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JDDavis

macrumors 65816
Jan 16, 2009
1,242
109
p267257191-5.jpg


A long exposure of an coal burning electrical plant.
 

anotherscotsman

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 2, 2014
2,369
16,735
UK
Time to close the competition I'm afraid so any last-minute entries, get them in asap.

I'll start the difficult judging and get back to you with the results.

thanks to everyone who entered.
 
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anotherscotsman

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 2, 2014
2,369
16,735
UK
No last-minute stunner from Laird Knox? Thanks again to everyone who contributed and congratulations on another collection of great photos. Rather than bore everyone with my opinions, I'll keep it short and sweet.

I'll start with my (long) shortlist:

Miltz - a really high impact use of light. Strong colours

AlexanderofOz - not overpowering use of light - I like the street-car underlighting

someoldguy - a classic Brooklyn bridge view with a nice (natural) sunset to set off the bridge lights. very nice

E3BK - great reflections of St pals in the buildings and effective high-relief view of the cathedral. Nice light colours

RedOctober - great T+S selective focus for that toy-town effect.

MacRy - a fresh take on the theme. Almost a Petzval effect in reverse with the swirl in the foreground!

filmbufs - great take on the theme with a variety of colours and textures.

kenoh - love the backlighting of the isolated leaves. Amazing how a similar approach (to MacRy) can result in something so different.

HughMac - very subtle play of lighting on the glass chess pieces.

rx7Dude - like the way the signage is highlighted from the cacophony of manmade light background

JDDavis - lighting (and long exposure) makes the mundane rather magical.

AlexH - the magic of Christmas captured. Great use of the fairy lights

Other mentions:

AppleCore13 - good idea and very seasonal
AppleFanBoy - lighting emphasises the deserted pier. very sparse.

And after that, the winners are:

3rd - RedOctober
2nd - filmbufs
1st - JDDavis

Again, thank you to everyone (mentioned or otherwise) for some great, imaginative takes on the theme.

Over to you JDDavis!
 

MacRy

macrumors 601
Apr 2, 2004
4,351
6,278
England
Petzval Effect. That's a new term I've learned. It does indeed doesn't it.

Congrats to the winners. Some great images this week.

A worthy winner for JDDavis. I loved that photo the first time I saw it. Really nicely done.
 
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kenoh

macrumors 604
Jul 18, 2008
6,507
10,850
Glasgow, UK
Thanks for the comments. I really was taken by the way the leaves glowed with the back light.

Well deserved win, the long exposure really does transform it. Lovely haunting light.
 

filmbufs

macrumors 6502
Sep 8, 2012
252
187
Oklahoma
Congrats to JDDavis, a well-deserved win. Thanks for the 2nd place finish, @anotherscotsman. I still love the image you provided in the example. I also appreciated the beautiful simplicity of Hughmac's chess image as well. There were a lot of nice entries.

AFB, I wish my image was of sweet wrappers - candy wrappers for those of us in the States. :) If so, there would have been a lot of chocolate, sugary fingerprints on the image. My image, however, is a detail shot of some Chihuly glass, part of a larger, permanent exhibit in nearby Oklahoma City.
 

tomnavratil

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2013
876
1,588
Congrats to the winners! A well-deserved win for @JDDavis, a great pic! It's just a shame, that @anotherscotsman made a comment to 14 out of 19 entries. I know my photo sucked but could you, please, put a little comment to it so I know why? Cheers!
 

anotherscotsman

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 2, 2014
2,369
16,735
UK
Congrats to the winners! A well-deserved win for @JDDavis, a great pic! It's just a shame, that @anotherscotsman made a comment to 14 out of 19 entries. I know my photo sucked but could you, please, put a little comment to it so I know why? Cheers!
Sorry tomnavratil, none of the entries were to make up the number or sucked. No offence intended by my lack of comment on a number of photos but I got the impression that my last attempt at judging went a little too far on the commentary side hence a deliberate attempt to keep it shorter. I'm more than happy to give a comment on any entry that I omitted. Whilst all of the lighting in your entry was clearly artificial, I didn't think that it portrayed any "character" as such, it was more of an observational shot, not that there is anything wrong with that per se. As with a couple of other entries, the contrast between absolute black ambient and the artificial lights was a little too harsh for my tastes. Apologies again if you or anyone else felt I passed over.
 
