TopBanana's 52 - Week 14 'object' now added (on page 5)

Thanks for the complimentary (and speedy!) comments Lynne.
If you haven't tried a 'light painting' type thing then give it a go - I couldn't believe how easy it was to get something half-decent.
 
Hiya Tim,

I absolutely love your 2nd photo with the toothpaste! The composition, DOF, focus and colours are fab!......

As for the first photo .... I like the idea, and can see where you were coming from with this one .... but there is something just not right. BTW vinyl is not 'long since finished' ... I still have tooo many LP's that I listen to and cherish :p (omg I must be showing my age now :lol:)

With your first pic ... I like the DOF and the focus is good, but the colour doesn't work for me(sorry). Not sure if you were trying to get a "60's" feel to this image. It is lacking some 'punch' afterall the 60/70's were far from dull. Also the image is perhaps a tad over sharp .... what settings and ISO did you use or is this the type of processing you used?

Great thought process though :clap:

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
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Hi, Tim, I really like your first finished. Like the pp and composition; and a big :thumbs: for being totally origional.

I find the dark section at the bottom a bit distracting, maybe just me.

Cheers.
 
Hey Tim!

Your first `Finish' with the vinyl is completely pro! I like it a lot! The vintage effect is very convincing, and the composition is very pleasing. To me the blue looks a little bit higher than I'd expect from a weary old print but really I'm struggling to criticise the picture. It's really very good. :)

I like the concept for the second picture but overall I agree with your assesment ;)
 
Both great shots - difficult to choose which one I like best but probably No. 1 just gets my vote.
 
like the vinyl pic, feels really nostalgic, nice work :0)
 
Hi Tim,

Really like the shallow DoF for your 'Delicate' photo, and really like the colours.

For me it's the second photo for 'Finish' as I agree with Dawn's comments - good composition, DoF is spot on and the colours are brilliant. Only thing I'd say is maybe to have moved the toothbrush to the right a tiny bit so that the bottom of the toothpaste isn't overlapping it, but that's being really petty mind!

Will :D.
 
Thanks a lot for all the comments everyone.
It seems that the vinyl one has divided opinion somewhat. In case anyone was wondering I was playing the Joshua Tree by U2 (released a week before my 2nd birthday!)

@Gary: Having now seen the image on my work PC I now agree with you that the blue is a tad high - it looked OK on my laptop, honest guv!

@Will: good spot with the bit of overlap, shame I didn't spot that or I could have moved very slightly to stop it. I've also noticed that there would ideally be a bit of extra space on the right of the frame as it's very tight before the cap.

Check this out for the 'Trio' theme: I-want-a-Trio-and-I-want-one-now :lol::lol:
 
Hi ya Tim

Great idea for a Trio , the B&W converions suits it well :thumbs:
Must have been quite tricky getting the littlest hand to stay put long enough to get the shot ?
The only minor off puts for me are the woman's arm not being at the same angle as the other 2 ( not sure if you'll get what I mean here ?) , maybe having a sleeve on all the arms & the childs sleeve being uncurled ?

Sorry if that sounds too negative , it isn't meant to be ,just saying as I see it & still a great idea & capture:thumbs:
 
Thanks for the response Lynne. You're not wrong about it being difficult to keep little Heidi's hand still for more than a second! Which is the reason for things like the angles not quite being right etc. The reason her sleeve is curled was that I trying to get it out of the shot so that it would just be hands and that they would all match, but the crop didn't work and it ended up still having sleeve in it - so I at least had good intentions even if it didn't work out!
You didn't sound negative, it's having useful feedback like yours which makes the 52 project so useful for improving photo skills.
 
Hi, Tim your trio is a nice one. Made me smile.

Soon that little hand will be outstretched and the words, "Dad, can I have....[insert noun]"... I'd like to see one with your hands on top of each other with babies hand on top??
 
Hiya Tim,

Love the take on the theme for trio and the b&w conversion works ace.

