PDA

View Full Version : Title: POTN G-series Speed Challenge #170 - What is that?


dbump
5th of May 2008 (Mon), 22:32
Challenge #170 - What is that?

Results:
First Place:
Michael Wells, "Before the Crash" Besides being gorgeous, it captured the spirit of 'What is that?' very well--that moment of elation when I realized it was a cymbal. I'd love to see "After the crash", with either a high-speed freeze-frame, or a low-speed motion blur of the cymbal's vibration.

Second Place:
Marie, "? :)" I still don't know exactly what it is--maybe a fuel can? The textures are gorgeous, and the duplication of the X in the metal with the string is very nice. Your lighting is perfect.

Third Place:
Kevan_G9, "Satisfaction..." Very simple, and again, a nice "aha!" moment when it became clear.

I'm very impressed with the entries--great pictures! Hope you enjoyed taking them as much as I did puzzling over them. Comments on the rest:
Gary's "What is that?": Great color, and balance between shadows and highlights. Placing the focus on the edges of the foreground berries works really well, keeping the fuzz sharp.

M1ket4n's "Bubbles": I have no idea what this is--please tell! Cool color and texture. The deeper lavender looks oily, while the surrounding area looks crunchy.

Macroshot's "What is it? Well...": Great detail! Is it a variety of sand dollar? It's pretty vicious looking!

Rickinto's untitled: This took me a while, but it just jumped out at me a day later when I looked at it again, which is great! I like the shallow DOF.

Grandadraymond's "Think bender" I'm still not sure what this is, though it looks a bit like a can opener? Sharo capture, and good silhouette against the plain background.

Cashmonee's "For it's 1, 2, 3..." Without the title, I might not have gotten this one--very well done. Aside from the challenge, it's also just an excellent macro, and I like the composition of the diagonal.

RPolitSr's "Brain refresher (a kind of)" This is sort of a favorite; I got it immediately, because I've worked with way too many heat sinks, but I just love the reflections and the dark background.

BobsYourUncle's "Ask an OLD mechanic!", this is another that I'm not sure of. From the title, I'm guessing it's a tool for pulling something out or pushing something in, but I'm curious what it is exactly? Nice lighting, but the finger was a bit distracting (and gave away the scale of the object).

RacingSafetyMan's "What is that?" Great color and crisp detail--this would be a neat semi-abstract poster-sized print. I think it's bendy straws?

Boutty's "The Maskman" Really nice light control. From the title, I'm imagining a brass superhero and his rusty sidekick Rebar Boy surveying crime from a rooftop. But what the heck is it? Did you use off-camera flash, or high powered lighting?

I'm looking for images where it is not obvious what the subject is. People seeing the image for this first time should stare at it and still puzzle "what is that?", then slap their forehead when (or if) they find out. You don't have to reveal the secret in your entry's title, but can if you wish.

________________________________

To submit, click "Post Reply" and put your Photo Name in the Subject Line. Don't forget your Camera Model.

Post until Monday noon GMT, 12 May 2008.


Photo Submissions

1. Camera -- Canon G-Series Camera (G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, G7, G9) or Pro 1 only.

2. Time -- any on-topic photo taken at any time is eligible, although photos that have won other competitions should NOT be entered.

3. Size -- photo must be EXACTLY 800 pixels on the longest side, with NO BORDERS.

4. Post-Processing -- do whatever you like and the host will decide if it works.

5. Posting --
* One photo per photographer in each challenge.
* Photo Title in the message subject line.
* Camera model.
* EXIF data, if you like.

6. Commenting -- No commenting on photos by anyone, including the photographer. Once the winners are declared, photographers can add comments to their images and everyone is invited to discuss.

