The ABC's of Photography - Letter F (Completed)

[Antmeister]

Anyone in the future who wishes to join this group, follow these steps:

• Go to http://www.maverickmarks.com/abcphoto.
• Click the "Login" link and register from there.
• Once registered, login and click the Upload file(s) button to begin uploading your pictures.

[Lorena]

bump

[Abe Sargent]

This seems like a blast. I just got my very first camera ever a few days ago, so I have no idea what I'm doing, but I figured I'd accept the open welcome stated earlier.

-Abe

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

This seems like a blast. I just got my very first camera ever a few days ago, so I have no idea what I'm doing, but I figured I'd accept the open welcome stated earlier.

-Abe

Welcome Abe!! So you're a photography noob eh? The best advice I can give is instead of taking a picture from a eye-level, try a different point of view: bottom looking up, getting down to the subject's level, top looking down, etc.

If you have any quesions, feel free to post them here. Have fun!!

[Lorena]

bump for tomorrow's comments

[Lorena]

For discussion:

Face1
Fireworks
Filthy Bird
Fixture1
Flag
Flow1
Flower
Foliage
Fork and Fries
Friday Afternoon

[lordscarlet]

Upload is over!? WTF! I'm totally thrown off here. CAn I upload my pic tonight?

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Upload is over!? WTF! I'm totally thrown off here. CAn I upload my pic tonight?

This schedule was agreed upon due to the last letter. View the 2nd post here:
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=61113

And I sent out a global email on Saturday to those that signed up that read like this:

Slight change of schedule for those who didn\'t get to participate last round.


Sat. - Mon.: Upload Phase
Tuesday - Friday: Discussion Phase
Sat.: Reveal Phase
Rinse and Repeat

If this is too soon for you, wait until the following week (Letter G). This schedule was proposed by sterlingice to give people more of chance to write during the Discussion Phase. There will be no more changes to the schedule, so shoot away.

[wade moore]

FWIW, I am (and was) fine with the schedule, it just threw off my rhythm...

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by wade moore

FWIW, I am (and was) fine with the schedule, it just threw off my rhythm...

It threw me a little off too, that's why I missed last week.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

This schedule was agreed upon due to the last letter. View the 2nd post here:
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=61113

And I sent out a global email on Saturday to those that signed up that read like this:

Yeah, I know. It's just hard to keep up with it changing every week while I'm in foreign countries and moving my wife into the condo.

[Lorena]

Face 1 – Good texture and the light blue sky around the statue kind of looks like a border. I might crop a little bit off the top, not much, just a little.

Filthy Bird –Great stop action with the water droplets. I like how the bird on the left is barely in the pic… great stop action.

Fireworks – Awesome, awesome shot, I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s no noise, no blurriness, nice color, nice darkness, just awesome.

Fixture – Nice angle and perspective. Great shot but a tiny, tiny bit crooked. Nothing a little straightening in photoshop can’t fix.

Flag –Good angle and composition isn’t bad, but it’s a little washed out/hazy.

Flow1 – I really, really like the stop action of the water. The focus seems to be on the background and not the water though. Good effort, the water almost looks like a heart.

Flower –I looked at this picutre up close and the detail is amazing! No noise, no blurriness, nothing like that it’s truly beautiful but a little centered for my taste.

Foliage – I like how everything is in complete focus and I actually don’t mind the 4 cars in the pic.

ForkandFries –Nice angle and interesting subject. I like the blue sky and clouds but I see some spots. Might be time for a nice thorough lens cleaning.

