2017 Project 52 - 4th QTR - Sandy(Skitterbug)

[skitterbug]

Very nice and crispy shots

Crispy indeed! <LOL> Thanks for commenting Nandakumar!

[Shadowman]

week 42-3, nice captures especially the fire.

[skitterbug]

The Clematis scene, Sandy, is rather complex but you have managed to get the background area out of focus and avoided any bright light in that area, so the overall image does work well.

Thanks Geoff! This is a new plant so I hope it makes it through our winter temperatures and has lots more blossoms next year! If it flourishes, then perhaps the post and background will not be easily seen!

The fire is a difficult subject and your exposure is good with nice colour. A pity about a rather large out of focus portion of the foreground though; and no easy alternatives. Having a soft focus background would be quite acceptable but so much out of focus foreground does tend to spoil the effect.

Possibly, increasing the Iso to something around 400 and setting a narrower aperture may have helped; but I suspect your intended subject simply required more focus depth than could be achieved in one shot.

I thought about cropping this image even more closely but then decided to show the good, the bad and the ugly of fire. I was going to try using the WA lens but found the heat intense so had to back off and use the 55-250 length lens. Mostly it was the fire's colors that drew me. I was curious to see if I could capture it. This one was the best of the lot and I do agree, it could have been better.

Thank you for your suggestions. I'll give your setting suggestions a try next time round!

[skitterbug]

week 42-3, nice captures especially the fire.

Thank you John! I appreciate the encouragement!

[skitterbug]

Week 44!

So for this first image, I got a bit 'fired up' and decided to be a little heavy handed with the edits. Did I over do them? We got lucky and were able to have another camp fire! I enjoyed seeing the little swirls of light on the top right! That was by accident!

Blazing Fire
ISO800 - 250mm (it was a hot fire) - F/13 - 1/8ss



Now I know there will be groans about the next two pics simply because some might think I am pushing the seasons along. Fact is, our family has to combine Thanksgiving/Christmas gift giving because it seems to be the only time when we all can meet, eat and enjoy each other's company! The grand-kids really delight in having this happen early because then they can plot and plan what they might like to ask Santa for!
So I've begun putting up the usual decorations. When I took a break, lo and behold, I found myself being watched! So of course I had to take a pic of him! And then a second when he decided to shift his pose a bit! Enjoy the humor!
I used these settings for both - ISO100 - 74 - f/9.0 - 1/4ss

Elf



Elf2

[Geoff F]

Tricky subjects, Sandy, and you have dealt with the difficult bits to produce good exposures. But I think you are attempting too much from the available focus depth with close up shots.

The fire has excellent exposure and the main subject is well focused but a pity about that large area which is out of focus in the bottom right corner. Not a lot of options now, maybe crop a little from the right side to reduce the impact of that area? Perhaps end up with a square image?

And much the same problem with your little figure which has its right foot out of focus. You nicely managed the exposure which contains both pure white and black, which is the difficult bit.

Maybe you could have increased the Iso and used a narrower aperture; possibly F11 to f16 range to achieve a deeper focus depth, although even then you may have still not had enough depth. That is always a potential problem with close focus shots. The only real answers are to arrange the scene so the important items are within the available focus range or to shoot a number of focus points and merge them into a single image.

Or maybe it was subject movement and he didn't keep his leg still during that long exposure!

[joebranko]

Hi Sandy. I really like the blazing fire; The reds and oranges are beautifully captured, as are the swirls; they are very interesting I find myself wondering, from a scientific perspective, how you managed to produce them. Good job! Good capture of the smile on elf2!

[Shadowman]

You really rocked the fire this week, nicely done.

[skitterbug]

Hi Sandy. I really like the blazing fire; The reds and oranges are beautifully captured, as are the swirls; they are very interesting I find myself wondering, from a scientific perspective, how you managed to produce them. Good job! Good capture of the smile on elf2!

Hi Joe ~ I've been MIA this week - can't think up any excuses even.... just lazy I suppose!

