What caught your eye - Week 2

[PopsPhotos]

What caught your eye - Week 2
This is an exercise in going from the "hmmm, that might be nice" to "That's what I wanted."

What I'd like to see posted in this thread is 2 shots. First, an immediate shot of what caught your eye that said, "That might make a picture." The key word is "immediate." Raise the camera and take the shot as soon as you see the potential.

Second, the final composition, angle, exposure, distance, and all that, that makes you happy with the picture.

This is what Bill Belknap used to call, "Photograph to Picture" exercise.

First week was great. Thank you all for your contributions.

Pops

[PopsPhotos]

This one caught my eye as I was looking for something to test my new D70 on.



After bobbing 'n' weaving a bit about the rose bush, I finally settled for this. There was a breeze, so the thistle was pretty restless.



The second one I cropped for aspect and position, and pulled the saturation and contrast a bit.

Pops

[Peter Ryan]

Shooting in the rainforest this fungus caught my attention. I like the droplets on the surface and the colour with its surroundings. I didn't mind the composition as I liked the layered effect but thought there might be another angle.



The second shots created a mini garden with the fungus as the centre piece.



Both images shot with Tamron 180m Macro lens at f/18, -1.33ev with polariser.

[GrimTheRipper]

Sorry, I didn't get much pictures for a whole weekend. So, here's what I got couple day ago. I was heading to WalMart to pick up the movie at the Red-Box and as I was passing the giant dirts area and it caught my eyes. So, I stopped by there after I picked up the movie and took a shot of it.



EDIT: I got more pictures of that area if you like to see more.

EDIT2: This pix is on my netbook wallpaper for a whole week now.

Thanks

[PopsPhotos]

Peter, now you have me dithering. I like the first as well as the second. However, the difference in the "what caught your eye" and the "This is what I wanted" is definitely shown.

Alan, It would have been great if you could have gotten a picture of the item at the time it caught your eye, so we could see what interested you. You have a very good shot, there, though. At first glance I thought you did not leave any space on the right, as one is "supposed" to do. Then the second look has the rock leaning against the frame to keep from toppling over. I like the texture color shift between the sand and greenery and the patterns on the rock. They tie together well. I might be tempted to clone out the little bit of greenery behind the left side of the rock.

Pops

[Peter Ryan]

Peter, now you have me dithering. I like the first as well as the second. However, the difference in the "what caught your eye" and the "This is what I wanted" is definitely shown.

Pops

I like both as well Pops but I suppose it shows there is alwasy another angle no matter how good the first shot may be.

[GrimTheRipper]

I should had took more pictures of the rock, so it won't look like it cropped out. The reason I like 'em because the rock itself got a good texture on it and the color is pretty much well balance just in my opinion.

This is what I took today, I wish I took more of this butterfly but it flew away and the rest of the butterflies are blue.



Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus Linnaeus, 1758

[wilgk]

Getting ready for work this morning I looked at Dream with her 'woe is me they're leaving again' expression - so thought there's an example and immediately took the picture.
I was standing looking down at her & from this she looks asleep, you cannot see her expression.
Also the strange growth behind her back is her Teddy Bear.



So then I had a go at 'take 2'



My learning from the exercise:
- Backgrounds always important. So lose the Tedddy Bear & general 'messiness' look by waiting or coming back later when she turned & flopped in a slightly better spot.
- Move in closer. Was I taking a picture of the chair, the window or the dog? all were shown in take 1
- Change perspective. I wanted to show a sorrowful look in her eye, so that meant getting down on her level & looking into her eyes.
- Exposure - was very similar in both, but was using a speedlight flash on on take 2, I adjusted it's angle & selected some -ve flash exp' compensation to try to balance the exposure.
Post processing = adjusted levels, curves and increased the black clipping point. Also cropped (maybe too tightly?) but with such a close-up, I liked cropping some from the top of her body to focus on the eyes/face. With all her body in she looked a wee bit like a very large stranded Bear.

Anyway I hope this is what you meant Pops - I'm certainly learning by doing so Thankyou

[PopsPhotos]

Anyway I hope this is what you meant Pops - I'm certainly learning by doing so Thankyou

This is exactly the purpose of this class exercise. Just being forced to take two shots (or more) will teach about the difference between "get the photograph" and "make the picture."

Get the photograph is extremely important for photojournalism. Whether you are documenting a news story or a family picnic, get the shot is the watch word.

Make the picture, is how we get the art into our work. By seeing both, we learn how the camera sees differently from the way we see.

The other learning tool is seeing what caught our attention in the first glance. Sometimes it teaches us that our first glance really does recognise that there is a potential picture, which the second shot reveals. Other times it teaches us that all that glisters is not gold. Those times, we learn that it looks interesting at first glance, but there is not enough there to make the picture. Or it might teach us that there is too much there to allow the picture.

This experiment is working nicely. Thank you all for participating. Keep 'em coming.

Pops

[PopsPhotos]

I started this exercise and I still messed up today. I was doing my weekly documentation of the church progress, wehn I say what mike a striking picture. I moved around and tried several angles and such. It wasn't until I left that I realized I hadn't taken that initial, instaneious picture required by "teach."

I haven't flunked the course, but I sure didn't do my final grade any good.

Pops

[Shadowman]

I started this exercise and I still messed up today. I was doing my weekly documentation of the church progress, when I say what mike a striking picture. I moved around and tried several angles and such. It wasn't until I left that I realized I hadn't taken that initial, instaneious picture required by "teach."

I haven't flunked the course, but I sure didn't do my final grade any good.

Pops

I wonder what makes us hesitate to take the shot. Is it that little voice in our head that says "no one else will understand why I photographed this image" or is it that we think it's been done so many times before I can't add anything to it. One step near the rim of the Grand Canyon, or any well known monument or structure, and you know that you have to capture it for yourself just so you can say I captured that image.