7. Photo Display -- Photos must appear in this thread to be eligible.

Time

One challenge every week, on the following schedule:
New Topic ... As soon as possible after winning.
Posting Starts ... Right after topic is announced.
Posting Stops ... Monday noon GMT
Winners Announcement ... Tuesday noon GMT.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please consider turning on Private Messaging in your profile.
This will allow the host to contact you about winning or ineligible photos. You turn this feature on by clicking "User CP, Edit Options, Enable Private Messaging" (about a third of the way down the page). Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click this sentence for Hosting Rules and Winners List. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=926762#post926762)

Click this sentence for Discussion of Rules thread. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=59640)

Gary W. Graley
5th of May 2008 (Mon), 23:01
G9
1/2 sec
f 2.8
iso 80

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/GaryWGraley/G9/misc/IMG_0055.jpg


G2

m1ket4n
5th of May 2008 (Mon), 23:54
Bubbles...
G7
ISO200 f2.8 1/30 0EV 7.4mm

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/m1ket4n/IMG_3210.jpg

macroshot
6th of May 2008 (Tue), 20:46
G7 * 1/500 sec * f/2.8

269228

rickinto
8th of May 2008 (Thu), 08:54
G9
ISO 80
1/60

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa90/rickinto/canon%20contest/canonphoto.jpg

grandadraymond
8th of May 2008 (Thu), 09:53
G9
Exposure 1/2 sec
f 2.8
iso 80

Cashmonee
8th of May 2008 (Thu), 11:24
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll85/cashmonee81/IMG_0037-Version2.jpg

G9 - f/2.8 - 1/60 - ISO 200

rpolitsr
8th of May 2008 (Thu), 13:56
http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnentries/170_brain_refresher_0875.jpg

powershot Pro1

Kevan_G9
9th of May 2008 (Fri), 00:13
G9:

BobsYourUncle
9th of May 2008 (Fri), 01:10
G9

http://www.hanover1.net/files/miscfiles/OldMechanic.jpg

racingsafetyman
10th of May 2008 (Sat), 15:24
270229

Michael Wells
10th of May 2008 (Sat), 15:26
G9
270230

Boutty
11th of May 2008 (Sun), 04:54
| G6 |

marie
11th of May 2008 (Sun), 18:42
Pro 1
1/500 f/4



http://www.pbase.com/image/96916818/original.jpg

dbump
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 07:45
The contest is closed; I'll post results later today.

dbump
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 11:46
Results posted above.

m1ket4n
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 12:05
Here's a hint: for Mac users, try the key combination ctrl-opt-cmd-8. :wink:


Bubbles...
G7
ISO200 f2.8 1/30 0EV 7.4mm

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/m1ket4n/IMG_3210.jpg

Michael Wells
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 12:25
Thanks!!!...Looking at the other entries, I really didn't see this one coming! This is a really busy week for me, but I'll try to get something up for #171 tonight if possible.

Mike

rpolitsr
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 13:03
Congratulations to the winners and the other clever posters, it was interesting to guess what you posted. There are some ‘answers’ waiting for a confirmation!

As soon as I read the theme, I got the camera ready to shoot everything that will be a good subject for wondering what is that? for a few seconds.

Some day I was sewing a kite, and the thread guide of the sewing machine (left) did a good subject.

Blowing the dust of my computer exposed the Pentium IV’s heat-sink after removing the air duct and the fan. I shot some pictures of it on the work bench with a dim, soft overall light and the work light close above the opened case.

I shot the picture (right) through the rear cooling window and the one posted was shot from above the mother board.

http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnresized/170_guide_thumb.jpg (http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnentries/170_guide_CRW_0870.jpg)_http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnresized/170_backview_IMG_0882_thumb.jpg (http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnentries/170_backview_IMG_0882.jpg)_Click the images to enlarge

Nice challenge, dbump, and thanks for the comment.

dbump
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 13:46
Coincidental timing: this morning, PhotoJojo (http://photojojo.com/content/guides/photography-games/) posted 5 games you can play with photo groups; one was basically "What is that?"
So if this didn't give you your fix, head over to:
http://flickr.com/groups/guess/
or
http://www.flickr.com/groups/guess_my_shot/

marie
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 20:31
:D


Congratulations to the winner Michael Wells
terrific

even though my brother is/was a drummer I would never have guessed the photo :cool:

Congratulations Kevan
I thought you were giving us the two fingers

:lol:


