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View Full Version : RESULTS - POTN G-Series Speed Challenge # 11 Transportation


BottomBracket
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 11:49
The term "Transportation" can be interpreted in a lot of ways, as attested by the varied entries in the challenge. In this respect, all pictures are eligible, and the only pictures automatically out of the running are those that didn't meet the time deadline. Please bear in mind that the results are only products of my judgement. I have no doubt that there will be agreements and disagreement on my choices. I will also try to interject what I think about the entries, and they may or may not be right to some. But, as I said, these are just my opinions. Well on to the results.

__________________________________________________ _____________


Monkey Wrench - This is an interesting picture. Lots of various ways to interpret the meassage - to me it represents how motored vehicles can run rampant over human powered transport, such as bicycles. I'm an avid cyclist, hence the slant. I like the picyure. Technically, it could benefit from cropping to avoid the clutter and highlight the subject matter. Also, I feel that desaturation should be applied to the brick wall and trees, with the colors confined to the machine itself. Oh, and next time post a title please :)
Boutty - This is a nice desaturated picture. Very cleanly made and the expression on the girl is just lovely. One of my favorites and could have made the top three.
KC Jewel - A very whimsical picture! Great capture, and very interesting. IU studied it to see if there were two actual cars ands I realize that it was one strecth limo (behins the sign). If it were two cars, maybe an Austin Mini), with one showing the hood and the other the trunk..........
Partridge9 - A bold entry, and it wins points for me. Feet has been the original transport of humans and it still is, especially here in NYC. I like the flowers, gives great color contrast. I am thinking this was shot near noontime, hence the harsh lighting. I am willing to venture that the results would be better if this was shot during early morning or late afternoon or on an overcast day, wehn the lighting is much softer. Well done nonetheless, and very imaginative. Great title too!
Abat - Good photo, with a bit of blurring to convey speed. Great vantage point. In think it needs a color saturation to bring out the green and lavender.
Paul r - One of my favorites. Great cropping, great angle. I love the textures. I fell that this would be excellent as a black and white photograph, with a bit of sharpening thrown in.
marie - Leave it to marie to find an unusual angle or subject to photograph. Great capture, and very whimsical, really perks up one's day. On the technical side, I would make sure the horizontal lines (top and bottom edges of truck) remain horizontal, with possibly a lower camera angle to crop out the houses on the sides.
txfirebug - well shot picture, could very well be included in your hometown's travelogue. I am assuming this is in Texas, I didn't know there were streetcars there.
teekay - I have always wanted to try one of those Segways., it looks like fun. Nice sharp picture, but it seems a tad overexposed. Excellent composition.
am_pitbull_terrier - somehow it looks like a picture lifted from a newspaper, due to its grainy look. I love it. Did you push the ISO or did some post processing? Either way it is a great photojournalistic picture. I was thinking that this was taken in Asia but looking at the bus it seems like it is in the USA.
CiderSpy - Seems like a hasty shot from inside a car - one can see wipers and the edge of the windshield. I certainly hope you weren't fiddling with your camera while driving! Picture could benefit from a bit of cropping, and boosting the color saturation. Please add a title too in the future.
Bryan Bedell - An Excellent picture! Too bad it was beyond the deadline, it could have messed up with the top pictures here. I like the contrast of sharpness and the blur, as well as the clouds and the moon. And the train itself seems like a ghost passing through in the night. Well done, I suppose you used a tripod for this? Can you share the camera settings please.
Alexandre Gabriel - If I were to give 4th place, this would be it. Great technique, and the blurs work for me. The shot gives the viewer how it feels to ride on a motorcycle, withg the wind in your hair, how everything moves past you in a blur. Even though it doesn't follow the rule of thirds, the space suggests the freedom you feel while on a motocycle.

Winners

Third Place - IainB "This Train Is Bound For Glory"
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8447&stc=1

I really like this shot. Great cropping, great detail. Excellent capture of a machine that has seen better days. Well done.

