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Photo Assignment: Weekend 10/27/07

Pretty cool! I once had this happen at a basketball game. I fellow photographer and I were facing each other on opposite sides of the court and triggered our shutters at the same moment. Serendipity aside, that's a neat shot.

Hey, thanks! Do you still have the shot?

Nice images on your site, by the way...
 
first crack at this.

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Skagit river behind autumn foliage.

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Bridge with Open-wide hut (Middle section used to open wide to allow boats through-the controls were in the hut).

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ditto, different angle.
 
sunrise on Beemerhill

I love mornings and sunrises. I wish my little point & shoot could have captured the vapors coming from the surface of the coffee in the crisp morning air.
 

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Saturday we rode out to Davenport for a burger at Whale City Bakery. Then we rode south to Santa Cruz to go for a sundown sail in Monterey Bay. I was wearing my 'stich. As we exited the harbor a boater coming from the opposite direction yelled, "Nice motorcycle suit!"

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/burnszilla/1799465195/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/1799465195_e89abd54e6_b.jpg" width="800" alt="Sailing in Santa Cruz" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/burnszilla/1799471333/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2147/1799471333_c74517c02b_b.jpg" width="500" alt="Sailing in Santa Cruz" /></a>
 
I went for a nice ride yesterday in an attempt to find a nice photo. It was probably in the mid 40's when I was out. I DID see one or two other riders out who were not wearing any helmet (or just a peanut shell) who had that "I'm cool!" grimace on their face... or was that "Please send for help, my face is frozen in this position!"?

Anyhow, I wasn't going to post my photo result, because it didn't come out how I wanted. I was attempting a "wide open road" shot. I took several (at different angles and not all at ground level) but none of them gave that "road goes on forever with no cars on it" look I was going for. FWIW, the road DID go on for quite a long time, with no traffic on it, through wide open farm fields. All the corn is down and the only thing growing is winter wheat... and it's not that tall, yet. Here is one of the shots I took. Rather uninspired, I think (gives me a good reason to try again next week):
 

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OK I'll confess that this one came from the weekend before the one of this assignment, but it'll have to do:

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I hope Tom gets some help reviewing these photos. About 60 photos this week, and at ten minutes per photo we are talking a bunch of work.

I enjoyed some of the in depth reviews of some photos of past weeks by various reviewers.
 
I hope Tom gets some help reviewing these photos. About 60 photos this week, and at ten minutes per photo we are talking a bunch of work.

I enjoyed some of the in depth reviews of some photos of past weeks by various reviewers.

No kidding... I was thinking the same this morning.

I vote that he choose 5-10 of the best or most interesting and review only those. We want more participation, but can't tax even Tom with ten hours of reviews!
 
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Here’s my submission for the week. I’ll spare Tom a little work and offer my own critique. Others (including Tom) are welcome to add their remarks, too. I shot this on my way to church, literally while walking out the back door of my house. It just struck me as “wide open” because of the space between the terrestrial (my neighbor’s roof) and the moon were rather symbolic and obvious—and you can’t get much more open than that. I have a few different angles of this shot, but this one was the first exposure and I’ll leave it at that. I wanted to do a couple things with this shot: capture something appropriate to the theme, capture something simple that required little effort and capture something common in a somewhat less common view (relative to the theme). The trick and flaw of this shot was trying to capture the color of the morning sun, which was still yellowish (on the house) while keeping the moon and sky exposed properly. It’s under exposed about 1 stop. It was shot at ISO 100, 1/320 at f/4.8 with my P&S camera fully zoomed out to about an equivalent of 210 mms. I didn’t use a tripod so I had to shoot at least 1/200th or above to minimize motion blur from handholding. The proper exposure would have been about 1/125th. So to make this shot technically correct, I would have needed a more open aperture, which wasn’t available because f/4.8 is the max on my camera, so my best option should have been increasing the ISO to 200. And as a side note I have no excuse for the under exposure because this was shot facing northwest and the northern sky on a cloudless sunlit day has about 18% reflectance, which is about the same as a grey card—I just was in a hurry and not paying attention.

Compositionally I was just aiming for the simple geometry of the round moon and triangular roof line, while balancing (poorly) the contrasting yellowish sunlight against a clear blue sky.

That’s my story…and I’m sticking to it.

And excellent photos everyone else! It was a banner week. :clap
 
It has indeed!

And M1ka, in his Morning Reads today give us this:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/13-lessons-to-teach-your-child-about-digital-photography/

More basics that I needed to hear. What a supportive place to learn this thread is!!

Thanks Tom, and ALL of you.

Voni
sMiling

Voni,

You are most welcome! And I echo your thanks--everyone's participation is what makes this so enjoyable and interesting.

