RESULTS - POTN G-Series Speed Challenge # 12 Light & Dark

[4nR]

This was very difficult for me to judge. There were so many entries that interpreted the topic so differently. Some were straight forward; other a little more abstract. Some I was able to judge the first time around; some took a second or third look. I certainly hope noone was disappointed by the limit of photoshopping; I wanted to make you to utilize your photographic skills more than your computer skills, and I was very impressed by these results. Great job by everyone, and thanks for making my job so difficult:p. I will post what I liked about the pic and some sort of constructive criticism.
__________________________________________________ ____________

(listed alphabetically by screen name)

3dart-beautiful shot of a light against the dark water (is it even legal?:confused:). I love how the light cast on the ground kind of frames the photo and brings focus to the image. I would have liked to see this sort of 'active' light in a different setting however.
abat-sweet tropical sunrise shot. its so clear. there's just something about it that makes me want to drink a margarita. However, there seems to be something missing from this pic, like it was cropped.
alexandre gabriel-AAAAAAAA! very cool portrait. the overexposed eye juxtaposed against the rest of the face really gave me the impression of something sinister (dont take it the wrong way :lol:). and the fact that the eye is looking right into the camera helps. the only suggestion i'd make is to try different settings/light sources/angles.
am_pitbull_terrier- great portrait shot. great exposure, settings, focus. I dont know how you got them to sit so still, but I love seeing very large dogs next to teeny ones. something about it just cracks me up. I also like how they're looking at everything except the camera, which almost gives it a candid quality. The only thing i would suggest is to either show more of the dogs (ie legs) or even less (showing more of the bigger one and maybe only the head portion of the little one would make my day).
barts-beautiful mountain. and i love how you chose to have a more yellow light source rather than the typical white lighting that i usually see with these kinds of shots. the shot does seem a little cropped, maybe a little too much in my opinion.
boutty-very nice shot. i got the impression of a rainy old west setting (which is probably what it is). very dramatic shot. your use of purple/blue instead of a direct b&w really accentuated the feeling of rain/gloom. I wouldnt have minded another angle, maybe focusing more on the cowboys.
Ciderspy- another AAAAAA! it looks very candid, like something a victim in a horror film would see. very 'blair witch' look to it. I actually like the focus on it (or the lack of). I'd like to see more content to it, to make it more interesting.
digidog-for some reason, this photo reminded me of jurassic park. maybe i expected a dinosaur to come out and start eating it. the shot itself seems much too tight. i'd like to see more of the surroundings, which could help bring more focus on the ferns.
kcjewel-thats a cool kite, and i like how it looks like everything else is over/under exposed except for the colors on the kite. having said that, from the perspective of it being a portrait, the foreground is underexposed and the background is over. I dont know if that was intentional or not, but thats just my take on it.
marie- very nice shot. i like how you made a literal interpretation of it. the shot itself is very nicely comp'. the one thing i didnt really care for was the b&w on the last candle. i see how it looks like the candles are progressively losing saturation, but for some reason it didnt seem to fit in.
maybe if it was out and trailing smoke...
megatrixel- really cool shot here. reminds me of sin city. subject could be alittle more interesting (sorry, but they're just sitting there)
monkey_wrench- i remember this photo from before. great angle, great subject. that blue sky kind of bothers me though.
mr. twister- beautiful city. the angle could be different, it seems to lack any sort of subject to focus on. the sky is also overexposed (though it could be beneficial if used right)
partridge9- at first glance, i thought it was just a generic shot of clouds. then i took a closer look at it and saw that it was really something else. its almost abstract in a way. the shades of gray/white with the little blue in the center could pass as a painting.
pcguy- heehee, a second cloud photo. i like the different kinds of clouds, from the light fluffy ones to the dark brooding one on top. but in terms of subject, it didnt really draw my attention.
RAW- nice shot, but i really dont see too much of anything to focus on. maybe the inclusion/exclusion of content or angle (crop?) would make it different.
txfirebug-beautiful subject, but definitely out of focus. it that was intentional to make it look somewhat abstract, i'd suggest a longer exposure at a lower aperture to make it more blurry.

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now the winners (drumroll)

3rd- bottombracket (emergence)- once again, you've shown a really good photo. i love the framing by the arch, the black/white of the background and the only color coming from the gates (hmm, i wonder where this is located?). dont know if that silouhette helped. overall an amazing shot.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9049&stc=1

3rd (tie)-teekay (antique lightbulb)- such a great shot. i just love this. i love how you can barely see the glass. just amazing.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9411&stc=1

2nd- cyclone (split personality)- i guess im a sucker for cute babies. the colors, lighting, composition, everything is perfect. there's definitely a portrait/professional look to this, which is why i love it.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9082&stc=1

1st- IainB ("Beam us up, Scotty: We're not alone.")- I don't know what it is about this pic, but it just really grabbed me. So simple yet so rife with information. The shadows tell so much about the people who cast them. What are these 4 standing for? are they waiting for something? someone? It kind of reminds me of a crime noir drama or a clint eastwood movie. The rough ground really helps give it a gritty appearance. This photo just screams badasssss!
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9069&stc=1

Congratulations everyone, next challenge is yours, iainb

[am_pitbull_terrier]

Congratulations everone. This had to be a tough contes to judge, the photos were great. I have to try cropping that photo like you said with just the head of the little guy popping up. :) Well see what it looks like. Thanks again and glad you liked it.