I can see what Lynn is saying about the arm, however, I think it would have looked better if your arm was at a similar angle to the other two. Also I think it would look better minus the bracelet and the baby's sleeve.

Otherwise a gorgeous family photo and one to keep :thumbs:

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Would this have worked better with a slight change in the pose? Perhaps ?your hand just 'holding' the little finger of your lady and hers the little finger of Heidi? Or other hand and Heidi holding mums little finger and mum your? Of course the co-operation of the least co-operative would be necessary :nuts: That 'could' be a trifle awkward :lol:
 
Hey Tim,

Although I've said this to your face, I'll copy it to the internet for posterity.

I really like your trio photo, I think it's a lovely expression of your family and photography in one hit. I like the differing angles of the arms and appreciate that real people have widths and cannot all stand in the same space :D

I'm often impressed by the simplicity and effectiveness of the simplicity of your approaches. (I hope in real life that sounded less offensive and more like the complement I intended it to be).

-Gary.
 
Hi Tim,

Really nice picture for trio - perfect shot IMO in terms of photography but it also looks very meaningful and gives a nice warming feeling - a very nice photo.

Will :D.
 
First of all thank you to everyone for your feedback/comments/tips - it's all appreciated.

For week 11 I wanted to reshoot something for 'open' as the original was a bit of a disaster. I was out in the garden mending a fence when I opened a gap in the fence screening and found this little group. So out came my new nifty fifty with a Raynox250 macro lens (borrowed from a friend) - and here is my reshoot for 'open':


Week 11 open reshoot by BigMonka, on Flickr

I'm sure that people will think/say:
- it doesn't really make you think 'open'.
- the large blown out area on the right is a distraction.
- it would be better without reflections on the shells.

I'd agree with all of those statements, but despite them I'm still happy with the shot :clap:
 
Hi Tim,

I'd be very happy if this were my open photo. I do think it meets the theme quite clearly as it really does look like a space was opened and cute little bugs are clustered inside. I also don't mind the reflections as I think it adds depth and positively highlights the shininess of the ladybirds.

I can see from the EXIF that you were struggling for light wherever the bugs were but my criticism is that the depth of field is slightly too shallow. No whole bug is in crisp focus. That aside I still really like the photo and find the creatures irresistible. I'm gonna have to track down one of these raynox jobbies now, it looks so good.
 
Hiya Tim,

I really like your re-shoot for Open. What a lovely find, a family of 5 spot ladybugs (such amazing little creatures too).

It does look like you had a tricky lighting situation, but otherwise I think it is a lovely shot.

Well done

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
garyplumbridge said:
I can see from the EXIF that you were struggling for light wherever the bugs were but my criticism is that the depth of field is slightly too shallow. No whole bug is in crisp focus.
Click to expand...
I wasn't actually having any trouble with light, it was just that I'd only got my f1.8 lens a couple of days earlier so was shooting everything at 1.8 no matter how it looked :lol::lol::lol:
Point taken that it would have been better to have more in focus though, now the novelty of f1.8 has very slightly worn off I might start making some better choices of aperture.



Dawn, thanks for the comments :)
 
@Tim: Heh. Nm. I looked at the EXIF and assumed that you'd had one too many coffees and were using 1/400 to offset the shakes :D
...In hindsight those would have to be MEGA shakes :lol:

The novelty of low aperture never really wears off (in my experience) everything looks just so damn sexy with shallow DOF.
 
Hi you have some very nice shots here. I like the way you compose your shots; well balanced and focuses attention to the subjects. Looking forward to more of your 52 :)
 
RedTele said:
Hi you have some very nice shots here. I like the way you compose your shots; well balanced and focuses attention to the subjects. Looking forward to more of your 52 :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Kaz, that's appreciated. :D
 
I'm don't know about you other 52ers but I couldn't think of anything good, especially trying to be even vaguely original, for the theme moderation - so it's time for my first WILDCARD of the year.