Friday Afternoon – I like this picture… it’s like “A Day in the Life of X Town”. It’s not an artsy picture, but I can see it in some newspaper somewhere. Nicely done… I think I know who you are btw ☺

[lordscarlet]

• Face1: A bit dark for my taste. I wonder if some sort of flash technique could have brought out the details in teh statue. I like the backlighting behind, but I think the statue is lost in shadows.
• Fireworks: My mom loves fireworks photography. I, however, do not. This just doesn't excite me much. I also think the architecture of the stadium (the lights?) detract from the image.
• Filthy Bird: I like the moment caught in this shot. In an ideal world you would have caught that sun in the distance, but I don't think it's necessary. The water droplets/splashes are caught in time perfectly. As we've mentioned before with shots "in the moment", it's hard to adjust, but I would have liked to see this from an angle that wasn't straight at the bird's back.
• Fixture1: Great lighting, great color. Maybe a little too centered for me, but I like it nonetheless. The lighting in this has a tone to it that is close to what I want to learn to do, but not quite there. I should actually make a post about "what I want to learn to do." I like the slighlty dizzying effect that looking up at this gives.
• Flag: I love flag pictures, and I take them whenever I travel to a foreign country, but I'm not sure about this one. Maybe it's the lighting, but it's really not doing it for me. I feel like it's about 80% of the way there. It looks like the other side of the flag may have more direct sunlight?
• Flow1: Like the dirty birds, the water caught in time here is excellent. That must have been quite a fast shudder speed. The centering kills it somewhat for me, but the rest looks good.
• Flower: I like dramatic shadows, but It hink this is a little too much. When the shadows detract from the vibrant color of the flower, you lose me. One of the reasons I love macro photography is that you can capture the brilliance of things like flowers and bees. I think the harsh shadow over this flower kills an otherwise quality shot.
• Foliage: Unlike others, the cars kill this for me. I would have liked a scenic mountain road, or a camera angle that hides all of the cars, and possibly even the houses.
• Fork and Fries: I love signs, typography and iconography. This is why, as I mentioned for "E", I have a ton of "emblem" photos. As we see a lot, there are some shadow issues here, though. The front of the fork and the basket/bag/whatever is incredibly dark on what is quite a clear day. Maybe it's not possible to get this shot with light on it? Or could you have tried to capture it at another time of day? I like the framing and the focus.
• Friday Afternoon: This comes even closer to the style I want to figure out than Fixture1 does. I like this, and I actually see it as artistic unlike someone else. Hwoever, the digital timestamp absolutely destroys this photo. But I, despite what it may seem like from some of my comments in other weeks, love documentary photography. But there's a big difference between a snapshot and what I think is a documentary-style artistic shot (something I have so far been unable to conquer).

[lordscarlet]

I am very saddened.. The technique I alluded to above appears to be impossible with digital photography. And when I say that, I don't mean impossible. I mean it requires post-processing. I could be mistaken, but doing a minimal amount of research it looks like traditional photography uses "Cross Processing." Cross Processing is when you intentionally develop your film in the wrong chemicals for the film you're using. Clearly, in digital photography, there is no development process. So... I can't mess with it for the ABCs, although I may try to do something alongside it.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_processing
• http://flickr.com/photos/tags/xpro/interesting/

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

I am very saddened.. The technique I alluded to above appears to be impossible with digital photography. And when I say that, I don't mean impossible. I mean it requires post-processing. I could be mistaken, but doing a minimal amount of research it looks like traditional photography uses "Cross Processing." Cross Processing is when you intentionally develop your film in the wrong chemicals for the film you're using. Clearly, in digital photography, there is no development process. So... I can't mess with it for the ABCs, although I may try to do something alongside it.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_processing
• http://flickr.com/photos/tags/xpro/interesting/

Cross-processing is a form of post-processing. In fact the whole development process is equivalent to what you do with post-processing in the digital medium, because either you (in your own lab) or someone else (at a photo lab) is choosing how your pictures are going to look in the end.

That is why I often get confused when someone says they don't like to post process their work in the digital medium because it somehow messes with the integrity of the photo. That is exactly what someone is doing just by the development process alone. You can dodge and burn your photos in the lab. You can mix chemicals for cross processing. You can determine contrast, color vibrancy, etc. Or someone else in a photo lab is doing it for you.

The whole process of traditional photography is an artform by itself because you don't know how a picture is going to look when experimenting and can come up with unforseen surprises.