Congrats everyone!

EDIT: Here is the photo cropped a bit differently
http://img177.echo.cx/img177/6139/img29640aa12ph.jpg

[am_pitbull_terrier]

am_pitbull_terrier- great portrait shot. great exposure, settings, focus. I dont know how you got them to sit so still, but I love seeing very large dogs next to teeny ones.

I'd like to say they listen to me a little bit, they are OUR dogs.... Although... On the other hand, that really doesn't mean they will listen:rolleyes: ;) They listen MUCH better to my wife, who is the one getting their attention (trying to anyway) in this photo.

[digidog]

Well done everyone - some really nice pictures in that round (quitr interesting to see how the theme was interpreted too). Good choices with the winners 4nR (didn't envy you having to judge those)

[4nR]

yeah, i really felt bad about having to actually rank them. there were so many good ones.

>am_pitbull_terrier< nice crop. i'd love to see a series on those two.

[IainB]

Thank you 4nR for a great topic. It encouraged some interesting experimentation. Congratulations also to cyclone, teekay and bottombracket, and to all who entered. Tough to judge, with such a great field of entries. It's great to have your comments on each photo, 4nR, as we can all learn and apply those ideas to our shots. It has become a daily 'must' to check out the forum to see the latest submission.

To satisfy your curiosity about my shot, it was taken on a beach on Waiheke (wy-hek-ee) Island in Auckland harbour (NZ). It is a mysterious little bay where 'others' come ashore to holiday...
Will post the next challenge soon...;)
IainB

[BottomBracket]

Congratulations to the winners, and to all who entered! One can really see that the quality of pictures are ramping up, and that improvements are seen with each person's entry. I agree that this challenge was a bit arduous to judge, as there were many great images.

I wholeheartedly agree with the top choice. When I saw IainB's shot, I said I wish I took that one. Great concept, great texture, witty title (I'm a trekkie by the way). But while I envy the top rank, I'm glad I'm not the judge for the next challenge :) So, IainB, who were you in that shot? The one with the hat?

What I would like to see in this discussion is sharing with others how we took the shot, what settings we used and special techniques we made to adapt to the photographic situation. My shot was taken during the artist Christo's "The Gates" art installation at Central Park NYC. That's me in the picture. It was taken in a tunnel, with the exposure metered for the background. My G6 was mounted on an UltraPod mini tripod, with a Raynox 720 wide angle converter, and was fired with a remote, two second delay so I can pose a bit. I spent two hours in that freezing tunnel, waiting for instances when there were no people around - which was rare because the park was packed with meandering people. I took around 60, 70 shots of this tunnel alone, and I had quite a pile of RAW images to pick from. The next day I went back with my bike and took more shots. Contrary to what 4nR said, the background is not in black and white. It was a cold snowy day with a dreary overcast which rendered the background trees and ground into a dull monochrome. I boosted the saffron colors of the banners to signify how this art rejuvenated a cold Cetral Park during that day.

Whew, that was long winded, thanks for reading!

[Boutty]

Yep well done everyone and the judge. It must have been diffecult to pick the winners.

("Beam us up, Scotty: We're not alone.") - I have just found out from a work mate who Scotty is - He is the engineer from Star trek.

Good shooting everyone. :cool: :p :lol:

[Boutty]

Hi megatrixel, I really like your shoot for this challenge. Too bad it didn't make the top three. Can you share the settings and techiques you used? Cheers.

[BottomBracket]

Yep well done everyone and the judge. It must have been diffecult to pick the winners.

("Beam us up, Scotty: We're not alone.") - I have just found out from a work mate who is Scotty - He is the engineer from Star trek.

Good shooting everyone. :cool: :p :lol:

Boutty, your pictures get better and better. I know you'll break into the top three soon. Great work.

I love the cloud shots - I shoot clouds whenever I see an interesting pattern, so I can use them as sky shots for other pictures. A polarizer will really bring out contrast in clouds, and you will see patterns that weren't apparent before.

[RAW]

Great job everyone...

I have a lot to learn I say to myself, but I know this...the judging on this entry was very well done. After I posted my picture I found on my pic library that I had a better one to post for this subject but I know I still wouldn't have made it to the top three :D .
I really liked am_pitbull_terrier's posting and the second place winner...let me not forget IanBs and BottomBrackets posting great shots, they were shouting at you for attention...one day maybe I will be able to create art...;) .

See you on the next chalenge...

Can't wait :D ...
Ta ta,
Artan.