[PopsPhotos]

We get so instilled with the idea that we muct LOOK and SEE the photograph which will make the picture, which makes it difficult to shoot at that first instant. What I want my students to do is to record what made them think there might be a picture hidden in there, somewhere.

Remember, these are middle school and high school students, without a lot of preconditioning on "how to take pictures." I want to get them used to noticing what catches their eye, with the idea that they will be able to more easily recognise those which aren't quite so obvious.

I got this idea from my visits to the local Japanese Gardens. Almost every time, somebody will ask me the usual "How do you find pictures to take?" The simple answer, of course, is "Look and SEE." However, it is more than that. There is an inate skill in some people to see as the camera sees. Most of us have to train ourselves to see those potentials. Sometimes, we have to overcome preformed opinions of "rules" and "what is right." A good example of this is found in one of my pictures of the town square. I once saw a potential, but realized that it wouldn't be ready for awhile. I came back about 3 weeks later and plopped a folding chair in place to wait. In about 30 minutes the sun was there, the shadows were there and I took the picture. Of course, being me, I actually visited two or three times a week, at different times of the day and shot several pictures each time. The good one came just at the time and day I had predicted. I had about 3 dozen photographs to prove that.



Pops

[Dave Humphries]

Hi John,

I wonder what makes us hesitate to take the shot. Is it that little voice in our head that says "no one else will understand why I photographed this image" or is it that we think it's been done so many times before I can't add anything to it.

Good question!

The "I can't add anything" aspect is what stops me a lot of times, often times; "I can't even get close to that (quality), so why bother", but that's usually just me being lazy and not applying enough thought, or having the energy to get out there; in order to stand any chance of "being in the right place at the right time".

Hmmm, buck your idea's up Humphries!

PS (edit) From a day out, I'll often get back with hundreds of images, go through them, cull the duffers, but still be left many that are ok, the pick of the bunch, but I still can't be bothered, or am too scared, to PP them to completion and display them - is that just me? or do others do this?

[arith]

I like places like Lichfield and Burton because I know not many good photo's have been taken and they are off the tourist trail. There are some in Lichfield of the Cathedral from the outside taken by a very famous photographer I never heard of, but I think mine are better. Suppose the difference is his cost money sold in the cathedral shop and mine are free but I never like the fancy abstract stuff, what is the point of a light trail from a car tail light in front of the cathedral.

Some photo's of Burton are exceptional but always seem to include an industrial backdrop, most good photographers in Burton don't really live in Burton but just grew up here, reaching the dizzy heights of the higher rankings of the Royal Photographic Society and although they display their work here it is not often of Burton or its surroundings, so I'm safe.

But I'm off to Cambridge and I bet I don't take a single photo because it has all been done, and I haven't the time to find landscape that has been missed.

[ScoutR]

Hi Pops: This might be a bit of a stretch, but the fog certainly caught my eye as I was leaving work one morning.



I was tired and just wanted to go home, but I took a drive first to a local conservation area, and then out to the country. 5 hours later, I came home with some of my better shots in the last year.



I'm glad I didn't go home. As they say, Make hay while the sun shines, or something to that effect.

Wendy

[ScoutR]

Getting ready for work this morning I looked at Dream with her 'woe is me they're leaving again' expression - so thought there's an example and immediately took the picture.
I was standing looking down at her & from this she looks asleep, you cannot see her expression.
Also the strange growth behind her back is her Teddy Bear.



So then I had a go at 'take 2'



My learning from the exercise:
- Backgrounds always important. So lose the Tedddy Bear & general 'messiness' look by waiting or coming back later when she turned & flopped in a slightly better spot.
- Move in closer. Was I taking a picture of the chair, the window or the dog? all were shown in take 1
- Change perspective. I wanted to show a sorrowful look in her eye, so that meant getting down on her level & looking into her eyes.
- Exposure - was very similar in both, but was using a speedlight flash on on take 2, I adjusted it's angle & selected some -ve flash exp' compensation to try to balance the exposure.
Post processing = adjusted levels, curves and increased the black clipping point. Also cropped (maybe too tightly?) but with such a close-up, I liked cropping some from the top of her body to focus on the eyes/face. With all her body in she looked a wee bit like a very large stranded Bear.

Anyway I hope this is what you meant Pops - I'm certainly learning by doing so Thankyou

Hi Kay: I love the second shot, not only is it a great illustration of this exercise, you have captured Dream's sadness in a way that any pet owner (or parent for that matter) can relate to.

Wendy

[Donald]

I know this is not a C & C thread, so apologies. But, that is beautiful. You're on a roll. Got it as big as I could on my browser - the tones of light and shade on each of the animals is fantastic.

[ScoutR]

Thank you Donald. I'm glad I didn't go home, the fog was very very good to me that morning.

Wendy

[arith]

Car shot, lovely. I wished I had a car then I could take my equipment out this rainy day to places I know and wait for a break. I used to have every license going and I even took a police driving test in a 800bhp test car. You are giving me withdrawal symptoms Wendy.

The horses are nice, I can just imagin Calke Abbey which is really a house, in the mist.

[PopsPhotos]

Wendy, it is not that much of a stretch. The point is that you saw something which inspired you to think "Picture!" and then worked on the idea to get a picture. Because of the fog, you went for a picture including the fog, enhanced by the fog. I like that one. The first, from the car, stands on its own, also.

Donald, granted this is not the usual C&C thread. However, C&C is part of the teaching and learning process, so chime right in. The emphasis on this thread is the difference between the first sight of the potential and the resulting picture that came of that initial inspiration. The purpose of this forum is to make all of us better photographers AND picture takers.

Pops