With that said, cross-processing can be done in the digital medium and you even have way more control over how it looks. We can cover this when we get to the post processing challenges, but it is actually not hard to accomplish. And there are a few different methods you can choose as well.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Cross-processing is a form of post-processing. In fact the whole development process is equivalent to what you do with post-processing in the digital medium, because either you (in your own lab) or someone else (at a photo lab) is choosing how your pictures are going to look in the end.

That is why I often get confused when someone says they don't like to post process their work in the digital medium because it somehow messes with the integrity of the photo. That is exactly what someone is doing just by the development process alone. You can dodge and burn your photos in the lab. You can mix chemicals for cross processing. You can determine contrast, color vibrancy, etc. Or someone else in a photo lab is doing it for you.

The whole process of traditional photography is an artform by itself because you don't know how a picture is going to look when experimenting and can come up with unforseen surprises.

With that said, cross-processing can be done in the digital medium and you even have way more control over how it looks. We can cover this when we get to the post processing challenges, but it is actually not hard to accomplish. And there are a few different methods you can choose as well.

Right. I agree completely, and I realize you can do it in the digital medium. However, for what we're doing here, it just doesn't jive. I was hoping it was something I could do in the process of taking a photo. I'm just glad to have discovered what the technique is, so I can start messing with it.

I think the problem people have with digital post processing is how "easy" it is. I imagine in 20 years no one will think much of it, but right now it's a completely different world from 20 years ago. You no longer need an entire room, a lot of chemicals, and a large amount of technical knowledge to process your own photographs.

[PadresFan104]

Everyone - Sorry that I disappeared after letter D... Things have been so busy that I just haven't had time to break out the camera. I'll try and jump back into the thread when I can, but in the meantime keep up the great work. These pictures continue to be outstanding!

[Abe Sargent]

Well, I;m back in treh states and I got my wireless working a few minute ago.

I totally need to get that timestamp off my pics. I didn't even know the camera'd do that with my first pics, so I didn't even set the date and time.

I may have recruited another to join this list, and if so, she'll come in on teh next letter.

[Abe Sargent]

* Face1: I like the statue, but I am not very moved by the subject because I was just at some local museums and such while in London. It seems like a lot of other statue pic. I do like how you are just looking at the face though, that's pretty cool.
* Fireworks: I agree with previous comments that the building distracts. I think it is too bright compared to teh fireworks and skym, adn the coloration distracts too much for my tastes. Instead of framing the 'works, the fireworks almost look like wallpaper on the structure's wall. Now that I think about it, that's a pretty cool effect though.
* Filthy Bird: I'm totally a fan of this picture. How'd you get that moment on camera? That's awesome!
* Fixture1: I find myself more interested int eh castle than the fixture. isn't that sad? I'm just a weird person I guess.
* Flag: Feh. I'm not a fan of Yet Another Flag Pic. See em all the time, especially when are at war. You have to really get a nice breeze and ripple effect for it to be worth while, imho.
* Flow1: I love that I, as a viewer, want to know what was below the picture. What is statues, or a modern fountain like they have at a bank or what? That's great! I like this pic a lot as a result.
* Flower: I agree with the previous shadow comment, and I didn;t even know that I agreed UNTIL I read teh comment. That's pretty cool. I'm learning a lot already!
* Foliage: I didn;t know what I was supposed to be looking at until I saw the title. I like a revelatory title that tells you nmore about the pic, but I think this pic is stylistically more like me than any other.
* Fork and Fries: This is cool. I'm on board.
* Friday Afternoon: This is obviously my shot. I wanted to ge the Walthamstow library rising on the right over the longest street market in teh world in my own stomping ground in London. I like it, but I am biased because for me, ther eis meaning in the things in the pic. Bad timestamp, bad.

-Abe

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by PadresFan104

Everyone - Sorry that I disappeared after letter D... Things have been so busy that I just haven't had time to break out the camera. I'll try and jump back into the thread when I can, but in the meantime keep up the great work. These pictures continue to be outstanding!

Hope all is okay with you PadresFan and looking forward to having you back

[Lorena]

It's interesting that you and lordscarlet feel the same way about Foliage where I feel a little different. Anyway, good stuff there Anxiety.