Thank you very much for second place dbump and for running and taking on tasks of the challenge. not easy

great pictures from everyone

my picture is of a water bucket used by the U.S. military in 1943 and onwards . made of canvas and reinforced .

if I had mentioned anything it may have been guessed especially by any old timers
:)
on their person the soldiers wore these water bottles >

http://www.pbase.com/image/96979803/original.jpg




http://www.pbase.com/image/96981187/original.jpg

( I took the pictures yesterday at a military show.. locally)

macroshot
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 20:41
G7 * 1/500 sec * f/2.8

269228

It's the underside of a starfish. Found an entire underwater colony off Waterlemon Cay on St. John, USVI.

270947


Congrats to the winners. I hope everyone adds a quick ID to their entry.

m1ket4n
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 21:06
ok, mine's actually the colour inverted image of a batch of bread dough I made some time ago. I did not initially intend to invert the colours, but accidentally did it, and found that it really made the colours look funky. Here's the original:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/m1ket4n/IMG_32101.jpg

rpolitsr
12th of May 2008 (Mon), 21:27
… my picture is of a water bucket used by the U.S. military in 1943 and onwards . made of canvas and reinforced.
Wonderful picture marie. The strap and the buckle remind me of my father’s first car, an old World War II surplus Willys Jeep. I remember it as a black vehicle, but probably it was originally olive drab as were the canvas roof and the straps. Even the doors were framed canvas with a milky ‘clear’ window and a zipper to open a small vent below it.

By the way, when I see your pictures of close objects, it seems that your Pro1 has better focusing skills than mine :confused:
Provided that Canon made a good job with the camera, I concluded that the faulty piece of equipment is the photographer (me) :cry: :cry:

Kevan_G9
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 00:05
Okay...congrats to everyone for a great show, but can we all promise not to do this type of challenge ever again?! I mean really...over the later part of last week and into the weekend, I was reduced to crawling around the house and yard taking photos of the strangest stuff. My wife thinks I've hit a new level of weird, my children are embarassed, and the neighbors....well, they no longer wave as they drive past the house. I bet Ansel was never reduced to this! Here are some examples:

Kevan_G9
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 00:06
Oh, let's not stop there:

Kevan_G9
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 00:06
I'm not finished!

Kevan_G9
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 00:09
Here's the uncut version of my entry. Okay, so the assignment wasn't all that bad:

Michael Wells
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 08:08
[quote=Kevan_G9 My wife thinks I've hit a new level of weird,[/quote]

LOL...I feel your pain! :lol:

Mike

sara
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 08:27
Wow Kevan_G9, excellent set of photos you posted! I enjoy them all. Did you notice that they (especially the 2nd two sets) match.. in color scheme?? They make nice sets! Assuming the selective focus was done in camera; they also show the G9's capabilities. Good stuff.

Great challenge idea dbump.

Kevan_G9
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 09:50
Thanks Sara. This challenge was a lot of fun because I just kept on shooting. Everything. It would be a lie to saw I took the photo of the rice to match the toothbrush, but yes, I saw how nicely the leaf blended with the split peas and frankly, not until I put the brush and rice together, did I see a matching hue.

sara
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 14:13
Intentional or not- still cool! :D

marie
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 15:40
Wonderful picture marie.

The strap and the buckle remind me of my father’s first car, an old World War II surplus Willys Jeep. I remember it as a black vehicle, but probably it was originally olive drab as were the canvas roof and the straps. Even the doors were framed canvas with a milky ‘clear’ window and a zipper to open a small vent below it.


