SBenn's TP 52 in 2016 (Metal, Personal & Horizontal Added)

Yes the horse is really nicely painted Sam, even more so when you take in the size against the coins, that must take a lot of patience. It's a shame you didn't get it that bit more in focus because I think it all works really well and I love the shadow. What a shame you lost your shots :(
 
Hi Sam... I think you've done well with Miniature :clap:

There are two elements worth commenting on - the capture itself (including composition) and the lighting of the subject. The lighting first - is very good. The shadows for me are a good part of the image and the lighting, whilst not really, really soft (which would lead to very soft-edged shadows) is not so hard that it doesn't work with the shiny and metallic subjects. You've captured good shadow on the horse itself so you can really see the shape and some good highlight control on the coins. Because of their angle to the light, they are looking a touch flat / grey, but they're so hard to light I think you've done well and compromised on the "better" side to avoid blowing out etc.

On the image capture, I'd maybe have looked for a touch more DOF to get that horse fully in focus. It feels a touch tight to the right of the frame and could perhaps bear a small exposure lift as well (look at where your histogram pretty much "ends" on the right - there's a fair bit more latitude there). To be honest, I'd also love a slightly higher viewpoint to get more of that shadow!

But overall I think it's a super image and your lighting is really carefully chosen and well put together... and the image itself is good as a result (y)
 
pjm1 said:
Hi Sam... I think you've done well with Miniature :clap:

But overall I think it's a super image and your lighting is really carefully chosen and well put together... and the image itself is good as a result (y)
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Cheers All! Thanks for your comments Paul. The set up used was mega basic it, at first I was using natural light until it hit me, the use of my phones light behind plain white paper to soften it. I all honesty this shot was selected out of hundreds of shots I took and every time I changed the light angle or tweaked the coins added/removed additional models I'd see a better shot and a better end product. The only thing that set this one apart was the clear cut and what I thought were well placed shadows.

Thanks Again All

Sam
 
... not sure about the smaller OOF coin. :thinking:
 
Love the Horse / coins shot!
 
Right, a couple more..... as usual comments, suggestions welcome :)

Reshoot on Miniature after a few perplexed comments (I'm a perfectionist and can't sit still with rectifiable points niggling away at me).

Miniature-Reshoot by Sam B, on Flickr

Happy needed to be done and there was no subject other than my "Happy go lucky" Lucy.....you know somethings wrong when she's not smiling :)
Happy_Wk by Sam B, on Flickr
 
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Hi Sam. Miniature is much better second time round - both coins sharp and the image is nicely balanced with the oof horse on the left :clap:. Lovely smile for Happy - can see you've added a blur vignette. Would have been better I feel with either a closer crop or inclusion of the feet though.
 
Carl Ayling said:
Hi Sam. Miniature is much better second time round - both coins sharp and the image is nicely balanced with the oof horse on the left :clap:. Lovely smile for Happy - can see you've added a blur vignette. Would have been better I feel with either a closer crop or inclusion of the feet though.
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Ahh you caught me on the vignette. In all honesty i did consider a crop but felt the background warranted staying in the shot,but then i pose the question (stupidly to myself) why blur it.... Admittedly she lost her feet in the original schoolboy error on part really... had i managed to get her in the shot i think i would've close cropped and it would all work that little bit better. Thanks Again
 
Hi Sam...

Miniature - you're going to hate me for this! DOF and lighting on the coins works a lot better for me... although it may well be more the DOF and having the coins (nearly) in focus - although the nearest one is just out of the focal plane I think. The direction of lighting really brings out the writing well, which is what you want - at least what I want. Now comes the but...

The high up lighting you've used to good effect with the coins has, in my opinion, flattened the horse's shape. Your previous side lighting, even though softer (with more of a falloff on the shadow, for example), gave shape and definition to the horse's flank and musculature - on this one it's a bit too even.

My "solution" would be to keep the arrangement as you have it, but move the light to frame right, basically glancing along the direction of the coins. This would give them similar definition in terms of the writing (albeit from a different angle) and would allow that stronger side-lighting to bring out the shape of the horse's flank. Only downside is you'd really stretch the nice shadow you have in this (and the previous one) and depending on how hard the light source is, you might more or less lose it (point source to keep it, window or softbox to almost lose it).

