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

Hi Paul


Root.....I'm really drawn to the 1st image....sort of has a dreamy quality to it with the sun hitting the tree like that....the roots are visible enough to connect with theme,,,especially the ones trailing up the tree...might have been tempted to crop a smidge from the bottom & the RHS but yeah , really do like that shot :clap:
 

Photo 52 - 2012 - Week 8 - Handmade by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

This was when I started learning to weld and hence is handmade (by me) all parts are from a scrapped pushbike :-)

For the photo I thought I'd try to expose it using my flashgun on manual to expose the shot in a completely dark room.

So, I set up using a tripod and a long exposure. Focussing I'm not quite happy with as I used such a shallow depth of field it's left one eye better focussed than the other.

So, long exposure and then triggered the flash on manual mode set on 1/128th power half way through the exposure.

In post I've actually sharpened slightly as well as underexposing down half a stop as I felt the eyes were slightly too light and on the verge of being blown out.

On reflection I should probably have tried to diffuse the flash a bit too.
 
I like this photo Paul, I think it could be improved with a greater DOF or to have shot it more straight on. The lighting shows good detail and I don't know whether diffusing the flash would make it a little soft.

The sculpture is great by the way!:)
 
I like the wee owl. Good lighting. The low key definately makes it stand out.
 

Photo 52 - 2012 - Week 9 - Money by Donnie Canning, on Flickr

I can't believe that I've thought of and shot my theme within 24 hours considering how behind I was on all the others!

Anyway, my initial thought was of a spinning coin but I wasn't sure I could make it work so thought about a flipped coin instead.

The set up is a black backdrop (bedsheet) hanging on the curtain in the dining room.
Camera using my short kit telephoto lens set on the tripod and with my flashgun fitted.

I took several (non flash) test shots to suss out exactly what zoom and what position I needed to have my hand. Once I did I picked a spot on the floor where I knew I needed to have my hand when flipping the coin.

I decided to shoot this in the dark so there'd be no spill light so once I knew where I had to be it was a case of off with the lights and (using the wireless trigger) taking several shots with the flash directly at the hand, then several more with it bounced off the floor, then the wall and then the ceiling.

In the end, the ceiling bounce was best.

Then it was just a matter of taking the right pictures.

Out of about 20 only 2 had my hand exactly where I wanted it, of those only this one had the hand actually after flipping the coin, the other had the coin sat on the thumb.

Then only about 8 or 9 had the coin where it was visible enough to see, i.e. several had it exactly side on and just looked like a bar shape.

Of course once I decided on the coins you see above, none of them were in the same position in the frame!

So, I used the image stacker I use for star trails on those pictures, which resulted in all the coins I wanted on one frame but they were all over the place and of course several hands were also superimposed.
I then opened up the hand shot I wanted to use, copied it and pasted it as a new layer on top of the stacked image, then added a layer mask to paint back above the hand, resulting in the single hand but all the coins above.
Next I cloned each coin in turn from its current position to the left hand margin of the frame, once done, I cleaned up the background by cloning it and then recloned my "tower" of coins from the left margin to where you see them now, again, tidying up that margin using the clone tool.

Now, I added levels layer and using the black eyedropper made the whole background black and the coins were just how I want them, however the hand was too light I felt and needed to be a little darker to accentuate the shadows.

So, now I merged the current layers into a new layer and added yet another levels layer to adjust the hand exactly as I wanted it, this of course made the coins too dark! So, I added a layer mask to the levels layer and using a soft brush painted in above the hand area to bring the coins back to how I wanted them, effectively deleting the level's adjustment on everything but the hand.

Then I saved the image and posted it here :-)
 
Hi Paul,

Great idea, I really it:thumbs: Your processing skills are way ahead of mine!

There are some great shots on your thread, my favourite has to be the recycled owl...I just love it...it's well made and very well shot. I like the idea that left over bits and pieces can be made into something so cute! lol

Also like your industry shot, the minimalist style adds a sadness to the image, like this one alot.

Carol
 
Thanks Carol :)

I think out of all my 52's so far I'd like to reshoot the Industry one, same shot but with a different sky, just to see if it really could be better or would it just be different. I'm happy with the shot as is as, like you say, it seems to add to the sombre mood of the shot, but curiosity is starting to get the better of me :)
 
Go for it Paul, a different sky will completely change the image. Would like to see it with some dramatic storm clouds or sunset .....mainly because they are my favourite skies!

Carol
 
Hi Paul,
It's my first time in your 52 and it's been nice to look through the pictures.
The ones that stick out for me are.........

Week 3 - Sigh
The first image hits the theme for me.
The shoulders and the full bags just say sigh.

