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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Reply |
Oops. The photo that won the award was actually a different image of a cowboy falling to the ground from a bucking bull, with his hands braced for impact but still mid-air. I wanted to clarify this in light of Rita's comment, because in the other photo, the two cowboys in the stands behind were in full view. But they also were in the sunlight, so the different circumstances warranted different handling in my view. But according to Rita, I need to leave full bodies even in the shade and even if I will tone the heads and faces down so they fade into the background and do not draw attention or interest. |
Mar 28th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Reply |
Thanks, Karen. I definitely got better pictures at my second rodeo than my first, but I also had a better camera (Fuji XT5) with faster shutter speeds. Before I had an older Canon. Practice certainly improves technique and helps with confidence about capturing a decent image. |
Mar 28th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Reply |
Rita,
This is very helpful information concerning competition. I have not submitted this shot to anything yet, but I also have not heard anyone else mention this point when one is minimizing the background to foreground the main action in front. Thanks for the heads up. Did you experience this problem personally or how did you come across it? |
Mar 28th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Comment |
Somehow my earlier comments disappeared. I will repeat a few observations. The edited version is well done in its improved tonality and pops now. I would suggest possible further cropping to something that resembles a panorama. There is more pond than needed above the family, and you could also crop up from the bottom; I do not feel a need for quite that much ground in the foreground.
Finally, I would suggest you experiment with cropping the left side even closer to the tail of the left duck so that there is a sense of space on the right that the family is swimming into. You might prefer to center the family, and maybe in a panorama format, that would work well. But it might also be interesting to see this other crop so you can decide what you like best in the end.
|
Mar 14th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Reply |
Thanks for that observation. This was one event where I had that advantage from my purchased seat. I had the other challenge for the majority of events, and since I was dealing with late afternoon sun that was approaching early evening and even lower light, I was fortunate to be able to use 1/1000 still. |
Mar 14th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Comment |
Dean,
Your description suggests this is a pre-dawn shot, when the night was drawing to a close and a tiny bit of indirect sunlight is beginning to creep onto the horizon. Since it was taken at a dark sky location, it lacks the reflected city lights that I am used to seeing in such images taken by members of my two clubs in various desert and mountain locations around the Coachella Valley. Ironically, they produce a more dramatic light range that tends to highlight the stars and clouds more than your naturally lit sky does.
Your approach using only five images and editing in LR into a panorama also is different from what I understand to be a common approach to night photography that takes dozens or even hundreds of images of the same scene over time that are processed in a program like Stacks. I see you used F1.5, which is the recommended one for night photography. I have learned that a similar result can be achieved using fewer images, which is good to know.
Your image creates a dark, subtle mood, with a touch of hope for lighter things to come with the touch of pre-dawn on the horizon.
|
Mar 10th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Comment |
Ranmali,
You describe this photo as belonging to the category of street photography, but it seems that the striking mosque is what caught your eye, and you decided to include passerbys in front of it to add local color and possibly scale. None is doing anything of particular interest, although the contrast between the two on the left standing still and looking at a mobile screen with the ones on the right who are walking, with no interaction, is positive in terms of story-telling potential.
If the people are meant to be the main focus, then the two groupings, located far apart, leads one to bounce back and forth to decide which is to be the primary focus. An odd number would have been more effective if you could have waited for that to happen, which might not have been the case. I agree that the two with the cameras would have detracted from the local flavor reflected in the clothing of the other four, and your decision to crop them out was wise
Is this instead, perhaps, an architectural photo primarily?
You might want to consider using LR or Photoshop or a similar program to straighten all four of the tall pillars, which angle inward slightly. I realize you have taken the mosque on an angle, not straight on, but you might want to see if the proposed editing, which if done on automatic, would straighten all the verticals, yields an image you like better or not.
|
Mar 10th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Reply |
Thanks, Dean. I set the shutter speed and aperture but left the ISO on automatic. I used a slow burst mode so I could pick the best image to develop.
The calf is released from a gate into the arena and then the cowboy is timed as he also is released. He has to lasso it, wrapping the end around the saddle horn to keep it tethered, and then has to dismount and put it on its back and wrap the rope in his mouth around its four ankles. If he fails to lasso it on his first throw, he is done.
I found the subsequent photos of him on the ground roping the legs were less dramatic than this one. It received an excellence award recently in a local club competition under photo journalism. |
Mar 10th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Comment |
Ditto on best wishes for a speedy recovery. A bad back makes it hard to do routine things, and the pain makes one constantly tired. I found the stretching machine at physical therapy the best thing to remedy the compression and free up any trapped nerve.
You captured what you set out to do- the multiple colors, bright lights, and glitz.
I find it curious that the photos has a lot of repetition of patterns and diagonal lines, which ordinarily help direct the eye to the main subject. But here, with so much going on, it is hard to identify what the main focus is. I think for you, it was and is the entire scene.
Since we read left to right, you might try flipping the image so that the ceiling with the three chandeliers, which disrupts the repetitive elevators and floors, would be in the right hand power points and be more impactful as a potential focal point for cultures that read in the same direction.
|
Mar 10th |
| 60 |
Mar 26 |
Comment |
Karen,
You have captured a well-composed atmospheric scene and enhanced it by toning down the image into the bluer hues, which is what one expects in a foggy scene. The fence has three posts, which employs the odd number preference. Behind it, you have two groupings of trees of various depths in each case (conveniently including 3 tiers), and the two cows, which together create an odd number of subjects to draw the eye. A third cow as suggested by Dean would continue the use of odd numbers of objects, but with all the other odd numbered objects, may not be necessary. If you want to experiment with a third, I would suggest you try Dean`s suggestion, which would distribute the cows across the two tree groupings. Then, it could be interesting also to do a version where you add back in the next largest one in the righthand grouping, which would anchor the cows in the right hand cluster of trees and right hand power column. You could then decide if you liked etierh more than your current image. |
Mar 10th |
5 comments - 5 replies for Group 60
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5 comments - 5 replies Total
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