Weekly Comp #171 - A Crop can make the Difference Competition
| Title | Weekly Comp #171 - A Crop can make the Difference |
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| Judge | AxelLuther | Closing Date | 24/10/2010 | Opting Out | If you'd like to enter but not keen on creating and judging the following competition you have the option to opt out. If you're selected as the winning photo simply create a report saying that you'd like Admin to take over and we'll do the rest. |
| Description | |
I selected this topic as it shows the most important photographic tool – the photographers eye for something…. Cutting out only a fragment of the whole scene/arrangement/portrait, can focus on the essential – it can create a new image, new proportions, a surprise, a wow effect, a simplification. This must not just be a landscape crop to get a panorama – I also have pictures in mind like showing the eye of an elephant surrounded by some wizen skin (instead of showing the whole animal), a face, cut-off at half and pushed to the edge of the photo, just an open mouth and a microphone instead of showing the whole singer. Nice thing with crops is – it can already be done during shooting (like with the picture “my friends all drive Porsche – this was already cut-out during shooting – the square proportion was not achieved by cutting left and right – it was achieved by adding a black space on top) and if you have no cropped original – you can take your existing photos and by cutting out an interesting part of the picture and suddenly you have a complete new image. So I hope you have fun with this topic |
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Winning Photograph
Competition Entries
Photographs uploaded to the Weekly Comp #171 - A Crop can make the Difference competition.
Posted 25/10/2010 - 00:05
Link
Hi – this was such a great competition for me – so many amazing, surprising, exciting, well done entries. It was great fun to look at them and to share my thoughts with you. Again – as not being an EN native - it is sometimes a bit hard to find the right words (and believe me – it is also a bit more effort to write down things in a foreign language ) So if you find some comments strange, it is probably more the result of my non-Oxford English and not representing my real intensions.
„Up the roof“ from Dr. Mhuni. What a great shot and showing perfectly what my intension was with this week’s topic - I assume, the picture was taken from a building like this http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Watphomedpavillon0408a.jpg&filet... The photo behind this link is kind of nice – showing the dimension of the whole thing but it is also somehow “boring” – having this “I have seen this 1000 times before” effect. With the crop of more or less the same thing, you created a complete new image/impression – people start to wonder what it is, see details they normally might miss and suddenly the same object becomes so much more exciting. Technically also a great shot with the perspective compression, perfect aligned horizontal lines, brilliant color harmonies and superb focus. I already loved your “golden boys” picture last week and this is another great shot from this place
“The sea in reflection” from tiger308. Also a great usage of a crop – actually we still see the landscape of the nice coastline, but in a much more exciting way then with a direct shot. It also puts the person into a much more exciting context with the scenery then just have him stand in front of the scenery as it is often done on vacation snapshots. Really good crop. Only thing that I would change next time is to enhance focal depth so that the earpiece of the glasses gets into focus. I could also imagine, that a slightly bigger crop would be OK – but there I am not sure . Perhaps also interesting to try is, to use the photo of the man and take another one from the scenery and then crop it as an overlay on top of the glasses. With all the nice perspective and distortion features of tools like CS4, you can easily create a perfect bowed reflection and with such a crop in a crop, you have even more control on how the reflection should look like (but yours looks great – just a proposal for someone who likes to play with photos) – oh and finally – I like it, that you managed to take the photo without a reflection of yourself in the glasses. Seeing the photographer would be too much of distraction.
“Cone of Death” from johnriley . Wow – this competition starts with really great samples showing why crops are such an important feature. I love this shot as it brings back to our minds, for what military planes are constructed – most of them are used to kill, to destroy or to prepare killing and destroying. I like aircrafts a lot, they fascinate me – seeing the elegance, the shapes, the power, the speed – and all this fascination kind of hides the real purpose. Your crop (and also the honest title of the picture) brings this back with a very clear, flourishless, visual language. The limited availability of colors and the hard light/shadow settings also support the message of this picture. And as always – also technically a great shot.