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tomnavratil

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2013
876
1,588
Sorry tomnavratil, none of the entries were to make up the number or sucked. No offence intended by my lack of comment on a number of photos but I got the impression that my last attempt at judging went a little too far on the commentary side hence a deliberate attempt to keep it shorter. I'm more than happy to give a comment on any entry that I omitted. Whilst all of the lighting in your entry was clearly artificial, I didn't think that it portrayed any "character" as such, it was more of an observational shot, not that there is anything wrong with that per se. As with a couple of other entries, the contrast between absolute black ambient and the artificial lights was a little too harsh for my tastes. Apologies again if you or anyone else felt I passed over.

Apologies mate, never thought it would come across that way! Actually your last commentary has been really great and I enjoyed reading it. I knew my photo would not make the cut because of the quality when I've seen the other entries so I'm just being objective and a bit harsh on myself. Great, thanks a lot for feedback, I was originally going for a bit more exposed version with less contrast but then changed it. Thanks a lot and definitely no apologies needed, sorry if my previous comment has been quite strong! :(
 

anotherscotsman

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 2, 2014
2,369
16,735
UK
Apologies mate, never thought it would come across that way! Actually your last commentary has been really great and I enjoyed reading it. I knew my photo would not make the cut because of the quality when I've seen the other entries so I'm just being objective and a bit harsh on myself. Great, thanks a lot for feedback, I was originally going for a bit more exposed version with less contrast but then changed it. Thanks a lot and definitely no apologies needed, sorry if my previous comment has been quite strong! :(

No problem tomnavratil, I was more concerned I'd offended you or any of the other non-commented entrants. I'm surprised that you enjoyed my previous comments given the wealth of real skill and insight available from the other forum participants. Cheers.
 
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JDDavis

macrumors 65816
Jan 16, 2009
1,242
109
Thanks anotherscotsman and thanks everyone for all the encouraging words. There were a lot of great entries so I'm honored to get the nod. I'll have the next contest up shortly.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Haswell
Jul 29, 2008
65,199
47,582
In a coffee shop.
Lovely contest and some excellent shots.

Yes, once @JDDavis had posted that stunning shot - I was awestruck. Brilliant shot and really well planned and taken; that could be published, or used as a poster.

Personally, I thought @Hughmac's shot of the chess pieces terrific - great and gorgeously taken shot, and I loved it, elegant, classy, the sort of picture you might see in a fashionable and uber-cool cocktail lounge on a wall, framed as a large poster.

Others I liked were @filmbufs - one of the deserved winners, lovely use of rich, yet warm colours and a lovely use of light to give life to these vibrant colours.

While @RedOctober's shot of how traffic looks at night in a shot redolent with urban sophistication was recognised with a placing, (and, as a kid, I could never figure out why postcards of night shots had these red and white lines whereas the real world did not - it took me a while to work it out), I also really like classical symmetry of @anotherscotsman's nocturnal urban landscape; very nice.

And, it is not just because I like him that I like the sparse economy of @Apple fanboy's shot - I think it spare but really pleasing to the eye.

 

Hughmac

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2012
6,001
32,567
Kent, UK
Lovely contest and some excellent shots.

Yes, once @JDDavis had posted that stunning shot - I was awestruck. Brilliant shot and really well planned and taken; that could be published, or used as a poster.

Personally, I thought @Hughmac's shot of the chess pieces terrific - great and gorgeously taken shot, and I loved it, elegant, classy, the sort of picture you might see in a fashionable and uber-cool cocktail lounge on a wall, framed as a large poster.