Second Place - digidog "Ferry"
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8542&stc=1
An excellent picture! The calm smooth water is like glass showing pleasant reflections, the boats are pointing towards the house which seems to be the focal point of this picture. The house is even illuminated a bit, I wonder if this is post processing or part of the straight shot. Great color saturation, about the only thing I will suggest is to clone out the yellow thing (probably a buoy) floating in the middle left portion. Great job!
First Place - 4nR "Dumped"
http://img211.echo.cx/img211/4479/dumped3am.jpg
Sometimes the message of a picture is powerful enough to carry it over the others. This is one such picture. To me it presents what a throwaway society we have become. These carts look to me as if they are still in good useable condition, and yet are being dumped as trash. Why? Perhaps there is a budget for new ones, or some other silly reason. I mean, look at it - I cannot find any cracks or damages on any of the carts. Well cropped, color/contrast/saturation is ok (but can be improved a bit, maybe). I really like this.

Thanks to all who took the Challenge! 4nR, you have the ball.

am_pitbull_terrier
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 11:58
:D CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS:D
I really liked the photos posted in this contest.... Very nice everyone.

am_pitbull_terrier - somehow it looks like a picture lifted from a newspaper, due to its grainy look. I love it. Did you push the ISO or did some post processing? Either way it is a great photojournalistic picture. I was thinking that this was taken in Asia but looking at the bus it seems like it is in the USA.

Thanks, Thats kinda what I was trying to do. :D The ISO was set at 50 or 100 I think. The Grainy look came from paint shop pro. And yes it wsa taken in the USA:) Just outside of Pittsburgh.

Thanks again, and congratulations to the winners.

4nR
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 12:02
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sweet! ahem, i mean, great job, everyone ;). i'll come up with the next contest later.

edit: i probably should say something about my pic. basically, its a bunch of buggys that we have outside of my job. thats where we put them until they're needed on a construction site and they're actually upside down because we dont want them filling up with water/snow/etc. I actually was on my way out to a train station to take a pic of a train (for this contest) when i saw this and since i was feeling lazy, i took this instead of driving out. did a tight crop and some contrast in ps.

CyberDyneSystems
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 12:05
Congrats guys.. great looking images! :)

paul r
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 12:27
Congratulations to all the winners , some great pictures i nearly posted the B/W version of mine but thought NO to arty farty but here it is

Bryan Bedell
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 13:56
Bryan Bedell - An Excellent picture! Too bad it was beyond the deadline, it could have messed up with the top pictures here. I like the contrast of sharpness and the blur, as well as the clouds and the moon. And the train itself seems like a ghost passing through in the night. Well done, I suppose you used a tripod for this? Can you share the camera settings please.


Thanks, BottomB, Glad you liked it. Now that I've figured out my camera somewhat, maybe I can learn how to tell time. : )

I don't have the EXIF data handy, but yes, it was on a tiny tripod set on the ground, in Tv mode set for 6" and I think aperture went to 4 or so. I spot-focused on the kiosk and used evaluative metering, ISO 50. I left the flash on like an idiot, so that little square in the middle of the photo is actually the front edge of a boxcar that got hit with the flash, (it took me forever to figure out what it was). I can post complete EXIF later if anyone cares. I used the remote so I wouldn't nudge the camera and only got four shots as the train passed, (I did a few test shots without the train). I cropped about 10% off the top right to get rid of another boxcar leading edge that got hit with the flash, and I knocked up the contrast a little and pushed the color balance towards blue a bit.

The moon was incredible last night, we were driving a half hour before I took this shot, and it was huge and low in the sky but by the time we got home it'd moved up in the sky and got smaller, and some clouds were moving in. I wish I'd caught an earlier train, the moon would have been even cooler. The long exposure kinda blurred the moon and clouds, since the wind was strong, bummer. I was also hoping it was a Metra train, because they have eerie green windows that would have made two nice stripes across the photo. But the freight was longer, so it gave me more time.

I had a photo shoot for work planned on Friday (I'm a designer but once in a while clients are too cheap to pay for a photographer so I get stuck doing it) and it was for a tour company that runs double-decker bus and trolley tours in Chicago. Perfect timing for this contest, until it poured rain all day Friday. Dang.

Amazing entries, everyone, good choices BottomB, I agree with all your reasoning. I'm looking forward to the next one and I'll try to post on time. : )

Partridge, I've been dying to ask... are the legs of your shorts two different colors, or was that just the light? Heh.

