Project 52 by Peter

[FrankMi]

Hi Peter. I love the fact that you are willing to try a wide variety of different image styles and techniques and this week's entry is no exception! Great concept and thanks for sharing how you approached the task.

I was surprized that given the studio style setup you are using that you didn't go for more DoF as the large bubble on the right appears to be not quite as sharp as most of the others. I haven't started to learn how to use artificial light as yet so I really can't suggest a better lighting approach.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

It might not have come out 100% to what you were hoping for but it's still very good. A bit more DoF to get all of the bubbles sharp would have finished it off I think.

Thanks for sharing the set up. Never thought about using a gorilla pod as a flash stand. Great idea!

[Ricco]

Hi all. Unfortunately I was off on business last week which had two consequences. Firstly, I missed last weeks photo and secondly, the prior week was a little bit rushed for me and I hadn't posted the outcome.

So I have decided to try and make one of my photos per month correspond to the CIC theme. This months was technology. I was just about to throw out my old DVD player which had given up and before it made its way into the bin I decided to take it apart. The following is the result.



This photo actually surprised me a little bit in what I learnt. Quite simply I couldn't get even lighting. I was trying with a flash and diffusion panel but there is still some directionality to the light. You can see by the little towers (technical term??) that there is a shadow. I knew it when I shot it and would have liked another night or two of experimenting to get this right. If I had a bit more time I would have tried to get some light going back by setting up some reflectors. I also had to put a few gradients on in PP to darken a couple of corners to even out the light.

The other thing is that every bit of dust and fluff shows up under the camera! I guess that is a good thing in a way knowing that I am getting sufficient DOF and sharpness.

Anyhow, it is what it is. It does mean I am one photo behind and I will try and pick up over the coming weeks.

[ktuli]

Peter,

First - the "towers" are called capacitors. You can think of them as a kind of short term battery.

As for the shot, I think the lighting all depends on what you were trying to achieve. If you wanted to make it look like a cityscape like many folks do with circuit boards, then directional lighting would actually be beneficial in the sense that it would make it look more like sunlight. If you wanted to eliminate shadows, you have to make your light sources balanced. If you were doing direct and bounced flash, the direct flash would obviously be stronger and thus cause shadows. If both sides were even, they should cancel out each others shadows.

Lastly, and this is purely my preference, but I would recommend a slight rotation to get the rectangular components to be in alignment with the frame. But again, that's just my personal preference.

- Bill

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I understand your dilemma on the lighting Peter. I did something simple which was to take a photo of a watch on a piano and I was battling reflections with various light sources in the room. I had all sorts of diffusers, and alternate light sources going trying to get the lighting right to eliminate the reflections.

Out of curiosity, what was your set up?

[Dave Humphries]

Lastly, and this is purely my preference, but I would recommend a slight rotation to get the rectangular components to be in alignment with the frame. But again, that's just my personal preference.

Looks straight to me, apart from the Crystal can on the left - unless Peter sneaked back and did a substitute

Peter,

I do agree with Bill on the lighting, often a low angle, harsh, directional light can give great shadows.

btw, I edited these three post titles as they still said "Week 5 Refreshing", which would get confusing by next week.

Cheers,

[ktuli]

Looks straight to me, apart from the Crystal can on the left - unless Peter sneaked back and did a substitute

Ok - maybe it is just me - or maybe it is my monitor at work... but it looks straight now. So disregard my previous comment.

- Bill

[Ricco]

Thanks for the comments. I didn't sneak back so Bill, I think your chair must have been crooked

I had a few goes to make it look like a city scape but didn't really like the output. With these photos I was aiming for even light through the photo and hence didn't really succeed. The way I set it up was using an off camera flash firing through a diffusion panel (sorry no photos).

As with all my project 52 photos - I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience. I might have to revisit a similar topic later in the year and experiment a bit more to try and get that even light.

[Ricco]

As per my previous entry, I had some catching up to do this week. I'm posting this and then plan on posting a second image later tonight once I finish processing.

This photo was taken when out for an evening walk with my family. Again, another great example of where I wouldn't have actually taken this photo if it wasn't for the project 52....

[Ricco]

So this week it isn't a single photo but a group of photos. Firstly I have to give credit where credit is due. Inspiration for these came from two spots:
* Zack Arias' faces and spaces project - http://zackarias.com/editorial-photo...es-spaces-jan/
* Goldcoastgolfer's project 52 (Mal) - refer here and specifically the week 1 post - Project 52 by Mal Schulstad (thanks Mal)

The story is that we had a family get together over the weekend. I have had this idea in mind for some time to take portraits of the family so I took the opportunity to haul down my camera gear and set up in the lounge room and basically took photos of everyone (except for the little ones).

It was a little off putting because I'm just an amateur and I got a bit of stick for having a flash on a stand and someone holding a diffuser to try and create some soft light. To say that there were members that were a little reluctant is an understatement. I find myself a little self conscious in this regard, I don't consider myself any good and I sort of shy away from the attention at the best of times so drawing attention to myself with a big camera and lighting was not my cup of tea. However, I got over it and that was a lesson in itself.

So without further ado - the actual album is on photo bucket with the link below.
http://s1156.photobucket.com/albums/...4/My%20Family/

In the interests of posting an image on here - meet my mum!


In terms of this specific shot - I think generally it is OK. Probably could have used a little fill light on the right but unfortunately only one VAL and limited interest from the family sort of prevented doing much more than a single light and rapid fire photos.

My series was shot on a black background (well technically lower ambient background). This sort of happened by accident. Going back across the series, the first couple were shot against a coloured wall. As photos they looked probably a bit more effective. However in hindsight I am happy that I shot against black because it is something repeatable that I can set up anywhere to capture whoever was missed and retain consistency. Something on the wish list for the rest of the year is a second flash so I can start experimenting with white clean backdrops.

I hope you all enjoy. In the end I am very proud of what I have produced and encourage everyone else to give it a go!

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I like the scene in your Week 7 photo. I'll be interested to see how your PP version turns out.

So this week it isn't a single photo but a group of photos. Firstly I have to give credit where credit is due. Inspiration for these came from two spots:
* Zack Arias' faces and spaces project - http://zackarias.com/editorial-photo...es-spaces-jan/
* Goldcoastgolfer's project 52 (Mal) - refer here and specifically the week 1 post - Project 52 by Mal Schulstad (thanks Mal)

I'm glad I've been able to inspire someone

The story is that we had a family get together over the weekend. I have had this idea in mind for some time to take portraits of the family so I took the opportunity to haul down my camera gear and set up in the lounge room and basically took photos of everyone (except for the little ones).

It was a little off putting because I'm just an amateur and I got a bit of stick for having a flash on a stand and someone holding a diffuser to try and create some soft light. To say that there were members that were a little reluctant is an understatement. I find myself a little self conscious in this regard, I don't consider myself any good and I sort of shy away from the attention at the best of times so drawing attention to myself with a big camera and lighting was not my cup of tea. However, I got over it and that was a lesson in itself.

So without further ado - the actual album is on photo bucket with the link below.
http://s1156.photobucket.com/albums/...4/My%20Family/

In the interests of posting an image on here - meet my mum!


In terms of this specific shot - I think generally it is OK. Probably could have used a little fill light on the right but unfortunately only one VAL and limited interest from the family sort of prevented doing much more than a single light and rapid fire photos.

My series was shot on a black background (well technically lower ambient background). This sort of happened by accident. Going back across the series, the first couple were shot against a coloured wall. As photos they looked probably a bit more effective. However in hindsight I am happy that I shot against black because it is something repeatable that I can set up anywhere to capture whoever was missed and retain consistency. Something on the wish list for the rest of the year is a second flash so I can start experimenting with white clean backdrops.

I hope you all enjoy. In the end I am very proud of what I have produced and encourage everyone else to give it a go!

I think they look great Peter, and I bet your family is very, very happy with them all. I reckon you could create a photo book for everyone's coffee table and give them out as Christmas presents for everyone later on. An inspiring shoot - well done

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Peter, like the first image, will be interested with what you come up with.
Image 2, Family can be difficult, tried the family portraits once, they all thought they were a bunch of comedians ,
I like the lighting, nice and soft with the shadow on the side, great angle with the subject looking at you and stands out well from the background, I think your Mum will be very happy

[Ricco]

Well, I'm not quite sure what to call the photo this week. For those that can see it, I reckon there is some sort of animal emerging from the smoke from the RHS. Could be a vicious dog / horse / dragon or something?

I had a bit of fun trying out smoke photography this week for the first time. First the photo and then how I did it.



And the setup:



For those that find it hard to interpret the photo for the setup - I had a flash camera light with a gobo (home made) to stop the light spilling onto the background. The reflector on the left is from a car windscreen protector - the type that you put up to reflect the light out. Incense sticks in the middle.

From there the image is inverted in GIMP and a few tweaks and Bob is your uncle!

I am playing with a few others and will try and post some extras.

[Ricco]

One more

[Ryogenetic]

Peter that is some good stuff, I really like the second one, has the feel of two dancers or ice skaters. During your session did you just leave the incense sticks burning or did you light and extinguish?

Ryo

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Peter, great images, thanks for the explaination and the shot of how you did it, I like #2, cleaner lines and less congested, and the colours are softer and harmonise reallly well, I think the first one is a red dragon

[Deringer]

Just come across this thread. Some great images, I especially like 'Wild Horses'. Makes me want to try. I have Gimp, but, so far, have not explored many of its possibilities! I think I might just do so now!

[Ricco]

Thanks very much for the comments. I personally prefer the 1st - I prefer the lines and the "boldness".

I left the incense burning for the whole session - didn't need to extinguish, just had to get a bit of turbulence going every now and again to generate different shapes.

John - I have found GIMP to be a great program. It takes a little getting used to but for all the basic type of adjustments that I play with - it is great. If you haven't come across it already, search in podcasts in itunes and there is a podcast called "meet the GIMP" - it is free and takes you through heaps of tutorials. Alternatively there is a link below.

http://blog.meetthegimp.org/

I took heaps of different shots and there were probably 5-10 that stood out so I will see how I go and look at posting some more through the week.

[rtbaum]

I must say that I REALLY like the first one. Good photograhy as an art should elicit emotion and this shot does this for me.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Both Kerry and I saw the red dragon straight away, and the dancers in the second one. Fantastic captures Peter - the sort of photos you could sell I reckon