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

[Antmeister]

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To view the content for Letter A, click on the icon from the menu. Anyone is welcome to offer constructive criticism and/or advice.

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.

[PadresFan104]

Ant - Would you prefer that any discussion regarding the photos wait until Thursday? The reason I ask is that I would love to explain what I was trying to do with my photo that I posted, vs. what I ended up with. I personally like the photo I ended up with, (from a creativity standpoint), but I'd like to explain what I was really trying to do and see if someone could give some advice on how to make it happen on my particular camera (Nikon D80).

Al

[Antmeister]

Ant - Would you prefer that any discussion regarding the photos wait until Thursday? The reason I ask is that I would love to explain what I was trying to do with my photo that I posted, vs. what I ended up with. I personally like the photo I ended up with, (from a creativity standpoint), but I'd like to explain what I was really trying to do and see if someone could give some advice on how to make it happen on my particular camera (Nikon D80).

Al

Nope. Gotta wait until Thursday and you can then talk about then. I should actually call it Discussion Phase, instead of Critique Phase, so I will rephrase the wording in the first post. That will give you the freedom of what you were trying to accomplish. In fact, I will add one more phase (the Reveal Phase so that everyone can get help on the pictures that they had taken and can get advice.

[PadresFan104]

Cool! Sounds good!

[Antmeister]

Cool! Sounds good!

Okay, I updated it. I just want it to remain anonymous for as long as possible so that the comments on the photos are honest.

[terpkristin]

Did somebody change their picture? I could have sworn that the first picture I saw of arches/an archway was NOT the one that's there now.

/tk

[Antmeister]

Did somebody change their picture? I could have sworn that the first picture I saw of arches/an archway was NOT the one that's there now.

/tk


Looks like someone deleted one and added another, which is fine during the upload phase. You may notice that you have the ability to delete your own pictures. During this phase anyone can add/delete as many pictures as they desire (as long as you stay within the 3 upload limit).

[sterlingice]

If anyone can get a picture of an aardvark juggling an avocado, apple, and artichoke, they win the thread :D

SI

[wade moore]

Minimum amount of photos you can upload: 1
Maximum amount of photos you can upload: 3

Interesting - so you're saying we can do more than one photo to submit for each letter?

[Antmeister]

Interesting - so you're saying we can do more than one photo to submit for each letter?

Yep. This is so you can get experimental and try different types of shots.

[Lorena]

I'm itching to critique... some really cool pics have been uploaded. I can hardly wait to see them all!!

[Antmeister]

I'm itching to critique... some really cool pics have been uploaded. I can hardly wait to see them all!!

You mean we will have a discussion on how to improve the images. ;)

[wade moore]

Just a quick question based on some of the conversation..

The idea was to give feedback before having a "reveal" where folks can talk about their photo, what they were going for, etc.. right?

[Antmeister]

Just a quick question based on some of the conversation..

The idea was to give feedback before having a "reveal" where folks can talk about their photo, what they were going for, etc.. right?

Correct....the reveal is for those that want direct feedback for the pictures he/she has taken.

[wade moore]

I'm VERY impressed with the images so far. I'm very confidant that I'll be able to learn a lot from you guys... I'm very excited about the discussion starting...

[spleen1015]

This is one of the better ideas I have seen on this joint.

[terpkristin]

I HATE MUSIC IN WEBSITES WHEN I'M ONLINE.

Is there any way to set a preference so that the music NEVER comes on? Otherwise I'm never visiting this thread again. It's nice music, don't get me wrong, but I don't want it. When I'm online I'm probably listening to my own music, and this stuff takes over my speakers.

/tk

[lordscarlet]

I didn't realize this had music (my work speakers are off), but I would have to agree with tk on music in sites.

[PadresFan104]

LOL- hadn't realized there was music either! I agree, would be nice if it was off by default.

[wade moore]

I HATE MUSIC IN WEBSITES WHEN I'M ONLINE.

Is there any way to set a preference so that the music NEVER comes on? Otherwise I'm never visiting this thread again. It's nice music, don't get me wrong, but I don't want it. When I'm online I'm probably listening to my own music, and this stuff takes over my speakers.

/tk

Wow. Who peed in your Wheaties?

[Lorena]

I HATE MUSIC IN WEBSITES WHEN I'M ONLINE.

Is there any way to set a preference so that the music NEVER comes on? Otherwise I'm never visiting this thread again. It's nice music, don't get me wrong, but I don't want it. When I'm online I'm probably listening to my own music, and this stuff takes over my speakers.

/tk

Damn lady, take several midols to relieve your menstrual cramps will ya? You could have been nicer about it.

Music off.

[Antmeister]

I HATE MUSIC IN WEBSITES WHEN I'M ONLINE.

Is there any way to set a preference so that the music NEVER comes on? Otherwise I'm never visiting this thread again. It's nice music, don't get me wrong, but I don't want it. When I'm online I'm probably listening to my own music, and this stuff takes over my speakers.

/tk

While I understand that you may not like the default settings of the player, I don't understand why it had to take this tone. I hope this is not going to be a hint to how things are going to go in the future of this process, because you are really going to cause unneccessary tension when there doesn't have to be. And that kind of attitude is really going to be a downer for those wishing to share their piece of knowledge.

I don't expect people to agree with anything we are doing, but if you have already noticed, I have made a number of changes due to user requests that seemed to do well for the overall. So if you want to use threats to try to force someone to do something, that was definitely not necessary.

[sterlingice]

Wow, those responses, particularly the first two, were called for...

SI

[PadresFan104]

Damn lady, take several midols to relieve your menstrual cramps will ya? You could have been nicer about it.

Music off.

Dodgerchick - Your username may not be my favorite, but I luv ya!! ;)

[korme]

I don't have any cool A's :(

[DanGarion]

Glad I didn't say anything about the music :)

I do feel it's a little intrusive for websites to include music/sound automatically, but that's just me.

My main issue with the music is there seemed to be no consistent way to turn it off. Yesterday it turned off when I hit pause and today it wouldn't turn off at all! :)

Either way I just want to be able to turn it off if I need to... Things are looking good though! And I don't think TK meant to sound so demanding.

[WVUFAN]

I have to agree with Terpkristin here. I'm not a photographer, and some of these pics are GORGEOUS, and I love to look at them, but I can't look at them if the music supercedes what's coming through my speakers now. Glad to see it's an optional thing.

I also agree I generally avoid websites that have music that pops up automatically when I go into them. It's annoying as heck.

Having said that, these are some great pics. I wish I had the talent to take some of these.

[wade moore]

Asking for the music to be turned off by default was a perfectly legitimate request.

The delivery of that request was what was uncalled for.

[Antmeister]

...My main issue with the music is there seemed to be no consistent way to turn it off. Yesterday it turned off when I hit pause and today it wouldn't turn off at all! :)

Uh...there has been no music since yesterday evening.

[wade moore]

Uh...there has been no music since yesterday evening.

He wrote that at 1:00 AM EST, I'm guessing he meant yesterday during the day when he said "today"...

[Lorena]

I thought a few pictures seemed much more powerful with the music in the background, but that's just me. I figured having the music would put us (or me at least) in a certain mood so I gave it a try. Some things are gonna work, and some wont.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to more submissions as today is the last day.

[DanGarion]

Uh...there has been no music since yesterday evening.
Weird I could have swore it was playing yesterday when I looked at the pictures. Maybe I'm crazy :)

[Antmeister]

Weird I could have swore it was playing yesterday when I looked at the pictures. Maybe I'm crazy :)

It was playing up until 5:30PM yesterday (your time). Now if you heard anything after that, you may be crazy or it is possible that somehow it was cached on your system until the browser was closed. Either way, it is gone now and all is right with the world. :D

[wade moore]

Maybe I'll find a way to stay up until midnight to start seeing comments ;).

[cartman]

GAWD DANG IT, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FRICKIN' MUSIC????

Whenever I visit a site with pictures, I fully expect a musical soundtrack to accompany said slideshow!


;)

I know what I want to get a picture of, but haven't been able to spot one so far...

[lordscarlet]

I know what I want to get a picture of, but haven't been able to spot one so far...

No lewd photos!

[wade moore]

I'm still keepin' an eye out for an Armadillo...

There don't seem to be too many in VA ;)...

[lordscarlet]

I'm still keepin' an eye out for an Armadillo...

There don't seem to be too many in VA ;)...

I missed my opportunity... http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/SmallMammals/fact-3bandarmadillo.cfm

[cartman]

I've seen plenty of dead ones. I usually haves couple hanging around my back yard, but they've been MIA lately.

[wade moore]

Less than 5 hours to go!

[Antmeister]

So far, so good. You guys have uploaded more photos than I had anticipated and they are all great shots. Bravo!

[wade moore]

So far, so good. You guys have uploaded more photos than I had anticipated and they are all great shots. Bravo!

Agreed on all accounts - very happy with the showing! When DC originally hatched this idea it was her and I both doing this in our dynasties - I'm so excited about what it has evolved into!

Big thanks to Ant for setting up and coordinating all of this!

[PadresFan104]

+1

This is a lot of fun and I'm already thinking ahead when I go out... Just need to remember to keep my camera in the car because I keep missing great shots!

[Lorena]

With all the great photos that have been uploaded, I feel like I have to step my game up :)

Yeah, I'm with you guys... everytime I go out I'm constantly looking at things and thinking ahead to other assignments.

[wade moore]

+1

This is a lot of fun and I'm already thinking ahead when I go out... Just need to remember to keep my camera in the car because I keep missing great shots!

With all the great photos that have been uploaded, I feel like I have to step my game up :)

Yeah, I'm with you guys... everytime I go out I'm constantly looking at things and thinking ahead to other assignments.

Same here.. unfortunately for me you're really not supposed to take a camera on a military base (i'm a contractor on a Naval Base) so I certainly can't take it into the office and it's too damned hot (unless someone tells me that cameras are safe in a blazing hot car) in the car... so, I miss stuff also.. I really have to dedicate a trip to going and taking pictures which can be hard sometimes..

The pics are not only good, but they give me ideas of ways to stretch my spectrum of things i think of for the letters.

[wade moore]

With all the great photos that have been uploaded, I feel like I have to step my game up :)

Oh, and yeah... this thread has made me rethink what I think my talent level is at.. which is good, it will force me to improve.

[Antmeister]

Uploading no longer active. Discussion can begin in the morning.

[Lorena]

The Discussion Phase... awesome! As we move forward with this project, I'm hoping we all come out of it being better photographers and I'm looking forward to learning from each of you... you've all posted some very cool pics that made me think outside of the box.

The following pictures were posted:

1 – Airplane
2 – America
3 – Ant
4 – ArabiaMt
5 – Arches
6 – Arches 2
7 – Alcatraz
8 – Andrew2
9 – Arrow01
10 – Aggression
11 – ApartmentFire
12 – A1
13 – Appleclock
14 – Aviators
15 – AutomobileRainbow
16 – Anthony
17 – AmericasCup12Meter
18 – AlphabetPillow
19 – Anthony2

Let the discussion begin :)

[wade moore]

I really want to make a ton of comments but work is crazy today. So I may start making individual posts, etc, etc...

But keep in mind - anything I say is meant to be my opinion on ways to improve. I am FAR from an expert and when I do so I'm not trying to be mean, but constructive like this was meant to be.

If someone doesn't want criticism, they should probably speak up btw ;).

[wade moore]

My Favorite: A1

Comments: Mundane objects can make very creative pictures, and that's something I often forget when taking my own pictures. I tend to gravitate towards a photo where the key image(s) are in focus and everything else is fuzzy, but still has a lot of color. Also, I think there was a really interesting angle on this photo.

[Lorena]

I really want to make a ton of comments but work is crazy today. So I may start making individual posts, etc, etc...

But keep in mind - anything I say is meant to be my opinion on ways to improve. I am FAR from an expert and when I do so I'm not trying to be mean, but constructive like this was meant to be.

If someone doesn't want criticism, they should probably speak up btw ;).

Yup, what he said. I'm at work too so I'll be making comments chunks at a time. I really wasn't expecting 19 pictures being uploaded on our first run, so a little at a time.

[Lorena]

1 – Airplane: I had to seriously look at some of my work after looking at this picture. It’s nicely framed and the timing was perfect, it must have taken a lot of preparation to get this shot. The colors are crisp, and the grass has great detail. I’ll be curious to hear how long, and how he/she prepared for this picture.