Bryan

txfirebug
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 14:03
Congrats to the winners, there were a lot of great entries. And Bottom Bracket, my shot was taken in Galveston, Texas. They brought back trolleys, although diesel powered ones, a couple of years ago. They recently expanded the tracks to include more areas and are mainly used for tourists to view the city.

partridge9
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 15:32
Partridge, I've been dying to ask... are the legs of your shorts two different colors, or was that just the light? Heh. BryanThe shorts are indeed two different colors and the colors in the picture are in fact quite close to those of the shorts. I cropped the picture just above the red portion so as not to confuse anyone further:cool:.
Partridge9 - A bold entry, and it wins points for me. Feet has been the original transport of humans and it still is, especially here in NYC. I like the flowers, gives great color contrast. I am thinking this was shot near noontime, hence the harsh lighting. I am willing to venture that the results would be better if this was shot during early morning or late afternoon or on an overcast day, wehn the lighting is much softer. Well done nonetheless, and very imaginative. Great title too!Thanks BottomBracket. The fact is that it was late afternoon but I was walking into the low sun for additional light but it was just a bit much. Here is a different one that I almost used because it looked more like walking but this one has even more light on the leg making it nearly blown out. I also like that this one has the added element of the little blue flowers. Al

digidog
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 17:30
Congrats everyone - some great pics in that round. Glad you liked my picture BottomBracket :) The lighting in my shot was completely natural by the way. The sun was behind clouds so only certain areas were getting lit and I was just lucky that the house was one of those areas. I didn't want to meter off the house alone as I thought the rest of the shot would come out a bit too dark so I used the average metering but underexposed by a stop. I still had to tweak the levels a little but not much. I agree with your comment about cloning the buoy out - it's a bit of an eyesore.
Looking forward to the next topic.

Alexandre Gabriel
25th of April 2005 (Mon), 23:52
Two appearances, one 3rd and one 4th... yay! ;)
Congrats to everyone! Great photos! I liked that dirty truck :lol:

IainB
26th of April 2005 (Tue), 02:57
Congratulations 4nR and Digidog, your photos are excellent. I am delighted with my third place!Well done to all who entered. I'm sure all agree that the competition is a real incentive to learn and to grow our skills. The more entries the merrier.
Congratulations and thanks to the judge, Bottombracket. (I know it is actually a very difficult task!) Very helpful remarks and suggestions all round. I have just returned from my holiday - no more cybercafes for a while - and look forward to this week's challenge and a bunch of great entries.

marie
26th of April 2005 (Tue), 05:25
Congratulations 4nR and Digidog, your photos are excellent. I am delighted with my third place!Well done to all who entered. I'm sure all agree that the competition is a real incentive to learn and to grow our skills. The more entries the merrier.
Congratulations and thanks to the judge, Bottombracket. (I know it is actually a very difficult task!) Very helpful remarks and suggestions all round. I have just returned from my holiday - no more cybercafes for a while - and look forward to this week's challenge and a bunch of great entries.


Congratulations to all especially the winners
1st 4nR , 2nd DigiDog and 3rd IainB and fourth winner and to all who took part

A big thank you to Bottombracket (Pio) for all the great comments and for sacrificing your talents to be a judge this time round

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif
I had plenty of transport shots on hand but decided to show that one (for the giggles)http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif
the thinking of whoever 'wrote' that in the dusty lorry must have been good http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif
I was cycling past , saw it, and went home for my camera
(year or so ago)

:lol:
the picture was on the forum before


I didn't crop it because it would be too narrow to show the picture properly Pio but I well understand what you say
and thank you for taking the time



sorry to say the 2nd and 3rd pictures do not show for me here.
the winners pictures does.
congratulations againhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif to the winner
but I can get the pictures on the other post , so no worries.
that happened the last time also
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif


http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif
your legs are beautiful Partridge 9

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

I give credit to my legs and feet every day
(say thank you to them)http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

where would we be without our legs http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif



http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

thanks Pio and all

I enjoyed the pictures very much

Boutty
26th of April 2005 (Tue), 06:38
Well done all! Especially the judge and the winners.

I think I am learning from you all here.

Thanks for letting me to be part of this.

gkuenning
26th of April 2005 (Tue), 07:32
This is a bit off-topic from all the "congrats" messages, but I'm not sure where else to post it.

I'd like to suggest an additional rule, namely that photographs must be attached to messages in the forum (as opposed to posting a link). I have two reasons for this: first, it's a nuisance to have to visit another site to see the photo, and second, sometimes the external sites go away after a while. I was reviewing some of the early Speed Challenges and couldn't see all of the entries.

partridge9
26th of April 2005 (Tue), 09:02
your legs are beautiful Partridge 9:o!