I saw M1ka's link for "beginners," and thought it was good advice for lots of photographers. He also has been running links to these threads, too. Much appreciated.

I would be remiss were I not to give a shout out (I have no idea what that means) to Kbasa who got this whole thing rolling.

What fun!

:clap
 
I would be remiss were I not to give a shout out (I have no idea what that means) to Kbasa who got this whole thing rolling.

What fun!

:clap

Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow
Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow
Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow Poobah :bow
 
If there's one thing I know how to do, it's steal an idea and run with it.

Big props to Tom for keeping it going.

Do we want to have a larger "review and comment" team?
 
Feedback Time

I'm impressed with how many people seem to be reading what I have to say about the photo submissions. I'm one of many experienced voices on this board. I enjoy this process and the exercise of having to think critically and make substantive comments on your artistic interpretations. I only hope I do your efforts and intentions justice.

As has already been pointed out, this has been a banner week. I'll comment on at least one photo from each submitter. If I don't comment on a photo you'd like to hear about, repost or PM me.

Like many of you, I've really enjoyed this week's results. Let's get to it, shall we?

This week's theme was "wide open." Shooters were asked to interpret this how they may, and--if they desired--to play with the depth-of-field (DoF) on their cameras.

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This week's first submission is from Rapid_Roy. This shot addresses the theme both technically and aesthetically. It is, indeed, shot with a wide-open aperature, as the very limited DoF will attest to. But it's also a large opening, one crucially important to a motorcyclist. This appears to be an airhead, and one can just make out the right cylinder head in the distance. I almost want that in slightly sharper relief, making it evident that this is a motorcycle, and indeed, a BMW motorcycle. Of course the stamping on the muffler does indicate that. It's sharp, clear, and well-composed. Notice that it conforms to the "Golden Mean" of composition. I even like the reflection in the chrome. Really nice job here.

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Statdawg's with us again this week with a really interesting interpretation. It's a beautiful landscape shot through this. . . . what is it? The opening obviously focuses one's attention, but at the same time, the diffusing of the image through what I assume is plastic really captures the imagination. It's almost as though I'm viewing a reflection the concentric circles of a recent splash in the water. There are two images; I chose this one which I liked better. Both are shots of merit though. The difference seems to be the degree to which the lens is zoomed, this one being wide-angle and the other more telephoto, but I'm guessing.

I recently took a photo like this while in Colorado through a Slurpee lid. It was a fun effect, but this is executed much better. Maybe he'll tell us what this is all about, or maybe not. . . . Nevertheless, really imaginative and thought-provoking rendering of an otherwise standard landscape shot.

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KBasa joins us this week with three nice shots, each of which addresses the theme in terms of technique and interpretation. Of the three good shots, I like this one the best. The yellow flower is equally beautiful, but less interesting to me because of the dominance of one color--a subjective impression to be sure. This subject is indeed wide open, a flower in full bloom. the depth of field is quite shallow; as you can see, even the petals foreground and background recede into blur. The subject--the pistil--is in sharp focus and the DoF draws the viewer's eye right to it. The background looks busy, but is sufficiently blurred so as not to distract. It's a well-executed and pretty photograph.

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OK, I lied. Here's KBasa's yellow flower. Also a really nice shot, and one that offers an alternate angle, head-on rather than from the side. Arguablly a more flattering angle for the subject. There's a bothersome little shadow at the bottom. What detracts from this photo--slightly--in comparsion to the other is that the DoF is less shallow and the background distracts a bit from the subject. This is magnified by the subject's blank, yellow pallate. Something really interesting in this image, and one that would be less visible in a more colorful flower, is the pistil's shadow.

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Another Rapid_Roy shot. I like this because it's a creative interpretation of the theme and an unusual angle for a bike shot. He wants us to look at the seat, and his composition directs us to do that. He comments that he couldn't get the DoF shallow enough to eliminate the background. This is probably due to the fact that the shot is wide-angle. Because the magnification is reduced, the DoF remains fairly deep inspite of a large aperature.

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Honorable mention for another unusual angle. It's easy to take a shot of a bike on its side stand; how many of think of unusual angles like these two? 600 bonus points for creativity--200 each for these three shots.

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There is so much to like about Voni's submission that I hardly know where to begin. As KBasa points out, this is an open door welcoming riders, or seemingly so. Fits the theme wonderfully. There are screens or something on the windows, so they are darker than the door's entrance. Again, the viewer's eye is directed to the subject. That the door is red is serendipitous, but makes for a wonderful detail. I like that the bikes are partially obscured and that the riders are in sharp relief. I like how the light falls off as the photo recedes to the right. It's just a wonderful, interesting, and thought-provoking image. Voni's got an eye for this.