2 – America – This was one of the pictures that seemed really powerful with the music in the background because of the flag being half-staff. The red and blue from the flag works nicely with the blue sky and red bridge. The top left part of the pic is a little empty, but with a little photoshop work, not only will the sky and bridge colors pop, the outer edges can be “burned” just a little so the focus is on the bridge and flag.

[Castlerock]

My favorite is also A1. How could it be improved? Seems to have a slight yellow cast. Also find a way to eliminate the reflection on the salt shaker and maybe polish it a bit. DOF is perfect. Very nice.

[wade moore]

My favorite is also A1. How could it be improved? Seems to have a slight yellow cast. Also find a way to eliminate the reflection on the salt shaker and maybe polish it a bit. DOF is perfect. Very nice.

For me, I actually liked the yellow cast... had a bit of a sepia feel without being totally sepia-toned and it kind of made it feel... hrmm... "country" to me for some reason...

[Lorena]

My favorite is also A1. How could it be improved? Seems to have a slight yellow cast. Also find a way to eliminate the reflection on the salt shaker and maybe polish it a bit. DOF is perfect. Very nice.

Tungsten lighting tends to cast a yellowish tone on pictures and if I remember correctly, a blue filter will help balance it out. I'll write some more about this particular picture later.

I must admit that after looking at the pic I was in the mood for some steak :)

[Castlerock]

With so many photos, any thoughts about limiting to 1 submission? I don't know how I'm going to have time to critique 18 photos.

[Lorena]

To be honest, I don't know how many people submitted more than 1 picture. I asked Antmeister to change my user profile so I don't see this stuff so there would be an element of surprise.

When this project first started, we thought we'd get at most 5 people so with that in mind we figured the more pictures entered, the better. The more we discuss, the more we learn and become better. 19 might be a bit much and it won't be fair to pick and choose which pictures we want to discuss because I'd like to know how others view my work. If this project keeps growing, it will make it more difficult so I don't mind if we keep it down to 1.

[wade moore]

I'm with DC. I know I submitted 2, but it was when there were not nearly as many pictures up there, so I figured it would help to give us some volume.

In hindsight I maybe should have deleted one as the volume grew.

[oliegirl]

I think submitting one is a good idea...I submitted 2 but from now on am planning on only submitting one.

[Lorena]

3 – Ant – At first glance, it’s not a bad pic, but a little too centered for my taste. Maybe zooming into it a little more and a different angle will make it look more interesting. I do like the slight reflection from the table though.

4 – ArabiaMt – I like the placement of the rocks on the middle-left of the picture. It’s almost as if they were arranged that way… and there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Someone told me that placing a flower on the bottom right (or left) of a shot will add a little something and that’s how I see those rocks. I would probably get down a little or walk around the little tree in the front to see what other angle I could capture.

[Castlerock]

I'm going to work from the bottom to make sure that we don't have lots of critiques of #1 but none of #19.

19 – Anthony2
Great timing, action and body position. I would crop out the goal and the people on the right as well as the crossbar on top and to the left of the man as well. There is a lot of noise in the photo - try with a slower ISO setting. Also use a tripod to add sharpness.

18 – AlphabetPillow
A slight yellow cast. Also seems a little under-exposed. A little more detail in the chair would be good (although my monitor may not be calibrated very well). I like the window-light. It creates a nice mood.

[CamEdwards]

Just a couple of thoughts on my favorites-

Airplane- wow, that photo is fantastic. I'm with DC... I don't know how long it took to get that shot, but what a payoff.

Appleclock- I really liked the camera angle on this picture. The first time I saw the photo, it really looked like the clock was floating in space.

[lordscarlet]

ant: Cant we get a page with all the pictures and thumbnails to them or something? At a minimum something that has the thing in this thread? It would make it easier to go through the pictures than having the thread open, I think. Not a huge deal, though.

[lordscarlet]

dola: I have a company picnic thing today, so I won't be writing critiques until at least tonight.

[Lorena]

As I work down the list, pausing the slideshow and typing my comments on a txt file has helped.

[PadresFan104]

Coming up with comments for this phase is actually proving to be a bit harder than I thought it would be. Since I don't really know any of you yet, I'm finding it hard to share my opinion without sounding like a jerk. For me, my reactions range from Wow! to Meh.. (I'm big on "meh"). Anyway, I'll do my best to share my honest thoughts (because I think folks posting here really want that honest reaction), but please take into account that I know next to nothing about real photography, and have the utmost respect and admiration for you all.

Al

[oliegirl]

Coming up with comments for this phase is actually proving to be a bit harder than I thought it would be. Since I don't really know any of you yet, I'm finding it hard to share my opinion without sounding like a jerk. For me, my reactions range from Wow! to Meh.. (I'm big on "meh"). Anyway, I'll do my best to share my honest thoughts (because I think folks posting here really want that honest reaction), but please take into account that I know next to nothing about real photography, and have the utmost respect and admiration for you all.

Al

I am in the same boat, but I know that I won't take any comments about my pics personally. I'm just starting to get into photography, and while I have a nice digital camera, it's certainly not top of the line or anything, though I am planning on getting one after the first of the year if the budget allows for it. So I know alot of comments on my pics will be about clarity/sharpness/zooming, etc...which is fine because it will give me a good idea of what to do once I'm able to upgrade my camera.

[wade moore]

My take: I think honesty is what people are going for with this exercise - I know I am. That's why I said if people don't want the feedback, they should speak up so we don't say anything about those picks..

But yeah, I want brutal honesty on my pics... I think we should all be willing to be honest so that we get the honest feedback back.

[Lorena]

Coming up with comments for this phase is actually proving to be a bit harder than I thought it would be. Since I don't really know any of you yet, I'm finding it hard to share my opinion without sounding like a jerk. For me, my reactions range from Wow! to Meh.. (I'm big on "meh"). Anyway, I'll do my best to share my honest thoughts (because I think folks posting here really want that honest reaction), but please take into account that I know next to nothing about real photography...

Al

I know there are a lot of problems with my pictures so I know what to expect. I will appreciate honest feedback so I know what to do and what not do do. Feel free to be as honest as you can and you don't need to "know" the technical aspects of photography to appreciate a good picture. A good picture is a good picture, period.

Although coming from a Padres Fan, I might hold a tiny bit of a grudge :p

[wade moore]

Ant: At first I looked at this and said, "this is spectacular, what could I say about this?".. As I looked at it more I realized that for me, from an "artistic" perspective something just wasn't right and I finally figured out what. I think that from a technical perspective this photos is absolutely phenomenal. There are bright, sharp, vibrant colors with incredibly sharp focus. However, it looks more like... hrmm.. an encyclopedia picture than something artistic (which maybe is what the photographer was going for). It looks like the ant is either dead or fake, so I would have positioned him with a more interesting background. The plain wood surface just doesn't do it for me - it's detracts for me that you have the really beatifully colored Ant and then "blah" for the rest of it. I also agree with DC that artistically I would probably not completely center and fill the image with him.

[Bonegavel]

I think part of the submission process is that you will be subjected to critiques and if you cannot take criticism to not submit? I'm down with that! :D

But seriously, I think people should critique away. The photog can either accept the advice and try to improve or ignore it and continue on.

I've submitted and I'm looking forward to hearing any and all comments both good and bad. I feel I'll never get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong (or right).

[Bonegavel]

To be honest, I don't know how many people submitted more than 1 picture. I asked Antmeister to change my user profile so I don't see this stuff so there would be an element of surprise.

When this project first started, we thought we'd get at most 5 people so with that in mind we figured the more pictures entered, the better. The more we discuss, the more we learn and become better. 19 might be a bit much and it won't be fair to pick and choose which pictures we want to discuss because I'd like to know how others view my work. If this project keeps growing, it will make it more difficult so I don't mind if we keep it down to 1.

Oops. I took the submit up to 3 as "submit 3." :)

I agree that if we get this many that 1 is probably more than good. Maybe as the process goes along and the numbers thin out we can submit more than 1.

[PadresFan104]

I'll comment on them all so I don't give away my own submission(s).

Airplane - My wife is bugged that the plane is out of focus and doesn't understand how this can be considered a good photo. I think it's interesting and unusual. Kind of like the plane "snuck in" to the picture of the palm frawns and maybe something else that go covered up.

America - I love this shot since I have a photo of 2 of my boys at this exact same location from a trip we took up to SF about 6 years ago. The only thing that would have made it better is a clearer day to sharpen up the background colors.

Ant - Cute little shot, but with such a "willing" subject, it might have been fun to try a more interesting setting. So many possibilities... The fact that some legs seem broken could have been been part of the "set-up"

Arabiamt - nice, but I get the feeling there is a more interesting shot here somewhere.

Arches - really like it, a I'm a sucker for reflection shots. This would be a good location for sunrise or sunset lighting.

Arches2 - meh... now if someone was standing on the edge of the bridge, then there's a winner! (kidding)

Alcatraz - cool beans. Juxtapostioning (is that a word) isolation with the freedom of the sailboats. Very cool. The photo should have a 3D look to it with such interesting foreground and background subjects, but it doesn't. Maybe it's the color? It's like the camera wasn't sure what the subject was.

Andrew2 - Good shot, good angle, cute expression. Only a bluer sky could improve this shot from my perspetive. Frame this one for the mantle.

Arrow01 - Ok, this shot is driving me nuts!!!! What the hell is that!! Why do I like this shot??!! Argh!!!!

Agression - meh. looks like a standard "tourist" shot to me.

ApartmentFire - Eeek. Would hate to see something like this in my neighborhood. I am still trying to figure out how to take decent shots at night so I'd like to know how this was taken. Look at the top of those flames. Sweet.

A1 - Love it! The A1 label really pops. Not a photo you are going to put on the wall but it's a great example of use of perspective, color and focus. Clean, sharp shot.

Appleclock - If you look at this long enough, it looks like the clock is hanging in mid-air. That's cool. Regardless, I like this shot and have no idea why.

Aviators - You had a much better photo opportunity here. Just get down to ground level and take that shot. It would make a world of difference.

AutomobileRainbow - Clever subject. It looks like it had just rained. How awesome would this shot have been if you could have had a real rainbow in the background!!??

Anthony & Anthony2 - This is the reason I upgraded my camera. I was sick and tired of getting a great action shot, but having the photo end up blurry.

AmericasCup12meter - I want to like this shot more than I do.. Not sure what else to say...

AlphabetPillow - Meh. Easy shot, so maybe spend more time setting up the lighting to make a more interesting shot.

[Lorena]

5 – Arches – The main arch is a little dark, but it’s nicely framed and the tree on the left breaks up the repetition from the trees in the back.

6 – Arches 2 – Good repetition of the arches and I like the tree in the foreground. This would be a good Photoshop project… the clouds could be brought out and the color of the bridge can really stand out.

7 – Alcatraz –This picture confused me a little bit. At first I thought the sailboats were the subject but realized it’s Alcatraz Island. I like how the island is framed towards the top and not smack in the middle of the picture. I would have waited for the sailboats to be out of the shot and focused more on the island. This is another excellent Photoshop project, I think. The blues are amazing and the browns can really stand out.

[Lorena]

I'll comment on them all so I don't give away my own submission(s).

Yup, that's what I'm doing too :)

[wade moore]

I hope to get to them all, but this work day has been out of control.

I'm going to switch gears and just start at the end...

Anthony_2 - Great timing on the shot. My gut tells me this is probably a point and shoot camera which makes it somewhat hard to make suggestions on the rest of it, but I'll try. Assuming this is a point and shoot - the focus is really wrong. The focus point appears to be maybe the dad in the white hat? or maybe even the bottom of the crossbar? Either way, Andrew is not the most in-focus object which I think hurts this picture that could be very good. This is more challenging with a point and shoot because you don't have manual focus. But, there are things you can do. If it wasn't done, you should be prepared on andrew with him 100% in focus when he's not moving/moving very little. What I mean by 100% in-focus is hold the button down 1/2 way so that it focus on him. Then when he makes the move you want him to make, snap it. One of the biggest mistakes with action shots is trying to time it right to focus and snap all in one motion. Outside of that I think I'd like to see it cropped a little more, but that is probably a limitation of the camera too - but something you could do in post-processing.

The timing on the shot though,, which is very hard in action, is very good.

[Antmeister]

ant: Cant we get a page with all the pictures and thumbnails to them or something? At a minimum something that has the thing in this thread? It would make it easier to go through the pictures than having the thread open, I think. Not a huge deal, though.

I'll see what I can do. Maybe I will have a zipped execuatable that allows you to view all the photos on your own desktop, so you don't have to go back and forth in the thread as becomes longer.