Others I liked were @filmbufs - one of the deserved winners, lovely use of rich, yet warm colours and a lovely use of light to give life to these vibrant colours.

While @RedOctober's shot of how traffic looks at night in a shot redolent with urban sophistication was recognised with a placing, (and, as a kid, I could never figure out why postcards of night shots had these red and white lines whereas the real world did not - it took me a while to work it out), I also really like classical symmetry of @anotherscotsman's nocturnal urban landscape; very nice.

And, it is not just because I like him that I like the sparse economy of @Apple fanboy's shot - I think it spare but really pleasing to the eye.

Thank you very much for the kind words :)

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
57,004
56,027
Behind the Lens, UK
Lovely contest and some excellent shots.

Yes, once @JDDavis had posted that stunning shot - I was awestruck. Brilliant shot and really well planned and taken; that could be published, or used as a poster.

Personally, I thought @Hughmac's shot of the chess pieces terrific - great and gorgeously taken shot, and I loved it, elegant, classy, the sort of picture you might see in a fashionable and uber-cool cocktail lounge on a wall, framed as a large poster.

Others I liked were @filmbufs - one of the deserved winners, lovely use of rich, yet warm colours and a lovely use of light to give life to these vibrant colours.

While @RedOctober's shot of how traffic looks at night in a shot redolent with urban sophistication was recognised with a placing, (and, as a kid, I could never figure out why postcards of night shots had these red and white lines whereas the real world did not - it took me a while to work it out), I also really like classical symmetry of @anotherscotsman's nocturnal urban landscape; very nice.

And, it is not just because I like him that I like the sparse economy of @Apple fanboy's shot - I think it spare but really pleasing to the eye.
Thanks @Scepticalscribe. Cheque's in the post!
 
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Scepticalscribe

macrumors Haswell
Jul 29, 2008
65,199
47,582
In a coffee shop.
Thank you very much for the kind words :)

Cheers :)

Hugh

How did you actually shoot it? - I thought it really good (not least because I like chess anyway and collect chess sets and try to buy at least one set from each country I am based in for any length of time).

Thanks @Scepticalscribe. Cheque's in the post!

Well, a shared - virtual - pint is a bit better than a cheque…so, cheers.
 

Hughmac

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2012
6,001
32,567
Kent, UK
How did you actually shoot it? - I thought it really good (not least because I like chess anyway and collect chess sets and try to buy at least one set from each country I am based in for any length of time).

We have a beautiful lacquered table in our dining room, which I polished to a high sheen, and upon which I placed the chess set. There was a spotlight up on the bookshelves to the right of the setup, and a black cloth behind.
I then experimented with my Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 lens (my most favourite and sharpest lens for indoor work). Flash was a Nikon SB900 clone, set at -2 and bounced off the ceiling.
The whole shoot was done hand held (I don't like tripods).

The chess set hasn't been out of the loft for ages, because it is such a dust gatherer if displayed.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Haswell
Jul 29, 2008
65,199
47,582
In a coffee shop.
We have a beautiful lacquered table in our dining room, which I polished to a high sheen, and upon which I placed the chess set. There was a spotlight up on the bookshelves to the right of the setup, and a black cloth behind.
I then experimented with my Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 lens (my most favourite and sharpest lens for indoor work). Flash was a Nikon SB900 clone, set at -2 and bounced off the ceiling.
The whole shoot was done hand held (I don't like tripods).

The chess set hasn't been out of the loft for ages, because it is such a dust gatherer if displayed.

Cheers :)

Hugh

Well, it is an absolutely gorgeous and a beautifully composed and framed shot. And, as I have already said, it is good enough to be blown up into a poster - I could well see that adorning walls in cool jazz clubs or cocktail bars.

Anyway, thanks very much for the explanation as to how you shot it.

What is the chess set itself made from? I think you chose correctly in having the 'dark' pieces further back and slightly out of focus, while concentrating on the pieces to the fore, the 'glass' (i.e. white) pieces.
 
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