Well, we dads are often in the dark, yet somehow rarely in the black!
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Weekly Photo Contest - Dec 12 to 19 - Inky Black
- Thread starter kenoh
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Quality response.
After long exposure to negatives on the internet, it is nice to bring the balance back to a balanced black and white with clear contrasts between the friendly sites and those more unfriendly.
Sometimes it is good to take a step back from our cropped view to get the full frame view of the world.
ISO enjoy time spent here with the dads and the moms with their poor jokes and great art but my word you guys are bringing out the big guns this week! Loving the entries so far. A few I would say are wall-worthy. Thanks for making the effort but damn I have a task ahead of me!
I don't want to sound unsupportive, but you are so screwed and have only yourself to blame.
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Rain, light and chains in a dark sacred night.....
Finally I had the opportunity to do something with this picture which had been lying around in my library for quite a while now:
Was torn between a couple of images and wanted to post something a little more festive but ended up choosing this one..
Dark Tissot by Andy Whiteford, on Flickr
Dark Tissot by Andy Whiteford, on Flickr
Ok I am being a coward and closing this one down befire it gets even harder to call.
I must say I am a bit slack jawed at the quality of images this week. I mean come on! Where have these skills been hiding all this time. How the hell do I can this one?!
Back in a few hours...
I must say I am a bit slack jawed at the quality of images this week. I mean come on! Where have these skills been hiding all this time. How the hell do I can this one?!
Back in a few hours...
It's amazing how many people are into dark art, innit
Cheers
Hugh
Yeah thanks .. you arent helping me right now!
We've been saving it up for this very moment.
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Not his job.
OK, here we go. This was tough. I have been pondering it all day and have to make a call on it to move it on but man, you guys stepped up again this week!
OK, in order to call it, I have had to be pedantic. Please don't be offended by any comments, remember I am not a pro, I dont actually know what I am talking about and it is all opinion. Opinion is not necessarily fact so be cool, if it annoys you, nod, smile and know I couldn't have done any better.
@akash.nu
I liked the first shot but this one is better. Especially as it isnt the Amazon Kindle mockup you did previously with it. I really like images of lone trees and this is a great shot. The curve of the hills it sits between frame it nicely and it is a lovely shape. Very good fit for the brief. If I was going to be picky (which I have to be) then I would ask about the tonality difference in the sky vs the ground. Not sure why but it feels different to me. Also the highlights on the ground are heavy biased to the right. This isnt starting well!
@mollyc
Lovely lowkey portrait. Lovely framing, nice lighting but wonder if a reflector to the left (her left) would have balanced the light and softened the shadows. I like lowkey portraits. OK, to have to find criticism, I would say the hair/line on her left cheek is distracting and I think the shadows on her left eye could be lifted a teensy weensy bit to give more definition.
@malofx
Love it. Lovely tones and textures, lovely contrasts but... the cliped highlights in the centre and the way the detailed bit seems to be cropped at the bottom make it feel off balance for me. Maybe a slightly different crop would balance it up and give it that balance. Such a wonderful thing to capture.
@Laird Knox
Lovely clean sharp image of a place I know very well it feels. I am trying to work out the composite here you'll need to tell us. Such a simple looking image yet when you look more closely it is more complex than you think.
@inkmich
Another wonderful true black and white image. Lovely clean and contrasty. I am going to knock points off because Jerry isnt looking happy there. I really like these traditional signs they really conjure up the feeling of the excitement of a night at the theatre. Wonderful.
@Darmok N Jalad
Wow! a busy light and shadow play. I love when you get the intensity of light like this. It creates such beautiful patterns. I am wondering if a step to the right might have just balanced the panels with the circles in them a little bit more but the sweeping line draws you in quite nicely doesnt it? Lovey location. I assume this is the covered walkway from your garage to your house is it?
@CmdrLaForge
Lovely night shot of the tower. I would like to see that in the flesh so to speak. A lovely capture but I am going to be really annoying and say I would maybe drop the highlights a little bit on the tower just to pull back some texture there. Other than that a wonderful image. Where is Nammberch?
@swifty168
A nice image of a person hard at work. Their pose suggests they take pride in their work and have an attention to detail. I like the composition with the tables leading us into the frame but cant help but feel the exposure needs a bump up to lift the picture a bit.
@deep diver
Ooh nice. I like this one a lot I like the textures in the brickwork and the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know why but the clipped highlights in this seem fitting whereas
@malofx's image felt it needed some detail there. I don't know why. I am wondering if there was a way to get the ground lifted a tad to make it visible a bit further down and maybe reduce the amount of negative space around it with a tighter crop?
@Hughmac
Now see you have been holding out on us! You are an absolute chancer! This is superb! I really like this except for the foliage at the front, I would maybe drop that down so it isnt so white and maybe get rid of the foliage to the bottom left. Other than that, I am loathe to say but I love this IR shot!
