Photo of the Day - January 2010

[Phrasikleia]

A return to a location I posted in November:

Super. That has to be a bottle rocket. They are so illegal here in the States...

Dale

And for good reason! These things are legal here on holidays, and they're readily available for purchase at a variety of stores. Therefore, they are ubiquitous on NYE, turning the whole of the country into a multicolored war zone. There were many hundreds of bottle rockets going up, down, and sideways in the city center that night. I felt the need to duck on numerous occasions, although nothing ever really came close enough to make ducking truly necessary. Remarkably, the news report the next day mentioned only one injury, to a guy who had lit one and then leaned over it to see why it hadn't yet gone off...BAD idea!

I agree with your logic. The sharpness on the banners/lamps freezes the frame and everything else seems to move as it is intended to. This is like your "20 Minutes at the Temple" series of shots you did a while back. The temple was crisp and clear while the fuzzy people put it in the modern context that it lives in.

Dale

Thanks, Dale. You seem to have identified my MO.

 

[BarryJ]

One more from Fire Lake

Typical Canadian Shield lake. Surrounded with black spruce and jack pine. 12 cm of ice 6 cm of water on top of that and 15 cm of snow on top of that. Not good... but fun none the less.

Again three shots stitched in PSE 8 from my ancient but respected Sony DSC F717

 

[Doylem]

This shot looks better each time I see it, though I'd be tempted to de-saturate the colours slightly...

Into the mist...

 

[matthewcap]

My Dog Kaya

Canon Rebel XS with 18-55 mm IS lens (kit), monochrome in-camera adjustment

 

[Designer Dale]

A return to a location I posted in November:

<bottle rocket chat>

The last time I saw a bottle rocket up close, it was flying parallel to the ground about one foot off the pavement...

I pulled up your previous shot and looked at them side by side. For shots of the same subject with the same camera and lens, they are quite different. Your November shot is softer in feel with more natural brown and green tones. The January version has better detail in the mountain peak (love those clouds!) but the saturation seems a bit on the high side, making the soil and grass of the field too strong for me. The blown-out light in the village is distracting for me.

Interesting to note the impact of time. Your November shot is titled "Morning" and the new one is "Dusk". "Golden Hour" really does warm a shot up. The older one was ISO 100 at 1/80 sec. while the new one is ISO 200 at 10 full seconds. F stop is the same, so the light at dusk in January must have been less intense than the photo reveals.

I like all of your photos, and both of these please me. I'm not being critical, just exploring the differences.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

The last time I saw a bottle rocket up close, it was flying parallel to the ground about one foot off the pavement...

I pulled up your previous shot and looked at them side by side. For shots of the same subject with the same camera and lens, they are quite different. Your November shot is softer in feel with more natural brown and green tones. The January version has better detail in the mountain peak (love those clouds!) but the saturation seems a bit on the high side, making the soil and grass of the field too strong for me. The blown-out light in the village is distracting for me.

Interesting to note the impact of time. Your November shot is titled "Morning" and the new one is "Dusk". "Golden Hour" really does warm a shot up. The older one was ISO 100 at 1/80 sec. while the new one is ISO 200 at 10 full seconds. F stop is the same, so the light at dusk in January must have been less intense than the photo reveals.

I like all of your photos, and both of these please me. I'm not being critical, just exploring the differences.

Dale

Hi Dale. Thanks for your thoughts. Always happy to share mine too:

I usually opt for ISO 100, but I had to keep my shutter speed at around 10 seconds in order to get the car lights to register in the foreground (any longer and they were too thin or even invisible). I didn't want to open up wider than f/11 (which would sacrifice some depth of field), so I increased the ISO a bit.

The saturation you're seeing is mostly due to artificial lighting. The church is illuminated at dusk (as are most Slovenian churches), so it really pops out from its environment, and capturing that effect was my goal in taking this picture (I waited 45 minutes in the freezing cold for those lights to turn on at long last). The grass is illuminated by the ambient light from the headlights of cars, making the grass seem very green; I chose to leave it that way. So I don't think the colors you're seeing are necessarily related to the season; I think they're more due to the affects of artificial lighting at dusk.

As for the light in the village: I think you mean the small, bright one to the left of the church. Luminous objects in night shots pretty much have to be "blown out," as you called it. There is no detail to retain in a light at night, so if you try to expose for it, you'll underexpose everything else. The best you can do is try to get sparkles/rays coming off of it (best achieved with smaller apertures). I rather like the twinkling little light, but since you find it distracting, I'm curious to know what you would would rather see there.

Again, thanks for your comments. It's always interesting to hear what people think of my photos, positive or negative.

 

[cosmokanga2]

...
Then the girls said: "We'll take one of you". So here I am...

Blea Tarn, today...

Oh My God. No joke, you look almost identical to my dad. He even had a similar jacket, wears glasses and has a grey beard. That's scary.

Great shot btw!

 

[Maxxamillian]

Also found in the current fortnightly challenge thread.

 

[Maxxamillian]

This shot looks better each time I see it, though I'd be tempted to de-saturate the colours slightly…

Thanks for the feedback Doylem…I'll play the the color palette some more and see what I can come up with

 

[Designer Dale]

Hi Dale. Thanks for your thoughts. Always happy to share mine too:

I usually opt for ISO 100, but I had to keep my shutter speed at around 10 seconds in order to get the car lights to register in the foreground (any longer and they were too thin or even invisible). I didn't want to open up wider than f/11 (which would sacrifice some depth of field), so I increased the ISO a bit.