Week 4 - Sweet
Not a greet fan of the picture, but I like how you've lit it

Week 9 - Money
Great idea, and well executed.
 
:lol: I spent an hour doing my money picture last night when my hubby came home and said 'what about a picture of someone tossing a coin?' Now what a good idea that is!

Obviously not so easy to do in practice but you've nailed it here! Clearly a lot if PP needed but it looks great.

On the levels thing, have you tried selecting different areas and then doing a levels adjust that way?
 
Great idea there , nice bit of P&P to and a bit of an explanation as to how , like it....

Cheers

Steve
 
Oh I love your money one; brilliant! I simply can't think of any way you could improve that!
 
Secure – Nice DoF and colours

Industry – I like the subject as it really fits the theme. Unfortunately the lack of contrast in the sky hasn’t helped

Root – My preference is for #1 as it shows more in the picture

Industry – I really like the texture on the rusty parts of this

Money – Well done for this. The work you’ve put into this has definitely paid off
 
Well done, all that hard work! :thumbs:
 
The goblin said:
:lol: I spent an hour doing my money picture last night when my hubby came home and said 'what about a picture of someone tossing a coin?' Now what a good idea that is!

Obviously not so easy to do in practice but you've nailed it here! Clearly a lot if PP needed but it looks great.

On the levels thing, have you tried selecting different areas and then doing a levels adjust that way?
Click to expand...

Cheers Marsha, re the levels, I'd not thought about doing it like that, however, looking at it I think I prefer my way of using a mask layer as it's not destructive to the pixels if you see what I mean?
 
Hi Paul,

I really like your images and also your explanations. I have somehow managed to miss your thread completely. They are all good but 'money' has inspired me try a similar technique. Will try and drop by more frequently.

Nick
 
Donnie said:
Cheers Marsha, re the levels, I'd not thought about doing it like that, however, looking at it I think I prefer my way of using a mask layer as it's not destructive to the pixels if you see what I mean?
Click to expand...

My understanding of photoshop and what it does to images is limited! I'm still quite new to using mask layers, perhaps more studying is needed:thinking:
 
excellent money shot :clap:
 
A great Money shot and well worth all the effort you put into it! I wish I even knew where to start with processing like this.:)

Well done and I look forward to seeing next weeks!:)
 
Handmade - love the sculpture, looks a little soft on the eyes (or maybe my eyes!) but the mid section is lit lovely and nicely focused. Good shot.

Money - its bang on the money! Good shot, good sense of movement.
 
Cheers again all.

Right well finally found a shot for Win, it's literally taken me all week to come up with something, who would have thought it would be such a tough subject!!


Photo 52 - 2012 - Week 10 - Win by Donnie Canning, on Flickr


I found this really quite hard this week to come up with something that someone hadn't already thought of. It took me a couple of days to come up with an idea and then I noticed one of the other 52ers had already done it, then a day later inspiration struck again, only to find another 52er had already done it ........aaargh.

So, I thought I'll settle for this shot and inject a little fun using Bob the Stormtrooper.

The setup.
Equipment used for the shot was: Canon EOS 400D with 50mm prime mounted on tripod. Then, the 2 figures on the right were setup inside a 60cm x 40cm ministudio (had this for a while and it was only about a tenner from ebay as opposed to at least double from some vendors).
To light it I used an off camera flash triggered from above through the roof of the mini studio which diffused the light nicely.

Why did I only set up the 2 figures on the right and not the 3rd on the left?
Answer: I only had 2 :-) The third is the legs of the stormtrooper, the body of the guy in the background and a hat added. Then that needed shooting seperately and adding in photoshop.

Personal critique: I deliberately used a fairly shallow depth of field on this shot to blur the guy in the middle. I'd already changed it from f3.0 to this at f5.6 but looking again I'd like just a little more detail in the face. Other than that I'm pretty happy but obviously am open to comments.

Exif as follows:

Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Exposure Time: 1/200
F Number: 5.6
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO Speed Ratings: 100
Date Time Original: 2012:03:09 15:39:32
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Focal Length: 50.0 mm
White Balance: Auto
LensInfo: 50/1 50/1 0/0 0/0
Lens: EF50mm f/1.8
 
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I like the humour in the shot :)

For me the only downside is the dark face of Bob's cards. Great submission. :clap:
 
Cheers guys, yes I do need some new figures I think :-)

As for Bob's cards, you're right, I did think this I have to admit and deliberately left it out of my self critique to see if someone else picked up on it or if it was just me, I'm genuinely glad that someone did pick it up.

Not an excuse at all but I really do need more practice with my off camera flash stuff. Must invest in a softbox I think.
 
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