Sorry for being picky!!

Happy is a beautiful shot - nice leading line behind Lucy and a fab expression you've caught! The only thing I don't like is the processing where you've softened the sides. Ironically it distracts me from the really lovely subject rather than concentrating my view as it "should". Easily fixed (if you wanted) by taking it back out again, though :)
 
Hi Sam ...yes definitely much better on the miniature you can see all your wife's hard work now....I'll leave lighting and all that stuff to Paul ....looks good to me :)

Lucy what a little sweetie ...they bring so much into our lives don't they, a super Happy shot, but I agree with Paul on this one, I think a plain shot might work better ...and I'd like her feet either in it, or maybe a closer crop.
 
pjm1 said:
Hi Sam...

Miniature - you're going to hate me for this! DOF and lighting on the coins works a lot better for me... although it may well be more the DOF and having the coins (nearly) in focus - although the nearest one is just out of the focal plane I think. The direction of lighting really brings out the writing well, which is what you want - at least what I want. Now comes the but...

The high up lighting you've used to good effect with the coins has, in my opinion, flattened the horse's shape. Your previous side lighting, even though softer (with more of a falloff on the shadow, for example), gave shape and definition to the horse's flank and musculature - on this one it's a bit too even.

My "solution" would be to keep the arrangement as you have it, but move the light to frame right, basically glancing along the direction of the coins. This would give them similar definition in terms of the writing (albeit from a different angle) and would allow that stronger side-lighting to bring out the shape of the horse's flank. Only downside is you'd really stretch the nice shadow you have in this (and the previous one) and depending on how hard the light source is, you might more or less lose it (point source to keep it, window or softbox to almost lose it).

Sorry for being picky!!

Happy is a beautiful shot - nice leading line behind Lucy and a fab expression you've caught! The only thing I don't like is the processing where you've softened the sides. Ironically it distracts me from the really lovely subject rather than concentrating my view as it "should". Easily fixed (if you wanted) by taking it back out again, though :)
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Hard one to please! ☺ All taken with being constructive in mind

Thanks Again All
 
Well done so far sorry I have missed your thread till now so a quick comment catch up

Abandoned - certainly has been looks very dark and forbidding
Topical - I like the drops and the surface through them.
Living world - I like that it is focused on the bee in the middle
Dangerous - I don't think that I would want to go down there. I think the soft focus adds to the atmosphere.
Spiky - good POV and an unusual subject
Artificial - good focus you can see it is material and I Like the crop you have used.
Miniature - as the coins are only really there for scale I like the 1st better as the horse looks better in that one
Happy - lovely picture she certainly does look happy but the blur effect is not quite right maybe a crop would have been better.
 
Hey Sam. Another mini catch-up eh - good for you, keep going! Of the three, I particularly like your take on Personal - great subject choice and nice composition. :clap:
 
Hi Sam

Personal and metal work well for me - both effective use of DOF and nicely lit with soft light, presumably from an overcast sky. Horizontal is definitely on theme but a hard image to make punch - but you're keeping up which is superb.

When you link back to this thread, any chance you can link to the post with the relevant pictures in, rather than post #1? It makes it a bit easier for us all :)
 
pjm1 said:
Hi Sam

When you link back to this thread, any chance you can link to the post with the relevant pictures in, rather than post #1? It makes it a bit easier for us all :)
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Here's the picky police ;)

Thanks all for your comments so far :cool:
 
Hi Sam
Personal and Metal are the pick of the bunch for me. Horizontal works well and is well exposed (it's just I don't do nature much).
Slight crits would be perhaps Personal could have a tad cropped from the bottom to make it symmetrical in the vertical plane, and with metal, it may have been better to have the post vertical.

I'm going to support @pjm1 's request for more effort with your links. It's okay when you only have 2 pages, but by the end of the year, when you have 10s of pages, if you link to the top of page 1, no one is going to bother to find the shot to comment.
It's all explained in the stickies, it's really not too hard to do :)
 
Metal ... really grabs me! ... simple classic OOF fence, but you've chosen a nice perspective, and the in-focus bit with near in-focus BG post. (y)
 
3 more great shots I like Horizontal best it is unusual has lovely colours, and I the like the reflections in the water too.
 
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