weekly pjm1's 52 in 2015... 8 (Relax) added

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pjm1

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2015 will be a year 2 in two different ways for me: I started the 52 part way through this year, so it's my second attempt at this challenge. 2015 will also be my second year of photography, having bought my camera in Jan 14 (ignoring a brief flirtation about 10 years ago which didn't last more than a few weeks!)

So, I just hope I don't succumb to "second season syndrome"...

I loved this year's (2014's) 52 - it was great to have some structure to my photography as there just seemed a massive world out there and I didn't really know how to tackle it. I still don't, but I really enjoy finding subjects for each week's theme and trying different techniques. It's going to be more of the same for me in the coming year: I'd like to shoot a mix of landscape (something I struggle with), portraits (made a couple of steps forward with lighting), macro, abstract, still life, night, astro and... well, I think that pretty much covers every genre.

Style-wise, I'd like to develop mine a lot more... well, in fact I'd like to find one! I enjoy shooting colour, B&W and probably the only "style" I'm not a fan of is obvious HDR. I'm also hoping to shoot a few (or maybe more) with my recently acquired medium format film camera. From Feb onwards I'll have access to a developing suite as well as wet printing (if I want it), but the main resource I'll probably be using will be the high quality negative scanner they have. That should speed up the whole film->negative->online process which might make it more feasible for the 52...

I won't be commenting on everyone's photos at the beginning - I'd rather put more detailed commentary against photos on which I think I have something to add, rather than just post "nice shot" for 50 different images. As the year develops and (sadly) people drop out, I'll hopefully be in a position to comment on everyone's photos before too long :)

Most importantly for everyone: enjoy it! I loved my 52 this year and I'm really looking forward to next year's. My challenge is precisely that: mine, so I'll be doing it to suit me. If anyone starts to lose the love for their own challenge, I'd urge them to focus on what they want to get out of it... forget "rules" or feelings of having to comply - just do what makes you tick.

Good luck to everyone and have fun... :wave:

Practice (Patterns) : B&W cloakroom floor
Week 1 (Bliss) : B&W champagne and hanky panky
Week 2 (Fragile) : Colour low contrast hangover selfie
Week 3 (Scenic) : Mountain-top portrait-cum-landscape
Week 4 (Companions) : "Earless" Minnie Mouse and Edinburgh zoo panda in sepia
Week 5 (Elegant): Picture of Izzy hanging on breakfast room wall
Week 6 (Watery): Sparkly water from Arran ferry
Week 7 (Bold): Ollie reaching for candle flame
Week 8 (Relax) : Macro golf ball
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Thanks everyone... looking forward to it! Just back from a trip to the folks'... and back to the grindstone tomorrow morning so not much time to catch up. Need to catch up with comments tomorrow evening... oh, and post my final shot for this year's 52 (and the teensy-weensy matter of actually taking something, too) :)

Have fun everyone and will be back soon!
 
Week 0: Patterns

Photo of our cloakroom floor. Tripod wouldn't go low enough, so a couple of books did the job - simple solutions are sometimes the best! Lens chosen to allow relatively close focus (it's not a macro but it's the nearest I have) and zoomed in to max @ 50mm. Small aperture to maximise DOF whilst trying to avoid too much diffraction so f/18 (which is within diffraction territory but not too bad, IME). 2.5sec shutter speed chosen to deliver a reasonably dark background at the back of the scene.

Lighting is from two sources: small window at far end of the cloakroom and main light is a off camera snooted flash set to 1/64 power from the left to give some definition and a contrast of patterns with light as well as the texture of the floor.

Not exactly one of my best shots tbh, but I find it has a fairly pleasing abstract feel to it.

Comments and crit always welcome :)


00: Patterns by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

For this year I'm also intending to provide the SOOC shot(s) for comparison so here it is. Processing wasn't particularly heavy: obviously a B&W conversion, curve boost, contrast increase and then a bit of clarity + sharpening to make it pop more.
 
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If you hadn't said what it was I'd never have guessed. I like the way it gets darker giving a sense of mystery. Good stuff!
 
Strangely I knew what it was straight away,
Nice textures and shades :)
 
pjm1 said:
Cobra's been in my cloakroom? :eek: :exit:
Thanks - pleased it hit the mark for you... glad you're still with us ;)
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LOL well......... erm......... not as such............ honest :D
I had something similar down on the bird mews floor.

Yep still here, not sure about after tomorrow when the real thing starts though :D
 
Plenty of pattern. Would never have guessed what it was.
 
Hi Paul , great to have you back for another year :clap:

Cracking start ( couldn't have imagined anything else !) mono was a good choice & like the gradual drop off of light front to back :) The only thing for me is it seems to slope left to right...& other times seems to be humped in the middle.......obviously an optical conclusion :D
 
Hiya Lynne... thanks for looking. Yes, I was a bit confused with some of the distortion which appeared ("optical conclusion" - I love it!) I was tempted to try to correct it in Lightroom but decided against this time. Then again, it's a relatively new house so could well be built on the squiff!

I did deliberately take it at an angle... sorry to mess with your OCD :eek:
 
Great start Paul thats one strange uneven looking floor :)
Good Luck for your 2015 52 challenge not that you need it
 
'ello, you (y) I'm looking to venture into abstracts this year. I feel I need to find a 'style' rather than submitting obvious photographs. Nowt wrong with that but this being my 5th year I don't feel I can continue submitting photographs or, for example, a tree, IYSWIM.

I'm also looking to submit some film photographs, providing I can get them processed onto a disk in time.

I do like this. I like how the light transitions from light in the lower left, darker around the RHS and to very dark in the upper left. The tilt works as well as a contrast agains the horizontal/verticals.