@tcphoto1
Fantastic action shot. Great moment captured except for the lady to the left motion blurring. If it had been taken a second later when she was standing still it would have been spot on.
@gaswerks
Epic. Makes me feel emotional to look at it. Just wonderful.
@stillcrazyman
Love it. Love that you are OCD lining up those screws in the top centre. Did you measure the gaps to make sure they were equal? Go on admit it. Good luck if you have to ever change R22!!! Lovely details and contrasts againthe clipping in this one helps it I think.
@Robotti
This is how you do a sofisticated lowkey nude. Wonderful, screams the feminine and maintains the dignity. You have serious skills.
@Susurs
Wonderful tones and details, so beautifully sharp and detailed. My only grumble is that you cut the petals at the bottom of the frame. If you had framed it just a tad lower it would have been absolutely wonderful and I am seething that you did this on your phone. Makes me feel like I should give up! ha ha... just joking.
@someoldguy
Ha ha and old ball from a typewriter. I love the detail and the retro feel the black and white treatment has given it. Wonderful how you have maintained the metallic texture.
@Clix Pix
Lovely capture of light and shadow. I want to say this is the bridge near your home is it? A lovely composition but I maybe would have simplified it by putting the camera through the front chains and focussing on the curves of the far ones.
@Janichsan
This reminds me of train stations in the Netherlands with the bike parks - the only place I have seen a multi-storey bike park. Nice light and dark, a capture of people going about their lives. Nice.
@oblomow
I like this but I wish there was more detail in the shadows and the sky feels darker than it should be for the light on the water. Great submission but I have to be really tough because otherwise I cannot call this one.
@Donka
OOOh someone playing to my heart. Cameras and Watches! This would be absolutely superb is only the DoF was a bit deeper to get the whole dial in focus. The bits that are in focus are beautiful and it is a lovely piece by the way.
OK, this hurts. Absolutely over the moon with the turn out this week. Fantastic. OK, the podium finishers.
3rd place: @Robotti & @Hughmac (join position as I couldnt call it sorry)
2nd place: @Susurs - epic shot and all the more so as you took it on a phone. Makes me want to cry. Why did I buy all this camera junk when a phone camera jedi wipes the floor with me like this!? ha ha.
1st place: @gaswerks - Wow! just wow!
@gaswerks, over to you.
[doublepost=1545247791][/doublepost]
Yes you most definitely did! Have you seen the quality of the output this week!?!?!
OK, in order to call it, I have had to be pedantic. Please don't be offended by any comments, remember I am not a pro, I dont actually know what I am talking about and it is all opinion. Opinion is not necessarily fact so be cool, if it annoys you, nod, smile and know I couldn't have done any better.
@akash.nu
I liked the first shot but this one is better. Especially as it isnt the Amazon Kindle mockup you did previously with it. I really like images of lone trees and this is a great shot. The curve of the hills it sits between frame it nicely and it is a lovely shape. Very good fit for the brief. If I was going to be picky (which I have to be) then I would ask about the tonality difference in the sky vs the ground. Not sure why but it feels different to me. Also the highlights on the ground are heavy biased to the right. This isnt starting well!
@mollyc
Lovely lowkey portrait. Lovely framing, nice lighting but wonder if a reflector to the left (her left) would have balanced the light and softened the shadows. I like lowkey portraits. OK, to have to find criticism, I would say the hair/line on her left cheek is distracting and I think the shadows on her left eye could be lifted a teensy weensy bit to give more definition.
@malofx
Love it. Lovely tones and textures, lovely contrasts but... the cliped highlights in the centre and the way the detailed bit seems to be cropped at the bottom make it feel off balance for me. Maybe a slightly different crop would balance it up and give it that balance. Such a wonderful thing to capture.
@Laird Knox
Lovely clean sharp image of a place I know very well it feels. I am trying to work out the composite here you'll need to tell us. Such a simple looking image yet when you look more closely it is more complex than you think.
@inkmich
Another wonderful true black and white image. Lovely clean and contrasty. I am going to knock points off because Jerry isnt looking happy there. I really like these traditional signs they really conjure up the feeling of the excitement of a night at the theatre. Wonderful.
@Darmok N Jalad
Wow! a busy light and shadow play. I love when you get the intensity of light like this. It creates such beautiful patterns. I am wondering if a step to the right might have just balanced the panels with the circles in them a little bit more but the sweeping line draws you in quite nicely doesnt it? Lovey location. I assume this is the covered walkway from your garage to your house is it?
@CmdrLaForge
Lovely night shot of the tower. I would like to see that in the flesh so to speak. A lovely capture but I am going to be really annoying and say I would maybe drop the highlights a little bit on the tower just to pull back some texture there. Other than that a wonderful image. Where is Nammberch?