Here's a picture that I took this week which I love and wanted to use as my wildcard shot. I know that it probably wouldn't go down overly well in the 'people and portraits' section due to things like cutting off the top my my wife's head, but for me it captures the moment how I wanted it to (although of course I'm trying to learn and improve so that I don't make these silly mistakes next time so help is always appreciated).

Thanks for looking and/or commenting (except commenting without looking of course!)



week 12 by BigMonka, on Flickr
 
Hi Tim,

What a beautiful photo! The theme can get stuffed if the result is this nice. I'd frame this if it were mine, but my protowife's fake (posing) smile is not something to frame. :lol:

Seriously though, frame it.

I really don't have much experience with portraiture but these are my unqualified thoughts about it as a photo:
1) I think the slightly cut-off head is fine because there would be no way to keep this aspect ratio and have more of ${wife}'s head in the photo without demoting ${baby}'s importance and good positioning in the picture.
2) The unequal free space on the left and right does bother me though. I guess different things bother different people :)
3) A tiny bit of fill-flash (~~0.3-0.6 stops extra) would brighten ${wife}'s slightly dark eyes and lower left (as we see it) face. This might be rubbish though due to my econosave computer screen. The histogram looks fine but it still looks a touch too dark to me.

Once again this is a lovely photo and I'd be super-proud of it.
:)
 
@gary, thanks for the kind words as always. Getting rid of the dead space on the left would probably be a good idea but I'm not so keen on square photos so I think that this shot probably can't be saved in that way - I'll think about that for next time though.

It's funny that both comments mention fill-in flash as this is something that I never remember to do. Using the onboard flash I've never managed to successfully that a shot that wasn't the usual extreme flash in the face type. Since reading your comments though I've tried using it, adjusted to a low power, as a bit of fill and I think I've cracked it - so many thanks for the prompt to get out and try it. I like taking photos in my conservatory as it's nice and bright (but not as cold as outside!) and there's sufficient distance behind the subject to get the background out of focus. It means that the light is generally behind the subject though so maybe I should manufacture some sort of large reflector to use as an alternative to flash.

@TinaC, I'll have a better play with the contrast on the next shot I do. I generally tweak the levels to get the blacks black and the whites white but I don't normally alter the contrast with respect to colour - I'll definitely give it a go though. Thanks for commenting.
 
Hiya Tim,

I agree with what both Gary and Tina have commented. I too don't have much experience regards portraits so apologies my advice there is limited (still very much a learning curve for me).

One thing I will say though, is I like the uneven space left and right, somehow it just seems to sit right for me and I think once this photo is in a frame it will look even better.

I like the catch light in the eyes (pity about the hair over your wife's eye that removes the catch light there) but this is a very natural looking photo and one you should be proud of.

Well done

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Hi, Tim, great eye contact, lovely smile and nice dof.

I'm new to everything but I noticed the missing top of head. Hair over left eye (minor point).

It does look a bit flat and I'm sure you could get more contrast/colours out??

Anyway, I'm sure we'll see more of your family :thumbs::thumbs:

Cheers.
 
Thanks to you both for taking the time to comment, I'll try and take everything on board for future shots. :)
 
So here's this weeks shot for the theme of 'empty'. I thought the subject was quite apt for a photography project - I was trying to show an empty film camera (I hope that it is quite obvious).

This is my first real try at shooting on a white background so it was a bit of fun and a bit of a challenge all at once.


Week 13 Empty by BigMonka, on Flickr

C&C appreciated as always.
 
I like empty, yes it works and is obvious. Nice highlights on the top of the subject, and excellent overall lighting. I like this type of still life shot against pure white with no shadows but I have yet to try it.
 
Hiya Tim

Great idea for the 'empty' theme and including a photography subject too. I like how you have managed to take the shot with no shadows. I'm not too sure about the colour though, it looks rather 'gold' ... what did you use for lighting?

As for the white bg, I think you have nailed that one :thumbs:

Only tiny crit, I may have been tempted to remove the camera strap. But I like the bit of dust as it adds to the age :D

Overall well done :clap:

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
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