weekly Photo 52 - 2012 - Donnie - Week 33 TIME - posted Tuesday 21st August

Good shots for authority. Yes they're snaps, but that's what journalistic photos are, and yours fit that.
 
Thanks again for the comments all :-)

Slowly catching up now, thought I better get my Mineral shot in before the next one's posted otherwise that'll be another "penalty" shot and making work for myself and have also caught up on my Straight shot with the penalty shot too :-)

So, 3 in one post!

So first the Straight.


Week 28 - Straight by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

This is my first shot for straight as I'm behind there's a second one (though not if you are looking at this in the TP 2012 group).

This is the Oasis Beach Pool in Bedford and I have always been challenged by this building to get a half decent picture of it, frankly I need a 10 - 22mm lens for the picture I really want but I don't have one.

Anyway, this was taken on a Friday night in August at about 10.30pm not too long after a nearly full moon had risen. I'm quite pleased with the shot over all but due to the harsh orange lighting in abundance at this location I decided to go for a black and white conversion as I thought this would emphasis the straight edges of the pyramid.

Then my penalty straight...


Week 28 - Straight (2) by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

This is my extra "penalty" shot for Straight as I'd fallen behind and broken my own rules.

So, this one is a simple tabletop studio shot of my picture mounting equipment set up to cut the first of 4 straight lines for the mount.

Setup was as you see it, lighting was from a flashgun through a softbox 45 degrees above and to the side. A very straight forward shot with only a slight increase in exposure in photoshop.

And finally Mineral.


Week 31 - Mineral by Donnie Canning, on Flickr


...as in water.

Setup of this shot was to buy the bottle of water from Sainsburys, I deliberately bought a green bottle for the colour I thought it would bring to the picture. A wine glass was deliberately chosen rather than a tumbler too as I preferred the shape.

I set this up on a tabletop with a black background and positioned the items so there was some rimlight coming from the window in the dining room giving some nice edges.

I then used my flashgun through a softbox positioned at 45 degrees above the items and side on to them as some fill in flash and shot until I got the right level I was happy with. I think I used about 1/64th power in the end.
 
Good work on catching up Paul :thumbs:
Straight, a literal take on the theme but one that works. I know where you are coming from when you say about the building challenging you, that was a great way to put that. I often look at buildings/objects and think "there's a photograph in there". I agree that a wide angle lens would help here but you done well to fit the building in, if a little tight in the frame.
The B&W conversion suits the subject, perhaps another visit when there are more clouds in the sky to add a little drama?

I like mineral too, your use of rim lighting accentuates the form of the bottle and glass against the black background. Good work! Iain
 
Cheers Iain :-) I would have liked more cloud I have to admit but was concentrating more on the moon in the frame for this one, I'd like both, but weather rarely plays ball with me, either all moon or all cloud :-(
 
Catching up! :)

Here's my Dark shot for week 32!!


Week 32 - Dark by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

Decided to go out and take a few pictures of "Old reliable" last night instead of trying to get pictures of the meteor shower as there was simply too much cloud locally.

Anyway, this setup was using 3 different flash guns on manual, camera on a tripod, 2 flashes beside each other pointing at the side of the scooter (i.e at a right angle to it) to get the shadow correct. Then the third flash was camera right to light the front of the scooter and some of the ground too, this flash was on a stand and through a softbox.

Post production involved a slight straighten, a slight crop to get rid of the naff brickwork around the door and ensure only the lovely weatherbeaten look of the background was included. Then I copied the layer and increased the contrast, then copied another layer and converted to highpass and then adjusted the opacity of this layer to a point I was happy with it.
 
Straight - That building certain says straight to me although it feels a little grey

Mineral - On theme but I'd have liked to have seen more light on the subject

Dark - I definitely like this one. The lighting is spot on. The use of the shadow has really helped add to the overall impact of the image.
 
Hi Paul


great building for Straight....possibly a little to dark near the top for me , lots of straight lines going on there...yup , like it :thumbs:

Mineral....really well lit , love that green line on the bottle edge.....seems a little on the squiff to me ....leaning left ?

Dark....beautiful....love the lighting on the scooter , the shadow , the worn bg....a big :thumbs: from me :clap:
 
Hi

Why not take part in our annual TP Day coming up soon 9th September,as part of your 52, Where you take a photo on that day and post it on the forum, then all the Photos are made into a slideshow, Click the logo for more details, it's lots of fun to be a part of it:thumbs:
 
Thanks again all, I did find straight a difficult one with the building and there was no real way to get the upper half any lighter without the image becoming too degraded, the bottle one does seem to have a bit of a split about the lighting, I like it though :-) I think you are right Blondie re the lean, think I over compensated a little as I was using an ironing board with a book under it and the glass seemed to keep leaning toward the bottle so think I may have over done my adjustment there.

