Weekly Photo Contest - Dec 12 to 19 - Inky Black

[Hughmac]

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

 

[mollyc]

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

Seconded!

 

[deep diver]

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

Agreed
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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.
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This one was over as soon as gaswerks posted.

I do think it was completely unfair that gaswerks got to channel Ansel Adams and the rest of us didn't. There should be a new rule about that.

 

[oblomow]

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

good idea!

 

[Clix Pix]

Agreed that this next competition should be over a two-week period, given the holidays and all....

Thanks, Kenoh, for an interesting challenge and a thorough and thoughtful scrutiny and critique of each entry. Well done to all those on the podium! Congratulations to gaswerks -- a truly beautiful and amazing image. This week's competition was clearly a tough one to judge -- whew!!!

My shot was taken while standing on my covered deck in the pouring rain that night, using the RX10 M4 and its long 24-600mm (equiv) lens to capture image of the pier, which is indeed on the small lake in my community. My building is next to the one where the pier juts out so I have a great vantage point. That night I had happened to look out the window to see if it were still raining, which it was, and the play of light/dark/shadow/reflections created by the sole source of light and the rain on that post caught my eye; I had taken a photo of that same post on the pier earlier, so that probably was still on my mind as well. Once I looked at it in the computer I thought, "hey, a potential candidate for the 'inky black' competition!

 

[kenoh]

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

Agreed. 2 weeks is a good idea.

 

[Susurs]

Thank’s a lot!
I didn’t have my camera at that time and I was experimenting how and what can be done with a smartphone/AI; how far has the technology advanced. I was pretty surprised in a positive way to what can be achieved if you tinker around a bit with this small sensor, especially where you do not need any hi-res images. However, I see strong disadvantages whenever lighting conditions are not so excellent anymore, or when more detailed image is needed.

Sensor size still matters, notably where lighting etc. conditions are not perfect.

 

[Janichsan]

@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.

You're closer than you might think: that's actually a passage near the main train station in Münster, which happens to be one of Germany's most bike-friendly city and about 80 km away from the border to the Netherlands. And there is actually a multi-storey bike park on the far side of this passage…

Anyway: gaswerks' picture is more than worthy to win this week. Good judging.

 

[gaswerks]

Aw shucks, thanks everyone! Kudos to @kenoh for the detailed judging this week ... I am already feeling the pressure to remotely match your efforts. I will post a 2 week contest tomorrow.

 

[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?

That is at the Missouri Botanical Garden. This picture is rather old. To give you an idea, to the left I cropped out my then 5 year old nephew...who just turned 17 this month.

Just to get this idea in for floating, would it be good to run next the next challenge for two weeks, or very likely there won't be many entries?

Cheers

Hugh

Nah, just make Ken do another round of judging and it will be another great contest! He sure paid the price. Can’t fault his winner—it was my choice too.

 

[swifty168]

Great entries everyone.
Thanks Kenoh for the judging and critiquing and congrats to all the winners.

 

[malofx]

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.

@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.


@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?


Yes you most definitely did! Have you seen the quality of the output this week!?!?!

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[kenoh]

Aw shucks, thanks everyone! Kudos to @kenoh for the detailed judging this week ... I am already feeling the pressure to remotely match your efforts. I will post a 2 week contest tomorrow.

Choose wisely..... this one was a belter to judge. I went for a walk to think on it because I couldn’t call it. 1st was easy, your image scored a solid 11out of 10 on the “Jealous I didn’t take it scale” but the remaining podium places were hard to call. If we had to place 4th and 5th, I would still be out walking....

So difficult to have to find fault in a set of images that I would have “liked” immediately on Instagram.
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Thank you for the feedback.

I loved the textures in your image. I am wondering if a slightly different crop and (sorry, I am going to say it) composite some sky detail in the clipped highlights and I would have to rethink the podiums from this week.
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Thank’s a lot!
I didn’t have my camera at that time and I was experimenting how and what can be done with a smartphone/AI; how far has the technology advanced. I was pretty surprised in a positive way to what can be achieved if you tinker around a bit with this small sensor, especially where you do not need any hi-res images. However, I see strong disadvantages whenever lighting conditions are not so excellent anymore, or when more detailed image is needed.

Sensor size still matters, notably where lighting etc. conditions are not perfect.

I think this is the thing that causes the “do I need a proper camera” debate. When at web resolution it is perfect as you have proven. Right up until the day you take a picture good enough to want to put on a wall - like this one. Then you find out why a “proper” camera is better.

Seriously, I was raging at this one being so good on my tablet, I loaded it up onto my big screen and it still held up. Sat with my head in my hands laughing at how good it was. Well done.
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Great entries everyone.
Thanks Kenoh for the judging and critiquing and congrats to all the winners.

No problem. I liked your shot. Maybe I would pull it into Lightroom or your weapon of choice. The lift exposure maybe half a stop and add a radial filter on the person and lift that a further third of a stop just to draw in the viewer to the person and what they are doing. The image for me is the contrast of the shop being empty yet they are still hard at work. The concentration on their face is strong.
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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.

Fantastic! I love this level of attention to detail. Wonderful. I know the Trump hotel. I have stayed there. Across from the Fashoin Show mall right? I liked it actually as it is one of the few where the time from the front door to your room isn’t half an hours walk via a casino.

 

[Robotti]

@Robotti
This is how you do a sofisticated lowkey nude. Wonderful, screams the feminine and maintains the dignity. You have serious skills.

Thanks! This was part of series, which was a study of the hips

 

[swifty168]

Thanks @kenoh for the additional comments.
I guess I had a different vision for this image that just doesn’t quite resonate for most. On a different forum I had posted the same image (but in colour) and it was an even darker low key version and I got similar feedback.
But I have so far resisted bringing the brightness levels up to the usual ‘normal’ level cos of how I perceive this image.

Looking forward to the upcoming fortnight round

 

[kenoh]

Thanks @kenoh for the additional comments.
I guess I had a different vision for this image that just doesn’t quite resonate for most. On a different forum I had posted the same image (but in colour) and it was an even darker low key version and I got similar feedback.
But I have so far resisted bringing the brightness levels up to the usual ‘normal’ level cos of how I perceive this image.

Looking forward to the upcoming fortnight round

Each to their own my friend, each to their own... your picture, your vision.