[wade moore]

alphabetpillow: I guess I'm a fan of "warm" pictures with certain things. I don't know if this is the same photographer as the A1, but it has a similar feel to me. Kind of a down home, comfortable feel - it's like something I'd expect to see in like "country living" magazine or something like that.. and I like it...I take it as more of a magazine photo than something I'd hang in my house, but... So for me, I think I'd like it LESS with a more "pure" light... I actually don't think I'd change anything about this to get this feel... If you don't like the subject, you don't like it - but I think the technique is appealing personally..

[wade moore]

I'll see what I can do. Maybe I will have a zipped execuatable that allows you to view all the photos on your own desktop, so you don't have to go back and forth in the thread as becomes longer.

I just open up a seperate tab/window with page 1 on it...

*shurg*

[Castlerock]

I just open up a seperate tab/window with page 1 on it...

*shurg*
I'd like to be able to easily look at them on my machine as 600x400 is pretty small. Hard to see detail in some cases.

[wade moore]

I'd like to be able to easily look at them on my machine as 600x400 is pretty small. Hard to see detail in some cases.

Oh.. if we're talking about having bigger images too, that's a different thing altogether...

[Antmeister]

I'd like to be able to easily look at them on my machine as 600x400 is pretty small. Hard to see detail in some cases.

Okay, did I misread what lordscarlet wrote? I thought he just wanted something separate, but if you want to simply link to a larger image, I can have that done from the slideshow interface.

If that is the case, I want to see other opinions on this, because I know there may be some who don't want the general public to have access to their high quality images (if that is what was sent).

[wade moore]

AmericasCup12Meter: For whatever reason this picture just misses for me. It's probably ok technicall, but for me the subject and the way it's composed just doesn't do it for me. From a technical side, I would suggest working with metering your light off of something that's not so black/white. Because the white boat is such a huge portion of the picture, you were "metered" off of the white. What ends up happening is the white's are too bright and the blacks are too black. So the back of the boat is washed out and the black underneath has no texture. Often when taking a picture of something very white (especially with blacks in the same photo) you want to get your light reading off of a mid-tone color of some kind (like maybe the flag). So if you have a DSLR on manual focus you would point towards the flag, hold halfway on the button, and then move the camera to the boat while holding on the button.

[Schmidty]

So, when is there going to be an "ABC's of Pornography - Letter A" parody thread?

[PadresFan104]

Often when taking a picture of something very white (especially with blacks in the same photo) you want to get your light reading off of a mid-tone color of some kind (like maybe the flag). So if you have a DSLR on manual focus you would point towards the flag, hold halfway on the button, and then move the camera to the boat while holding on the button.

Now that's the kind of tip I'm expecting out of this thread!!! Thanks Wade! That's not my picture (or maybe it is... ;)) but I haven't even tried anything but the "Auto" setting on my Nikon D80 yet. Tips like that will get me to take the plunge!

[Lorena]

AmericasCup12Meter: For whatever reason this picture just misses for me. It's probably ok technicall, but for me the subject and the way it's composed just doesn't do it for me. From a technical side, I would suggest working with metering your light off of something that's not so black/white. Because the white boat is such a huge portion of the picture, you were "metered" off of the white. What ends up happening is the white's are too bright and the blacks are too black. So the back of the boat is washed out and the black underneath has no texture. Often when taking a picture of something very white (especially with blacks in the same photo) you want to get your light reading off of a mid-tone color of some kind (like maybe the flag). So if you have a DSLR on manual focus you would point towards the flag, hold halfway on the button, and then move the camera to the boat while holding on the button.

This is great advice... I have such a hard time with dark/light colors in the same shot that often times my pictures don't come out the way I want them to and rely on post processing for help.

Awesome.

[Lorena]

So, when is there going to be an "ABC's of Pornography - Letter A" parody thread?

Does your wife know about this thread? It'd be awesome if she participated.

[Lorena]

8 – Andrew2 – I might have moved the camera a little higher so his head doesn’t get cut off and maybe had him pose somewhere where there’s not a lot of stuff in the background.

9 – Arrow01 – Umm… I kept looking at this picture not knowing what it was until I read the title. I thought it was a slideshow issue and didn’t figure it out until Ant pointed it out. I really, really like it. It’s off-center and it’s just kinda… hanging. I’d love to hear settings or what was going through the mind of the photographer when this shot was taken.

[PadresFan104]

9 – Arrow01 – Umm… I kept looking at this picture not knowing what it was until I read the title. I thought it was a slideshow issue and didn’t figure it out until Ant pointed it out. I really, really like it. It’s off-center and it’s just kinda… hanging. I’d love to hear settings or what was going through the mind of the photographer when this shot was taken.

So I know the title is "Arrow01", but I still don't understand what I am looking at. What is this a picture of?? It's driving me crazy!!!

[lordscarlet]

Okay, did I misread what lordscarlet wrote? I thought he just wanted something separate, but if you want to simply link to a larger image, I can have that done from the slideshow interface.

If that is the case, I want to see other opinions on this, because I know there may be some who don't want the general public to have access to their high quality images (if that is what was sent).

No, you understood me, Ant. :) Although I would certainly not complain about a slightly larger image, I was thinking more of somewhere I could open up, away from the board (particularly not to reset me "last read" settings) and open up notepad and write down my comments. As I said, it's not a huge deal. I could just keep the first page open in another window, or go back to the upload page and open them.

[oliegirl]

Question for Ant and DC - at what point should we/can we begin to respond to those that have commented on our photos? Are we supposed to remain anonymous for a while longer?

[CamEdwards]

Okay, now that I've got some time to come up with some initial impressions:

Airplane- I think this is my favorite pic. Can't argue with a single thing. The colors really pop, and it has a very cool look about it.

America- This is a beautiful shot, but it feels sterile to me. It also looks like it would be really difficult to frame the shot so there's not so much empty space, but I find myself mentally cropping the top third of the picture.

Ant- Nice focus, but I agree that the wood surface doesn't add much to the picture. I would have liked to have seen the same photo taken outside. Maybe next to an anthill. :)

Arabiamt- this one does nothing at all for me. Technically it's a fine picture, but I think it's the subject matter. Scrubby trees and grey dirt aren't that exciting. I might have changed the perspective a bit by crouching down to take that shot.

Arches and Arches2- it's too bad we started this in August, because I have a feeling that picture would be awesome if it had been taken in January. The underside of bridges are supposed to be somewhat scary places, but this actually seems like a fairly cheerful shot. For the second picture, I wouldn't have quite as much material in the foreground. It ends up distracting a bit from the focal point of the picture.

Alcatraz- I really dig this picture, actually. Not sure what I would have done differently. I like the juxtaposition of the freedom of the open seas with the prison in the background.

Andrew- A bluer sky would be nice, and the lighting on the face seems a bit flat. It's also a little dark around his eyes.

Arrow- I've seen that arrow before but I can't place where. It's driving me crazy. So's the picture in general. I'm not getting it.

Aggression- I would have gotten closer to the subjects if possible. The distance and the dead space around the creatures make it difficult to see the actual aggression in their action. Are they fighting or kissing?

Apartmentfire- this takes me back to my days as a news reporter, and this is a great "news-y" type of photograph.

A1- It's a nice composition, and I really like the way the "A-1" stands out as the focal point of the picture. The only thing I might have changed in the way of composition is to show the aftermath of a steak dinner on the plate, rather than a collection of silverware.

Appleclock- again, I really really like this picture. Not sure I would have done anything differently.

Aviators- what a cute picture! As someone mentioned above, a great technique for taking pictures of babies/toddlers is to get down to their level and take the picture from their eye level... though I wonder how much of that lush green we would have lost from that angle.

Automobilerainbow- another great picture. I might have cropped out some of the dead space, but I like the burst of color in an otherwise grey landscape.

Anthony and Anthony_2- the pictures are a little blurry, but they're nicely framed. I think the photographer had the right idea... just didn't have the right camera. :)

Americascup12- oooh! I'm a sucker for these kind of pictures. Very well done.

Alphabetpillow- it's a little dark for me. Such a "homey" subject, but the picture itself isn't very warm and inviting. Definitely could use some nice warm lighting.

Having focused on what I would have done differently for each pic, I have to say I'm really impressed by the talent of the folks posting their pics. There are some absolutely great pictures here, and we're just in the A's!

[Antmeister]

No, you understood me, Ant. :) Although I would certainly not complain about a slightly larger image, I was thinking more of somewhere I could open up, away from the board (particularly not to reset me "last read" settings) and open up notepad and write down my comments. As I said, it's not a huge deal. I could just keep the first page open in another window, or go back to the upload page and open them.

Okay....that's what I thought. I'll see about providing an offline viewer with the capability of viewing the images at a larger setting.

[Antmeister]

Question for Ant and DC - at what point should we/can we begin to respond to those that have commented on our photos? Are we supposed to remain anonymous for a while longer?

The Reveal Phase occurs on Saturday. The only reason I want people to remain anonymous at the beginning is so that their initial work is not biased by how people may feel toward them (good or bad). Now if people wish to move that phase to Friday, I wouldn't be against it. I can already see people giving a slew of comments, but I am not sure how consistent this will be and that is why I picked Saturday.

[Antmeister]

So I know the title is "Arrow01", but I still don't understand what I am looking at. What is this a picture of?? It's driving me crazy!!!

Man....although I shouldn't really be commenting much since I am the only one who knows who uploaded what, I like that picture for its simplicity and for the difficulty of trying to get that shot. Now I may have cropped it a bit, but only to balance the darkness against the light since the light is tiny in comparison to the enveloping darkness.

I am really surpised you don't recognize the arrow though. It's an arrow on a street light, but you are seeing it at an angle. At least that is what I believe it to be.

[Antmeister]

And that arrow better not be a power up button, because that definitely looks like a street lamp arrow.

[PadresFan104]

Man....although I shouldn't really be commenting much since I am the only one who knows who uploaded what, I like that picture for its simplicity and for the difficulty of trying to get that shot. Now I may have cropped it a bit, but only to balance the darkness against the light since the light is tiny in comparison to the enveloping darkness.

I am really surpised you don't recognize the arrow though. It's an arrow on a street light, but you are seeing it at an angle. At least that is what I believe it to be.

Great, now I'm even more confused... :(

So if that's a streetlight, where the hell is everything else???? The lack of context is straining my brain.... Looking at this photo is like thinking about infinity and it's really pissing me off... :D

[oliegirl]

Great, now I'm even more confused... :(

So if that's a streetlight, where the hell is everything else???? The lack of context is straining my brain.... Looking at this photo is like thinking about infinity and it's really pissing me off... :D


I don't see it as a street light arrow either...my first thought was that it was a computer arrow/mouse pointer...I know there are custom ones you can download. But then I thought that there would be glare/reflection from the screen so I'm just not sure now. But I'm very intrigued to know what it is.

I'm not sure if I like the shot, I gravitate more toward shots with people parts of people (hands, shoulders, etc...) in them, or the landscape/scenery type pictures...

I do like the A1 picture alot, I like the angle it was taken at, and the bottle/label really pop...I liked the idea posted earlier of having the remains of a steak dinner on the plate instead of a clean plate with silverware.

I also really like the shots of the bridge, I don't remember what they are called - but the shadows and angle are very interesting - that type of picture is like something I would have blown up and framed to put on a wall.

[Lorena]

10 – Aggression - I thought they were kissing too. The picture is a little centered for my taste. The dark posts in the background are a little distracting and take away from the subjects.

11 – ApartmentFire - I would love to know the settings for this picture. My first reaction was whoa, now THAT is why I carry a camera with me... you just never know.

[Craptacular]

I'm a traffic engineer, and no, I didn't submit the turn arrow picture. I'm just wondering where there is a traffic signal with no other light source in that large of a picture. My first thought was that they stuck a black piece of paper over the lens with a tiny hole in it. :)

So far, I'm enjoying the comments made so far on all the pictures. I know I have a lot to learn about photography.

[wade moore]

Now that's the kind of tip I'm expecting out of this thread!!! Thanks Wade! That's not my picture (or maybe it is... ;)) but I haven't even tried anything but the "Auto" setting on my Nikon D80 yet. Tips like that will get me to take the plunge!

This is great advice... I have such a hard time with dark/light colors in the same shot that often times my pictures don't come out the way I want them to and rely on post processing for help.

Awesome.

Glad I could help ;). I have pretty good technical knowledge, I think my biggest area for improvement is in composition, etc. So hopefully I can share my technical knowledge and improve my composition techniques.

