PhiltheJuggler's 52! - Finally! Week 52 - Together - A mosaic finish..

I like this Phil, your side story of hunting for the fossils too certainly adds something to the image. Give yourself a virtual 'Blue Peter' badge for your holiday efforts in setting up the fossil and lighting it. A nice simple composition with lovely colour tone in the rock/fossil. Iain
 
Clever idea using the mirror and the rock's got a really nice colour and texture. This is nicely shot and the vignette frames it nicely. If I'd found a fossil I'd be dead chuffed.
 
Cracking shot Phil. Well composed, well lit and the vignette really suits the image.
 
Hi Phil,
I hope you're enjoying your holiday.

I like "distant" a lot. Beautiful portrait and definitely a distant look on her face.
But secret really is a standout shot.

I've come to this after the scratches have been removed, and the cloning is spot-on - can't even see a trace of where they were.
The composition and the lighting is what stands out for me though. I've only ever done these sort of mirror shots on black, and I'm hugely impressed by the way you've managed the white "non-background".
 
dade_f said:
SWEET!!! Love it and what a cool idea for the theme, you rock ;)
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daddy day care said:
Excellent take on the theme Phil :thumbs:

The mirror and the vignette really make it a strong image.

Andy
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blakester said:
I like this Phil, your side story of hunting for the fossils too certainly adds something to the image. Give yourself a virtual 'Blue Peter' badge for your holiday efforts in setting up the fossil and lighting it. A nice simple composition with lovely colour tone in the rock/fossil. Iain
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ladysue said:
Thats a different sort of secret Phil- hidden for 1000's of years. The reflection adds to it. That is a good surface that you used.Nice one.
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I really tried to think of a novel interpretation of the theme.

dlh said:
Clever idea using the mirror and the rock's got a really nice colour and texture. This is nicely shot and the vignette frames it nicely. If I'd found a fossil I'd be dead chuffed.
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holryn said:
Cracking shot Phil. Well composed, well lit and the vignette really suits the image.
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Thanks! The shot didn't quite work as well without the vignette.

SarahLee said:
Hi Phil,
I hope you're enjoying your holiday.

I like "distant" a lot. Beautiful portrait and definitely a distant look on her face.
But secret really is a standout shot.

I've come to this after the scratches have been removed, and the cloning is spot-on - can't even see a trace of where they were.
The composition and the lighting is what stands out for me though. I've only ever done these sort of mirror shots on black, and I'm hugely impressed by the way you've managed the white "non-background".
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Holiday was great thanks! The mirror worked better than I expected - it helped there was a white ceiling that provided for a blank reflection.

Many thanks all - as always your comments are much appreciated and spur me on to try to improve!

Phil
 
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Week 43 - Urban

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Urban

Another apology for being a little late this week - still getting on top of things after the holiday!

I wanted to try and get some shots at night using flash & to get an urban context with some graffitti and brickwork.

I tried a number of different flash setups & got some interesting results using a ring flash & a seperate hairlight on a tripod, but this shot was simply ringflash alone.

Taken on 1DSII, 24-105 @ 40mm, ISO 100, 1/125 @ f/7.1.

Apologies in advance - Zenfolio are updating their website so the picture may take a while to load.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking!

Phil
 
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Pictures should be visible by lunchtime - sorry! Zenfolio maintenance continues....
 
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Now live!
 
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Well it definitely says Urban to me Phil but the girl seems a little flat - like a cardboard cut out. There doesn't appear to be much depth there.
 
holryn said:
Well it definitely says Urban to me Phil but the girl seems a little flat - like a cardboard cut out. There doesn't appear to be much depth there.
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Thanks for comments. It is flat - I used flat lighting and added to the effect by desaturating a little! I guess the effect is not to your taste.....I almost imagined it as an album cover.

I did take many others - often with a second light to add shadows and depth, but I was working on theme of flat with the wall and graffitti on this one.

Phil
 
Cheers for the explanation Phil. I've not got into this sort of lighting so not wise to any of it. As you say it could certainly be an album cover. So it does work.
 
holryn said:
Cheers for the explanation Phil. I've not got into this sort of lighting so not wise to any of it. As you say it could certainly be an album cover. So it does work.
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No...thanks for your comments. It is very flat (albeit intentional) & maybe I should pick another shot from the shoot. I'll see the reaction of others and then maybe think again.

Phil
 
Hi Phil, for some reason your photos are not showing in the thread and I have to click on the larger version to see them (which is better anyway).

Secret - clever take on the theme and a beautiful image. The composition is spot on and the mirror really makes the shot. I also think the vignette really adds to the shot. I never think about adding things like that to my shots.