you describe exactly the vehicle on which the water bucket was attached .....a 'Willys' jeep

your shot is terrific
all the shots for the challenge were really excellent in that I had no idea what any actually were .....which was the object of the challenge
Gary's had me laughing , looks like breast inplants getting badly sunburnt .well, something like that....
at first glance
lol
thanks Rafael

loved Boutty's man

marie
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 15:42
Here's the uncut version of my entry. Okay, so the assignment wasn't all that bad: I was reduced to crawling around the house and yard taking photos of the strangest stuff. My wife thinks I've hit a new level of weird, my children are embarassed, and the neighbors....well, they no longer wave as they drive past the house.
:shock:
ha ha ha ha ha
we have to go to a lot of trouble sometimes

thats a lovely sewing machine picture ^

marie
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 15:51
ok, mine's actually the colour inverted image of a batch of bread dough I made some time ago. I did not initially intend to invert the colours, but accidentally did it, and found that it really made the colours look funky. Here's the original:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn228/m1ket4n/IMG_32101.jpg really great

:cool:

I would never have guessed

marie
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 15:53
It's the underside of a starfish. Found an entire underwater colony off Waterlemon Cay on St. John, USVI.

270947


Congrats to the winners. I hope everyone adds a quick ID to their entry.

thats the best ever
I had thought it was the icing on the cake ..or something
wonderful stuff ...........
lovely to see

racingsafetyman
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 16:51
Yes, correct bendy straws - here's the original:

271179

Well done to the winners - some great shots there.

BobsYourUncle
13th of May 2008 (Tue), 23:36
BobsYourUncle's "Ask an OLD mechanic!", this is another that I'm not sure of. From the title, I'm guessing it's a tool for pulling something out or pushing something in, but I'm curious what it is exactly? Nice lighting, but the finger was a bit distracting (and gave away the scale of the object).

http://www.hanover1.net/files/miscfiles/OldMechanic.jpg


Well, the title Ask an OLD mechanic is because there is no way that any of todays mechanics would know what this thing is.

It was given to me from a long time friend who got it from his father, who was for many years the manager of an Acklands store. At the time he was heavily involved in car parts.

This thing is a valve spring compressor for a Model T Ford!
If you don't know what that means, this tool was held in hand with the flat end, using the curved prong end to push down on a valve spring to release the keeper so the valve could be removed from the cylinder head.

Now, as for the finger and giving away the scale, I actually did that on purpose so people would get an idea on the size of the tool. But I do agree, it was a bit distracting. It was lit with my 380EX bounced off a white ceiling. The background is the light pink wall in the hallway of my house. I had other photos of it with different backgrounds and so on. One pic was with it standing up on a white dinner plate.

Great entries, everyone!

Boutty
14th of May 2008 (Wed), 05:21
Great job dbump! Thank you for a most fun challenge and great guesses/comments on all our entries. Congrats to the well deserved winners - Michael Wells, Marie & Kevan_G9. Nice work everyone. :p Especially sir rafael's light control on his image was awesome.

dbump is 99% right; my entry was an abstract figurine of our famous rush ranger, Ned Kelly (http://nedkellythebushranger.com/), I bought from an art & craft market. This would be my first art collection that I spent a lot of money on left over industrial materials. :lol: The main light source was a garden flood light onto my child's cubbyhouse & the second light source from RHS was reflected by a white cardboard. :cool:

rpolitsr
14th of May 2008 (Wed), 13:21
Hi Boutty!
Lately you posted just your images, but we missed your comments after them.
Beautiful picture, and dramatic lighting. It was hard to guess the relation with Ned Kelly not knowing him though. :o ... Well, the language and the ocean barriers limit my knowledge of Australia, although the internet helps a lot nowadays.

I must confess that the ‘lighting skills’ on my picture were enhanced by Photoshop, using selectively the exposure and levels tools to hide into shadows the unwanted parts of the motherboard.

http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnresized/170_unretouched_0875_thumb.jpg-Unretouched-Click to enlarge (http://www.geocities.com/r_polit_6/pictures/potnentries/170_unretouched_0875.jpg)

Boutty
15th of May 2008 (Thu), 17:32
Hi Boutty!
Lately you posted just your images, but we missed your comments after them.

I know, I should hang out here more instead of the golf driving range. :)

I must confess that the ‘lighting skills’ on my picture were enhanced by Photoshop, using selectively the exposure and levels tools to hide into shadows the unwanted parts of the motherboard.


Thanks sir for posting the B4 picture and revealing your digital darkroom burning technique. :cool: