Project 52 by Juliac

[juliac]

I have just finished a course on photography and want to use this year not only to practise and improve my techniques but also to establish a style and work on specific areas in photography. I also like to work for a challenge as it makes me look further than my comfort zone. Originally I started off with mainly flower photography and have moved into other areas such as portraits and street photography.
The first two photos I have submitted are of street life in Jerusalem. I want to move into black and white and work on getting a good contrast. I saw a version of this photo recently and wanted to see if I could recreate the atmosphere. My photo turned to be very different but I think it reflects the bustle of the street life in Jerusalem.
Photo no 2 is a challenge set called ‘something blue’ and this is the sort of photo but wouldn’t naturally take. I think some technical issues which I have tried to resolve in the cropping.

[Donald]

Julia

Good to see your work in an area pof the forum where images can be discussed. I look forward to seeing your Project 52 grow as the year progresses.

May I make one suggestion. You have posted both these images at 640 pixels long on the top and bottom edge. If you were able to post a version that is much larger; e.g. 1024 or 1200 pixels long, we would then be able to see them, at a much larger size when we click on them and view them in the lightroom.

Also, I was not sure whether you were inviting comment and criticism on these images. I assume so, but if you are it would help people for you to say so.

On your images:

I think the first one does convey a sense of busy street life in a city. But I wondered if that sense of business would be even more intensely conveyed if the image focused exclusively on the street. The upper part of the image almost lifts the claustrophobic feel that would be generated if that was to be cropped further to take out the top section. In other words, by aloowing us to see well above the street, you are offering relief to the viewer and a chance to look above the street.

if you were to crop this to a 16:9 ratio retaining the bottom and sides, you focus all attention onto the street.

Something for you to consider.

On the second image:

You say there area technical issues with the image. Can you tell us what you believe these are?

[wlou]

Hello Julia, Donald,

Julia, I find the "bleu" car picture very intriguing, is it SOOC (aha,I have learned something) or a PP?
Donald, for the street view, I have positioned the picture on my monitor to cut the picture just above the top of the street so becomes a rectangle that is longeur than high. Is it what you call a 16:9 ratio?

[Donald]

Hello Julia, Donald,

Julia, I find the "bleu" car picture very intriguing, is it SOOC (aha,I have learned something) or a PP?
Donald, for the street view, I have positioned the picture on my monitor to cut the picture just above the top of the street so becomes a rectangle that is longeur than high. Is it what you call a 16:9 ratio?

That's exactly what I mean Louise.

There are a number of 'standard' ratios that apply to images (but of course we can make our ratios anything we want). I tend to use a few, and they are always one of the 'standards'; e.g. 4:5 (which means it is a portrait orientation - longer at the sides than at the top and bottom); 7:5, 16:9 and, at the moment, I am almost exclusively working to create 1:1 (square) images.

[juliac]

Hi Donald
Thanks for the response. I have cropped down to the street and have attached it. I try to stick with the photo ratio as I was once advised to do.
For the 2nd photo there was a lot of glare as there is plenty of sun in this part of the world which I burnt off and also I had to straighten it up to get the line of cars. I am wondering if the B&W work with the blue and I wonder it needs to give a bit more wow factor. That is what I am trying to develop. Thanks for your advice.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Welcome to Project 52 Juila. Always great to see another person joining the project

Your second crop of the B&W looks great - better balanced I think now and it does convey an atmosphere of business.

I think Donald raises a good point on standard ratios. I'm at the point now where I'm printing canvases (and getting the occasional request to do one for someone else) - framing and cropping to standard ratios makes that whole process easier.

The "wow" factor is something we're all after as photographers I think - and it may always be different depending on who's actually viewing the photo. I'd suggest the first thing you want do (if you haven't done this already) is understand your style of photography - what in your photos shows that it's you taking the photos and not someone else. It's easier to produce a great photo if your passionate about the photos that you're taking. Someone once explained it to me as the difference between someone talking about a subject they knew nothing about versus a subject they were constantly excited about.

[Donald]

Now I feel as if I am in the city rather than flying above it and looking down.

[juliac]

Yes - very wise words and that is exactly what I am trying to do this year. I am passionate about photography but really at the beginning so this forum is brilliant for me.

[Ryogenetic]

Julia welcome to CiC and project 52. +1 on the cropped version of the first picture. As to the second image, my first though is that it is your wagon, and the reason for the pop in blue. Dropping the color from all except for the subject is a great way to separate it from the rest of the image. Which for this shot and its overlapping cars works very well. A bit on PP even though it is a small image I noticed you missed some areas around the front fender, under the passenger side window, and back by the gas cap door.

IMHO
Ryo

[juliac]

I saw an amazing set of portraits on Flickr and really wanted to know how thisparticular photographer achieved such amazing portraits! I am submitting, this week, a portrait that I took at festival in Jerusalem so the singer wasn't posing for me. I really want to improve on my portrait photography so I thought I would start here. I am interested in any ideas or views about the conversion to black and white. Is there anything I can do about here skin tone as the light from the show was focused on her?

ISO 800 f/5.6 1/30



My 2nd picture again has been taken in low light conditions. It is only in recent times have I managed to get pictures in focus in low light condition where I did not have my tripod. This was taken while enjoying a fantastic pizza that this pair of hands prepared for me. I really like the photo as a composition but I have a feeling I might be the only one!
ISO 800 f/5.6 1/30

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I am submitting, this week, a portrait that I took at festival in Jerusalem so the singer wasn't posing for me. I really want to improve on my portrait photography so I thought I would start here. I am interested in any ideas or views about the conversion to black and white. Is there anything I can do about here skin tone as the light from the show was focused on her?