“Chromed” from aliengrove. A picture that shows the pure power of this Harley engine and also the enthusiasm owners of such custom bikes put into their “toys” to make them even more special. The colors I like a lot (especially the contrast of these warm colors of the flames and the cool chrome part). Focal depth I also like – any kind of out of focus or even Bokeh would not work here, as this shot is about the elegance and beauty of this piece of technology – so every detail should be showed as you did in your image. What I don’t like is the bad cleaning condition of the lower chrome parts – but this is not your fault – it only shows, that the owner is perhaps not one of these crazy custom bike guys who always walk around with a duster to polish the bike every 20 seconds.
What I would have tried is, to get rid of the people reflections in this filter box (especially the really obvious green shirt guy). In addition, I would have chosen a slightly less tilted angle to see a bit more details of the engine – not necessarily a frontal view but at least some more frontal then yours. A last – but really tiny thing (and perhaps not everyone would agree on that) – as you have this nice split of warm colors on the right and cold on the left – I would have darkened the brownish ground that shows up in the lower left corner and between manifold, gearbox and filter box. This in total black or in a grayish-blue color setting would have been better in my eyes
„saxophone“ from ReklawyksEkul. And the good shots continue - I love this one as well – also personally, because one of the things I don’t like with saxophone players is, that they always lick the embouchure of their instrument!!. That you cut-off this “nasty” detail is so much appreciated . Great that you switched to black and white as this perfectly goes hand-in-hand with the b&w theme on his shirt and it is again great luck that the vertical structure on his shirt so much goes hand in hand with the vertical orientation of the instrument. I also love the combination of the soft, blur, semi-dark background and the already overexposed (but in this case overexposed in a great way) part of his shoulder, instrument and right hand. A pity that the focal depth seems to lay on his instrument belt and not his hand which therefore appears a bit blur – but hey – in Germany we have a phrase called “Jammern auf hohem Niveau” which literally means whining on an advanced level – (I am sure you have a similar impression in English) – this is not a draw-back – this is just a tiny detail. So a very artistic, moody and authentic crop.
“Shoot!” from GlynM: First of all – amazing to have a K20D and a K7!!! Interesting idea to show you “at work” and I also like the fact, that Pentax have positioned two vital buttons in a position, that allows easy pressing and adjusting at the same time. Your shoot nicely shows some details of a crop but I somehow miss a bit the “wow” effect. The image feels a bit like you wanted to show the display of the camera and but I miss the complete new perspective on looking at a cameras detail. Another tiny issue (but no idea how to prevent it) I think it would be better, if the LCD does not show the inactive display elements that much – might be, that they disappear when shooting in a slightly different angle (LCDs sometimes show this effect) – but on the other hand – it was perhaps your intention to show the complete potential of the display – and then it would be a good angle.
“Feeding time at the zoo” from Beebee: This competition so much develops in a way I wanted it to be – what a great “snap shot” (in a very literally way ). This crop starts like a little riddle (like – what the hell is this) then it provides a little shock and once you realized, that this is pure nature and the way it must be, it turns into something special (and I have to admit – it even brings some black humor). The crop is perfect – not showing the face of the bird makes it a bit more enigma what kind of creature it really is, that enjoys Tweety which makes it an even more interesting shot. Tweety itself brings a great color accent to the image (nice contrast with the grey tone of the beak. To see the blur fence is OK for me – might be better without but hey – there was a fence, so what should you do. The only really sad thing is, that the beak is not in focus (especially as this is the sharp, awful killing machine). I am sure, that you are also a bit disappointed when seeing the shot on your screen the first time – but this does not change the fact that you had a perfect timing and a perfect eye for choosing the right crop.