As for this specific technique - I think what I'm telling you may not specifically work on every camera, especially point and click. I know with an SLR if you hold on the button and as you pan it changes the light meter (if someone needs help understanding what I mean by that, let me know) then you can read the light off of the mid-range object and then set the camera to manual and manually change the shutter speed.

Anyway, point being, if you try this and your camera doesn't cooperate I have a few other ways you should be able to do it.

[wade moore]

Anthony: I would have basically the same advice for this one as the other anthony picture. One thing I might suggest, as silly as it sounds, is even with a point and shoot if you can get a tripod it may help to have better focused action shots since you have less control over the shot with that camera.

[wade moore]

AutomobileRainbow: Like others, I absolutely love the concept on this one. It could be an absolutely incredible shot if you could stage it, especially if you could do the old ROY G BIV (and good grief, as others said, if you could get/simulate a real rainbow).. but I digress... given what you had... I would have thought about several things. The stripmall background really detracts from the image imo. I think i would have cropped on the cars even tighter, possibly even overlapping the edge of the end cars some. Depending on what else was on other sides, I would have considered coming from a different angle if the background was better. The other thing, which wouldn't apply to this exercise, is I would consider cropping this and making it a panoramic image. That way you could really cut out a lot of the stuff that detracts.

[wade moore]

aviators.jpg: I have zero experience and little exposure to kid pics. But from my perspective, I don't think i agree with many of the others that you should have done this from down low. I like what the nice lush grass (i'm jealous of your lawn if it's your lawn) adds to the image. Depending on the sky that day or what surrounds the house, I think there's a potential that the background is much less appealing if you shoot from down low. I also like that this wasn't a "turn and smile at the camera" photo - I think it works much better as candid. The only thing I would think about is if you're really going for taking a nice more "artistic" shot vs. a memory shot would be - have the kids setup in a very sunny area, vs. this relatively shaded area. That way, when you snap the shot you would have a nice sharp shadow from the boys and the airplane to add more depth to the beautifully colored grass.

[lordscarlet]

Ant: One other thing... Could we get the description into the slideshow? We have a field to enter it on the upload, but it doesn't seem to carry over to the slideshow.

[lordscarlet]

Airplane: I love this photograph, as most people seem to. To the wife that didn't get it: The fact that the airplane is out of focus is what makes it hte focal point. The crispness of the greenery against the bluriness of the airplane that we all know is massive in comparison draws your eye to the airplane.

America: Solid photograph. I agree that there is a lot of deadspace, but I think you need the entire flagpole with this composition. The only way I can see to improve the negative space is to be above the flagpole, and I don't imagine that would have been particularly easy.

Ant: I have a particular soft spot for toy photography. However, I like staged toy photography. In particular I lke ones that make the toys look like they are a part of a scene (like a photo taken of two lego toys getting married with the backdrop of a las vegas wedding chapel angled so that they appear to be the same size). I agree with others that the technical aspects of this photograph are good, but I would have preffered a better environment for the ant (and I really hope antmeister or dc posted this ;)). And, as wade and DC said, I'm not big on centered photos either.

arabiamt: I assume "Arabiamt" is a typoe of tree? :) I think the greyness of this would have worked better under better conditions (it looks to be rather overcast). I think I would have tried to take the photo without the forest in the background. The lushness of the trees further away detracts from the isolation of this one tree. Another point of view or another angle may have caught the lonely tree in a desert of rock, rather than a lonely tree on the outskirts of a forest.

arches and arches2: I think we all assume these were taken by the same photographer. :) I, unlike Wade, feel like my composition skills are better than my technical skills. I rally like the composition of arches. You can clearly see the composition of the clouds in the background as well as the treeline and buildings framed by the arch. There seems to be something technically that doesn't do it for me, but I'm not sure what. On arches2 I'm not as fond of the composition. I agree with whoever said the tree is a distraction. I am also not sure what is focused here. I would have preferred either the focus to be on the tree (a la airplane) or on the bridge to where the tree fades away a bit because it is blurry. This is a technical aspect I have been trying to learn, but I never quite remember what to do. :) I am very fond of a small area of focus so that only one or two objects are crisp.

Alcatraz: It does not look like the conditions were optimal on this day. The sky is rather dark and uninteresting, and the contrast between the shadows and the light areas isn't as strong as I would like to see. I do like the composition, however. I think the shot was framed perfectly. I hadn't noticed until this time through that there is a perceived (if not actual) titlt to the shot. I really like how that plays with the tilt of the sailboats.

andrew2: Some people have mentioned lighting issues here, which is not my strong point. I think for an outside, probably spur of the moment, portrait of a person, it is a great shot.

Arrow01: I like the off-center positioning of the arrow, but I would have liked to possibly see it even more off center. Maybe toward the middle of the upper right quadrant of the shot (maybe on the crossing "third" lines that DC mentioned in one of the first ABC posts)

Agression: I might have to agree with "meh." The shot is fine, and I don't know how to improve it off-hand (except for me aforementioned fondness of high contrasting focus), but it just doesn't excite me. You will probably see this as a trend from me for animal shots. I like signage, architecture, signage, people, signage, and inanimate objects in general.

ApartmentFire: Again, I'm not sure of the technical aspects, but I would like to have seen the features of the firetruck. I imagine this is quite difficult (if not impossible) at night with a standard flash and a lot of back lighting (you know, the fire). Having said that, I like this picture, if nothing else for the timeliness.

A1: Not sure what I can say here that hasn't been said. It contains most of the items I have said I like (high contrast in focus, inanimate objects, something that could be construed as signage, and an off-center focal point).

appleclock: I like clocks and I like this shot. I would never buy this clock, but the photo works. There are probably some issues witht he lighting if I knew a little more technique.

aviators: I don't have any particular comments on this one. I like it, and I think the kids will be happy to have it in 25 years when they look back into the photo album. I too am envious of the grass -- considering I now live in the city and have none. :)

AutomobileRainbow: Wade stole my comments. :) I really like the opportunity that was given for this shot. While it is not a full ROY G BIV, the colors represented are in the proper order. However, I would have made it a much tighter shot, in order to get rid of the stripmall and any other distracting parts of the photo. In an ideal world I think this shot is also taken from a ladder or some other high vantage point. This would not only help to eliminate the background, but there is a very nice reflection coming off of the wet asphalt that would have looked great from higher.

Anthony and Anthony2: Anthony has composition, bad focus. I am assuming that this is a side effect of the camera. In an ideal world there is a focus on at least the ball or one of the two players. Anthony2 does a little better with the focus, but still comes up a little short.

AmericasCup12Meter: This seems like a good shot, but does nothing for me. I like the framing of it, but it probably could have been helped (like Alcatraz) by a sunnier day.

alphabetpillow: I like the tone of this picture, but I feel like it could still use a little better lighting or maybe overexpose it a little bit. I would like to see the contrast in the pillow stand out a little more, but I think it works as is.

[Lorena]

12 – A1 – This is magazine-quality photography right here. Great framing and I agree with wade on the different angle. I love taking pictures at different angles and with product photography, I think most people tend to take frontals. I’ll be curious as to how this was set up especially the lighting. I lack in lighting skills so anything he/she wishes to share would help me a lot. Oh yeah, and great depth-of-field too btw. What settings were on your camera? It does have a hint of yellow which can be corrected with a blue filter… unless that’s the look the photographer was looking for.

13 – Appleclock – I keep repeating myself, but I love how this is off-center and to the left. It does kinda look like it’s floating and I’m curious as far as the lighting is concerned. The only thing I’d do different is maybe move back just a tad so the top doesn’t get cut off.

14 – Aviators – Very bright colors, I love it! I might crop it a little tighter so there’s not too much grass around the kids, but at the same time it makes a great background. If you went down to their level, like wade said, you might get other stuff that distracts from the subjects. I’d definitely frame this pic!

15 – AutomobileRainbow – Another reason I carry a camera with me, you just never know! My only problem with this is that they’re right smack in the middle of the picture. I would move around to see what would give me a better shot. Great idea, I would never think of “AutomobileRainbow”… awesome!

[wade moore]

Appleclock: I don't get as excited for this photo as others. I think more than everyone else it's just a subject issue - this subject doesn't interest me. Technically it seems fine, but it's just kind of a boring photo for me. I'm also not necessarily a huge fan of large blank space with only a little bit of an object - I'd say it's a more "modern" technique to me which I'm just not a huge fan of.

ApartmentFire: For quality of technique, I think this has to be 1b behind A1 for me. Just a fantastic use of night photography, which is not easy. To LS - there just really isn't a way for the photographer to get the truck to show more detail. There is a way, but it would require making a lot of firemen very angry (essentially he'd have to get close and let off multiple flash bulbs). I'm particularly impressed that the stuff in the foreground is relatively in focus - I'm actually surprised.. I'm assuming (although maybe i'm wrong) that you had to use a relatively long shutter time which would normally mean that uncoached people would be out of focus. Bravo on this picture, but it's definitely more a "documentary" photo than an artistic photo.

Aggression: Like LS I am a fan of the focus of the photo in focus, and the rest less in focus (i think I even said that for a previous photo). I would prefer to see the seals in focus, and the dock or whatever not as in focus. In addition, I'm not a huge fan of the angle on it.

Arrow01: I get it, it intrigues me, but in the end it just doesn't hold my interest. Again, I'm not a huge fan of a ton of blank space and a little focus of picture. So for me, I think the whole approach the photographer was going for doesn't interest me. That being said, I think it is very clever and will appeal to a lot of people visually. It's a fun technique they used and certainly original.

andrew2: I'm with LS on this one. Is it an artistic masterpiece? No. Is it a very high quality, relatively impromptu photograph of a child. I like that his hair is a little messy like he's been playing rather than all polished up for a photo. I actually like the framing and would not show the top of his head unlike what someone else said - I really like the tight framing with the house out of focus. The main improvement I'd love to see is better lighting, but you'd have to talk to Mother Nature about that (as in clearer sky, sharper shadows, etc).

[wade moore]

Alcatraz: Like others have said, I'm a big fan of the composition. I'd love to see how this picture turns out on a day that is more clear. As DC mentioned (I think?) I'm particularly a fan of the slight tilts against each other of the island/prison and the sail boats.

[wade moore]

arches02: Unlike some other folks, I kind of like the tree there. I also like how the bridge comes across the top of the image at an angle, rather than straight across. I like the reflection. The biggest thing that bothers me really is that the street lights are there in what would otherwise be a pretty low-tech scene, but I'm not sure that there's much that could be done about that.

arches: The biggest thing I like about this picture vs. what most of the other landscapes have is - clouds! I'm REALLY picky with my landscape photography (and why I don't do it much or don't like a lot of the pictures I do take) - I want a nice blue sky and puffy clouds (unless there is some other specific feel someone is going for). This photographer got great timing to take the shot with a beautiful sky.

[lordscarlet]

arches: The biggest thing I like about this picture vs. what most of the other landscapes have is - clouds! I'm REALLY picky with my landscape photography (and why I don't do it much or don't like a lot of the pictures I do take) - I want a nice blue sky and puffy clouds (unless there is some other specific feel someone is going for). This photographer got great timing to take the shot with a beautiful sky.

You definitely got this from Mom. :)

[Lorena]

16 – Anthony – Everyone that has commented on the blurriness must have some good eyes because I don’t really see it. I really, really like the motion of the ball, great timing it’s hard to capture an image like that. I would probably place move my camera a little to the right so he’s on the left side and not in the middle. It’d be interesting to see the players’ reactions as he hits the ball towards them.

17 – AmericasCup12Meter – I actually really, really like this pic. It’s nicely framed and there are no “wasted” spaces. I’m not sure I’d do anything different.

18 – AlphabetPillow – ABCs of Photography and we get an alphabet pillow… lol! I don’t see flash so I’m wondering if the camera was mounted on a tripod because there’s not a lot of lighting. It’s a little yellow for my taste but it has a homey-type of feel. I’d probably move the camera a little lower so the top left fills the frame a little more.

19 – Anthony2 – I really like the stop motion of this picture. This one I can see a little blurriness, but it’s not much. I love the timing as the ball is coming off his foot. I would crop this so there’s not so much space around him.

[wade moore]

arabiamt: I 100000% disagree with LS on the composition here. I feel a sense of "isolation" with the forest in the background of this image that would just totally be lost with a focus just on the tree. I think a picture of just the tree could be nice, but it would convey a completely different emotion. This one to me is kind of a sad, lonely, charlie brown christmas tree emotion. The only thing I'd say is I would consider (knowing my tastes) having the forest be more of a soft focus than being basically totally in focus. I would also have liked maybe a slightly different angle where the red ground surface was move visible.