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Snoone's back with a nice image this week. Of his two submissions, I think this one fits the theme better. Although typically wider angle works better for a landscape photo, here the telephoto shot reveals more detail and tells more of a story. In the wide-angle shot, the hamlet disappears into the background. The telephoto shot includes the trees and the wonderful autumn colors, but still tells a story about where this is and what the surrounding area includes. If you page back (page 2) and look at the wide-angle shot, the foreground isn't that interesting. In this shot, the foreground is the beautiful trees. Really nice shot.

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Beerteam's back with another batch of really nice submissions. This first one really jumps out to me as a creative interpretation of the theme. It says a lot about HDs, too. It captures the culture and the vibe associated with these bikes well. You may note (for those trying to learn) that the DoF is not too shallow. The image does become softer in the background but only slight so, again attributable to the use of a wide-angle lens, I'd guess.

I'm envious of this private museum tour. Several really nice shots.

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Crow18 brings us two nice submissions this week. His first? I don't recall seeing others. This is an especially nice shot for a number of reasons. To begin with, it is wide-angle but because he's so close to the subject and the aperature is wide open, he does achieve a shallow DoF--no mean feat. In addition, the composition layers nicely into the rule of thirds with little more than color, from blue to green to shadow. It's a complex and interesting image with the various blues of the flower, the vivid green leaves, with the dead needles lying on each. It appears to be purposely under-exposed, bringing out the richness in the colors. This is a photo of not only a plant but of a forest atmosphere.

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Sonnata joins us with a nice image this week. Fits the theme nicely and is a great exposure. The latitude of light in this image exceeds the sensor's ability to record, so decisions must be made. The camera's meter (or the photographer) made good decisions here. The foreground is dark and the background blown-out, but the tunnel entrance, the subject as I see it--has the proper exposure. It connotes mystery and perhaps a little danger. I like the barely-visible grafitti on the left. This shot is somehow just a bit sinister. Maybe it's the dead leaves. Maybe I'm just looking for trouble. It's a nice shot. 100 bonus points for not putting the tunnel entrance dead center in the image.

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I like RandallIsland's submission this week. It addresses the theme with an unexpected vertical composition. The bridge wants to be the subject, but it isn't. The clouds and the opening that reveals them is the interesting aspect of this shot. There's a vague (purple?) cast to the shot that somehow adds to the whole. It's interesting and invites contemplation.

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Gil visited the Pittsburgh Zoo this weekend and caputered a shot that fits the theme quite well. Imagine being a veterinary dentist facing this patient. I'm sure he's just yawning, but these shots are always impressive and are usually the result of at least a little patience. It is a bit fuzzy. Low resolution or motion blur? My eyes just ain't what they used to be.

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Darcym joins us this week with several nice submissions, two of which I'd like to comment on. This first is another nice flower shot with limited DoF. It appears to have been shot in glaring, direct sunlight and so is a bit washed out; however, the inclusion of both the entire pistil and its entire shadow is a really nice composition. Fits the theme well.

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Darcym's other submission is an exquisite close-up of an unsual (to me) insect. Never seen a red one, in my yard or elsewhere. The DoF is entirely obscured--this is close-up, telephoto, AND wide-open. The dragonfly is in sharp focus though. Really, really nice. The wings are so interesting. It's great lighting, too. My one fault here would be the composition; I'd rather see the dragonfly higher in the frame. Having said that, it may not have been possible and timing may also have been a factor. In post-processing this can be cropped, too. A really successful image.

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Tourunigo is back with several nice images. The well is interesting, but this one gets my vote. It's a very successful landscape and an equally successful boat shot. Everything is right about this composition. The horizon's slightly out of whack, but I've beat that horse to death already. I like the character of this little boat and wish that the red boat in the river weren't obscured by the pier. The sky's a bit washed out, but it's very visible in the water, which is perhaps more interesting. Really pretty picture.

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This shot is also worth mentioning. Nice exposure and color. It's a relatively mundane subject, but it's so artfully executed that it makes for an interesting interpretation. It's a very thoughtful composition. Nice.

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PGlaves, having received this week's memo, is back with a nice submission. Fits the theme well and is an interesting, well-composed shot. The exposure on the tractor's opening is right-on, but the rest of the image is a bit over-exposed. This is a RED tractor--I want to see that. I think this could potentially be fixed in processing.

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MLS2GO is back with two nice submissions. This one is impossible to resist. I love everything about this. That the kids are wearing helmets (and this has nothing to do with ATGATT, though he does collect 500 bonus points) but that they are play-acting, what kids do so well. The little boy's wide open mouth fits the theme beautifully and reveals his unbridled joy to be on this magnificent motorcycle. What fun! It's lit with a flash (fill-flash) and that adds a sense of excitement or urgency to the photo. Really, really nice stuff.
 
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