“concrete reflected” from Bill_And: For me an amazing picture – what a great color contrast of this golden reflection and the dark blue car – and to top this even mire, adding this dark red “whateveritis” into the upper right corner of the picture. I love to crop cars like this (you found perfect suture lines – couldn’t be better in my opinion) – showing the whole thing is never as exciting as showing a typical shape of a car – sometimes a roof radius tells you immediately what kind of car you look at – you don’t need the front, side, tires etc. The sharpness is brilliant, as well as the perspective. Not sure if I would have added the black frame (as it somehow reduces a bit the brilliance of the picture) but this is an subjective feeling – the frame is not really a constrain of this picture.
“Allard” from Hyram. Cars seem to be a good object for crops – here it is combined with this oligochrome color setting which I think, is a great combination (of simplified shapes and colors). Showing part of the number brings you into the world of racing and showing the exhausts shows the sheer power of the machine. Not showing too much of the car lets you wonder what kind of car it is (and only by reading your description I now know that it was a dragster car). A superb picture which (for me) goes in the direction of photo art. Also exactly the kind of picture I had in mind when defining the topic of this week’s competition.
„bike circa 1940`s“ from malcolm leader. From a crop-perspective a great shot – by focusing on two details of this vintage object, you really nicely show its vintage nature. The traces of years of usage – the missing shining surfaces and somehow also the BW creates a perfect impression that this is an old object. I find the Bokeh in the background (grass) still a bit to hard – to obvious structure which creates some background noise (a bit softer edges here might have isolated the handle and bell even more. Also I find the picture slightly too dark – I assume this should also support the overall vintage mood but it appears a bit too dark for me. Nevertheless –as I said in the beginning – the crop is really good and for me a good way to show this old bike.
„Jaguar XK150“ from gartmore: Also an eye-catching crop that really lives from his special perspective and the superb color accent of the red brand logo in the middle. Seeing the radiator mascot in this angle is much more interesting compared to the more common lateral view. Also great that you captured the detail with the leather belt, as this is really something, which is so much different compared to modern cars. I only see one major issue on this shot and this is the slightly tilted perspective that is especially obvious in the radiator grid. With such a clear symmetrical overall image formation, I would prefer a completely aligned radiator – so using the distortion tool and pulling the lower right corner a bit to the right and cutting the crop that the middle line is exactly in the middle and vertical would be better in my opinion.
"London Eye" – Pod“ from mudge: A really amazing construction which allows obviously so many great shots. In this case I would suggest to be a bit more radical with the crop – the way it is, shows the cabin and it is clear, what we see. The nice thing with crops is, that they can create surprising new impressions, the object should not be visible on the first sight – I like it, when you think you look at something and only when starting to think about what you see, you realize what it is (or in extreme cases, the original stays incognito). I played a bit with your shot – if e.g. you would have cut-off only the roof part (just above the head of the tall guy in the left part) and add more cloudy sky to it, the picture looks a bit like a hangar construction (a bit like the giant former Cargolifter hangar in eastern Germany) - just one idea (but I am sure such a construction like the London-I provides many others).
“You lookin` at me ??” from TOZZA27: One of these shots that seems to tell another story. When I saw it, I immediately thought of these poor creatures who have to spend their “lifes” in laying batteries – it looked very jolting – protesting – a perfect picture for a campaign against these forms of agri”culture”. Looking closer, you could see that the chicken is in far to good condition to be one of these egg machines. The crop is ideal – it focuses on very striking parts of the animal – adding the fence reminds us, that these birds are not free. If the eye would not be partly covered by the fence, it would be perhaps even more eye-catching (especially as this birds eye has a very special color). Also a bit a pity, that the eye is already out of the focal plane.
„quarter sun“ from ArsenAl: A great backlight shot. I could imagine that, when seeing the whole scene, many parts would be in deep shadow abd the overall picture might be too dark. By focusing on the brilliant yellow petals, you brought so much light, warmth and life into the picture. The blur dark greenish background is great – it lets the petals shine even more. Also good, that the center of the flower is not completely dark and shows some of the ornamental structure. A very positive picture, very stylish and also a great crop
“Snack-time” from GaryJohn: Gary – you combine two design elements in a wonderful way – the crop and perfect timing. Shooting this dove in a moment where she seems to sit fully relaxed on the beast’s jaw adds a nice portion of humor to the picture. Having its pray sitting on his jaw also makes the beast looking so much more natural. From a technical point of view I would only add some more shadows and contrast to the rocky left part of the picture as this appears very diffuse and lacks some dynamic. For not getting the dove too dark it makes no sense to simply reduce the brightness but with CS4 filters such as Shadows/Highlights it would be possible to add shadows to the rock without getting the dove dark.
