These are much more than snaps. Pick one for judging. We have all had to step up. That's what this forum is about.
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Weekly Photo Contest Sept 23-30 (Your Best)
- Thread starter The Bad Guy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
These are much more than snaps. Pick one for judging. We have all had to step up. That's what this forum is about.
It was a narrative on why I couldnt really enter this week... because I couldnt choose... but it is fine, I manned up as per command of others... :-(
As others have said this is a tough call.
I thought about cheating and just choose the photo with the most likes on Flickr, but decided that was not my best photo (dead bee!).
I love a lot of my macro shots, and could easily have posted one of my frog shots. But ultimately they were shot in a studio under studio lighting, so were quite easy to get.
Then I gave a lot of thought about posting a picture of my daughter. I don't have many good shots as she would never pose for me, but would always put her hands in front of her face if she saw my camera. As some of you know I'm not likely to be able to take any more pictures of her, but those that I do have are the most precious things I have.
But are they my best work? No.
So finally I decided to post one of my owls. Bird in flight has been something thats been beyond me for a number of reasons (like lack of patience!). Anyway the acquisition of some decent glass at the back end of last year and a trip out with some guys from Wild Arena, gave me an opportunity.
So here you go.
_DSC1748 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr
Nikon D750 & 200-500mm f5.6
Manual mode
f5.6
1/800
ISO 1250
I thought about cheating and just choose the photo with the most likes on Flickr, but decided that was not my best photo (dead bee!).
I love a lot of my macro shots, and could easily have posted one of my frog shots. But ultimately they were shot in a studio under studio lighting, so were quite easy to get.
Then I gave a lot of thought about posting a picture of my daughter. I don't have many good shots as she would never pose for me, but would always put her hands in front of her face if she saw my camera. As some of you know I'm not likely to be able to take any more pictures of her, but those that I do have are the most precious things I have.
But are they my best work? No.
So finally I decided to post one of my owls. Bird in flight has been something thats been beyond me for a number of reasons (like lack of patience!). Anyway the acquisition of some decent glass at the back end of last year and a trip out with some guys from Wild Arena, gave me an opportunity.
So here you go.
_DSC1748 by apple fanboy1, on FlickrNikon D750 & 200-500mm f5.6
Manual mode
f5.6
1/800
ISO 1250
All of us have wrestled with this one. That is good, and there is a lot of really good stuff here. I am getting a little sadistic pleasure knowing that The Bad Guy will have a harder time judging than we had posting. 
All of us have wrestled with this one. That is good, and there is a lot of really good stuff here. I am getting a little sadistic pleasure knowing that The Bad Guy will have a harder time judging than we had posting.
Serves him right!
Tough one Bad Guy, but at the same time, this photo stood out in my library, with your chosen theme.
This was on a zoo photography lesson, and it was the first time I'd been challenged to think about features, rather than trying to capture full body shots. At the same time, I was also just starting to learn exposure adjustments with the camera controls. I loved the texture that came out with the settings, and I love that it is obvious what it is, without having to show the entire animal. I love the curve, but mostly..
I love that this day, and this particular shot, really hit home with composition, and finding something subtle, (I think abstract was the term used) that takes it from being something that is just a happy snap, to a real photo.
Shot with
D810 with 80-400mm AF-S
@ 400mm
1/1250sec
F5.6
ISO 200
Thanks for the challenge Bad Guy, it really made me look at a few photos, but this one hits home with many things learnt that day.
This was on a zoo photography lesson, and it was the first time I'd been challenged to think about features, rather than trying to capture full body shots. At the same time, I was also just starting to learn exposure adjustments with the camera controls. I loved the texture that came out with the settings, and I love that it is obvious what it is, without having to show the entire animal. I love the curve, but mostly..
I love that this day, and this particular shot, really hit home with composition, and finding something subtle, (I think abstract was the term used) that takes it from being something that is just a happy snap, to a real photo.
Shot with
D810 with 80-400mm AF-S
@ 400mm
1/1250sec
F5.6
ISO 200
Thanks for the challenge Bad Guy, it really made me look at a few photos, but this one hits home with many things learnt that day.
First of all, those of you brave enough to enter this week, hats off and well done to you. It's never easy to pick your best shot, let alone enter it in a competition exposing it to scrutiny (even if it's a rather informal one such as this).
I mentioned at the start I couldn't pick my best shot as it's constantly changing every week. Each time I pick up my camera I try to outdo what I've done before. Being a member of this forum for a long time, I've been watching you all improve from week to week and it's great to bare witness to. I enjoy the way you egg each other on and interact.
Alright then, enough of the mushy stuff. Guess I'd better put this beast to rest.
