Project 52 by Mike (Sidekick)

[Sidekick]

Hi all,

Bit of a late starter to this project but I'm confident that no-one will hold that against me.
I'm an ex-pro who worked in local and regional newspapers back in the day but have been away from photography for far too many years and am now struggling to find my touch again and get my head around all this new fangled digital stuff, so I'm hoping that this project will help me get on the right road.



Not neccessarily my best shot of the last week but one, I think, gives a fair idea of where I am.

Mike

[FrankMi]

OK Mike, lets get started! What was your goal for this image and how well do you feel do did in accomplishing that goal?

[Sidekick]

Hi Frank,
Thanks for the reply.
It's a bit of a long-winded story really.....but in essence I have a couple of goals with this.
Firstly, as I said in my intro, I've been away from photography for a while and apart from having a DSLR (Nikon D-200) the rest of my kit is left over from my days of using 35mm film cameras (this shot was taken on a Nikon 35-70mm f3.3-4.5 that was the kit lens I got with my very first Nikon, (an F801), at least 20 years ago, so I'm currently trying to work out which of my kit is doing the job with digital, what needs replacing, and when I do retire something - what I want to replace it with.
Secondly, and more to the point of this picture, I'm trying to get my eye back in and re-discover what makes a good photo and what doesn't.
Most mornings I have to walk the dog, I have a regular route that takes just over an hour and covers around 3 miles, I try to take my camera with me every day and it's surprising that I can find something different to shoot every day even though the route is very familiar.
What I liked about this shot was the contrast between the general dull greys and the bright of the silver and brass.

Mike

[FrankMi]

One of my primary goals in photography is to learn to perfect my vision to see then photograph the common in an uncommon way that other viewers find fascinating. In order to do that an image needs to be able to generate an emotion that helps the viewer relate to their life experiences.

There certainly is a contrast between the brass/silver and the dull greys and the image is sharp with good bokeh. Technically the image is fine but it is one of those images that doesn't do much for me without the background story that answers the question Why?

By story I mean what is being locked in or out and as the text is prominent, why is it there? In other words why would this image be relevant to the viewer? What emotion would you hope to trigger in the viewer's mind?

If the answer is, as you say, the visual contrast, then it appeals to you and has achieved its goal. If you interested in having it appeal to a widespread audience of viewers, I think a story that would complete that appeal might help.

Hopefully others will chime in with their views as well!

[Ricco]

Hi mike, welcome aboard. Looks like you have some solid goals there to achieve.

Frank hs given you a really good summary there and I'm not sure I can add to it. in terms of the image, it is certainly interesting, well executed in terms of it being sharp and focussed. However if you are after an image that tells a story, then I think you may need a little more context.

One other thing that might be worth adding to the discussion is post processing - what have you done, what haven't you done? What program are you using?

Good luck and I look forward to seeing more of your photos as we progress.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Welcome to the Project Mike - great to have another photograph on board. Frank's covered off on a lot of the points that I would have probably highlighted except one - I was curious to know if you did any post processing at all. It seems to me that you're also making a transition from film to digital and one of the things that I've learnt since coming to CiC is the control over the vision from the comfort of our desk tops.

Did you do any PP at all?

[Sidekick]

Week 19

Spent ages waiting for someone to come and sit down - guess they were put off by the guy lurking about with a camera.


In answer to Mal's question, I do very little PP, I crop as little as possible and usually only to take out something that I haven't spotted in the corner of the viewfinder, I'll occasionally alter brightness or contrast a little and I have recently discovered the sharpen button but tend to use it sparingly - and that's about it.

Mike