Urban - definitely fits the theme very well. I love the composition and the colours. I agree it is rather flat, but it would make an excellent album cover, so you have achieved what you were aiming for :thumbs:

Jenny
 
jennyb said:
Hi Phil, for some reason your photos are not showing in the thread and I have to click on the larger version to see them (which is better anyway).

Secret - clever take on the theme and a beautiful image. The composition is spot on and the mirror really makes the shot. I also think the vignette really adds to the shot. I never think about adding things like that to my shots.

Urban - definitely fits the theme very well. I love the composition and the colours. I agree it is rather flat, but it would make an excellent album cover, so you have achieved what you were aiming for :thumbs:

Jenny
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Thanks for your comments Jenny. Zenfolio had some issues, but should now be resolved.

It's funny how different shots have different reactions. I wasn't all that sure about Secret, but had loads of positive feedback, whereas I was really chuffed with Urban and very few comments!

As for vignettes, I tend to add them when there is negative space around the subject or I want to draw the eye into the middle of the shot.

Phil
 
Week 44 - Train

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Version 2: Photoshopped another picture of the yellow train to hide the blown highlights!

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Original with blown Highlights:

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Train

The light was lovely today and I decided to head for a local railway where there is usually a few classic locals shunting about up and down the track.

I took a number of candids of those working on the railway, but actually liked the perspective and lighting on this shot best.

Taken on 1DMKIII, 70-200 f/2.8 MKII @ 70mm, 1/300s f/2.8

Not an original take on the theme, but I hope I've created an appealing picture.

Hope you like it!

Phil
 
It certainly is an appealling image Phil. It has a good feel to it especially in your pp. It has good lead in lines (no pun intended ;)) drawing the viewers eye through the scene. It looks like you've had some tough highlights to deal with, particularly in the sky. My only slight niggle is with the highlight on the front of the oncoming train, my eye is drawn to that. As I said though I like the feel of your photograph, your subject and pp brings a vintage theme. Iain
 
blakester said:
It certainly is an appealling image Phil. It has a good feel to it especially in your pp. It has good lead in lines (no pun intended ;)) drawing the viewers eye through the scene. It looks like you've had some tough highlights to deal with, particularly in the sky. My only slight niggle is with the highlight on the front of the oncoming train, my eye is drawn to that. As I said though I like the feel of your photograph, your subject and pp brings a vintage theme. Iain
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Thanks Iain - there was a huge dynamic range in the scene and aside from the highlights on the front of the other loco I just about contained it (although some grad filters were applied in PP). I tried to lower the exposure on the front of the train which has reduced some glare but obvious cannot recover blown highlights.

Phil
 
You've definitely got the album cover feel to your urban shot Phil.
IMO the lighting works very, very well for what you were trying to achieve. You've completely eliminated any shadows and the composition and pose are spot on.
For my personal taste, the contrast is perhaps a little too much. The blacks, particularly in her hair and jacket are just that bit too black. However, I appreciate that it's all part of the look you were going for and is more a matter of preference than anything else.

Train : I hope you were safe with this one - it almost looks like you were stood in the middle of the tracks !!!
You can't get much more on theme than that and it's a very pleasing composition. I particularly like the way that the driver is hanging out the side - adds a real feel of activity to the shot.
I can see what you had to deal with with the dynamic range here, and I think you've done a great job of handling it. The highlights on the front of the other train are mildly irritating, and I'm actually wondering whether you actually need it in shot at all. I think you could get away with cropping from the LHS and still retaining the feel of the scene.
 
Urban- I like the idea of the graffiti which definitely gives an urban feel to the shot. It does look like an album cover.

Train- thats a lovely little steam train. I dont think I would have included the other train as it is a bit blown on the front. You certainly had some interesting lighting that day. Did you see a rainbow with that dark sky and the sunshine?
 
I prefer the steam train to the disel. The colours on the steam engine are very vibrant.
 
Hey Phil, really like Urban, it has a simplicity about it which works. The composition is good but the model face looks a bit flat, not sure how this is resolved as the hand doesnt look to bad.

Train, great picture which has used the good light well. I love the colours on the near train and there is a nice contrast with the ages of the two trains.
 
Nice one, Phil, but I am just not sure about the PP. I realise it was a tricky shot with the lighting conditions but my eye is drawn to the light bits on the oncoming train.

What I really love is the "busyness" of the shot with all the rails, the old and the new trains and the guy hanging out of the cab. The colours of the old train really jump out at you.