America: Bravo! I think I'm more amazed that you were able to get a shot without people in it than anything else. But anyway. The only thing I think I'd consider changing about this is being at an even more dramatic angle looking up at the flag, but it may be hard to get the Golden Gate in the shot if you did that.

Airplane: I'm a big fan of this photograph, and especially of the work that had to go into taking it. I honestly am not a fan of this being used as "Airplane" personally, but the photo itself is incredible. I'd be curious what settings were used, etc, etc.

[wade moore]

Hrm.. so it seems like most people that are going to comment on all of the photos have.. I'm anxious for the next phase of discussion ;)... and I guess uploading of B starts Sunday?

Anyway.. I'm fine with waiting until tomorrow, I'm just anxious since I just finished my comments.. you know.. a whole like 30 seconds ago.

[PadresFan104]

Yeah, looking forward to the reveal... Wanna address comments my photo have garnered!

[lordscarlet]

I'm cool with doing the reveal if no one else is going to make comments. It seems that everyone that has been vocal has made comments?

[oliegirl]

me too - I'm very curious to see who took what :)

[lordscarlet]

The only one I can see as a possible late commenter is Bonegavel. I assume Ant could cross-reference the uploaders with the commenters to be sure.

[DanGarion]

I haven't commented, but I've had a real busy week with work and haven't been able to set time aside to comment. I'm fine with revealing now...

[wade moore]

I haven't commented, but I've had a real busy week with work and haven't been able to set time aside to comment. I'm fine with revealing now...

We could wait.... of course, there's nothing stopping you from commenting after the reveal either.

[lordscarlet]

I haven't commented, but I've had a real busy week with work and haven't been able to set time aside to comment. I'm fine with revealing now...

I didn't even know you submitted. :)

[Lorena]

I started making a list of my favorites and realized my list had like 10 of them.

I'm also really curious as to who uploaded what, but I can wait until Saturday.

[Lorena]

Hrm.. so it seems like most people that are going to comment on all of the photos have.. I'm anxious for the next phase of discussion ;)... and I guess uploading of B starts Sunday?

Anyway.. I'm fine with waiting until tomorrow, I'm just anxious since I just finished my comments.. you know.. a whole like 30 seconds ago.

:D

[Antmeister]

LOL...you guys are way too anxious. I think you guys will be surpised to see how many people submitted. Like I said before, I didn't expect this for the initial stage. And regardless of the comments, I was very surprised by the shots. Of course, each picture was stronger in one area than the other, but overall, I can easily see these pics on a stock image site (site where people pay for pictures to use in their projects). Just wait until Saturday to give a chance for the others to have their say as well.

[wade moore]

LOL...you guys are way too anxious. I think you guys will be surpised to see how many people submitted. Like I said before, I didn't expect this for the initial stage. And regardless of the comments, I was very surprised by the shots. Of course, each picture was stronger in one area than the other, but overall, I can easily see these pics on a stock image site (site where people pay for pictures to use in their projects). Just wait until Saturday to give a chance for the others to have their say as well.You've got me sold, didnt' realize that many people submitted.

Like I said, I was just being selfish anyways ;).

[Lorena]

Would anyone like to guess who uploaded what? I think it'd be fun, I have an idea of who took the A1 pic, but again, it's just a guess.

[wade moore]

Would anyone like to guess who uploaded what? I think it'd be fun, I have an idea of who took the A1 pic, but again, it's just a guess.

I may not have time to get to it, but I think it would be fun.. I imagine we get more and more accurate as we go along.

[Lorena]

I may not have time to get to it, but I think it would be fun.. I imagine we get more and more accurate as we go along.

Oh yeah, I think everyone has a unique style and being able to pinpoint who did what would be pretty cool.

[Castlerock]

AutomobileRainbow I really like this one but the strip-mall and the other cars detract. I like that it just rained. If this was a setup, find another spot where that is more natural and without clutter. If it was chance... great find.

Aviators My first thought was to get down low. I agree that you don't want to add distractions but if you can do it... get down low.

Appleclock Nice sharpness. I like the negative space on the right but wish the top wasn't cut off.

ApartmentFire I would like to see more detail in he truck. Maybe if you got within flash range and took a long exposure with a flash?

AggressionThis one doesn't really say 'aggression' to me (but I like the use of 'aggression' for 'A'. The seal in the water behind the 2 subjects is unfortunate.

Arrow01 Sorry. This one doesn't do it for me. I don't even know what I am looking at.

Andrew2 If you had a reflector, you might be able to get rid of some of the shadows in the face (or a little fill-flash). I really like the tight crop. The only thing I don't like is the house on one side and the sky on the other. Feels lopsided.

AlcatrazI like the composition. It looks like it was shot at mid-day. The same shot at dusk could be really nice.

[Lorena]

Alright, about an hour and a half before the reveals. I'm gonna take a stab at a few:

Andrew2 - CamEdwards
ApartmentFire - wade moore
A1 - Bonegavel
Appleclock - sterlingice
AmericasCup12Meter - Bonegavel

[Tigercat]

Quick comments right at midnight... I like the AutomobileRainbow and the Aviators ones the best. Not because of any particular technical merit or achievement I just like the different effects the environments have on me.

Despite that we are looking at the ground, the grass in Aviators gives me an open and inviting impression cushioning the kiddies.

I like that the cars are at a strip mall in the other. It adds to the oppression I feel all around the picture with the weather. No one really likes a strip mall. Its a rainbow found in everyday dreary life. I like it more than I would if it was a more scenic location.

[Lorena]

I'm a go ahead and reveal but I won't comment further until tomorrow cuz I'm beat. My pictures are both arches and the ant.

[sterlingice]

I never had time to get in too many comments but here are some thoughts I had. As I have no technical training aside from a few art classes in high school, it's more rah-rah than useful.

Also, I don't have thoughts on all of the pictures, particularly people pictures. I don't know what it is, but I don't "see" people pictures like I see "thing" pictures. They're very distinctive to me and I just don't have an eye for people pictures whereas I think I have a decent one for thing pictures as they're more impersonal and able to be viewed objectively.

America- Reminds me of one of my favorite pictures ever, which I took in high school or maybe junior high. I had this perfect view of the Washington Monument reflected in the Vietnam Memorial wall and I thought I was witty and was one of the most clever pictures ever. That was right up until I saw basically the same picture on the cover of a Social Studies textbook a couple of years later. I took away a couple of things from this that I've always remembered. First, if you're in the right place and the picture presents itself, anyone can be a great photographer. Second, when given said right picture and place, there's not much difference between us and the pros. Sure, they might be able to catch a sunbeam just right or something like that, but it's an almost imperceptable difference. It may be a layup but you have to take the shot for it to count. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

Airplane- I think this is my second favorite. I just love the setup of the picture and the fact that the more mundane topic is in focus. Colors, composition, everything are just great with the blue sky giving lots of good lookspace.

Arches 2- I prefer this one of the two arches pictures. It looks like something you'd see as stock footage in a travel guide. Particularly like the view from through the trees, Maybe the branch cutting the canoe in half could be moved but that's the only complaint.

Appleclock- I guess I'm going to have to disagree with everyone (thus probably making me wrong but that's just how it is). I love the idea but there are two huge things I would have changed. First, I don't like the top being cut off the clock- I'd have preferred it more balanced. Two, I really want that clock to be on the other side of the picture, that way I'm looking at the clock as I'd be looking at it as if it were up on the wall. I want the white space on the left, not on the right.

Ant- Sure, spartan setting, as others have said, but I do like the picture. Also, I can see philosophical differences as I had never heard the theory about thirds of an image vs centering and just don't see images that way. You can line things up on third lines like the aforementioned apple clock and it will work. However, I think of a picture as 9 boxes with the middle one being important either to have something in or have items balanced around.

Alphabet Pillow- I really like the look of this one. The lighting is perfect for the subject matter. I'm not sure what to make about the shape, with the bottom left corner cut off but I've like it each time I look at it so far.

Sorry, that's all I've got for now on the other pictures I didn't talk about. I'll try to get in some more comments but I have a bit of a busy weekend.

Lastly, my two were Apartment Fire and Automobile Rainbow.

The apartment fire was at my complex a couple of years ago. My wife and I were woken up at 1am by people banging on our door about how some of the other buildings were on fire so I grabbed my camera and went outside. ATF and local police actually both grabbed a bunch of my pictures to help with their fire timeline. It's not the best composed picture and certainly not the best lit but sometimes, you don't need it to be. I wish I had some more lighting over by the people watching to get better silhouttes. The more I look at it, it's not that badly composed tho I needed something minor in the right foreground since it's not that well balanced. The problem is, there's only a limit to foreground light so that it keeps the fire being the only major light source in the image. My little A80 wasn't great with night pictures as I couldn't keep them steady and I don't have a tripod but this was the one out of the pile that turned out great (actually, I had 3 or 4 out of 50ish but this was the best).

Automobile Rainbow was just another one of those "right place, right time" pictures. My wife and I were traveling out of town and there had just been some storms. We were about to head back on the road after grabbing a little dinner and I looked up and saw those cars with the storm clouds background and just had to take a picture. I'm not sure if it was intentional by the people who worked at the grocery store in the background, but either way it made for a cool picture. I would have liked an orange car for sure, maybe a violet. Not sure where happenstance becomes contrived, tho. I like the reflection as it's just the perfect amount- not entire cars but just a splash of color on the dark ground. As for the background, I'm not sure what would have been good there. Wade had a great comment about cropping it for landscape as that would get rid of a lot of the dead area as the tops and bottoms of the image are mostly wasted.

Personally, if we are allowed 3 pictures per week going foward, I had thought to limit myself to one content picture, one composition picture, and one recent picture, based on what we've been talking about or just something I've seen since we started the ABC's. I kindof cheated this week with two content pictures but I only had one good composition picture for A and it's better used with other letters.

SI

[wade moore]

ALCATRAZ

Alcatraz - cool beans. Juxtapostioning (is that a word) isolation with the freedom of the sailboats. Very cool. The photo should have a 3D look to it with such interesting foreground and background subjects, but it doesn't. Maybe it's the color? It's like the camera wasn't sure what the subject was.I was happy to see that the first person to say something about the photo "got" the message I was trying to convey - I was very worried that it was too abstract. It struck my while visiting San Francisco last summer how there was this big, ugly, notoriously harsh prison surrounded by beautiful water with tons and tons of sailboats just having a good old time. So, I wanted to capture that emotion in this image. I think your comment about how it should have more of a 3d look is a combination of two things. First off, the sky the whole time I was in San Fran was just overcast completely making for less depth and shadows in the pictures. Secondly, I was on a boat which makes things just slightly less in focus than they would have been on solid ground.

Alcatraz –This picture confused me a little bit. At first I thought the sailboats were the subject but realized it’s Alcatraz Island. I like how the island is framed towards the top and not smack in the middle of the picture. I would have waited for the sailboats to be out of the shot and focused more on the island. This is another excellent Photoshop project, I think. The blues are amazing and the browns can really stand out.Here, on the other hand, you see where the message I was trying to convey isn't necessarily that easy to get. If that message isn't clear, it just looks like the sailboats got in the way. I think this is a hit or miss thing and I'm not sure that there was a way to make it more obvious.. it's just a subtle thing that i have to realize won't click with some viewers. Anyway, I intend to go back to some/all of my pictures for this project and do some touch ups on them to put in my dynasty - this is definitely a good candidate with the poor lighting I had.

Alcatraz- I really dig this picture, actually. Not sure what I would have done differently. I like the juxtaposition of the freedom of the open seas with the prison in the background.Thanks for the compliment. I really didn't want to go back to a year old picture, but I was a fan of the composition of this one (which usually as I said is a weak point) and I really didn't like any current A's that I had.

Alcatraz: It does not look like the conditions were optimal on this day. The sky is rather dark and uninteresting, and the contrast between the shadows and the light areas isn't as strong as I would like to see. I do like the composition, however. I think the shot was framed perfectly. I hadn't noticed until this time through that there is a perceived (if not actual) titlt to the shot. I really like how that plays with the tilt of the sailboats.Like I said previously, I definitely could have used some better lighting conditions - but I definitely had to work with what I had. We took a little boat ride around the bay and that's the only way I could get close enough to take a shot that was as cropped in as this. Alcatraz is a mile or two from land, so taking something this closed in from the land is just not possible with the equipment I have. I would love to take credit for the tilt, but I believe this had more to do with the fact that I was on a boat than any conscious thought on my part - hard to remember since it was a year ago. However, whatever the reason, I'm also a big fan of the competing angles. Adds a nice, subtle touch.

