Fortnightly Challenge 12th August to midnight 26th August - Rock

[Peter Waites]

Good One Arthur! And Good Luck with the next challenge.

[Gidders]

A while since we've had a three way tie - well dome to Arthur for getting in first.

There's a bit of a story behind my shot. I've challenged myself this year to enter every fortnightly challenge but I was away at a friend's over the bank holiday weekend and realised that this challenge was due to close on Monday. There I was with no camera or equipment of any sort but I was desperate to keep my personal challenge on track.

So I borrowed her compact, a Panasonic DMC TZ8, rigged up a backdrop with a clothes airer & a black scarf, used another black scarf & the glass top off a coffee table to stand the bottle & glasses on, controlled the ambient light as much as possible by drawing all the curtains. Lighting was from an led head torch & a desk lamp with a snoot made from a pizza box. As an aperture of f5.6 gave an shutter speed of 2.5 secs, a chair with a blob of blutac on top became a tripod. Fortunately I had my laptop, but apart from cloning out a couple of unwanted reflections & tweaking the black levels the shot is basically straight out of the camera.

Who needs £'000 of gear

[Gidders]

If we're going with Digi's idea of commenting on one up/one down I'd be commenting on Peter's & Digi's images. I'm assuming Digi's ok with it as you suggested it - what about you Peter?

I'm happy for both of you to comment on my image.

I think this works better than commenting on the one you voted for because in that scenario, somebody with no votes gets no feedback & therefore doesn't learn

[DigiDiva]

Im happy for feedback, but please don't tell me its not a real diamond...don't I know it lol

[DigiDiva]

My ups/downs is Gidders and graham. Gidders you said it was ok to comment so comments below but will await to see if Graham is happy for my comments to be given

Gidders - this is my kind of shot. I like still life shots on a shiny black reflective surface. Nice and sharp, with a great reflection, the kinda thing you see as an add in a glossy man mag.

[Arthur53]

Thanks Postcard. Well done all, don't remember a 3 way tie ever happening before.
Will have a think for a new subject.

[Peter Waites]

I'm always happy to receive comment and constructive criticism so fire away Clive. (Think I know what you're gonna say). I very much liked your well balanced composition Arthur and thought you did a great job of capturing realistic colour. Clive, lacking a studio and kit, my shots are often cobbled together in similar manner to yours. You got a truly excellent result - got my vote- and that encourages me to continue the pursuit of excellence. Thanks.

[Gidders]

Peter... I thought you chose a perfect shutter speed together with good panning technique gives a great sense of movement. I also like the placement of the bike in the frame giving plenty of space to move into. I do find the bright green leaves behind the riders head & the bright area to the front a distraction (the pedestrians are unfortunate). If it had been my image I would have done a bit of burning in & added some vignette to focus the attention on the bike - rough edit attached.

Digi... loved the simplicity of the image with the focus on the 'rock'. For me there is a bit too much dead space so I would have cropped it down, & I would have flipped the image so the tweezers lead the eye in from the left - rough edit attached

As always Guys, JMHO

[Arthur53]

Peter. The panning works well and also the composition with the bike having room to move into. The subject stands out well from the background.

Graham. Like the rocks and the reflection. The path on the left takes my eye into the image but then it stops at the windows. More detail in the sky would be nice. Over all a good effort of not an easy subject.
Could be wrong but I would try getting lower and or just the rocks and reflection.

[DigiDiva]

Glad some of you are taking up my idea with the comments, very useful. May I ask Clive, are you left or right handed? Im left handed and am wondering if you are right handed, which most people are, and if that's why you preferred the flipped image? Might be worth thinking about for me, as I felt more natural with it the other way. An interesting thought.

When I think of leading lines I have chosen, I can only remember ones leading in from the right. Very strange huh? What about other left handers out there?