Just to add, the first few weeks of the TP52 can be mental, trying to comment on 80+ submissions can be very taxing. What I intend to do is for the first few weeks comment on what I consider to be the best submission for the previous month. Once numbers dwindle, which they unfortunately will, I'll comment on more. Of course, I would not expect you to comment on all my submissions (y)
 
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posiview said:
'ello, you (y) I'm looking to venture into abstracts this year. I feel I need to find a 'style' rather than submitting obvious photographs. Nowt wrong with that but this being my 5th year I don't feel I can continue submitting photographs or, for example, a tree, IYSWIM.

I'm also looking to submit some film photographs, providing I can get them processed onto a disk in time.

I do like this. I like how the light transitions from light in the lower left, darker around the RHS and to very dark in the upper left. The tilt works as well as a contrast agains the horizontal/verticals.

Just to add, the first few weeks of the TP52 can be mental, trying to comment on 80+ submissions can be very taxing. What I intend to do is for the first few weeks comment on what I consider to be the best submission for the previous month. Once numbers dwindle, which they unfortunately will, I'll comment on more. Of course, I would not expect you to comment on all my submissions (y)
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If you trust royal mail you can always post yours negs to me and I'll scan them in on an X5 at 8000dpi :)

Cheers for the comments Andy!
 
A great start Paul, the PP you have put into this has made a great difference, I really like it... I wish I could say I understood the diffraction you mentioned :thinking:

Also, sharpening, how much did you add, this is one element I rarely touch in LR, not even when exporting :)
 
Really great pattern - I at first thought it was one of those waffle biscuits! :)
 
Lovely lighting on that Paul - the two directions add a real depth and extra level of interest to the textures and you obviously put a lot of thought into setting it up.
Deceptively simple, but very, very effective.

Only one suggestion for a change (and it's down to my OCD whispering in my ear) but I'd just have to crop a tiny sliver off the RHS and bottom so that the corner of the frame sits right on the corner of a square.
 
Perfect position/angle (sorry, will take me a while to get to know the lingo!) and love the way the light dims as your eyes follow along. Reminds me of a shot long ago for a fuji comp I added of a pattern similar on a garden chair. It wasn't anywhere as well executed as yours though!
 
Happysnapper79 said:
I'm sure the feeling of looking forward will soon be replaced by dread with me lol.
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Nah John - this challenge is good fun :) There are sometimes difficult themes but we have a whole week to come up with ideas... Enjoy!

Dark Knight said:
A great start Paul, the PP you have put into this has made a great difference, I really like it... I wish I could say I understood the diffraction you mentioned :thinking:

Also, sharpening, how much did you add, this is one element I rarely touch in LR, not even when exporting :)
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Thanks Dean, glad it works for you. Sharpening is usually on by default in LR and the big issue for me is it is set to a reasonably high value (25) but with no Masking - meaning everything gets sharpened including any ISO noise. First thing I do is drag the Masking slider pressing Alt to pick out just the edges I want to sharpen - anything from about 50/55 to 95 (I used Masking of 95 in this image). Once I've selected what parts of the image I want to sharpen with this Masking slider I then choose the sharpening Amount (a very high level in this case: 60). I also applied 20 Noise Reduction to try to plasticise the look a very small amount.

Mich56 said:
Really great pattern - I at first thought it was one of those waffle biscuits! :)
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Thanks Mich - I'd prefer it to be a giant waffle biscuit!

SarahLee said:
Lovely lighting on that Paul - the two directions add a real depth and extra level of interest to the textures and you obviously put a lot of thought into setting it up.
Deceptively simple, but very, very effective.

Only one suggestion for a change (and it's down to my OCD whispering in my ear) but I'd just have to crop a tiny sliver off the RHS and bottom so that the corner of the frame sits right on the corner of a square.
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Hi Sarah, thanks for looking and I appreciate your comments as always. Do you know, I had exactly the same thought when I posted the image re: the RHS but decided to leave it in / as was. I didn't think it was a fab enough picture to really bother finessing that much... :) I experimented with a few different lighting positions and angles for the key flash... still not 100% convinced but it just about works I think.

-aurorae- said:
Perfect position/angle (sorry, will take me a while to get to know the lingo!) and love the way the light dims as your eyes follow along. Reminds me of a shot long ago for a fuji comp I added of a pattern similar on a garden chair. It wasn't anywhere as well executed as yours though!
Click to expand...

Thanks Aurorae, glad you like it. Position/angle sounds like the right lingo to me! :) Thanks for commenting.
 
gbmphoto said:
That's a good start Paul and I like the DoF. This definitely works better in B&W I'm sure ;)
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Thanks Graham. I think I'm going to buy a pack of straws and dip them in black paint as I'd like to make a grid for my snoot... I think that would have made the lighting a bit more stark which could have led to a stronger image. Fun and games awaits...

Thanks for commenting and looking forward to seeing everyones' ideas for Bliss... aargh!
 
I used black Halloween straws from the £1 shop - they worked a treat, but they are quite tricky to fit into the snoot just right.
 
Thanks Graham - that's a superb tip about the straws :)

Right, a fast draw this week... I think it's a bloody tough theme so don't reckon I'm going to come up with anything concept-wise which is an improvement on this.

However, I'm not completely happy with the composition: it feels to me a bit contrived (because it was!)

Lighting was a strobe barely above min power bounced off the right wall and ceiling. Some extra fill from a standard flashgun bounced off left wall and ceiling but far lower power again, just to soften the shadows a touch. It's a pretty easy image to overexpose so balancing the strobe power with such a wide aperture (f/2.8) was problematic... Processing pretty light : just my "contrast it up" B&W conversion and a smidge of a crop (a handful of pixels).

Thanks for looking!


01: Bliss by pjm1 (Paul), on Flickr

And here's the SOOC shot here.
 
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