Alcatraz: Like others have said, I'm a big fan of the composition. I'd love to see how this picture turns out on a day that is more clear. As DC mentioned (I think?) I'm particularly a fan of the slight tilts against each other of the island/prison and the sail boats.

This echoed some of my thoughts. I almost didn't use this picture because the lighting/sky just bothered me too much. But in the end I think it was one of my finer moments in composition, so I decided to use it. Well, that and the fact that I was grasping for an A picture. I took a TON of pictures of these sailboats that day as it's not something I see very often. I particularly like some that had large, colorful sails. But the tone of this picture on Alcatraz really worked, even with the less colorful sails. If I had the opportunity to do it over again the main thing I would do is campout and get a boat ride when there was a better sky. I could photoshop one in, but I'm not a fan of that with my photography - just when I'm goofing off in photoshop. Other than that I toss back and forth whether either more or less boats in the picture might have made for a better, more obvious message.

[wade moore]

The apartment fire was at my complex a couple of years ago. My wife and I were woken up at 1am by people banging on our door about how some of the other buildings were on fire so I grabbed my camera and went outside. ATF and local police actually both grabbed a bunch of my pictures to help with their fire timeline. It's not the best composed picture and certainly not the best lit but sometimes, you don't need it to be. I wish I had some more lighting over by the people watching to get better silhouttes. The more I look at it, it's not that badly composed tho I needed something minor in the right foreground since it's not that well balanced. The problem is, there's only a limit to foreground light so that it keeps the fire being the only major light source in the image. My little A80 wasn't great with night pictures as I couldn't keep them steady and I don't have a tripod but this was the one out of the pile that turned out great (actually, I had 3 or 4 out of 50ish but this was the best).
I'm pretty damned impressed that you got that shot without a tripod, let alone with an A80. Only thing I could say is I've found like a box or just anything stable I can find to try and help before. I still feel like the only good way to show the truck would be more flashing sirens.. I just think a flash bulb would have ruined the feel of the picture.

[wade moore]

AGGRESSION

Agression - meh. looks like a standard "tourist" shot to me. Probably a fair criticism. This really isn't artistic in feel at all. I'm wishing we had a limit of one because this shot would have never made it on here ;).

Aggression - I thought they were kissing too. The picture is a little centered for my taste. The dark posts in the background are a little distracting and take away from the subjects. Boy, with the kissing all over the place. I guess I was tainted by being there when the shot was taken. These Sea Lions would fight over the little wood floating docks. If one was on their basking and another would hop up he would try to fight the other one off. I guess since I knew that this picture looked different to me. I can see why you guys say that, but ahwell. Cropping in and taking out the posts would be good, and looking at the settings (168mm focal length) I had some room to go.

Aggression- I would have gotten closer to the subjects if possible. The distance and the dead space around the creatures make it difficult to see the actual aggression in their action. Are they fighting or kissing?As I just mentioned, looks like I could have gotten closer to (via zoom, not my distance). This was a clear flop in showing what they were doing. I'm not sure that I could have illustrated it better, it may just be hard to tell.

Agression: I might have to agree with "meh." The shot is fine, and I don't know how to improve it off-hand (except for me aforementioned fondness of high contrasting focus), but it just doesn't excite me. You will probably see this as a trend from me for animal shots. I like signage, architecture, signage, people, signage, and inanimate objects in general.I definitely wish this would have been in a high contrasted focus. To be honest, I'm not sure why I didn't since this is something I love. It looks like I had the aperture set pretty low (6.7) so I'm thinking it's just a matter of it being zoomed so far away that I really couldn't do a high-contrast focus. It becomes harder and harder to have a small area in focus if you're zoomed at something very far away. As for the animal shots, yeah, they can be hit or miss. Sometimes (like here) I'm going more for a .... hrmm.. "National Geographic" type shot than an artistic shot.. I'm not sure that I succeeded, but that was the attempt anyways.

Aggression This one doesn't really say 'aggression' to me (but I like the use of 'aggression' for 'A'. The seal in the water behind the 2 subjects is unfortunate.Yeah, I may have gotten to clever with trying to fit something into "A". I partially just wanted to do it so that hopefully it gave others ideas on how to think outside the box on letter definitions.

Aggression: Like LS I am a fan of the focus of the photo in focus, and the rest less in focus (i think I even said that for a previous photo). I would prefer to see the seals in focus, and the dock or whatever not as in focus. In addition, I'm not a huge fan of the angle on it.This sums up the main thoughts I had that I haven't mentioned already. In the end, I think this was just (as Cam said) a good tourist shot. Nothing more, nothing less.

[wade moore]

ApartmentFire - wade moore

Nope ;).. I think I can see why you thought that, but not me. I'd love to be able to take a shot like that - but I just haven't had the opportunity (which I guess in a lot of ways is a good thing) to even try.

My pictures would have been hard to pick out this week as they tend to go away from my style,e specially the style that you have seen.

[lordscarlet]

Nope ;).. I think I can see why you thought that, but not me.

Because you're an arsonist?

[lordscarlet]

Arrow01 - Ok, this shot is driving me nuts!!!! What the hell is that!! Why do I like this shot??!! Argh!!!!


So I know the title is "Arrow01", but I still don't understand what I am looking at. What is this a picture of?? It's driving me crazy!!!


Arrow- I've seen that arrow before but I can't place where. It's driving me crazy. So's the picture in general. I'm not getting it.


Man....although I shouldn't really be commenting much since I am the only one who knows who uploaded what, I like that picture for its simplicity and for the difficulty of trying to get that shot. Now I may have cropped it a bit, but only to balance the darkness against the light since the light is tiny in comparison to the enveloping darkness.

I am really surpised you don't recognize the arrow though. It's an arrow on a street light, but you are seeing it at an angle. At least that is what I believe it to be.

And that arrow better not be a power up button, because that definitely looks like a street lamp arrow.

Great, now I'm even more confused... :(

So if that's a streetlight, where the hell is everything else???? The lack of context is straining my brain.... Looking at this photo is like thinking about infinity and it's really pissing me off... :D

I don't see it as a street light arrow either...my first thought was that it was a computer arrow/mouse pointer...I know there are custom ones you can download. But then I thought that there would be glare/reflection from the screen so I'm just not sure now. But I'm very intrigued to know what it is.

I'm not sure if I like the shot, I gravitate more toward shots with people parts of people (hands, shoulders, etc...) in them, or the landscape/scenery type pictures...



I'm a traffic engineer, and no, I didn't submit the turn arrow picture. I'm just wondering where there is a traffic signal with no other light source in that large of a picture. My first thought was that they stuck a black piece of paper over the lens with a tiny hole in it. :)




9 – Arrow01 – Umm… I kept looking at this picture not knowing what it was until I read the title. I thought it was a slideshow issue and didn’t figure it out until Ant pointed it out. I really, really like it. It’s off-center and it’s just kinda… hanging. I’d love to hear settings or what was going through the mind of the photographer when this shot was taken.

Arrow01: I like the off-center positioning of the arrow, but I would have liked to possibly see it even more off center. Maybe toward the middle of the upper right quadrant of the shot (maybe on the crossing "third" lines that DC mentioned in one of the first ABC posts)


Appleclock: I don't get as excited for this photo as others. I think more than everyone else it's just a subject issue - this subject doesn't interest me. Technically it seems fine, but it's just kind of a boring photo for me. I'm also not necessarily a huge fan of large blank space with only a little bit of an object - I'd say it's a more "modern" technique to me which I'm just not a huge fan of.




Arrow01 Sorry. This one doesn't do it for me. I don't even know what I am looking at.



Drum roll please... It is indeed a traffic light. It is one pointing diagonally to the left.

So the deadline was getting close and I did not want to use an old photograph (I'm looking at you, Wade). I have a slew of "A" photographs, particularly for The Avett Brothers (a bluegrass band), but they were taken a year ago. On the way to work Tuesday (Monday?) I grabbed my camera (a point-and-shoot A75) and took it with me to work. It wasn't until the evening when I wad headed home on the metro that I remembered I had ABC photos to take. I was on the metro platform and snagged a shot of some of the backlit ads down there ("Advertisement"), but they did not turn out very well. As I was crossing the last street walking back to my condo, I saw the traffic lights and it hit me. I took this shot and another one that included a red light next to it. This was the best of the two.

Having said that, I really don't like it. As Ant said, I would like a lot less negative space. In an ideal world (one where I have an SLR and some good lenses) I would have had the light fill the entire shot, if not overlapping beyond the bounds of it. Since I can't even come close to that, I went with this minimalist approach instead. For all your traffic engineers out there, don't be concerned. There is a very ample amount of light surrounding the signal. This is actually a traffic circle in Washington, DC that my windows overlook. It is never truly night here because there is so much lighting.

Technically speaking, it wasn't very hard. All I had to do to make the other lights and objects disappear is to take the photo at night, with no flash, a low f-stop, and it's an upward angle so there are no cars in the shot. As I said, I was at the max zoom for my little camera. This just enforces the fact that I need to get a digital SLR. :) So hopefully there will be a better showing from me next week, as this was just rushed crap so that I could have a true baseline, not something a year old.

[Lorena]

So as mentioned previously, one of my pictures was the ant one. We went to the Children's Museum on Sunday and saw this plastic ant, put it on a table and took the picture (with flash *gasp).

3 – Ant – At first glance, it’s not a bad pic, but a little too centered for my taste. Maybe zooming into it a little more and a different angle will make it look more interesting. I do like the slight reflection from the table though.

Ant: At first I looked at this and said, "this is spectacular, what could I say about this?".. As I looked at it more I realized that for me, from an "artistic" perspective something just wasn't right and I finally figured out what. I think that from a technical perspective this photos is absolutely phenomenal. There are bright, sharp, vibrant colors with incredibly sharp focus. However, it looks more like... hrmm.. an encyclopedia picture than something artistic (which maybe is what the photographer was going for). It looks like the ant is either dead or fake, so I would have positioned him with a more interesting background. The plain wood surface just doesn't do it for me - it's detracts for me that you have the really beatifully colored Ant and then "blah" for the rest of it. I also agree with DC that artistically I would probably not completely center and fill the image with him.



* Ant: I have a particular soft spot for toy photography. However, I like staged toy photography. In particular I lke ones that make the toys look like they are a part of a scene (like a photo taken of two lego toys getting married with the backdrop of a las vegas wedding chapel angled so that they appear to be the same size). I agree with others that the technical aspects of this photograph are good, but I would have preffered a better environment for the ant (and I really hope antmeister or dc posted this ). And, as wade and DC said, I'm not big on centered photos either.



Ant - Cute little shot, but with such a "willing" subject, it might have been fun to try a more interesting setting. So many possibilities... The fact that some legs seem broken could have been been part of the "set-up"

Yup, too centered. I didn't know where to crop it without getting rid of any body parts so I left it alone. I should have placed some bugs around it and focused more on the ant to make it more interesting. I was actually a bit shocked that it was in focus right where I wanted... most of my pics are blurry. One of the things I'm really enjoying about the discussion is that you guys are giving me ideas on how to improve... you three mentioned setting up my shot and I'm gonna have to keep that in mind next time.



Ant- Nice focus, but I agree that the wood surface doesn't add much to the picture. I would have liked to have seen the same photo taken outside. Maybe next to an anthill.

Yeah, that would have been pretty cool... a plastic ant on on an anthill :)



Ant- Sure, spartan setting, as others have said, but I do like the picture. Also, I can see philosophical differences as I had never heard the theory about thirds of an image vs centering and just don't see images that way. You can line things up on third lines like the aforementioned apple clock and it will work. However, I think of a picture as 9 boxes with the middle one being important either to have something in or have items balanced around.

A lot of my comments seem a little rough and maybe too technical... I'll need to take a step back and just enjoy the pictures rather than analyzing from a technical standpoint.

[Lorena]

Because you're an arsonist?

This just enforces the fact that I need to get a digital SLR. :) So hopefully there will be a better showing from me next week, as this was just rushed crap so that I could have a true baseline, not something a year old.

DOH... someone got moded!!

You're a little harsh to call it "rushed crap", I thought it was unique and I actually like the negative space... it seems is if it's just hanging.

[Castlerock]

Mine was AmericasCup12Meter. Taken in Newport Harbor (RI). I was struggling to come up with a subject for 'A'.

