Fortnightly Challenge - Jan 22 thru Feb 4 - Topic: Bibelot and/or Soft

[JohnMC]

Fortnightly Challenge - Jan 22 thru Feb 4

Challenge topic(s): Bibelot (means "a trinket") and/or Soft

The challenge will run from right now until : 11:59PM Feb 4

Important Note: We have decided to drop the Photoshop component of the challenge starting with this thread. We may still edit your photographs with Photoshop before you post them here, but we are going to limit the editing of other peoples images.

Rules:
1. Photos should be your own work.
2. Produced within the challenge period if possible.
3. All positive feedback and criticism is encouraged and welcome if you posted or not.
4. There is no real limit to the number of photos you may enter.

Challenge topics:
1. Suggestions for the bi-weekly's challenge are made in a single thread which will be set up the week before.

Lets have fun!!!

 

[Maxxamillian]

Kicking things off…

 

[Chappers]

 

[Phrasikleia]

If I didn't comment to say how adorable that baby is, I wouldn't be a human female. Not sure how the photo is germane to the topic, but...who cares.

 

[Chappers]

If I didn't comment to say how adorable that baby is, I wouldn't be a human female. Not sure how the photo is germane to the topic, but...who cares.

Well he is quite soft as all babies are.......but he is not a trinket


His name is Bora - which means the "Wind that brings rain".

 

[Phrasikleia]

Well he is quite soft as all babies are.......but he is not a trinket


His name is Bora - which means the "Wind that brings rain".

Oh, soft, of course! Somehow I completely missed that there was a second challenge topic.

 

[madazrex]

trinket by jason aka madazrex



hope you all like this is my sony a330

 

[deep diver]

Kicking things off…

Absolutely stunning. All of your work is beautiful. This is amazing.

 

[Designer Dale]

Kicking things off…

^^^ Very nice subtle tone range and colors. The positioning of the flowers starts to create an S from lower left to upper right, but it is interrupted by a missing bud. If it had four buds to complete the curve, this would be perfect. Keep trying and you will get it right some day. Bound to happen...

That set aside, is this one studio lighting, light painting with a flashlight or Post work? The darkening of the petals that create the great contrast and feeling of movement here remind me of old fashioned darkroom burn and dodge work.

^^^ Fits the topic well and I'm sure there is a great deal of emotional significance here for you. That said, it's still a baby picture. Framing and composition is not someone thinks of when they have a subject like this, so take these words with a grain of salt. It's centered square in the frame. If you have the opportunity to shoot something like this again in the future look at the framing and see what you can do with it to make it better. How can you look at the details of your child and capture an expression in his face of the subtile features of his hands? I have no children, so it is easy for me to look at this from a non emotional viewpoint.

View attachment 211933

hope you all like this is my sony a330

^^^ An Alpha? There is an alien in our midst!! Nice shot of the jewelry. I like the sparkles of the bracelet in the foreground. There is a colorful stone in the top of the frame that captures my attention. I would like to see it down with the sparkly stuff. It would really stand out.

Maxx and Chappers, I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings.

Dale

 

[JDDavis]

Trinket from around the house.

 

[Maxxamillian]

Absolutely stunning. All of your work is beautiful. This is amazing.

Thanks! This is the result of some fun experimentation

^^^ Very nice subtle tone range and colors. The positioning of the flowers starts to create an S from lower left to upper right, but it is interrupted by a missing bud. If it had four buds to complete the curve, this would be perfect. Keep trying and you will get it right some day. Bound to happen...

That set aside, is this one studio lighting, light painting with a flashlight or Post work? The darkening of the petals that create the great contrast and feeling of movement here remind me of old fashioned darkroom burn and dodge work.

Light painting + PP. Compositionally I was thinking more along the lines of a fibonacci spiral rather than an S-curve. The former tends to peg the eyes to a particular spot while the latter leads the eyes. If I did my job right, then the viewer's attention should be returning again and again to the flower near the center of the spiral (I controlled this with light, color, and increased structure). I added a fibonacci spiral to the pic to illustrate. As you can see, I wasn't too far off.

As for sensitive feelings…I'm here to learn and improve my skill set. The fact that I get to meet good, salt of the earth people in the process is a huge bonus. I would expect nothing more than your honest opinion--so no worries.

 

[madazrex]

ask and you shall recive

thanks for the kind words

i did take a pic as you said did not feel it was as good

but i will up load any how let me know what you think as i don't tend to edit them thery just how there are taken.