[sterlingice]

Face 1 - I don't know what it is. I typically like photos like this but this one is a little off. Maybe it's just too dark.

Fireworks - I think this is obviously one of mine (Kaufman Stadium, where the Royals play). I like and don't like this picture. I love the colors and the lack of noise in the night picture. But I don't think it's framed well at all. Problem is, I don't know what would make it look right, hence why I threw it out there to get people's thoughts.

Fixture - I love the colors and content of this picture. Definitely a favorite of the week.

Flower - Another one of mine. I still don't quite get the "don't center pictures" thing. This is one of the first ones on here I've posted with my new S3 IS. The focus on it is quite a bit better than my old A80, especially on the zoom.

Flag, ForkAndFries - These both fit under my category of "perspective pictures" which someone people here really like but just doesn't do much for me. Non-traditional perspectives are great, but I need something that gives that perspective purpose.

Friday Afternoon - I like touristy pictures like this. Well framed with the large straight objects to provide some perspective but there's not much going on here. The clouds darken the picture quite a bit.

Filthy Bird - Another picture that I like but is a bit too dark- kindof a theme for the week, I guess. Great timing and I really like the water. Probably just needs a light filter.

Flow - Again, I'm a sucker for water being caught in motion. I wish I could see where the water was coming from, tho. It just seems like all the action is "offstage".

Foliage - The last of my three. Was taken while driving either a year or two ago (yeah, real safe, I know) in Lawrence. But I just loved the colors with 4 different colors of tree.

SI

[Barkeep49]

Standard disclaimer: I don't have any photographic expertise other than liking them. I haven't read others comments before posting this so sorry if I'm repetitive.

Face -- I really like the composition of this. It almost seems like a painting to me the way the statue is contrasted by the background.

Fireworks -- Lacks any sense of scale or grandeur which is what I would hope for with fireworks. To me they look more like trees, not to mention the things in the foreground really distract from those, if they were the intended focus of the shot.

Filthy bird -- I think I'd have cropped the second bird out all together to really focus attention on the bird in the ground, as it would have been easy to put the bird in the center of the photograph due to the spacing on the other side. It's a great moment in time, with the water giving a great sense of action and movement.

Fixture -- I like the lighting on this one, and the perspective is different. Not sure I like it, but I do like the sense of scale it provides.

Flag -- Definitely don't like the perspective here. It's an awkward angle which also doesn't capture the whole of the subject matter (the flag). Colors also seem dried out unlike the last one where they were fairly vibrant.

Flow -- Again the framing of the shot seems off, though I like the subject matter and the lighting and colors. A different angle would have enhanced this one, I feel.

Flower -- I love this one. I like the shadows, the colors, the framing, the foreground/background focus contrast. Very nice photo.

Foliage -- I probably would have cropped a little tighter on the bottom. I think this is a hard shot, due to the nature shot in the midst of a city. Could have been enhanced if shot at a different time of the day.

Fork and fries -- The colors seemed faded and washed, due, I'm guessing, to the natural lighting. This shot really conveys scale and sense of size, which I like, but without the title I wouldn't have been able to recognize the subject, but I'm not sure I'd have cared about that as it's an interesting sign on its own.

Friday Afternoon -- I just don't know what to care about in this shot. Some of the colors, particularly the reds, pop real nicely here.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Foliage - The last of my three. Was taken while driving either a year or two ago (yeah, real safe, I know) in Lawrence. But I just loved the colors with 4 different colors of tree.

SI

I'm guilty of doing the same.

[Lorena]

My pictures were: flag, filthy bird, and fork and fries.

Flag: The picture is really washed out and the colors are pretty dull, but I liked the angle. The flag looked pretty new and the colors drew me in. We had considerable wind that day and the flag was flapping all over the place. I set my camera on burst mode and it took about 9 continuos shots. I did that about 3 times and this was the best one.

You're right lordscarlet, this picture was taken at about 5:15pm when the sun was behind the flag, so lighting was kinda off.