The saturation you're seeing is mostly due to artificial lighting. The church is illuminated at dusk (as are most Slovenian churches), so it really pops out from its environment, and capturing that effect was my goal in taking this picture (I waited 45 minutes in the freezing cold for those lights to turn on at long last). The grass is illuminated by the ambient light from the headlights of cars, making the grass seem very green; I chose to leave it that way. So I don't think the colors you're seeing are necessarily related to the season; I think they're more due to the affects of artificial lighting at dusk.

As for the light in the village: I think you mean the small, bright one to the left of the church. Luminous objects in night shots pretty much have to be "blown out," as you called it. There is no detail to retain in a light at night, so if you try to expose for it, you'll underexpose everything else. The best you can do is try to get sparkles/rays coming off of it (best achieved with smaller apertures). I rather like the twinkling little light, but since you find it distracting, I'm curious to know what you would would rather see there.

Again, thanks for your comments. It's always interesting to hear what people think of my photos, positive or negative.

I mistook the car lights for railings...... Now I understand all of your settings. On second look in a darkened room the village light doesn't bother me any more. It just stood out at first view. The effect of all the artificial lighting is is interesting to note. Slovenia is truly beautiful.

Dale

 

[Maxxamillian]

Canon Rebel XS with 18-55 mm IS lens (kit), monochrome in-camera adjustment

Really liking this photo--your capture appeals to me on an emotional level--either that or I am just a sucker for dogs

 

[Designer Dale]

This shot looks better each time I see it, though I'd be tempted to de-saturate the colours slightly...

Into the mist...

Your photos should come with warnings to breathe deeply before viewing. They are breathless.

I can't tell you how much I like this shot, but I will try anyway.

The image is perfectly plum and level. The flag pole on the top of the building is dead vertical and the window is level. Do you use a hot-shoe level or just the one on your tripod?

Most folks would botch a shot like this, but your patience has led to just the right light on the branches to balance the misty waters to the left of the walkway. The right portion doesn't look busy or badly cropped to me due to the light and detail. The clarity of the sheen of moisture on the stones run my eye right out into the mist of the lake. Wonderful.

Dale

 

[Abyssgh0st]

I'm very new to photography (had my DSLR 5 days to be precise, before that I hadn't owned a camera since a 2MP Sony Mini-Cybershot back in like '03).

Just took a picture of my brother, please critique. (And yes, I know I should have framed his whole head, but it was a split second opportunity X_X).

(Clickable for large version).

 

[FX120]

I was flipping through my library tonight sorted by lens used, and this one popped up under "1mm"

 

[Phrasikleia]

I mistook the car lights for railings...... Now I understand all of your settings. On second look in a darkened room the village light doesn't bother me any more. It just stood out at first view. The effect of all the artificial lighting is is interesting to note. Slovenia is truly beautiful.

Dale

For what it's worth, here's a comparison showing the same scene before and after the lights turned on.

And my photo of the same church on a hazy November morning is here.

 

[aafuss1]

"Little Gem" magnolia

Took a lovely photo of a "Little Gem" magnolia just before it gets dark with the Kodak EasyShare V1073 :

 

[pdxflint]

I was flipping through my library tonight sorted by lens used, and this one popped up under "1mm"

Right in my backyard...
Here's another of the Yaquina Bay Bridge, part of US Hwy 101.

Camera: NIKON
Model: D50
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 7.1
Focal Length: 300mm

 

[yetanotherdave]

I'm very new to photography (had my DSLR 5 days to be precise, before that I hadn't owned a camera since a 2MP Sony Mini-Cybershot back in like '03).

Just took a picture of my brother, please critique. (And yes, I know I should have framed his whole head, but it was a split second opportunity X_X).

(Clickable for large version).

I don't think your shot lost anything for not "framing properly". I'm trying to visualise what it would look like if you were zoomed out a bit and I think your picture is better the way it is. It's a cute picture and the fact that his face dominates it and fills the frame adds to it.
For long lengh portraits, yes, you don't crop the head, for close ups, it doesn't matter so much.

 

[madazrex]

my first with tamron 70-300

hi you lot happy new year

this was shot about 4.00 today with this being the first time ive used this lens

its a tamron 70-300 and it zoooooomssss in for miles literary.

this was taken by me laening out of my bedroom window and the house is about
1.5 to 2 mile down the road

please let me know what you all think as ther are a lot of exlent photos on hear

and this is just how i took it with no editing

 

[Designer Dale]

For what it's worth, here's a comparison showing the same scene before and after the lights turned on.

And my photo of the same church on a hazy November morning is here.

I like the later shot much better, especially the detail it pulls from the sky and clouds.

Dale

 

[sonor]

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[mikeschmeee]

Holy smokes! You guy's have some really good photos! Inspiring. Here is the original I shot of the purple incense smoke I posted earlier in the week.



It's so hard to choose which one I like the best... I like them all!!

 

[designguy79]

Having fun today with a concept... not exactly how I pictured it in my mind, but good enough anyway. Thanks for looking!

 

[Renderz]

 

[sonor]

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