AmericasCup12meter - I want to like this shot more than I do.. Not sure what else to say...
Fair criticism. I think it might be lacking something artistic. Photography is part science/math and part artistic. The science/math part I can understand and do OK at. It's the artistic side that I struggle with.

AmericasCup12Meter: For whatever reason this picture just misses for me. It's probably ok technicall, but for me the subject and the way it's composed just doesn't do it for me. From a technical side, I would suggest working with metering your light off of something that's not so black/white. Because the white boat is such a huge portion of the picture, you were "metered" off of the white. What ends up happening is the white's are too bright and the blacks are too black. So the back of the boat is washed out and the black underneath has no texture. Often when taking a picture of something very white (especially with blacks in the same photo) you want to get your light reading off of a mid-tone color of some kind (like maybe the flag). So if you have a DSLR on manual focus you would point towards the flag, hold halfway on the button, and then move the camera to the boat while holding on the button.
Excellent critique.

Americascup12- oooh! I'm a sucker for these kind of pictures. Very well done.
Thanks.

AmericasCup12Meter: This seems like a good shot, but does nothing for me. I like the framing of it, but it probably could have been helped (like Alcatraz) by a sunnier day.
Yea. I agree that the weather didn't help much.

Alright, about an hour and a half before the reveals. I'm gonna take a stab at a few:
AmericasCup12Meter - Bonegavel Sorry. The only styles I know are Wademore and Dodgerchick (from their dynasties). I knew arches was
Dodgerchick but I did not guess Wademore's. Over time, I'll bet we can get pretty good.

[Castlerock]

Reminds me of one of my favorite pictures ever, which I took in high school or maybe junior high. I had this perfect view of the Washington Monument reflected in the Vietnam Memorial wall and I thought I was witty and was one of the most clever pictures ever. That was right up until I saw basically the same picture on the cover of a Social Studies textbook a couple of years later. I took away a couple of things from this that I've always remembered. First, if you're in the right place and the picture presents itself, anyone can be a great photographer. Second, when given said right picture and place, there's not much difference between us and the pros. Sure, they might be able to catch a sunbeam just right or something like that, but it's an almost imperceptable difference. It may be a layup but you have to take the shot for it to count. Probably my favorite of the bunch.
I actually think that there is big difference between the pros and the rest of us. I think that nearly everyone is really bad at taking pictures. With just a little bit of effort, most anyone can take much, much better pictures. But to go beyond that is hard. Sure anyone can get lucky (even a stopped clock is right twice a day) but to turn out good stuff on even a semi-consistent basis is really hard. I cannot do it.

[Bonegavel]

I use a Nikon D70s which I purchased in June of 2005.

Lenses:
1.8 50 (cheap but fast allowing me to get a lot of non-flash pics)
3.5-4.5 18-70 DX (kit lens, decent overall lens)
4-5.6 70-300 (nothing special, but lets me get in tight)My pics

A1 - was just me goofing around up at my sister's farmhouse in New York. You can see by the tablecloth that it was taken around Christmas (of 2006) and we were just about to start eating breakfast (my niece loves A1 on everything) and I was messing around with my 50 which is why the DOF is so tight (great cheap lens and I recommend it to anyone with a nikon). I made sure I focused on the A1 and it is handheld and no flash which is something the 1.8 is great for.

I should have arranged the table but this was an impromptu shot which I really kind of liked. As you can see, I like things warm and I usually keep my white balance on shade +2 (my nikon doesn't do kelvin :().

Appleclock - What can I say? My wife is a teacher and we have apple-crap everywhere :). I purposefully cut off the top of the clock to create a bit of want. A lot of my shots only include a portion of the subject and I like to create the sense of wanting more for the viewer. They don't get the whole enchilada and I find myself wanting to see more and not getting it. If that's annoying, I apologize and if the comments argue against that I may stop doing that, but I do cut off my subjects on purpose.

One interesting thing is that I have seen this clock hanging in the same place every day for the last 4 years and when I see the photo I see where it is in real life and didn't stop to see that it does look like it's floating in the air in the photo like some comments mentioned. That made me take a whole new approach to this photo. It isn't my favorite photo but it was one I had taken in the last few years that started with an 'A.'

Alphabet Pillow - I think it was Dodgerchick that connected 2 of my pictures (good eye!) and this is the only photo of the 3 that was taken for this contest. It was taken sans-flash on a tripod (again, i think DC mentioned that) with my wonderful 50. I cut off the bottom as is my habit and I just used the default incandescent white balance (no post WB adjustments per the rules :)) since there is an incandescent lamp in the background.

I am a big fan of trying to minimize my use of flash but that usually requires me to do a bit of post work on the pic. I shoot in RAW so that allows me to muck about with my pictures a lot more than just jpg. I may do a bit of post on this one to see if it improves the picture at all.


Thanks to everyone for their comments. I am using this workshop to improve on what is a fun hobby for me and I am already taking notes and trying some new things per suggestions that I've read here. Great job everyone and I'm looking forward to the remaining 25 rounds!

As per the request, I will only submit one so that there isn't so much to look at.

[sterlingice]

I actually think that there is big difference between the pros and the rest of us. I think that nearly everyone is really bad at taking pictures. With just a little bit of effort, most anyone can take much, much better pictures. But to go beyond that is hard. Sure anyone can get lucky (even a stopped clock is right twice a day) but to turn out good stuff on even a semi-consistent basis is really hard. I cannot do it.

While it's all about how you look at it, I think it's kindof like golf. Anyone can make a good shot but the gap between pros and amateurs are a big difference in consistency. The difference with (digital) photography is that we can take a tens of shots of something to hope one turns out and we end up with a shot on par at the end of the day.

SI

[wade moore]

Just a comment on Bonegavel's stuff..

I've always been taught that the 50 is the most "true to your eye". In other words, not zoomed or anything... For my first 2 semesters of photography courses my teacher forced us to use a 50. I think it did a lot to teach me about how to approach a photo without depending on a zoom lens to do the work for me.

[wade moore]

A lot of my comments seem a little rough and maybe too technical... I'll need to take a step back and just enjoy the pictures rather than analyzing from a technical standpoint.

I like that detailed, technical feedback personally. I guess if you wanted to show the enjoyment of the photo, you could make sure to add in your comments what your general "feel" for the photo is and then go into some technical stuff. That's what I tried to do (not sure how successful I was)... but I think this exercise loses some of it's benefit if we all try to be flowery ;).

[wade moore]

I am a big fan of trying to minimize my use of flash but that usually requires me to do a bit of post work on the pic. I shoot in RAW so that allows me to muck about with my pictures a lot more than just jpg. I may do a bit of post on this one to see if it improves the picture at all.

I plan to do some post-work on some of the photos I submit for this and putting them in my dynasty thread. In fact, I've already done it on my Alcatraz photo - I just haven't thrown it up in my dynasty yet.

[sterlingice]

I like that detailed, technical feedback personally. I guess if you wanted to show the enjoyment of the photo, you could make sure to add in your comments what your general "feel" for the photo is and then go into some technical stuff. That's what I tried to do (not sure how successful I was)... but I think this exercise loses some of it's benefit if we all try to be flowery ;).

Agreed. Also, my comment wasn't that we need to take out technical commentary, it was more that I had a philosophical difference in terms of theory and was trying to explain it with a particular picture as an example.

SI

[Lorena]

Just a comment on Bonegavel's stuff..

I've always been taught that the 50 is the most "true to your eye". In other words, not zoomed or anything... For my first 2 semesters of photography courses my teacher forced us to use a 50. I think it did a lot to teach me about how to approach a photo without depending on a zoom lens to do the work for me.

So, so true. The only thing we were allowed was a 50mm lens too. Everything was done manual - shutter speed, aperture, and focus. It forced me to really think about exposure and whatnot, but now, I set my camera to either "aperture priority" or "shutter speed" (which I use most often).

[wade moore]

So, so true. The only thing we were allowed was a 50mm lens too. Everything was done manual - shutter speed, aperture, and focus. It forced me to really think about exposure and whatnot, but now, I set my camera to either "aperture priority" or "shutter speed" (which I use most often).

That's interesting, because I almost always use Aperture Priority.

[DanGarion]

My picture was America. I took this a couple years back on my first and only ever vacation I took by myself. It was about 9:00 AM- 10:30 AM on a weekday. If anyone has ever been to this spot it isn't a place that typically has no people there. I got extremely lucky on this shot. I had taken a bunch of pictures already trying different compositions but there were people in it. I had actually put my camera away and was walking back to my truck when I noticed everyone was gone from the area. I didn't have much time for a shot so I had to hurry. This was during the memorial for Ronald Reagan which is why the flag is half mast. I'm not planning on only using old pictures, I've been taking a bunch of new ones, but this has always been a shot I really loved.

This is how busy it usually was
http://www.dangarion.com/mediagallery/mediaobjects/orig/1/1d23bdbe88585b7fee7c98f7b0bfa8d3.jpg


2 – America – This was one of the pictures that seemed really powerful with the music in the background because of the flag being half-staff. The red and blue from the flag works nicely with the blue sky and red bridge. The top left part of the pic is a little empty, but with a little photoshop work, not only will the sky and bridge colors pop, the outer edges can be “burned” just a little so the focus is on the bridge and flag.

Location here was tough because all the land is flat you can't get a different perspective. I really like true pictures, not ones that are cleaned up in photoshop, although I have done some minimal work it in from time to time when I see parts I haven't liked. But that's just me :).


America - I love this shot since I have a photo of 2 of my boys at this exact same location from a trip we took up to SF about 6 years ago. The only thing that would have made it better is a clearer day to sharpen up the background colors.


Clear day in San Francisco? :) when it comes to the bay part in the morning, that's an oxy-moron, rarely happens. But I love this spot.



America: Solid photograph. I agree that there is a lot of deadspace, but I think you need the entire flagpole with this composition. The only way I can see to improve the negative space is to be above the flagpole, and I don't imagine that would have been particularly easy.


With the way the area is laid out, there is no way to get above the pole (no hills or anything that give that angle, unfortunately.


America: Bravo! I think I'm more amazed that you were able to get a shot without people in it than anything else. But anyway. The only thing I think I'd consider changing about this is being at an even more dramatic angle looking up at the flag, but it may be hard to get the Golden Gate in the shot if you did that.

That would be opposite of what most suggested with less deadspace, if I did did that I would have even more deadspace. heh.

[Lorena]

And lastly, my arches. We go to downtown most weekends and drive over this bridge on the way home. I noticed the arches, grabbed my camera and had Ant park so I can take a few pics. These 2 were out of like 20 (thank goodness for digital).

Arches - I really like how the arch framed the trees and clouds in the background, but wow is it dark! This was the first pic I uploaded but felt "one upped" by the airplane photographer and had to look for another one ;). I'm actually surprised arches got better reviews than arches2. Anyway, I'll be doing some serious photoshop work and see how it comes out.

Arches2 - I wasn't sure if I should have cropped the tree on the left or left it alone. I thought leaving it there would break the repetition of the arches.


Arches - really like it, a I'm a sucker for reflection shots. This would be a good location for sunrise or sunset lighting.

Excellent idea!! I'm gonna have to do that sometime :)

Arches2 - meh... now if someone was standing on the edge of the bridge, then there's a winner! (kidding)


DOH!

Yeah and I actually thought this was better than than arch. Damn the airplane photographer :p

5 – Arches – The main arch is a little dark, but it’s nicely framed and the tree on the left breaks up the repetition from the trees in the back.

6 – Arches 2 – Good repetition of the arches and I like the tree in the foreground. This would be a good Photoshop project… the clouds could be brought out and the color of the bridge can really stand out.


Don't know what I was thinking when I wrote the arches2 comment. I guess you guys swayed my opinion on these pictures.


Arches and Arches2- it's too bad we started this in August, because I have a feeling that picture would be awesome if it had been taken in January. The underside of bridges are supposed to be somewhat scary places, but this actually seems like a fairly cheerful shot. For the second picture, I wouldn't have quite as much material in the foreground. It ends up distracting a bit from the focal point of the picture.

What I love about phtography is that there can be so many opinions of one picture. Some people like the tree in the foreground, others don't... it's cool. I like the idea of taking a picture of arches in January. I'm gonna try and take that same picture during different seasons/times and see how it goes.



I also really like the shots of the bridge, I don't remember what they are called - but the shadows and angle are very interesting - that type of picture is like something I would have blown up and framed to put on a wall.