@MacRy
Nice feeling of claustrophobia captured here. Great tones in the B&W treatment. Only advice I'd give is possibly a tighter crop and maybe some dodging and burning to make it really 'pop!'. Great bit of candid street photography.
@dwfaust
This guy certainly has character oozing from every pore and you've captured him well. Great colour palette, nice eye contact and his expression tells a story. Careful with the retouching though, there's quite a bit of haloing going on in this one.
@Alexander.Of.Oz
Beautiful image. I've always wanted to try this sort of shot, maybe one day I'll get my ass out of the studio environment. Foreground objects, lighting textures in the clouds, B&W treatment, all on point. Critique? Maybe shot slightly lower would bring the foreground to prominence and slightly lower the horizon line to suit the rule of thirds a little better?
@InuNacho
The art student in me likes it, the image manipulator in me likes the idea, the photographer in me doesn't get it. Maybe it's the small file size, but I'm not real sure what this is portraying. After looking at your site, I'd suggest the vending machine one is better and your street stuff is better still.
@Hughmac
Now that wasn't that hard was it? Great concept, I'm going to steal it. Lighting looks great as do the reflections. Advice - shoot it straight on, get the whole board in frame, light it from above and behind with a speedlight or similar and make it a high contrast black and white.
@oblomow
I'm going to go with landscape rather than the street sight. Love it, looks like one of the desktop photos in Mac OS a while ago. Is it shot on film or just a bit noisy? Only thing I'd do is a bit of dodging and burning. But I do that to everything.
@deep diver
The art student in me is back! Coupled the metaphor this shot works. Photographically I'd like to see the doorway without the hole, in landscape orientation and framed to the left Toning is great.
@inkmich
Great concept. Reflections on the car roof look great. As with the above suggestion, I'd go landscape orientation and try to include the whole car somehow. Or maybe portrait orientation with what you've got cutting out the left of the frame?
@someoldguy
Nice night time cityscape and even better story to go with it. Colours look great, water looks nice and I know it's silly, but I just kinda wish the bridge wasn't there.
@Indydenny
Sure is a beautiful city. Nice frame and the composition works well. Needs some post work though to make it sing. Best of your Flickr account is the candle in the cathedral or the square building reflection shot.
@CmdrLaForge
I'm torn on this one. On one hand I like what you're saying with inclusion of the signage (although I'd like to see the top of it), yet on the other I'd like to see this frame without the sign. Speaking of frames and I'm certainly not torn on this, get rid of that frame effect you've applied to this.
@kenoh
Ken, Ken, Ken...brave man entering a portrait of a young blonde when the judge is a portrait photographer that shoots a lot of young blondes. Very ballsy.
@Apple fanboy
Wow! Hard to get 'em in flight and you've nailed it. Excellent light, separation from the background and DOF, nicely done. Composition wise? It doesn't really work where it is, but is easily fixed.Crop it so the bird is higher in the left hand side of frame.
@OzBok
Man, I like this one. That lighting, those textures, the contrast...all great.If I had to pick a fault, I'd like to see a catchlight in the eye and maybe all of the beak. But still, you should be very proud of this shot.
Okay, hopefully I haven't hurt anyone's feelings...I guess it's onto naming the winners then.
Honourable mentions:
Apple Fanboy. With different framing this shot would be absolutely killer. With that said, it's not your best shot.
dwfaust: Great portrait. Just needs more post refinements. Love the look you were going for.
3rd Place: MacRy
2nd Place: Tie - OzBok & Alexander Of Oz
1st Place: Kenoh
Composition, light, pose, feeling, processing you nailed it. Well done.
I mentioned at the start I couldn't pick my best shot as it's constantly changing every week. Each time I pick up my camera I try to outdo what I've done before. Being a member of this forum for a long time, I've been watching you all improve from week to week and it's great to bare witness to. I enjoy the way you egg each other on and interact.
Alright then, enough of the mushy stuff. Guess I'd better put this beast to rest.
@MacRy
Nice feeling of claustrophobia captured here. Great tones in the B&W treatment. Only advice I'd give is possibly a tighter crop and maybe some dodging and burning to make it really 'pop!'. Great bit of candid street photography.
@dwfaust
This guy certainly has character oozing from every pore and you've captured him well. Great colour palette, nice eye contact and his expression tells a story. Careful with the retouching though, there's quite a bit of haloing going on in this one.
@Alexander.Of.Oz
Beautiful image. I've always wanted to try this sort of shot, maybe one day I'll get my ass out of the studio environment. Foreground objects, lighting textures in the clouds, B&W treatment, all on point. Critique? Maybe shot slightly lower would bring the foreground to prominence and slightly lower the horizon line to suit the rule of thirds a little better?