@swifty168
A nice image of a person hard at work. Their pose suggests they take pride in their work and have an attention to detail. I like the composition with the tables leading us into the frame but cant help but feel the exposure needs a bump up to lift the picture a bit.
@deep diver
Ooh nice. I like this one a lot I like the textures in the brickwork and the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know why but the clipped highlights in this seem fitting whereas
@malofx's image felt it needed some detail there. I don't know why. I am wondering if there was a way to get the ground lifted a tad to make it visible a bit further down and maybe reduce the amount of negative space around it with a tighter crop?
@Hughmac
Now see you have been holding out on us! You are an absolute chancer! This is superb! I really like this except for the foliage at the front, I would maybe drop that down so it isnt so white and maybe get rid of the foliage to the bottom left. Other than that, I am loathe to say but I love this IR shot!
@tcphoto1
Fantastic action shot. Great moment captured except for the lady to the left motion blurring. If it had been taken a second later when she was standing still it would have been spot on.
@gaswerks
Epic. Makes me feel emotional to look at it. Just wonderful.
@stillcrazyman
Love it. Love that you are OCD lining up those screws in the top centre. Did you measure the gaps to make sure they were equal? Go on admit it. Good luck if you have to ever change R22!!! Lovely details and contrasts againthe clipping in this one helps it I think.
@Robotti
This is how you do a sofisticated lowkey nude. Wonderful, screams the feminine and maintains the dignity. You have serious skills.
@Susurs
Wonderful tones and details, so beautifully sharp and detailed. My only grumble is that you cut the petals at the bottom of the frame. If you had framed it just a tad lower it would have been absolutely wonderful and I am seething that you did this on your phone. Makes me feel like I should give up! ha ha... just joking.
@someoldguy
Ha ha and old ball from a typewriter. I love the detail and the retro feel the black and white treatment has given it. Wonderful how you have maintained the metallic texture.
@Clix Pix
Lovely capture of light and shadow. I want to say this is the bridge near your home is it? A lovely composition but I maybe would have simplified it by putting the camera through the front chains and focussing on the curves of the far ones.
@Janichsan
This reminds me of train stations in the Netherlands with the bike parks - the only place I have seen a multi-storey bike park. Nice light and dark, a capture of people going about their lives. Nice.
@oblomow
I like this but I wish there was more detail in the shadows and the sky feels darker than it should be for the light on the water. Great submission but I have to be really tough because otherwise I cannot call this one.
@Donka
OOOh someone playing to my heart. Cameras and Watches! This would be absolutely superb is only the DoF was a bit deeper to get the whole dial in focus. The bits that are in focus are beautiful and it is a lovely piece by the way.
OK, this hurts. Absolutely over the moon with the turn out this week. Fantastic. OK, the podium finishers.
3rd place: @Robotti & @Hughmac (join position as I couldnt call it sorry)
2nd place: @Susurs - epic shot and all the more so as you took it on a phone. Makes me want to cry. Why did I buy all this camera junk when a phone camera jedi wipes the floor with me like this!? ha ha.
1st place: @gaswerks - Wow! just wow!
@gaswerks, over to you.
[doublepost=1545247791][/doublepost]
Yes you most definitely did! Have you seen the quality of the output this week!?!?!
Sorry we broke you, but excellent and thorough judging! At least you're off the hook for over Christmas! And for the record, the "her" in my photo is actually me, and you are right, I should have used a reflector, but I was working on learning OCF (with an actual flash, but have worked with strobes in the past) and using the inverse square law to darken the background. If I were to do it over, yes, I'd add in the reflector, but actually just to separate my hair from the background a bit. I personally like the all dark side frame.
I wish you could see the print. To date I have only gone as large as 12x18 but there is a ton more you can see. The detail is really surprising, the Facebook version is disappointing. I didn't realize it until I looked at the print but you can see all the way down the strip to Trump Tower. The tower is past Spring Mountain Road so a bit more than three miles away.
The image was shot on B&W film with a 4x5 camera. I famed the shot with the left and right curve of the sign on the horizontal grid line in the focusing screen. I did the same with the points on the top and bottom of the sign and the vertical grid.
I took the shot with a standard exposure. Then I moved the camera ten feet closer to the sign and pulled the film cartridge so I could re-frame. I used the same points on the sign and the grids to get the second framing. When I put the film cartridge back in I rotated it 180 degrees. The second shot was under exposed by three stops.
I then scanned and inverted it. For the most part the only post I did on it was dust removal. Down in the bottom of the frame I did remove a couple of lights that were distracting but there were just pinpoints that only needed a single click.
The biggest challenge was waiting for people to take their photos and clear the area but I'm used to that.
Nice work judging , and congrats to the winners . If it was my contest to judge , I very well might have changed my name and fled to Costa Rica .