Filthy Bird: This shot was taken outside a Hollywood Video. I had my regular 28-80 mm lens and quickly switched to my 70-300mm lens. I got down pretty low and took several pictures. I waited for the bird on the left to get closer but that's as close as he got. I had a hard time with cropping as I wasn't sure whether or not to include the second bird, but the original image was very centered. Settings were 1/1000 sec and f5.6, ISO 400 and focus was the max at 300mm at 8:09pm.

Fork and Fries: This is "Hyde Park Bar and Grill" in South Austin. I loved how original this looked and actually took several pictures to submit for a calendar at work... I ended up not submitting any of them (found a better picture), but still... very original. This place is right next to a residential community and there are trees everywhere and thus the lighting issues.

[OldGiants]

This week my pics were face1 fixture1 and flow1

Face1 is "The Thinker" by Rodin. Rather a copy made by Rodin that appears at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in SF. You can see a side shot here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...n_thinker2.jpg

As you can see, it is outside. I took this shot at 4:34 pm local time. The low afternoon sun was directly behind the statue. I walked until the statue's head blocked out the disk of the sun. Thus the 'back lighting' is the sun and the blue is the sky. As to the comments of the statute being too dark, take a look at the picture, above and send any complaints to M. Rodin c/o the Art History Hall of Fame. BTW, the identity of the 'The Thinker' is Dante, as he ponders the Gates of Hell.

I took one shot with a flash, (yes, directly into the sun) and this one without flash. This one looks better to me, but there's no real difference that I can tell except for a slight change in the angle caused by my nephew's shennanigans.

I cropped this from a larger shot, and wanted to get in the most blue, but now that I look at it after reading the comments, I should have cropped out more sky.

I like blue.

Fixture was taken in the Magic Kingdom, a store on Main Street. The castle is actually drab and uninteresting, but I like the fixture and took the shot straight up without looking through the sight. The lighting is so good because Disney knows how to get the details right.

Flow was taken at the Port Orleans resort at WDW while I waited for my wife to get ready for dinner. There are actually a series of these in the pool, but I didn't like any of the shots that had all of them. I took it with using the 'Action' setting so it wouldn't blur.

I do need to work on focus. I would have liked the background to be fuzzier, so I'll RTFM and try again.

[wade moore]

I'm going to go back and give feedback.. i'm off for Columbus Day but my fiance has to work, so I'll have time to sit down and backtrack.

[OldGiants]

My take on the other shots:

fireworks--I thought this was a shot of christmas lights on bushes or small trees. The fireworks got lost in the scale of the shot. IMO, you need to focus on one bomb going off for a good photograph. Film is different.

dirty birds--nice action grab. did you take others and this is the best? Very good shot.

flag--Didn't like this one. Cut off the gold ferrule, colors not vibrant enough.

flower--the small scale on this page doesn't do this one justice. The big image uploaded is terrific. Good color, great detail. Would make a nifty 8x10 on a wall.

foliage--Hated the cars, and the street in general. Unless autumn leaves are in the mountains, I think of raking not enjoyment.

fork--I like this. Upward is good, odd sign is good. Nice shade of blue to the sky.

Friday afternoon--Doesn't do anything for me unless the fat guy with a beard upfront is Alan Ginsberg, the beat poet, come back to life. Then it's terrific. Otherwise no one is doing anything special, nor are the colors to my liking.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by OldGiants

dirty birds--nice action grab. did you take others and this is the best? Very good shot.

I took a total of 15 shots and the one that was uploaded was the best, IMO. Here are 4 taken right after another in burst mode. The last one was the original before it was cropped:

[Barkeep49]

I like the uncropped version of the one you submitted even better since the left-hand bird doesn't seem like as much of a waste. However, I think you cropped it vertically just perfectly.

[OldGiants]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I like the uncropped version of the one you submitted even better since the left-hand bird doesn't seem like as much of a waste. However, I think you cropped it vertically just perfectly.

I agree. Both birds in the shot is more interesting, greater contrast. I'm not a big fan of cropping out partial images if it can be helped. Its much easier using Photoshop to 'clone stamp out' an unwanted image, of course.

I'm going to have to try burst mode soon on birds myself.