@InuNacho
The art student in me likes it, the image manipulator in me likes the idea, the photographer in me doesn't get it. Maybe it's the small file size, but I'm not real sure what this is portraying. After looking at your site, I'd suggest the vending machine one is better and your street stuff is better still.
@Hughmac
Now that wasn't that hard was it?
Great concept, I'm going to steal it. Lighting looks great as do the reflections. Advice - shoot it straight on, get the whole board in frame, light it from above and behind with a speedlight or similar and make it a high contrast black and white.@oblomow
I'm going to go with landscape rather than the street sight.
Love it, looks like one of the desktop photos in Mac OS a while ago. Is it shot on film or just a bit noisy? Only thing I'd do is a bit of dodging and burning. But I do that to everything.@deep diver
The art student in me is back! Coupled the metaphor this shot works. Photographically I'd like to see the doorway without the hole, in landscape orientation and framed to the left Toning is great.
@inkmich
Great concept. Reflections on the car roof look great. As with the above suggestion, I'd go landscape orientation and try to include the whole car somehow. Or maybe portrait orientation with what you've got cutting out the left of the frame?
@someoldguy
Nice night time cityscape and even better story to go with it. Colours look great, water looks nice and I know it's silly, but I just kinda wish the bridge wasn't there.
@Indydenny
Sure is a beautiful city. Nice frame and the composition works well. Needs some post work though to make it sing. Best of your Flickr account is the candle in the cathedral or the square building reflection shot.
@CmdrLaForge
I'm torn on this one. On one hand I like what you're saying with inclusion of the signage (although I'd like to see the top of it), yet on the other I'd like to see this frame without the sign. Speaking of frames and I'm certainly not torn on this, get rid of that frame effect you've applied to this.
@kenoh
Ken, Ken, Ken...brave man entering a portrait of a young blonde when the judge is a portrait photographer that shoots a lot of young blondes. Very ballsy.
@Apple fanboy
Wow! Hard to get 'em in flight and you've nailed it. Excellent light, separation from the background and DOF, nicely done. Composition wise? It doesn't really work where it is, but is easily fixed.Crop it so the bird is higher in the left hand side of frame.
@OzBok
Man, I like this one. That lighting, those textures, the contrast...all great.If I had to pick a fault, I'd like to see a catchlight in the eye and maybe all of the beak. But still, you should be very proud of this shot.
Okay, hopefully I haven't hurt anyone's feelings...I guess it's onto naming the winners then.
Honourable mentions:
Apple Fanboy. With different framing this shot would be absolutely killer. With that said, it's not your best shot.
dwfaust: Great portrait. Just needs more post refinements. Love the look you were going for.
3rd Place: MacRy
2nd Place: Tie - OzBok & Alexander Of Oz
1st Place: Kenoh
Composition, light, pose, feeling, processing you nailed it. Well done.
Last edited:
Well done everyone. Great idea for a competition. If a little tricky to pick your submission.First of all, those of you brave enough to enter this week, hats off and well done to you. It's never easy to pick your best shot, let alone enter it in a competition exposing it to scrutiny (even if it's a rather informal one such as this).
I mentioned at the start I couldn't pick my best shot as it's constantly changing every week. Each time I pick up my camera I try to outdo what I've done before. Being a member of this forum for a long time, I've been watching you all improve from week to week and it's great to bare witness to. I enjoy the way you egg each other on and interact.
Alright then, enough of the mushy stuff. Guess I'd better put this beast to rest.
@MacRy
Nice feeling of claustrophobia captured here. Great tones in the B&W treatment. Only advice I'd give is possibly a tighter crop and maybe some dodging and burning to make it really 'pop!'. Great bit of candid street photography.
@dwfaust
This guy certainly has character oozing from every pore and you've captured him well. Great colour palette, nice eye contact and his expression tells a story. Careful with the retouching though, there's quite a bit of haloing going on in this one.
@Alexander.Of.Oz
Beautiful image. I've always wanted to try this sort of shot, maybe one day I'll get my ass out of the studio environment. Foreground objects, lighting textures in the clouds, B&W treatment, all on point. Critique? Maybe shot slightly lower would bring the foreground to prominence and slightly lower the horizon line to suit the rule of thirds a little better?
@InuNacho
The art student in me likes it, the image manipulator in me likes the idea, the photographer in me doesn't get it. Maybe it's the small file size, but I'm not real sure what this is portraying. After looking at your site, I'd suggest the vending machine one is better and your street stuff is better still.
@Hughmac
Now that wasn't that hard was it?
@oblomow
I'm going to go with landscape rather than the street sight.
@deep diver
The art student in me is back! Coupled the metaphor this shot works. Photographically I'd like to see the doorway without the hole, in landscape orientation and framed to the left Toning is great.