^^^ An Alpha? There is an alien in our midst!! Nice shot of the jewelry. I like the sparkles of the bracelet in the foreground. There is a colorful stone in the top of the frame that captures my attention. I would like to see it down with the sparkly stuff. It would really stand out.

Maxx and Chappers, I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings.

Dale[/QUOTE]

 

[Phrasikleia]

Trinket from around the house.

You found a great trinket to work with. Of these two, I prefer the first one because it abstracts the object nicely. However, I think the harsh symmetry makes it too static. I'd be interested to see what you could do with more oblique angles, perhaps.

Thanks! This is the result of some fun experimentation

Light painting + PP. Compositionally I was thinking more along the lines of a fibonacci spiral rather than an S-curve. The former tends to peg the eyes to a particular spot while the latter leads the eyes. If I did my job right, then the viewer's attention should be returning again and again to the flower near the center of the spiral (I controlled this with light, color, and increased structure). I added a fibonacci spiral to the pic to illustrate. As you can see, I wasn't too far off.

As for sensitive feelings…I'm here to learn and improve my skill set. The fact that I get to meet good, salt of the earth people in the process is a huge bonus. I would expect nothing more than your honest opinion--so no worries.

When I read Dale's comment about the incomplete S-curve, I just shrugged. My eye wasn't missing the rest of the "S". To me it's the lighting that works against the photo because it obscures what ought to be the point of resolution/visual pay-off. The light directs our attention most of all to a big, blank white area of the leftmost flower and secondly to the petals of the centermost flower. Of course the most interesting part of these orchids is their wonderfully patterned central columns (the yellow part). Apparently you wanted one of these to be the focal point of the composition (and rightly so, I think), but the lighting doesn't allow it.

I tried doing some flower light paintings some months ago and probably shot something like 50 frames just to get two that worked, so I know how difficult it is to get the right amount of light just where you want it. Great fun, though, and something I'm sure to try again (as soon as my new tripod finally arrives!).

 

[JDDavis]

You found a great trinket to work with. Of these two, I prefer the first one because it abstracts the object nicely. However, I think the harsh symmetry makes it too static. I'd be interested to see what you could do with more oblique angles, perhaps.

Thanks. I wasn't really happy with it straight on but in order to get the reflection off the countertop I have to be at the level of the glass ball. So any shot 360 degrees around it looks the same. Of course the glass and the background changes. Am I missing something in your suggestion? If I come up off the counter top any it changes completely.

Here's two more. The first one illustrates what happens when I come up from level with the glass. I still like the colors but the counter changes. The second was just a horizontal shot at counter level.

 

[madazrex]

nice

i just think the fist pic is the best

very tricky i like very much good

how are you chappers i hope your all well and the mountains are giveing you some awsome pics.

grate pic of the baby bay the way so qute but as am i very bisoted as i have 2 kids all ways a winner with me.

lol

 

[Designer Dale]

Trinket from around the house.

^^^ Me being me, I like the second one. The tone and texture of the stone compliment the trinket and pull the colors up.

Thanks! This is the result of some fun experimentation

Light painting + PP. Compositionally I was thinking more along the lines of a fibonacci spiral rather than an S-curve. The former tends to peg the eyes to a particular spot while the latter leads the eyes. If I did my job right, then the viewer's attention should be returning again and again to the flower near the center of the spiral (I controlled this with light, color, and increased structure). I added a fibonacci spiral to the pic to illustrate. As you can see, I wasn't too far off.

As for sensitive feelings…I'm here to learn and improve my skill set. The fact that I get to meet good, salt of the earth people in the process is a huge bonus. I would expect nothing more than your honest opinion--so no worries.

^^^ My design instructor was big on fibonacci curves and the mathematical relationships that can be found in nature. There are most certainly examples of this in shells and ferns, but when I look at my wild mountains and wander into the deep forest, I see a beautiful randomness in nature. I'm more of a chaos theory kind of guy. Large systems become unpredictable. Go see the first Jurassic Park. Jeff Goldblum plays me in that flick...

I have some interesting trinkets, but I need to set up a makeshift studio first.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

Thanks. I wasn't really happy with it straight on but in order to get the reflection off the countertop I have to be at the level of the glass ball. So any shot 360 degrees around it looks the same. Of course the glass and the background changes. Am I missing something in your suggestion? If I come up off the counter top any it changes completely.

Here's two more. The first one illustrates what happens when I come up from level with the glass. I still like the colors but the counter changes. The second was just a horizontal shot at counter level.

Hmm. I see your dilemma. So perhaps another way to break up the symmetry would be by adding something to the composition? Reflective water droplets on the countertop come to mind, for example.

Me being me, I like the second one. The tone and texture of the stone compliment the trinket and pull the colors up.