I think your conversion to B&W looks fine. The directional light draping across the singer's face and body gives you a good range of tones that stops it from looking flat.

In terms of the light on her face, are you shooting in raw? I looked at the histogram and it doesn't appear that your photo is blown out so you should be able to bring down the exposure by a half stop I think without making the other side of her face too dark. If you shot in raw the detail in her face should still be there.

C&C wise, I think you've done well to shoot at 1/30s. The microphone looks pretty sharp. I'm not so sure that your singer is as clearly defined though. I'm not sure if this is because your focus is on the microphone and your depth of field is too shallow or if it's because your subject is moving - although given your shutter speed I suspect it's the latter. The consequence being that my eye keeps getting pulled back to the microphone.

Are you able to shoot at a higher ISO so you can increase your shutter speed? It's pretty tough to get a portrait of a person at that speed when you're having them pose for you with you telling them to stay perfectly still, let alone of a person that is singing away on a microphone!

My 2nd picture again has been taken in low light conditions. It is only in recent times have I managed to get pictures in focus in low light condition where I did not have my tripod. This was taken while enjoying a fantastic pizza that this pair of hands prepared for me. I really like the photo as a composition but I have a feeling I might be the only one!
ISO 800 f/5.6 1/30

I think your second photo has potential but from a composition perspective there are a couple of distractions for me. The edge of what appears to be a bowl on the bottom right, the roll of paper on the left side along with the edge of the shelf above it, and the line where one cutting board lines up against another. These elements pull my eye away from the action without really contributing to the overall photo so I'd be inclined to clone and crop them out.

I might be inclined to play with the white balance and exposure a little as well as the overall photo lighting appears quite warm - but that's just a personal thing. Some elements of the photo - the food that is being cut up mainly - isn't as sharp as I would expect it to be. Again, I'm not sure if this is a focus/depth of field issue or shutter speed one. This time I think it might the focus which looks like it's on the clothing behind the food.

Hope this helps

[juliac]

It helped loads- Thanks! I had the opportunity to go back to the same festival and the same band were there in the same position but with a different singer. I upped the ISO to 1600 and changed my position so as to catch a different light but again I was trying to focus on her while she was singing. I tried to go for eyes as best I could. I have attached the result. In PP I adjusted the exposure slightly in RAW to bring out more details in her face, adjusted a few setting like contrast.

ISO1600 f5/6 1/125

[Donald]

That, I think, is a very, very good piece of work.

And what is very obvious is that you have applied the learning you clearly took from Mal's post and have applied it to great effect. Well done, Julia.

[juliac]

Thanks - I am thrilled! A Brilliant Forum

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Perspective, depth, tones - that looks good to me Julia. There's a definite mood that you can feel with your capture here. If there's one suggestion I would make it would be to add just a touch of negative space on the right just to give more of a sense of space into which the singer is singing to. Just a very minor suggestion but a great capture.

[juliac]

I think normally I would have done that but I was thinking about what you said about the microphone so tried to crop it out but will try. Thanks for all your help and suggestions

[juliac]

Just got back to the UK and decided that this week I wanted to take photos of something in my environment. After taking hundreds of photos I decided on the blue bottle. My aim was to get as much as of the bottle in focus with the flowers in it. I also wanted to practice on still life.
The photo of the Allium flowers are an improvement of the same photo I took last year which again I found hard to get them completely pin sharp.


Blue Bottle with flowers 1 ISO400 f/14 1/160


Blue Bottle with flowers 2 ISO400 f/14 1/160


Allium flowers ISO400 f/10 1/250

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I'm only looking on my tablet today so I don't get the best view of photos on here. However they look to me to be reasonably sharp with a good depth of field. It does appear to me though that they could use a bit more exposure on all three shots which is something that can be easily adjusted if you wish

From a composition perspective, I think with the bottle, while the capture itself shows depth with the angle you used, there may be other angles that would provide a perspective that shows the bottle off a bit better. Having the bottle positioned so that the corner of the bottle faces the lens while the camera is at a more level position would still give you good depth perspective and show off more traits of the bottle. I also think that perhaps shooting more level will allow the life of the flowers to add a bit more contrast to the inanimate bottle.

Another thing to perhaps try is the location of your subjects in the frame. Not sure if you've heard of the rule of thirds but sometimes (not in all cases mind you) this can add a bit more interest into a photo by creating a tension in the balance of the photo. By having a subject to one side an emptiness in the other, the photo remains balanced but a bit more interesting than having it symmetric. I'd also suggest in the case of the third photo cropping in closer and really filling the frame with those lovely flowers. The white will contrast against the black a lot better and stand out much more in the background to hold the interest of the viewer.... I think

[juliac]

Still in the UK. I haven't had so much opportunity for photographing but I did capture these two shots while taking a couple of walks. The Ist shot is a reflection of trees in water and I purposely tried to get the sun which was very strong reflecting as well.
Canon EOS 60D ISO 400 f/91/2000



The second shot was taken with my new camera - Canon 60D which i am very excited about. I am trying to get a feeling of 'Hansel and Gretel' and I like the movement of the branches of the tree.
Canon EOS 60D ISO 400 f/20 1/25

[juliac]

I have been work on this photo using Photoshop (clone tool) to get rid of the electric wires. I also cropped it. i am wondering if the results of the clone tool can be seen or if there is another way to get rid of the lines. Or- would it be better to keep them?

With the electric lines




After PP