[SI] 11 CES My comments
Alan Browne
Richard Cockburn
I liked the use of the mirror in this shot to reflect the weight lifter.
Very good composition. Skin tone seems a bit yellow ... was this
shot ambient with incandescent?
Bret Douglas
C'mon man. Meets the sphere mandate, but shot lacks the punch that we
expect from the Fabulous D-60. A lot of motion blur. The positive
aspect is the simple off centre compo and the blurred background... as
well as the image of the environment reflected in the sphere.
Aram Langhans
I suspect this is a supercooled magnet holding op another magnet? In
any case a pretty bland shot that barely makes the mandate. If you
could have raised the coolant and shot so that the cube was clearly
floating above the black magnet, then the shot would have been much more
effective.
Vic Mason
The solid RGB circles seem done in PS so you are beyond the rulz here.
The lighting on the golf ball is well done.
Svetlana Nevski
A nice still life with a little too much clutter. Either get the fruit
in isolation, or the fruit with the flowers, but get rid fo the sofa and
cushions in the background. Maybe a more subdued lighting?
Jim Kramer
It is neat the way the refracted light comes off of the disks. The
stark background is not complimentary to the shot IMO. Composition is
ordinary and centered.
Garry Ashton-Coulton
Nice still life. Our eyes are strongly pulled to the one penny that is
evenly lit and in focus. If I'm not mistaken, British pennies are
copper, but this shot makes them look like corroded nickel...
Joseph Kewfi
Nice still life. Good choice of substrate texture and lighting. I
particularly like the partially diffused stem shadow and the diagonal
positioning of the stem itself which is 'textbook'. Shadow of the
tomato should perhaps have been 'in frame'. Red frame is a bit (a lot)
garish.
Martin Francis
A 'white-on-white' shot that is perhaps a little too white as the
spherical shape of the globe is almost lost. Very well lit and exposed
and the reflection of the lighting source on the globe is well done.
Elie Shammas
Nicely saturated shot with good detail in the stems and that smooth
bokeh of that wonderful lens. Like Kewfi's shot, the use of the
diagonal in the composition is very effective, but here the curve of the
stem enhances. A more diffuse light might have been more pleasing.
Simon Lee
...Simon returns to his near close up stance with a foreground blue
light being dominated by the red light in the back. The placement of
the balls is not that exciting but is enhanced by the curved form of the
light pattern in the back. Strong photo, but composition could be
improved...
Leroy Jolicoeur
Similar to Bret's shot in composition and effect. The harsh lighting
really knocks this back and we lose detail in the marble. Using a Nikon
box as a substrate is very cheesy. There is a lot of surface detail
available here from the marble, but the lighting choice has made it hard
to decode.
Bowser *
Near idyllic shot with the flat morning mirror of the pond reflecting
the balloon activity. Good color. mandate: Balloons are not even close
to spheres.
Thaddeus Lipshitz
These onion halves look like they've suffered a little heat before the
shot was taken. Lighting is a bit too flat.
Ed Leitch
These look like they were over photoshopped (inverted colors I suppose).
Otherwise, the composition is effective with the ribbons at various
states of focus.
Doug Payne
Frighteningly similar to other shots I did recently of eggs. Strong
simple composition. I'm not sure whether a higher or lower contrast
would be more effective. Given the noise in the blue area of the shot,
I'm wondering if this is a severe crop from a larger photo.
Tony Parkinson
Nice cropped compo. I like the addition of the water (?) drops.
Charlie Dilks
Good compo, but the starkness of the shot loses it. How did you light this?
Glenn Travis *
The 'circles/ellipses' here are not major compositional elements. The
overall has 'intruding' elements such as the cash on the right and the
mat(?) as well as the stuff just beyond the bar on the left. The far
background works in the context of a bar and is nicely oof. The
tones/contrast/grain of this shot are very pleasing. The mist on the
Martini glass is well captured as is the ice in the glass. I think this
shot would have worked better closer up and a bit lower down, less centred.
