weekly SiblingChris' 52 in 2014 (Week 21 and 22 added)

I feel the paper is a little too white as the interment has an old look to it IYSWIM.

Great composition though :clap:
 
I like the 'olde worlde' feel of this, and the lighting is just right. That Sigma 105mm macro is a cracker. Just sold mine a little while ago, as I have moved to Fuji X-E2 kit, so I am currently collecting kit again!!
 
Hi Chris, i am coming in a little late to your thread, sorry.

You're off to a great start with the year (y)
Line, I do like the edit, lovely colour tones in there. A simple yet effective image, good work.
Play, I like this one too. The processing really suits the subject with which you've captured all the detail in (y)
 
That's a lovely image. Looks old which suits the subject nicely. The light coming in from the right hand side gives the image some dimension.
 
Hi Chris and welcome back for another year of madness, many apologies for not visiting last years thread much, it was a bad year for commenting!

Line, this stuff get me through the day! I like the line of beans but would prefer the front beans to be in focus with the focus tailing off at the end.

Play, loving the mono tones to this, lovely composition with an aged feel :thumbs:
 
A very classy image. The focus and lighting are spot on and I particularly like the toning you have used in PP. What is it?
 
Hi Chris

Play...super shot , great pp tones which suit the image , love the angle the instruments coming in from top rhs ,plenty of detail....super :clap:
 
so I finally got a few shots sorted for week 3...I am not totally happy with any and am fast starting to realise the downside of having the sigma 105 macro and only the popup flash to play with
This meant exposures longer than I would have liked, with shadows I wasn't keen on and a significant amount of noise reduction in pp needed.
These are the best of the bunch, but not sure what I prefer - I'd played with the apple being more desaturated, but in the end changed my mind :)


Week 3 - Close 1 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr



Week 3 - Close 2 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr



Week 3 - Close 3 by Sibling Chris, on Flickr
 
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Thanks everyone for the kind words about my week 2 by the way, I am seriously thiking of getting this on canvas in my music room. I am personally very happy with it.

mercurius said:
A very classy image. The focus and lighting are spot on and I particularly like the toning you have used in PP. What is it?
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here you go...

View attachment 4943

View attachment 4939
 
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wooooh - loving the apple chris... can't see how desaturating would have improved it any, so right choise there for me.

The stalk REALLY pops out at you - even more so when full screen on flickr. I can see the limitations of the flash, but it;s turned out pretty well!
 
Apple shot does it for me. Nice and crisp (!) with lovely popping colour and marking. :clap:
 
Yes, the apples definitely a winner (y), as Graham said, the stalk really does pop out :clap:
 
Hi Chris,

Play - This is simply beautiful. Love it.
Close - I'm undecided. The apple is the clearer image, but if you pardon my bluntness I personally do not think it's a pleasing image. I do believe that if you'd had access to better light or a flashgun, there would have been potential for some beautiful close-ups of the daffs.
 
Thanks for all the comments so far

Nathalie no worried about bluntness so long as comments are kept constructive :)
Having said that "not pleasing" doesn't give me much to go I thinking about how I might improve on it next time out (daffs and flashgun aside which I'd already pointed to as being not to my liking either) ;)
 
siblingchris said:
Thanks for all the comments so far

Nathalie no worried about bluntness so long as comments are kept constructive :)
Having said that "not pleasing" doesn't give me much to go I thinking about how I might improve on it next time out (daffs and flashgun aside which I'd already pointed to as being not to my liking either) ;)
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I think certain subjects are more suited to closeup photography than others and apples are not the easiest to shoot. The only thing I could suggest for this particular subject is to try it with less depth of field (for me this would also emphasise the 'close' theme). But what it comes down to is personal taste... I'm a sucker for shallow DoF and abstract stuff. :p
 
Hi Chris, I like the apple as well, lovely and vibrant. I can see the issues you're having with pop up flash, do you have a reflector? When I do still life shots I try where possible to use natural light, a reflector and a relatively long exposure!
 
Nathalie said:
I think certain subjects are more suited to closeup photography than others and apples are not the easiest to shoot. The only thing I could suggest for this particular subject is to try it with less depth of field (for me this would also emphasise the 'close' theme). But what it comes down to is personal taste... I'm a sucker for shallow DoF and abstract stuff. :p
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Thanks for taking time to respond

It's funny how often DoF crops up in comments, there are always very opposing views.
Working at close quarters on this you can see I had a really small aperture f32 and even then the focus is falling away already on the apple skin. I was trying to capture the pattern radiating from the centre as best I could rather the reducing the DoF further....as you say that was my personal taste
 
The goblin said:
Hi Chris, I like the apple as well, lovely and vibrant. I can see the issues you're having with pop up flash, do you have a reflector? When I do still life shots I try where possible to use natural light, a reflector and a relatively long exposure!
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Well the popup flash did not give great results, too much lens shadow at these distances and the light was just too harsh
So these where "natural" but relatively long exposures with higher ISO
It was just low level kitchen lighting ;)
 
siblingchris said:
Well the popup flash did not give great results, too much lens shadow at these distances and the light was just too harsh
So these where "natural" but relatively long exposures with higher ISO
It was just low level kitchen lighting ;)
Click to expand...
Ah, you've done well reducing the noise. I used to perch as close to the window as possible trying to catch the few rays of light.
 
Great start Chris - wasn't overly taken with the coffee bean shot although the edit was a big improvement..

Love the 'Play' shot - definately would make a nice canvas in a music room :thumbs:

Week 3 - the apple wins hands-down for me - great colour and the stalk popping out is lovely and sharp.. nice work :D
 
The flower shots don't work for me I'm afraid with #1 looking over sharpened. However I do like the apple shot though. I thought it was a kiwi at first as I was scrolling down
 
Delta Skies said:
The flower shots don't work for me I'm afraid with #1 looking over sharpened. However I do like the apple shot though. I thought it was a kiwi at first as I was scrolling down
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Cheers, I think it's more to do with a tad too much NR. I keep looking particularly down the left hand side where it looks like a weird squiggle...it's really bugging me, it was water on the petal, but the pp has made it look a bit strange.

Would have been much better to do the daffs in the daylight really as Marsha was saying ...ho-hum....move on nothing to see here ;)
 
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Hi, quite like the first flower pic but as pointed out there are a few issues with it, so apple for me too
 
Apple for me too, it catches the eye straight away, the small drops of water add extra interest....I really like it.

I do like soft focus on a macro, but personally I also like to see one clear focal point to draw the eye into the picture which for me is missing on the daffs.
 
Hi Chris


Apple close up is a cracker , great color & wonderfully sharp :clap:

Quite liking daff #1 for the water droplets on the petal edges

DOF with macro can be a mare , as said natual light \7 a reflector will help lots ( cheapy reflectors for about a tenner on ebay ) use mine loads & wonder how I managed with out now
 
There has been some FANTASTIC bubble shots and I have to say mine is NOT one of them!
Perhaps calling it suds rather than bubbles would have been more accurate.
I was hoping for this to come out clearer...A speedlight is definitely moving up in priority on my shopping list ;)

I am quite pleased about the colours and reflections I managed to draw out from the larger bubbles though


Week 4 - Bubble(s) by Sibling Chris, on Flickr
 
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I think you are being a little hard on yourself. It's a good clean :) image with good detail.

No real crit for me.

Cheers.
 
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