SDN Monthly Photo Challenge (not 56K safe, eventually)

[Simplicius]

Nessie

Ha! That's awesome; the Nessie photo is seldom on my mind so it was a real surprise to see it here. I'd say the time spent on mimicking the film grain was definitely worth it, though, at least at the size of these two.

Looking at the original, I have no idea why so many people would have fallen for it. The 'creature' is way underscaled to the waves and especially to the circular ripple.

I don't think I'll be winning any prizes for abstract photography...

I think the idea is fundamentally sound; the key is obviously the arrangement of whatever's in the background. You could do a lot with this kind of a setup, though, between the random patterns in falling water and the different kinds of obscured glass out there (I can't really tell the difference here, either).

[aerius]

Ha! That's awesome; the Nessie photo is seldom on my mind so it was a real surprise to see it here. I'd say the time spent on mimicking the film grain was definitely worth it, though, at least at the size of these two.

Thanks! My wife provided the inspiration for the picture. We were going through the pictures I took on a recent bike ride when she went "hey, that looks like Nessie!" I took a closer look at the picture and went "hmmm...wait a minute, photo contest!" and I got to work with Photoshop. Oh yeah, both the original and the copy look like crap at larger sizes so I kept them fairly small.

My original plan was to recreate "Scissors and Thread" by Ansel Adams, but I was struggling on that one trying to get the lighting & exposure right. I was that close to loading up some film on my Olympus Pen FT since the digital was sucking it up.

[muse]

I drew #60, A stranger unaware of your camera. I guess this is what compact digital cameras are for...

[tim31]

29, Rushing Water. Better get busy!

[J]

Was that through a water fall or a piece of glass?

Both. It's some kind of accent piece which is part of the patio of a downtown office building. It consists of several large pieces of glass set into a wall separating the patio from the sidewalk, and there's a sheet of water flowing constantly over the glass. I'm completely lost on the subject of abstract art & photos so random splotches of colour in a hopefully interesting arrangement was the best idea I could come up with.

[muse]

A question: I drew #60 which calls for a stranger unaware of my camera, may I have more than one stranger? Say two or three strangers in the picture?

[Simplicius]

A question: I drew #60 which calls for a stranger unaware of my camera, may I have more than one stranger? Say two or three strangers in the picture?

Yes. The candid portrait is the main aspect of the image, but beyond that it's up to you.

[muse]

Oh, good. I have both covered but the one with multiple strangers turned out better so I was hoping I could use it.

[muse]

I thought my candid group photo was better, yet the more I looked at it the more ordinary it appeared. So it was back to work with the camera. I think I could shoot a better picture than the one below with another week or so of wandering around with my camera, unfortunately I'm out of time (stupid work) and won't be able to do so, and this is the best I'll have within the time limit.

[Bounty]

#9, Clearing Weather



I know, I know, it's clouds. It's about as original as a picture of baby on a rug. But I liked the clouds that day, and of the ones I shot this one came out best. Unlike most rain here this was a summer thunderstorm on a bright day, so it doesn't have the low cloud cover we usually get when there's a drizzle.

The image was resized in Photoshop and the brightness was touched up.

[Simplicius]

I thought my candid group photo was better, yet the more I looked at it the more ordinary it appeared. So it was back to work with the camera. I think I could shoot a better picture than the one below with another week or so of wandering around with my camera, unfortunately I'm out of time (stupid work) and won't be able to do so, and this is the best I'll have within the time limit.

Feel free to post the group photo in the photo-a-day thread; I'm curious to see it now.

I like this photo; the movement of the rower was well-shown and it's well-laid out on the whole. As a portrait it's weak because of the visual and emotional distance between the viewer and the rower, but I bet he'd like to have something like this for his own album.

I know, I know, it's clouds. It's about as original as a picture of baby on a rug. But I liked the clouds that day, and of the ones I shot this one came out best. Unlike most rain here this was a summer thunderstorm on a bright day, so it doesn't have the low cloud cover we usually get when there's a drizzle.

The image was resized in Photoshop and the brightness was touched up.

"...His work captures a strong cloudiness and a certain essence of vapourosity...[Bounty's photography] shows the simultaneous luminance of human triumph and grim darkness of our base instincts reflected in the fundamental materials of nature itself..."

Clouds are indeed a poor (difficult?) subject (unless you're Stieglitz, but being the first to do something gives one a certain leeway.) That said, this is rather good. The physical mass of the clouds and the range of light are individually pretty well balanced - total visual mass a little less so. It's well-exposed, which is by no means a certainty in the small digital realm.* And really, it is dramatic as hell.

*I saw a photo for sale in a gallery where the photographer, using clouds for the exact same effect in a seascape, blew them all out. It makes me wince.

