2016 Project 52, 1st Quarter by Janis

[mknittle]

Images look really nice Janis,

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mark.

Clean edges for Geoff, and a different crop for Binnur.

[IMG]_DSC8057 - Version 3 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

My mother didn't recognize the dish, so it's a bit of a mystery to me now where it came from.

[Geoff F]

Looking good now, Janis.

[bnnrcn]

It looks better

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Geoff and Binnur. I value your opinions.

Week 6

Conceived on Saturday, and shot and mostly processed on Sunday, so I am going to call it week 6. These are two shots of a single carved whalebone vertebra. The whalebone is sitting on black foamcore against a black background and is lit by two SB700s at full power, each in a softbox at a 45 degree angle to the camera. Image shot in high-speed sync mode to eliminate ambient light. Both shot at f/14 with Nikkor 70-200 mm f/4 from about 8 feet away.

I think these could be better and welcome suggestions for alternative lighting setups and PP. I am thinking about trying again using focus stacking.

#1
[IMG]_DSC8135 - Version 2[/IMG]


#2
[IMG]_DSC8138 - Version 2[/IMG]

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis, compositionally the second shot looks better and more understandable. I like it, you seem to have captured the details of your subject well IMO it looks as if it is floating in the air as there is no noticeable table top. But I'm not experienced in setting up scenes and lighting as I don't shoot indoors So, Mike and others might be more helpful.

[Ndukes]

This is remarkable, Janis. The Shawl is beautiful but the presentation on the white model against a white background is very effective and well executed. Brilliant!

[IzzieK]

The only thing that is needed is for this object to jump. It is an interesting object, in some culture a whale bone is considered a talisman. I prefer the second image too and it looks like a bird....on both the pp is very good -- it entice one to study it closely...Good job, here Janis...

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Neville! It took a bit of work to get there, but I was pleased with the end result.

[purplehaze]

Hi Janis, compositionally the second shot looks better and more understandable.

I get that. I should maybe try some different perspectives with the head on shot.

I like it, you seem to have captured the details of your subject well

Actually, I would like to bring more depth out of the incisions. I know it can be done in PP, but I am wondering whether it can also be done with the lighting, given all the various angles. It was not as straightforward a shoot as I was thinking it would be.

IMO it looks as if it is floating in the air as there is no noticeable table top.

Yes, I don't like a seam in the background, so I pulled the foamcore down in PP. But it would be better to have a sloping background with a smooth transition from black to grey.

Thanks for the feedback, Binnur; much appreciated.

[Shadowman]

Looks good as shown, nothing to prevent you from experimenting further. I like when I can get a concept, setup put together rather quickly.

[purplehaze]

The only thing that is needed is for this object to jump. It is an interesting object, in some culture a whale bone is considered a talisman. I prefer the second image too and it looks like a bird....on both the pp is very good -- it entice one to study it closely...Good job, here Janis...

Thanks, Izzie. It is indeed an interesting object and I wish I knew more about it--what kind of whale it came from, how old it is, who carved it. A friend who roams the north left it here for me to store until she was ready to claim it. I need to track her down and find out if she is ready yet, but I thought I should shoot it while it was still in my possession.

[purplehaze]

Looks good as shown, nothing to prevent you from experimenting further. I like when I can get a concept, setup put together rather quickly.

Thanks, John. Experiment is what I will have to do. Broke down the makeshift studio so as to entertain a friend for dinner Sunday night, but it shouldn't take long to set up again. Trouble is, I have visions of mounting tracks in the ceiling for overhead lights that I can position every which way, racks on the walls on which to hang backgrounds... lightboxes... I gotta stop that right now.

[purplehaze]

Caught a couple of bad viruses in January and February that knocked me for a loop and it took me a while to recover. I didn't do a lot of shooting in the past few months and what I did I have only just got around to processing in the last few days. These are some of the best from the first quarter.

A walk in one of our urban forests in March produced these:

#1


#2


I threw open the side door on a lovely warm day in March to see this:

#3


A few days later, I was at the lake, where I caught this:

#4


I love the shape of this tree that stands above one of the beaches. It is impossible to get a clear shot of the entire length of it, so this time I opted for a partial silhouette.

#5


A week later, the snow was all but gone from the park in my neighbourhood and the creek was running clear.

#6


To be continued in my Second Quarter thread...

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis I'm glad that you are healthy and in good condition now. A very nice set. I think #4 is a very good candidate for a B&W conversion and may be same for #3. #5 has a painterly look and I like it. #6 is an enjoyable scene.

[Ndukes]

Great set Janis. Excellent use of simple subject matter. Clearly your creativity and skill were not affected by your set-backs in January/February.

[Wavelength]

Great new images!!!!

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Binnur, Neville and Nandakumar. Where the colour photos are concerned, I delved a bit deeper into ColorEfex Pro than I have every gone before, so they have contributed to my learning. I also think #3 might be a good candidate for b&w, Binnur, but for both #3 and #4, it was the colour of the scene that attracted me. I don't think I have done either justice (the one capturing brilliant contrast, the other the moodiness of flatter, mixed light), so might have to work on them both some more.