Peter Boorman ("Bandicoot")
Composition, lighting and selection of subject are great, but the focus
is maybe a little too shallow. If the plastic egg crate could have been
avoided, it would have been a much better shot all around. I'm
wondering if these are in fact eggs, or are they stones?
Relics
Barely meets mandate. Good composition, but the lighting is too flat.
Eric Quesnel-Williams
Barely meets mandate. But I like the orange against the overall bleak
scene. Could have been shot a few miles from my house as this is the
weather we've had for the past 6 weeks (last few days were nice).
Andrew Colquhoun
Cool shot with both circles presented as ellipses and the spherical
drops. Neat lighting. The 'pool' looks like a shallow tray of some
kind with a purple cloth on the bottom... The blue/green reflection in
the water is a distraction ...judging from the ripples, that was your shirt?
John Riegle
Meets mandate, but is a bit dull overall.
Alan Browne
What simple, inspired genius...
Bob Hickey
The circle obfuscation award goes to Bob. Otherwise a very nice B&W
although the whites at the bottom seem over-X.
Matt Clara
Very nice image capturing these serene elliptical shapes. Nice tones,
perhaps greater contrast could have been used. Cropping out the upper
right, or re-positioning to eliminate these windows/doors would have
been more effective.
George ("Carbuff")
A little too flat on, but the detail and colors are well caught.
Composition is a bit dull. The lines on the right (woodwork) are
distracting to the desired simplicity of the image. (Generally, lines
parallel to the edges that lead side to side in a photo and that don't
demark something major, weaken an image).
Michelo *
Christ! That's my boat! (Kidding). A very nice B&W shot that would
seem to cover ships from pre-WW-II up until today. Good contrast and
tonalities. Strong use of the diagonal and curved line. Does not,
strictly speaking, meet the mandate except in the circles suggested by
the propeller shaft and the variable pitch propeller joint to the shaft.
The rudder tower at left is a bit distracting.
Gordon Moat *
Simple and effective composition blending the spheres into a simple
curved line. Contrast is maybe a bit dull and the plants at the top
detract from the overall simplicity of the image.
Al Denelsbeck
I suppose if quantity of circles is going to win anything, this is the
winner. Putting up the ladybug is just a distraction, eh?
Doug Payne
> Doug Payne
> Frighteningly similar to other shots I did recently of eggs.
That is scary indeed.
> Strong
> simple composition. I'm not sure whether a higher or lower contrast
> would be more effective. Given the noise in the blue area of the shot,
> I'm wondering if this is a severe crop from a larger photo.
No, not severe, although obviously cropped, given the square format.
Dunno exactly what happened there; the original raw file doesn't exhibit
the noise. But I don't typically don't reduce for Web like that, and I'm
not really inclined to worry overly about it (as I said in a previous
related post). Thanks for your comments. It was a quickie Saturday
morning shot, and the subjects were subsequently consumed at lunch :-)
Mr Blobby
news:LgOub.158102$ti.23...@weber.videotron.net...
> Andrew Colquhoun
Thanks for your comments Alan, I was woundering if anybody else was going to
take the time :)
> Cool shot with both circles presented as ellipses and the spherical drops.
Yes I knew this type of shot was perfect for the mandate as I had one on
file and all I had to do was go back and recreate it so I didn't get a *
next to my name and fortunatly I did far better than befor.
> Neat lighting. The 'pool' looks like a shallow tray of some
> kind with a purple cloth on the bottom... The blue/green reflection in
> the water is a distraction ...judging from the ripples, that was your
shirt?
It is actually the Kitchen sink.... and yes it is a purple tea towel, the
Green reflection was one of many things I put in the background to purposely
get that reflection. This Green in particular was just a Cux Handy Wipe!
Here were my alternate shots of which I had to choose from
http://www.users.bigpond.com/andrewc/si/
This is what I originally had planed (
http://www.users.bigpond.com/andrewc/si/pages/IMG_2199-crop.html ) but after
2 Hours of waiting and shooting it just didn't work, it really needed to be
done at dusk and not night. And I only have 1 day to do it next time the
Moon comes around.
