were. may'be its my monitor, so apologies if it is.
 
corky said:
I like what you were trying to achieve, but this doesn't work for me. I checked out the largest version on flikr and still had to work out what the other items were. may'be its my monitor, so apologies if it is.
Click to expand...

No need to apologise! It's a learning process for me, and I learnt not to force a certain picture just to satisfy a theme. Plus, crit is good. Pointing out the bad stuff makes me stop doing the bad stuff ;)
 
*Creeps in...* :suspect:

*Drops the photo...*


*Leggits before the mods spot him...* :exit:

:D

edit:
I'll actually add a few serious comments too:

1. I need a new tripod. The minute you extend the legs it's affected by the lightest of winds.
2. I need a new tripod

(larger size here)
 
Last edited:
really liking fresh start and water

Passion i love the idea but think that the glasses are too close to the edge of the frame and would have liked to have seen a more choic composition to convay the passion of the moment.
 
Blimey I've got a bit of catching up to do.

Fresh Start, well composed and shot just not doing a massive amount for.
Passion, not quite sure about the composition, the glasses and bra seem to be disappearing out of the frame.
Water, not half bad for someone in need of a new tripod!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top