[Bounty]

Thank you. I liked it for the blues, since you don't get that often with dark clouds here.

What do you mean by "visual mass" though? I don't think I know the term

[Simplicius]

I don't remember where I read it, but I understand it as an analogy for visual emphasis, especially for the effects of size, tone, and color. For instance, an elephant in a composition with a cat would be 'heavy,' but in a composition with a monolith wouldn't. A dark grey elephant would be 'heavier' than a light grey elephant, and an elephant with a blanket of strong colors would outweigh one without. If you are composing around a specific subject, you should make sure that the subject has an appropriate amount of mass, and if you are making a portrait or other close shot, you should consider how the respective elements of the subject weight against each other.

If you have, e.g., a brightly colored buoy against a background of muted blues and purples, the buoy will be the heavy element in the image and you will want to balance the rest of the frame around it somehow - dead center; just off-center with a 'lighter' object further away from the center in the opposite direction; 'heavy' elements toward the bottom of the frame; etc. These often create images that are comfortable to look at, as they appear to have settled into some state of rest or equilibrium. On the other hand, images that appear precariously balanced are visually unsettling, which is sometimes desirable.

As it pertains to your photo, the visual balance is a bit off because of the shadow cast so close to the top left corner with the extremely bright spot just below it. That secondary diagonal just feels unstable to me, though it would be less top-heavy if there was space for a little sunlight to filter in.

[Bounty]

I see. I was hoping the light on top offset the clouds but you're right, it's unbalanced.

[Phantasee]

Well, I missed the full moon for July, it was a day or two after I drew my lot, and I haven't had many chances to go out at night (0, really). I'll take the picture soon, though, the moon is growing again. Is it cool if the picture is put up a few days late, though?

[Akumz Razor]

#16, live industry:

[The Grim Squeaker]

Cool, but not excellent, a quarter second later (and extra burst) and you'd have had better framing for the riders .
What ride is that btw?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Damn, I broke my camera, so I unfortunately will not be able to contribute.

[Simplicius]

Well, I missed the full moon for July, it was a day or two after I drew my lot, and I haven't had many chances to go out at night (0, really). I'll take the picture soon, though, the moon is growing again. Is it cool if the picture is put up a few days late, though?

Yeah, it's cool. The deadline is the least important rule; it's mostly for the semblance of order and to keep people from dragging on forever. You can roll on 1 August still, if you want to play in Round 2.

#16, live industry:

What's really interesting about this is how flexible it is - it stands up to vertical, square, and horizontal cropping and doesn't lose anything relative to the full image.

Cool, but not excellent, a quarter second later (and extra burst) and you'd have had better framing for the riders .
What ride is that btw?

Framing's not the main concern here - I'm not sure there would be space enough for the whole train to be inside the loop, without the first few rows getting foreshortened into each other. I think a small improvement could have been effected with the train pulling out of the loop, if only because then the riders would have been better lit.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Fuckit, I hate filtering down to less than 3 pictures.

From Japan:
Flowers.

[Simplicius]

I confess I kind of half-assed my submission in one afternoon and half a roll of film. The deadline was creeping up and my free time to shoot was about to drop precipitously.

#40: Extreme perspective:



This is one of the notable buildings downtown; what makes it "extreme" (kind of) is that this is what it looks like when you lay down on the sidewalk and look up at it. A bird flew across the frame from the top left corner while I was still composing, so I missed it - but I think a tiny bird silhouette in that patch of sky would have added something to the scene.

Things I learned from making this photo: 1.) 28mm is only barely adequate for showing perspective effects at close-mid distances. A proper ultrawide would be much better. 2.) Laying down and looking up or getting the bug's-eye view is fun and potentially rewarding.

There, made it with three minutes to deadline.

[Simplicius]

Fuckit, I hate filtering down to less than 3 pictures.

From Japan:
Flowers.

There are two main things that come to mind: compositionally speaking, it's pretty dead; you've got apparently accidental elements in-frame, the bisecting line is unbalanced, and it strolls right out of the frame. On the other hand, placing flowers in water like this can give satisfying results when done properly, and you should keep it in mind in case you are ever of a mind to set up photos. It's too bad that the fact that they are in water is so hard to see here.

For the record, I thought two of the photos from your set - the four morning glories and of the water lily - were very nice, for various reasons.

[Simplicius]

Since it is now 1 August across about 3/4 of the surface of the Earth, Round Two of the challenge is now open as Round 00 slowly comes to a finish, and all are welcome. All the neccessaries:

Rules:



Themes:



I drew #97 - circles.

[Bounty]

#48, A Scene That Makes No Sense

[The Grim Squeaker]

89 - Face only portrait.
Generic, but nifty. I may not have time these days, but portraits are quick work to do, and i've been wanting to practice my portrait making for ages (to the point of being able to actually do it).