The scooter one I am quite pleased with.
 
Moving on in a catchup manner though, or perhaps more accurately, treading water before I incur a penalty shot under my own rules, thought I'd have a play with Time.


Week 33 - Time by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

This is a pocket watch that the wife got me over 20 years ago now and I felt like doing some manipulation to try and make it a bit like some of the timepieces in some of the work of Salvador Dali.

So, I took the picture on a white piece of card from above straight on.

Then, once in photoshop I upped the exposure slightly and using the pen tool cut out the watch so i could use it on a transparant background for the next step.

Initially I thought of using the liquify filter but then delved into the transform toolset (Ctrl T) and then right clicking on the selection gives another menu and I selected Warp.

This then gives you an overlay grid like a rule of thirds, effectively splitting the image into 9 boxes, however, every corner can be individually moved to produce whatever you want. i.e. theres 16 (if I've counted right) that can be adjusted.

So, once I was done with that I filled the background with white, but it looked too bright overall so I changed it to black which gives it a better contrast.
 
Hi Paul,

Apologies for neglecting your thread -- I'm horrible at keeping track of where I've posted feedback.

Mineral - For me, it was not immediately obvious this is a bottle of mineral water. I think maybe it would help if a bit more of the label was visible?

Dark - I love what you have done here. <3
 
Behind.....

Abstract #1, like it not sure about abstract, "abstract view", indeed. #2 I really like...the lighting really works.

Joy, good lighting and she's really joyful.

Moody, indeed. Well composed, liking the vignetting and gritty feel.

Abstract reshoot. Good idea, would prefer a simple down the bars, no offence :D

Authority #1, good catch :D Tighter crop maybe and I like how the biker is glancing over.

Authority #2, good catch...hope that's not your finger :D

Straight #1 on theme but I like the clinical nature of #2 but looks a tad OOF at the bottom.

Late for my daughter so must be quick...

Mineral, on theme but looks a tad soft.

Dark, gritty and liking the shadow.

Time...Dali.....:clap: one of my favourite artists. Well manipulated and bang on theme...

See ya......
 
Hi Paul,
Dark, love it! The lighting, colour tones and detail in the scooter and background, can't fault it at all. :thumbs:

Time, nice bit of pp work there :thumbs:
My only small crit would be that having taken the initial image straight on, I find your edit on the watch a little flat. IYSWIM. Maybe taken more from the side would have added a little depth to it. All IMHO of course, feel free to ignore :lol: Iain
 
Hi Paul, I only discovered the ability to warp things in PP a few weeks ago, it's very clever and works well here.

My only issue is that it looks too flat where it's been pasted onto a black background. I think maybe a reshoot with a black background to start would give a lot more depth.
 
LOVE IT :clap: Dark...fab pp there , makes me think of Alice in Wonderland for some reason , along with Dali....love his stuff , so surreal it keeps you staring at it for hours .

No position to crit as I wouldn't have a clue where to start doing this type of pp so just a mahoooosive :thumbs: from me :clap:
 
Straight - the first one for me, though it feels like some of the detail is lost in the B&W conversion.

Mineral - nice take on the theme, fabulous lighting. Really nicely done.

Dark - it certainly is that! Lovely colours and good lighting and composition too.

Time - fantastic, really excellent PP skills, and what looks like a nice solid shot to start with.

Really well done!
 
time - Thank you for your explanation of how you did this its something I must try sometime. It's a good idea and used good pp, the only critique I can give is that I might have preferred to see 12 at the top but I'm going through a bit of a OCD stage at the moment so it might just be me!:)
 
Hi Paul

Catcing up as ever.

Authority - #2 for me - does not look as much a snap as a journalistic capture. On theme and humorous

Straight - #1 for me. Well handle for light and comp. B&W conversion is right treatment

Mineral - well lit - I like it dark. nice flashes of colour. A bit of a lean and maybe too central.

Dark - a really good shot. Hard to fault:thumbs:

Time - another excellent shot with lots of creativity and technique involved. Really like the 'distressed' treatment of the metal, the face and the faded blue of the hands.
 
Small from Week 27.


365_15 by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

As I failed my 52 for 2012 Im doing one for 2013 with less self imposed rules, but am also doing a 365 so this is a 2 birds with one stone shot :-)

I used my manual extension tubes and manual 50mm prime for this shot and certainly need more practice :-(

I know there's like about 2mm depth of field but I've only really got the very right hand side in focus :-( Ah well, I was rushing so next time, patience!!
 
Hi, Donne, liking the detail and textures in Small. Slightly wider dof would have put all in focus.

Change, liking the processing, detail and subtle vignette.

Cheers.
 
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