I completely agree that there is a nice color palette going on in the second one. However, the large black area in the upper corner is distracting, and its pyramidal composition is still quite static.

 

[JDDavis]

Hmm. I see your dilemma. So perhaps another way to break up the symmetry would be by adding something to the composition? Reflective water droplets on the countertop come to mind, for example.



I completely agree that there is a nice color palette going on in the second one. However, the large black area in the upper corner is distracting, and its pyramidal composition is still quite static.

I like the water droplet idea. Thanks. I realized that I need the sunlight coming through the window in order to get the reflection right. It doesn't look the same with just overhead lights. I'll experiment with water drops for sure in the next few days.

Maxx - I like the orchids. Whenever we have some around the house I get hooked taking pictures of them. Is this pic inverted or reversed? I was trying to figure out what angle you took that from. I do think it fits the soft theme well.

One more glass trinket for today. It might be a bit much...I'm not sure.

 

[Designer Dale]

I like the water droplet idea. Thanks. I realized that I need the sunlight coming through the window in order to get the reflection right. It doesn't look the same with just overhead lights. I'll experiment with water drops for sure in the next few days.

Maxx - I like the orchids. Whenever we have some around the house I get hooked taking pictures of them. Is this pic inverted or reversed? I was trying to figure out what angle you took that from. I do think it fits the soft theme well.

One more glass trinket for today. It might be a bit much...I'm not sure.

You have some really neat stuff to work with for this theme, but you do need to focus on the framing. Your portfolio has a lot of good photos so you have the talent to handle a camera. This seems way to crowded for my taste. Lay off the project for a day or so and come back to it with a fresh eye. I agree with Phrasikleia's comments regarding your first post in this series. The color pallet (I love that term) is great, but it has aspects that keep it from being a great photo.

Keep it up.

Dale

 

[Maxxamillian]

Apparently you wanted one of these to be the focal point of the composition (and rightly so, I think), but the lighting doesn't allow it.

But the color does.

My design instructor was big on fibonacci curves and the mathematical relationships that can be found in nature. There are most certainly examples of this in shells and ferns, but when I look at my wild mountains and wander into the deep forest, I see a beautiful randomness in nature. I'm more of a chaos theory kind of guy. Large systems become unpredictable. Go see the first Jurassic Park. Jeff Goldblum plays me in that flick...
Dale

Fibonacci spiral is simply a more accurate way of showing the rule of thirds. The rule should actually be called the "rule of the Golden Mean". Across cultures and history, designers such as artists and architects - and even composers and poets - have adopted the Golden Mean as a ratio that is pleasing to the human eye. Nobody knows why this is, but it works. I think your design instructor had the right idea. I would, however, love to see this chaos theory at work. Whoever was the first guy chomped on by dinosaurs in Jurassic Park -- that poor sod plays me in that flick

Maxx - I like the orchids. Whenever we have some around the house I get hooked taking pictures of them. Is this pic inverted or reversed? I was trying to figure out what angle you took that from. I do think it fits the soft theme well.

The picture is not inverted / reversed. It is a straight on shot.

 

[Designer Dale]

Whoever was the first guy chomped on my dinosaurs in Jurassic Park -- that poor sod plays me in that flick

The Blood Sucking Lawyer??? No Way... You are too to be that guy.

Dale

 

[JDDavis]

You have some really neat stuff to work with for this theme, but you do need to focus on the framing. Your portfolio has a lot of good photos so you have the talent to handle a camera. This seems way to crowded for my taste. Lay off the project for a day or so and come back to it with a fresh eye. I agree with Phrasikleia's comments regarding your first post in this series. The color pallet (I love that term) is great, but it has aspects that keep it from being a great photo.

Keep it up.

Dale

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement for sure. I agree with the framing. I'm kind of limited becuase the counter space is small and I don't want a bunch of stuff in the background. I'll try to come back to it later like you suggest and maybe I'll come up with something. I think I've always struggled with framing and getting what I see in my head in the camera.

 

[JDDavis]

The picture is not inverted / reversed. It is a straight on shot.

Cool. Thanks. For some reason my brain wants the buds to be pointing to the left. I don't know why.

You guys should probably be on the look out for T-Rex's today.....

 

[ukuleleman]

Soft focus

 

[Maxxamillian]

Cool. Thanks. For some reason my brain wants the buds to be pointing to the left. I don't know why.

You guys should probably be on the look out for T-Rex's today.....

You simply MUST post EXIF for this amazing shot...

Did you use a tripod? Flash? Or were you too busy getting ready to run?