And Here are the Best of the water drop shoot that Sunday
http://www.users.bigpond.com/andrewc/drops as you can see there are lots of
varying colours.
Andrew (BLOB)
Charlie Dilks
Alan Browne <alan....@FreeLunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> Charlie Dilks
> Good compo, but the starkness of the shot loses it. How did you light this?
I wanted to shoot bubbles, but IMO it was too windy outside.
Shot in dining room in front of black velveteen backdrop with Lumiquest
ProMax flash bouncer and flash mounted in front of camera and pointed
down so as not to illuminate the backdrop.
Camera on tripod with pre-set focus, bubbles blown to be at proper
distance and in frame.
Had to do that to block the uninteresting "indoors" elements.
--
Charlie Dilks
Newark, DE USA
Svetlana Nevski
> Svetlana Nevski
> A nice still life with a little too much clutter. Either get the
> fruit in isolation, or the fruit with the flowers, but get rid fo the
> sofa and cushions in the background. Maybe a more subdued lighting?
Thank you. As for the background and the lighting, I did nothing to setup
this photo. It was a grab from a hotel lounge.
Your photo is quite nice.
--
Yours,
Svetlana Nevski
(SPAM BLOCKER: Remove the "?" to email)
Alan Browne
> "Alan Browne" <alan....@FreeLunchVideotron.ca> wrote in message
> news:LgOub.158102$ti.23...@weber.videotron.net...
>
>>Andrew Colquhoun
>
>
> Thanks for your comments Alan, I was woundering if anybody else was going to
> take the time :)
>
>
>>Cool shot with both circles presented as ellipses and the spherical drops.
>
>
> Yes I knew this type of shot was perfect for the mandate as I had one on
> file and all I had to do was go back and recreate it so I didn't get a *
> next to my name and fortunatly I did far better than befor.
>
How did you 'sync' on the drops? trial and error?
--
e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.
Alan Browne
Svetlana Nevski wrote:
> Alan Browne <alan....@FreeLunchVideotron.ca> wrote in
> news:LgOub.158102$ti.23...@weber.videotron.net:
>
>
>>Svetlana Nevski
>>A nice still life with a little too much clutter. Either get the
>>fruit in isolation, or the fruit with the flowers, but get rid fo the
>>sofa and cushions in the background. Maybe a more subdued lighting?
>
>
> Thank you. As for the background and the lighting, I did nothing to setup
> this photo. It was a grab from a hotel lounge.
>
> Your photo is quite nice.
Why, thank you. Not really what I wanted to do, but given the wretched
weather we've been having... today is nice, I'll go for a walk in the
woods I think...
Mr Blobby
> Mr Blobby wrote:
> > Yes I knew this type of shot was perfect for the mandate as I had one on
> > file and all I had to do was go back and recreate it so I didn't get a *
> > next to my name and fortunatly I did far better than befor.
> How did you 'sync' on the drops? trial and error?
Hehe,
Yes, Trial and error, but after a lot of practice its amazing how good you
get, I and down to about 1 in 3 good captures.
I don't know why but I find Water Shots fascinating, I guess its cause you
don't see it every day and that's what I want to see in photographs.
Blob
Bandicoot
>
[SNIP]
> Peter Boorman ("Bandicoot")
> Composition, lighting and selection of subject are great, but the focus
> is maybe a little too shallow. If the plastic egg crate could have been
> avoided, it would have been a much better shot all around. I'm
> wondering if these are in fact eggs, or are they stones?
>
(Replying rather late...)
I preferred the very shallow DoF, to go with the softness of the lighting -
but that is very much a stylistic choice and I'm more than happy with anyone
feeling they'd have done it differently. Such shallow DoF is a bit
fashionable in food photography right now - which also some like and some
hate.
The egg crate I liked: echoing the shapes yet being clearly a different
material and manmade versus natural - another personal thing though. The
lighting I _was_ rather pleased with, and I'm glad you liked it.
Yes, they are eggs - quail's eggs.
Peter
Alan Browne
Bandicoot wrote:
> (Replying rather late...)
I'll say!
Cheers,
Alan