Jenny
 
Thanks for all the comments guys, & especially to Sarah for such a detailed response.

jennyb said:
Nice one, Phil, but I am just not sure about the PP. I realise it was a tricky shot with the lighting conditions but my eye is drawn to the light bits on the oncoming train.
Jenny
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As Sarah suggested I tried cropping the highlights & I also tried darkening them, but as they are totally blown, darkening is no help. If I'm feeling really adventurous I could take another shot I have of the train and PP it in.

Hmm....

Might try that now!

Phil
 
Please see the image post here as I've now photoshopped a non-blown version of the yellow loco into the original picture to avoid the blown highlights!

Do you think the splice is convincing?

In case you're interested, this is the shot I spliced it from:

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I opened both shots in Elements, selected the yellow face with the quick selection tool, pasted into a new layer into the other picture. I then added gaussian blur and increased the contrast and saturation to match the other photo.

Finally I added a little desharpening brush in Lightroom as I still thought it looked too sharp.

Thanks

Phil
 
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Sorry - I got behind with these...

Urban: I really like the whole idea here - the composition, the background with graffiti and the pose. Personally I am not so keen on the lighting but can see that this is a particular style - as others have said it would make a great cover.

Train: as soon as I saw this I started humming the Thomas the Tank Engine! tune :lol:. Love it! Well done with the photoshopping which I would never have spotted. The sky looks a bit odd, though - have you added a vignette or something?
 
SarahLee said:
:thumbs: Very clever bit of PP . . . and if I hadn't seen the original I would never have known that you'd done anything with it.
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ladysue said:
Thats loads better Phil. Well photoshopped.
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jennyb said:
I much prefer the tweaked version, Phil. Completely seamless :thumbs:

Jenny
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Many thanks all - I was pleased with how it turned out - I'm far from an expert with Photoshop Elements.

Tracer said:
Sorry - I got behind with these...

Urban: I really like the whole idea here - the composition, the background with graffiti and the pose. Personally I am not so keen on the lighting but can see that this is a particular style - as others have said it would make a great cover.

Train: as soon as I saw this I started humming the Thomas the Tank Engine! tune :lol:. Love it! Well done with the photoshopping which I would never have spotted. The sky looks a bit odd, though - have you added a vignette or something?
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Thanks, Tracer. The sky has a graduated filter on it - it was a bit bright without it & although I agree there is something unusual about the look, the shot was stronger with it than without it.

Phil
 
Very nicely done Phil... if the first one hadn't been shown, I probably would never have guessed about the splice. I like it...
 
Nice Phil.

I had no idea this was a spliced image until I read through the comments. Well done with that. The final image has an almost 3D quality to it, the way the colours on the steam train pop.
 
Thanks both - I rather liked the 3D effect - especially when you see it full screen!

Phil
 
Week 45 - Share

Sharing a kiss

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Week 45

I found this week really hard, mainly because I had a photo (see below) that would have been perfect for the theme, but I've kind of promised myself I'll use new photos each week.

I thought about doing a breaking-the-bread shot, but wasn't excited about that. I decided tonight (about 10.30pm) I was fed up of not having a shot, so I would head into town and got one!

I parked up near a nightclub and hoped that someone would comment on the huge camera and offer to have their picture taken. This indeed happened and I asked them to kiss!

I cropped the shot in lightroom, adjust colour and removed any background detail. I also added some negative space - it looked better than without to my eye.

1DsMKII, 35L @ f/3.5, 1/250 + 580EXII.

This is the shot from a few months back which I think would also have been a fit for the theme...
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Hope you like them and thanks for looking,

Phil
 
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:lol: You can always rely on drunk students!

It definitely made me smile :D
The slanted, diagonal composition is perfect for it and I think you were absolutely right to add the extra space to the RHS.
Yes the flash is harsh and has washed out the skin tones, but I actually think it works with this one. There's something about the pale skin, the blue tones in the clothes and the glossy hair that just feels right :shrug:
 
ladysue said:
That was a good idea parking near a nightclub and they provided you with an ideal shot for this theme.The extra space on the right does add to the picture. Well done.
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SarahLee said:
:lol: You can always rely on drunk students!

It definitely made me smile :D
The slanted, diagonal composition is perfect for it and I think you were absolutely right to add the extra space to the RHS.
Yes the flash is harsh and has washed out the skin tones, but I actually think it works with this one. There's something about the pale skin, the blue tones in the clothes and the glossy hair that just feels right :shrug:
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Many thanks both. I've deliberately made the light look harsher than it was - the raw file has more warmth, but I've desaturated a little to give a slightly edgier tone.

Phil
 
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