[MegaTrixel]

Hi megatrixel, I really like your shoot for this challenge. Too bad it didn't make the top three. Can you share the settings and techiques you used? Cheers.

Thanks Boutty I'm glad you liked it. The settings were f3.2 at 1/50, lens at 14mm (no attachments). Nothing very special about the technique other than I was definitely aiming for silouhettes with the exposure.

On to the next challenge!

[IainB]

So, IainB, who were you in that shot? The one with the hat?



If I told you, I'd have to arrange for you to be beamed up somewhere....;)

IainB

[IainB]

I agree with bottombracket regarding some details about our entries, so here's some about mine. We enjoy visiting this remote beach whenever we can, and one day after putting on my hat ;) , my wife and family and I wandered along this lovely beach late one afternoon. As always I carried my camera. The opportunity for the shot just presented itself (sorry bottombracket - I took just the one :o ).
The only post-processing was to adjust levels and slightly crop in PS. It was real difficult to upload to the competition because it was always too big a file. While it was a jpeg, I had to reduce quality to 'low' on 72dpi. RAW talks about creating 'art'. This one was 'right place..right time'.
Cheers
IainB
polariser, UV filters
Shooting Mode
Program AE
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/400
Av( Aperture Value )
4.0
Metering Mode
Center-weighted averaging
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
50
Lens
7.0 - 21.0mm
Focal Length
7.0mm
Digital Zoom
None
Image Size
2048x1536
Image Quality
RAW
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
Continuous AF
Parameters
Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Color saturation Normal

[Boutty]

Boutty, your pictures get better and better. I know you'll break into the top three soon. Great work.

I love the cloud shots - I shoot clouds whenever I see an interesting pattern, so I can use them as sky shots for other pictures. A polarizer will really bring out contrast in clouds, and you will see patterns that weren't apparent before.

First of all, BottomBracket, I am not sure you are complementing my picture which was 'It's been rainy day' or the cloud shots by two other entries? It's a bit rude of me to claim the complement!?!:o

My 'It's been rainy day' shot was taken in a town of Australia ~100km from Melbourne Victoria called Sovereign Hill's Main street Stable (http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/) while taking my oversea visitors for a tour. I remembered it was a freezing Summer rainy day while seeking for shelter across the stable, I saw a good photograph opportunity of this shot in Sepia photo effect. Played around with PS curve with the eye-drop tool mid-tone. I shot most of my photos in 'P' mode; though now a day trying to experiment with 'Av' and 'Tv' modes. Well, this was my little story about the shot I took.:)

Now, back to BottomBracket second comment about the clouds. I must have tuned in the same channel as you.:p Attached is one of my farorites taken from the sunset just after I finished work. Sorry guys, off the topic of this thread a bit.

[txfirebug]

Congrats to the winners, there were many great entries this week.

[BottomBracket]

Thanks Boutty I'm glad you liked it. The settings were f3.2 at 1/50, lens at 14mm (no attachments). Nothing very special about the technique other than I was definitely aiming for silouhettes with the exposure.

On to the next challenge!

I like your pic as well. It looks like a woodcut! Great job.

[BottomBracket]

First of all, BottomBracket, I am not sure you are complementing my picture which was 'It's been rainy day' or the cloud shots by two other entries? It's a bit rude of me to claim the complement!?!:o



Oh I was praising your pic. I like it, the sepia tone fits the subject.

I was commenting on the two cloud shots by Partridge and PCGuy. I love cloud shots :)

Hey Boutty, that cloud shot you posted is simply awesome. Great composition and lighting.

[cyclone]

Well I'll chime in too. I also was captured by IanB's image - very 'The Untouchables' like.

If anybody is interested, I'll share a method that I used for my photo in this competition. It works particularly well for babies.

For small ones like this, when I want a tight shot, I will put the camera in macro mode and get the camera fairly close to the subject. This really brings out the definition of the eyes - makes them sparkle a bit. It also is the only method I've found that will give a background blur with this type of camera. The only caution is that it can produce perspective distortion (that is, the dog nose problem). However small ones tend to have relatively flat features compared to the full grown models, so it is not as prevalent. Also, babies have some comical looks on their faces anyway, so sometimes it just doesn't matter.

For what it's worth

Cyclone

[BottomBracket]

You have a neat pic, Cyclone. Great lighting and it looks like it was shot in a pro's studio. Like it was shot with a dSLR, and that's praise for the capabities of the G-series cameras. Great tip about the use of the macro setting - that will really limit the DOF, useful for certain shots .

[marie]

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif
Congratulations IainB.... 1st
Cyclone... 2nd ,
BottomBracket and Teekay ..joint 3rd
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif

and thank you very much 4nR for all the work you done
there were so many good entries, you had a lot to think about


I can't see some of the pictures here in the listing of places
Teekays shows up ok.

no worries , I can see them on the other post.
congratulations again to all.

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

[Andy_T]

Congratulations to all participants in this thread :D

Some really great pictures here ... I doff my head in wonder.

Best regards,
Andy