I was surprised to see the swirls when I was post processing. If I tried to do something like that, I'd probably botch up the task! So I count myself lucky. One thing I've learned about camp fires or fires of any type is that I love seeing the flame, coals, etc. I don't like it when the fire is destructive though but the fire itself is beautiful to see and watch! I tried to capture a bit of it and I was considering using the video capture so I could run it on my television in the evening. I think it would be enjoyable.

Thank you for your comments!

[skitterbug]

You really rocked the fire this week, nicely done.

Hi John ~ Thank you! In my reply to Joe, I noted that I really do enjoy fires! So I'm glad this image meets the test! Thanks for your thoughts about it!

[skitterbug]

Tricky subjects, Sandy, and you have dealt with the difficult bits to produce good exposures. But I think you are attempting too much from the available focus depth with close up shots.

I switched to the S18-55 lens for the image I took for this week's assignment. I wonder if it will be more in focus. For some reason, today my eyes are giving me fits! I probably shouldn't even try pp, etc. but I wanted to keep up with my P52.

The fire has excellent exposure and the main subject is well focused but a pity about that large area which is out of focus in the bottom right corner. Not a lot of options now, maybe crop a little from the right side to reduce the impact of that area? Perhaps end up with a square image?

It was difficult trying to decide how to display that pic. I did take a bit off it for my first post but for myself, I liked the uncropped version better. Cropping it as a square does give it an entirely different "look".

Maybe you could have increased the Iso and used a narrower aperture; possibly F11 to f16 range to achieve a deeper focus depth, although even then you may have still not had enough depth. That is always a potential problem with close focus shots. The only real answers are to arrange the scene so the important items are within the available focus range or to shoot a number of focus points and merge them into a single image.

Or maybe it was subject movement and he didn't keep his leg still during that long exposure!

So after changing lens, I tried another shot of the elf. He came to visit again today when I was least expecting him! He pops up randomly to make sure we are behaving! <laugh> And since this is week 45, he is keeping me on schedule too!

See if this one of him looks any better as far as DOF, sharpness, etc. I appreciate opinions offered! Always!

Elf - ISO200 - 42mm - f/11 - f20ss

[Geoff F]

That is better, Sandy. And a nicer pose as well.

[AG64]

I really like the fire Sandy. It took me a second to get oriented and figure out what exactly I was looking at.

[skitterbug]

That is better, Sandy. And a nicer pose as well.

Thanks Geoff! The little Elf seems to be pleased to do as I ask in regard to photo work! I was happy that I finally seem to have all of him in focus! That was my "aim"!

[skitterbug]

I really like the fire Sandy. It took me a second to get oriented and figure out what exactly I was looking at.

Hi Arno ~ Thanks for your comments. I took another good look at the fire pic in post #45 and agree that it could be open to the interpretation of the viewer. In some ways, it seems like it could be a fairly deep fiery pit when it is actually some logs in a fire ring! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[skitterbug]

The start to week 46! Much colder in our area now and most of our trees have dropped their leaves. I wanted to get a pic of our sweet gum tree and part of our property for our family history. I've tried to do this through the years because we enjoy seeing the changes. My photo work wasn't always the best but still the documentation was done. NOW, however, I am trying to accomplish my task with better photography work. <chuckle> The one I chose to display for comment has had the TV antenna and a bird feeder removed and some "tweaking" done during post processing experimentation.

So yes, this is our home.
I used auto focus but I manually set the shutter speed to 1/250 because it was windy, chose f/11 to keep most of the scene sharp and ISO100 to keep "noise" at a minimum.

[Geoff F]

Works well, Sandy. Plenty of contrast but the whites haven't over exposed. A composition with a nice perspective effect.

[skitterbug]

Works well, Sandy. Plenty of contrast but the whites haven't over exposed. A composition with a nice perspective effect.

Hi Geoff ~ I'm grinning..... maybe I'll get there yet! Thank you for commenting and giving me the boost in confidence that I need!

[joebranko]

Very nice Sandy. I see that, like us in, you still have a few leaves of colour on the trees. I share the same concerns about ISO. I find that if I go above ISO 400 I will see noise. ISO 800 I might occasionally get away without a problem, but over 800 is not good for me.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.