@inkmich
Great concept. Reflections on the car roof look great. As with the above suggestion, I'd go landscape orientation and try to include the whole car somehow. Or maybe portrait orientation with what you've got cutting out the left of the frame?
@someoldguy
Nice night time cityscape and even better story to go with it. Colours look great, water looks nice and I know it's silly, but I just kinda wish the bridge wasn't there.
@Indydenny
Sure is a beautiful city. Nice frame and the composition works well. Needs some post work though to make it sing. Best of your Flickr account is the candle in the cathedral or the square building reflection shot.
@CmdrLaForge
I'm torn on this one. On one hand I like what you're saying with inclusion of the signage (although I'd like to see the top of it), yet on the other I'd like to see this frame without the sign. Speaking of frames and I'm certainly not torn on this, get rid of that frame effect you've applied to this.
@kenoh
Ken, Ken, Ken...brave man entering a portrait of a young blonde when the judge is a portrait photographer that shoots a lot of young blondes. Very ballsy.
@Apple fanboy
Wow! Hard to get 'em in flight and you've nailed it. Excellent light, separation from the background and DOF, nicely done. Composition wise? It doesn't really work where it is, but is easily fixed.Crop it so the bird is higher in the left hand side of frame.
@OzBok
Man, I like this one. That lighting, those textures, the contrast...all great.If I had to pick a fault, I'd like to see a catchlight in the eye and maybe all of the beak. But still, you should be very proud of this shot.
Okay, hopefully I haven't hurt anyone's feelings...I guess it's onto naming the winners then.
Honourable mentions:
Apple Fanboy. With different framing this shot would be absolutely killer. With that said, it's not your best shot.
dwfaust: Great portrait. Just needs more post refinements. Love the look you were going for.
3rd Place: MacRy
2nd Place: Tie - OzBok & Alexander Of Oz
1st Place: Kenoh
Composition, light, pose, feeling, processing you nailed it. Well done.
Great feedback as well. I'll certainly look at the composition. Interesting you say it's not my best shot. Do you have another in mind when you say that?
Anyway thanks for the honourable mention.
On to the next.
Lol... Woohoooo!!! Having a very encouraging weekend! A much appreciated and very humbling win this week and I also got a picture in Explore on Flickr!
I am really really happy this week as yes, I was looking at my images and thinking I like this image but if I submit it I am playing with fire! But wow!
There were the usual array of very high quality shots! Well done guys! Very very impressive and yes it was a cracker of a torture comp!
OK I will get a new comp up in a few hours. Wow! Chuffed to bits thank you.
[doublepost=1475402805][/doublepost]New comp is up:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/weekly-photo-contest-oct-2nd-9th-mood.2003546/
I am really really happy this week as yes, I was looking at my images and thinking I like this image but if I submit it I am playing with fire! But wow!
There were the usual array of very high quality shots! Well done guys! Very very impressive and yes it was a cracker of a torture comp!
OK I will get a new comp up in a few hours. Wow! Chuffed to bits thank you.
[doublepost=1475402805][/doublepost]New comp is up:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/weekly-photo-contest-oct-2nd-9th-mood.2003546/
@The Bad Guy Thanks a bunch for the valuable suggestion to go lower again with this one! Thanks also for the contest, a really thoughtful contest, at that. You should definitely get out of the studio and have a play with a cheap $30 10 stop ND filter, it's usually perfectly fine for working in B&W.
Congrat's to @kenoh with the most gorgeous of images there! You had my vote immediately on seeing this one.
Wow thank you very much for the humbling comment. I am very lucky to have 2 daughters who get their looks from mum. It was a lovely day and I had been trying for ages to get a shot without her trademark "get lost dad" scowl... In this one she was turning away from the camera but I think it meant I caught her profile and it makes it all the nicer.
[doublepost=1475412398][/doublepost]
Great feedback there and awesome to see everyone's shots as ever. Well done Ken for the win. Well deserved with an excellent portrait. You're making this a bit of a habit fella
Lol...
feeling like maybe I have a shot at getting somewhere decent with this camera lark... I really do want to get more long exposures and moody dark weather though... Enjoyed the park yesterday in the fog as no one was around. It was magical.
Thanks for the feedback. I would have liked to explore other perspectives. As I said, the building is boarded and the only way in was through that hole. Even if I lost some weight, I still would not fit through. One of the things I like most about shooting in the environment is struggling with the limits the universe hands us.
Congrats to all of the winners.
.
Congrats to @kenoh and all the winners . And thanks @TheBadGuy for taking time for the critiques . Maybe you're right about the bridge in my shot . You wanna buy it??? 27.50 US plus shipping and handling . Why so cheap ? Hey , it's old .