Thanks oliegirl! I hope it looks even better after some Photoshop work. I'll post an update and shamelessly plug my dynasty in this thread when it gets done.


arches and arches2: I think we all assume these were taken by the same photographer. :) I, unlike Wade, feel like my composition skills are better than my technical skills. I rally like the composition of arches. You can clearly see the composition of the clouds in the background as well as the treeline and buildings framed by the arch. There seems to be something technically that doesn't do it for me, but I'm not sure what. On arches2 I'm not as fond of the composition. I agree with whoever said the tree is a distraction. I am also not sure what is focused here. I would have preferred either the focus to be on the tree (a la airplane) or on the bridge to where the tree fades away a bit because it is blurry. This is a technical aspect I have been trying to learn, but I never quite remember what to do. :) I am very fond of a small area of focus so that only one or two objects are crisp.

Points taken. I'm surprised you didn't think the "arches" picture was too dark.. maybe I'm just being really harsh on myself and spoiled by all the Photoshop magic Ant does to my pics.

arches02: Unlike some other folks, I kind of like the tree there. I also like how the bridge comes across the top of the image at an angle, rather than straight across. I like the reflection. The biggest thing that bothers me really is that the street lights are there in what would otherwise be a pretty low-tech scene, but I'm not sure that there's much that could be done about that.

As far as the tree in the front, I kinda like it too. I was having a hard time cropping this because I wanted to get rid of the street lights, but at the same time I didn't wanna get too much of the bushes in the foreground.

arches: The biggest thing I like about this picture vs. what most of the other landscapes have is - clouds! I'm REALLY picky with my landscape photography (and why I don't do it much or don't like a lot of the pictures I do take) - I want a nice blue sky and puffy clouds (unless there is some other specific feel someone is going for). This photographer got great timing to take the shot with a beautiful sky.

Thanks wade! I was trying to frame the big arch in the front and the little arches on the right that I really didn't notice the clouds until after. I'm also a sucker for beautiful white puffy clouds, but you already know that ;)





I really wanna thank you all for your comments and for making this a very enjoyable project. And like Bonegavel said, I'm very much looking forward to the next 25 projects :)

[PadresFan104]

Dan -

As I said in my post, I like your shot for the memories it holds for me. Here's a shot taken in June of 2001 of my two boys (who are now 14 & 10). You'll notice that the flag pole was much cleaner for your visit.


http://idisk.mac.com/sixwilsons-Public/KidsinSF.jpg

[PadresFan104]

AIRPLANE

Ok, so I'm the Airplane guy... :) So much great feedback on this shot that I'm not sure what to say except that it was 10% preparation and 90% pure dumb luck. I really appreciate all of the great comments and I'm now feeling the pressure for 'B'!!

Here'e the story behind the shot. I knew that I had to drive to downtown San Diego on the week of the "A", so I thought that I would try to find a good vantage point near the airport to get an interesting airplane shot. My original intent was to park myself right under the end of the runway and get the steel underbelly of a jetliner as it passed over head. Parking proved to be too difficult, so I settled on a vantage point that would allow me to mix either buildings or trees with a plane soaring close overhead.

Fortunately, the airport is busy at lunchtime, so there were lots of opportunities, but I got about 30 shots that screamed meh... I was about 10 minutes late for my appointment at this time so went for one last round of photos. I have a new (to me) Nikon D80, so I decided to try the "3 shots per second mode". I was also using one of my only two lenses (I want more!), the 55-200mm lens, and cranked the zoom all the way up as I knew I wanted the plane to fill as much of the frame as possible.

I knew that I wanted the top of a palm tree in the lower left and the plane in the upper right, so after paying attention to the flight path of the larger planes, I listened for the roar of the engine and steadied my self against a nearby light post. Now the idea was for the plane to be in focus, and for the palm in the foreground to be blurry, but as I started taking the shots (on "auto" by the way, I haven't even tried messing with the other manual modes yet) the camera must have focused on the palm frawns as the plane traveled through the frame.

On first glance I was bummed that the plane was a blur, but after I got home and took a larger look at it, I began to realize I had an intersting shot, with the elements framed really well. Again, this was all luck as I just held the shutter button down and hoped for the best. I also I think that I got lucky with the color of the airliner, it works pretty well with the other colors in the shot.

For comparison, here is a shot from the same exact spot, but with no zoom. If you compare the two shots, you can see that I used the flightpath from this plane to know where to be zoomed in for the next one.

http://idisk.mac.com/sixwilsons-Public/SWPlane.jpg

I would love any input on how I could have accomplished my original intent of being focused on the plane as it crossed my lens.

1 – Airplane: I had to seriously look at some of my work after looking at this picture. It’s nicely framed and the timing was perfect, it must have taken a lot of preparation to get this shot. The colors are crisp, and the grass has great detail. I’ll be curious to hear how long, and how he/she prepared for this picture.

Thanks DC!! I spent about 20 minutes preparing, and the timing was kinda lucky, kinda cheating with the auto shutter mode.

Airplane- wow, that photo is fantastic. I'm with DC... I don't know how long it took to get that shot, but what a payoff.

Thanks Cam!

Airplane: I love this photograph, as most people seem to. To the wife that didn't get it: The fact that the airplane is out of focus is what makes it hte focal point. The crispness of the greenery against the bluriness of the airplane that we all know is massive in comparison draws your eye to the airplane.

Too funny. So that was my comment, and yeah, when I showed the results of the photo shoot to her, she said she didn't even consider picking it as the best as it wasn't in focus. I just read your explantion to her and she says "whatever." This also why we don't have any art in the house, we can never agree on what looks good. ;)


Airplane: I'm a big fan of this photograph, and especially of the work that had to go into taking it. I honestly am not a fan of this being used as "Airplane" personally, but the photo itself is incredible. I'd be curious what settings were used, etc, etc.

Thanks Wade! So I've explained the work (not much). Settings were the 200mm zoom, D80 set to "Auto", and used the 3 fps mode. Other than that, it was point and click. :) Beginners luck?

Airplane- I think this is my second favorite. I just love the setup of the picture and the fact that the more mundane topic is in focus. Colors, composition, everything are just great with the blue sky giving lots of good lookspace.

Thanks SI. You know, it's easy to get nice outdoor colors when you live in San Diego... I love taking outdoor shots around here.

Bonus Photo: Here's the next frame in the series. :)

http://idisk.mac.com/sixwilsons-Public/Tail.jpg

[wade moore]

I would love any input on how I could have accomplished my original intent of being focused on the plane as it crossed my lens.

It would be relatively tough.. what I would say is get on manual focus.. then, when the first plane goes by get focused on that plane as best as possible... .then don't touch anything (tripod might help) and snap on manual focus when the next plane comes.

[DanGarion]

I would love any input on how I could have accomplished my original intent of being focused on the plane as it crossed my lens.



Basically to do the shot you wanted you would want to manual focus, and just set the manual focus to infinity, since your subject is far enough away that it will be in focus. Then depending on the light you could adjust your shutter speed and aperture to get the palm more in focus. The higher the aperture the more depth that will be in focus, but you will be forced to a lower shutter speed which means more chance of the plane trailing in your picture (having some movement caught in the frame). The lower the aperture the less depth you will have in focus but the plane will be in more crisp focus since the shutter speed will be high.

Also you could adjust the ISO settings to simulate faster speed film (higher the number the higher your aperture and shutter speed can be together), but with that you will usually start getting more grain or noise in the picture.

[wade moore]

Basically to do the shot you wanted you would want to manual focus, and just set the manual focus to infinity, since your subject is far enough away that it will be in focus.

Duh, I totally drew a blank on that one.

[Lorena]

Great explanation, thanks PadresFan!

I knew you took the airplane pic but only because I had access to that information. As a matter-of-fact, after a few pictures were uploaded I asked Antmeister to remove certain features from my profile because I didn't wanna spoil it for myself.

I do love the continuous shot mode. I use it in low light situations when there might be a blur. If I set my camera on that mode, one of them is bound to be in focus :)

[PadresFan104]

Basically to do the shot you wanted you would want to manual focus, and just set the manual focus to infinity, since your subject is far enough away that it will be in focus. Then depending on the light you could adjust your shutter speed and aperture to get the palm more in focus. The higher the aperture the more depth that will be in focus, but you will be forced to a lower shutter speed which means more chance of the plane trailing in your picture (having some movement caught in the frame). The lower the aperture the less depth you will have in focus but the plane will be in more crisp focus since the shutter speed will be high.

Also you could adjust the ISO settings to simulate faster speed film (higher the number the higher your aperture and shutter speed can be together), but with that you will usually start getting more grain or noise in the picture.

Cool! Though I must admit that I have no idea how to do all the things you suggest. Time to pull out the manual and start learning!

[PadresFan104]

I do love the continuous shot mode. I use it in low light situations when there might be a blur. If I set my camera on that mode, one of them is bound to be in focus :)

That's a really great idea! Thanks DC!

[Tigercat]

I did the Arabia Mountain one. I am very much a quick snap fellow when I am out hiking. That is not to say I don't try to get at least a halfway decent picture, just that I am not one to dwell at a spot. Or to think to much about a shot if I am sweating bullets in the sun. (So if I keep sharing pictures, one will probably see a lot of bad ones. :) Figured I would put some out to give a little variety.)

Anyway, that pine trees can grow off inch deep beds of lichen and their own decaying needles fascinates me. I also find the idea of trees growing in isolated areas on top of rock kind of depressing, but again in an interesting type way.

[Lorena]

I also find the idea of trees growing in isolated areas on top of rock kind of depressing, but again in an interesting type way.

We felt the same when we hiked up Enchanted Rock (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/enchanted_rock/). I mean seeing a tree and plants atop a rock is very unique and a good photo-op.

[wade moore]

Touching up the Alcatraz Photo - http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?p=1536984#post1536984

For those that haven't looked at my dynasty before, I'm really not big in post processing on the PC (kind of like dangarion). I do some basic adjustments in Picasa, but that's it... so anyway, you won't see anything too dramatic there. Although a part of me wishes we could just use the "sharpen" feature for these because all of my pictures look out of focus, no matter what, when I use that button ;).

[Bonegavel]

Here is the first shot of the alphabet pillow where I shot the entire pillow. I also added .5 to the exposure.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1235/1302710595_53196525ef.jpg

And here is a post on the pic I submitted. It is a lot more true-to-life as far as color goes but I prefer it a bit warmer.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1163/1303590564_23848c3069.jpg

[Lorena]

Yeah, I like the second one better. What post processing software do you use Bonegavel?

[wade moore]

I personally like the one you submitted best.

[wade moore]

Err... did we intentionally nuke the A's? Right now it's showing B's in this thread, is it not possible to keep the A's here or was it by accident?

[Antmeister]

Err... did we intentionally nuke the A's? Right now it's showing B's in this thread, is it not possible to keep the A's here or was it by accident?

No...they are not nuked. Click on the bottom left corner of the slideshow.

[wade moore]

No...they are not nuked. Click on the bottom left corner of the slideshow.

Slick! I'm glad I asked!

[oliegirl]

Sorry I missed the reveal phase, we were so busy this weekend - this is the first time I've logged into the computer since Friday at work!


My pics are Anthony and Anthony2. Anthony is my son and is the goalie for his soccer team. He's been playing for 5 years, this is his 3rd season playing goalie, and his first season as a dedicated goalie. Also his first season playing on the "Select" or "Academy" team, it's a huge change from the rec league, but he's doing well so far.

Anyway, my main motivation for getting into photography now is to be able to get some great shots of Anthony playing. Right now I have a very basic Canon point and shoot digital camera, it has a number of different functions on it, but not a lot of zoom...the 2 pics I posted were actually cropped twice in order to get the focus more on him and center him more in the picture. That is why they were somewhat blurry...I could have gotten closer, but they were playing a tournament and I didn't want to distract anyone on the field.

I'm not going to go through and quote all the comments about my pic since the new B thread is already up. I'm not planning on posting too many pics of Anthony, but I'm sure one or two will creep in every now and then :)

[Craptacular]

My shot was Aviators, which should help explain why I'm not on here much. ;) I took some shots from the boys' level, but as a couple of you touched on, the background may have taken away from the shot (my house, sidewalk, car, etc ... a lot of gray and white). I wish I could have taken the picture in my back yard (better scenery), but it was late Wednesday afternoon and the light sucked back there. The grass finally looks nice, but I guess a foot of rain in a week will do that. My main motivation was to take advantage of the colors.

I'm going to try and take new pictures for each round ... if the boys allow me to. Otherwise, I may have to use some old ones. Thanks again to those who started this thread. Even if I don't get to submit every week, it's cool to see what others come up with.