“would” from puma: a great crop indeed. The simplification of the color range to the brownish wood elements and the grey metal makes this picture very stylish. So good that you manage to find an angle, where we can see some water between the first and second boat – this not just adds a nice color contrast to the picture but also lets us feel more the environment in which the boats bob up and down. A bit more sharpness would make this picture perfect for me (but I can imagine with the need of short shutter time because of the moving objects and the very wide focal range of this row of boats you somehow had to find a compromise)
“Sheltered by my daddy” JudithAnn: Hi Judith – until this morning I was not really a fan of these “naked-baby-naked-daddy-B&W-pictures” where typically the daddy is a strong athletic guy holding a fragile baby….. your picture is a great exception. I really love it – it does not at all look stereotype. It is so harmonic, the soft tones fit perfectly to the obviously very young baby (looks like it is not much older than a few weeks). You show how much this baby needs protection by his daddy and mummy and your picture also shows how intense the daddy takes care of his new-born. The softness of his shoulder forms a perfect ground for the baby and the grading darkness of his hair forms a perfect upper frame to the whole scene. Not having his head centrally but very much cut-off is perfect.
A really really perfectly cropped shot where also all the other photographic elements are simply perfect.
“Arches” from darlene: This picture has some pros for me but also some cons. It shows a nice range of colors with good complimentary contrasts and it also shows interesting structures. But I see also some technical issues (and I have to say – when using the closer look, they are even more obvious). The picture is very much out of focus – and the surprising thing – the static elements are blur – not so much the moving water. If the idea was, to make a long-time shot to smooth the water, I would suggest that you work with a tripod (to get razor-blade sharp static objects). Although, I am not even sure if it is motion blur or just not in focus. I also think that the contrasts are a bit too strong – the bolder in the middle with the nice ring structure, shows almost no structure in the white ring anymore, and also some of the reflections on the pebbles in the foreground seem a bit too hard for me.
“Ship Shape“ from stevistds: A great minimalistic, graphical crop. This image appears like a color key although it is a real color photo. This red “however-this-is-called” object is such a perfect eye catcher and it is even better that all other disturbing colorful elements are cut-off. The two background colors black and white are really on extreme sides of the light and color scale and together with the bright sunlight this lets the white areas be a bit to bright and the black elements not completely black but more a dark grey. Might be worth to reduce highlights a bit and to darken the mid-tones, but also the way how it is a really great shot
“London Eye Crop” from ISO: Another good example, how a crop can change the perspective and appearance completely – suddenly a famous giant construction like the L-I looks a bit like a bicycle wheel. Very clear structures with limited good contrasting colors. Perhaps a standpoint a bit more to the left would have been exactly under the middle axis and therefore would have created an even more symmetric picture of this architectural masterpiece.
„Afternoon Shadow“ from DGSPINK: Definitely an interesting object you spotted at the beach of Mauritius. For me a sample where I think, the crop could have been far more radical. It still appears too much like a “normal” shot from this tree debris – it somehow is too obvious. By focusing on some more details would lead to a less obvious shot and therefore increase excitement.
“I Spy“ from timcx500e: A really great shot that – for me – totally meets the this week’s topic. What a great combination of this nice wood structure and the curious, friendly child’s face. Having its eye in the center of the gap is perfect, the red freckles are a great supporting feature of the curious nature of the child and because of the smile it looks like spying through the fence and not like being locked away behind the fence. Also that you positioned the eye as the most important element of this picture perfectly on the upper right golden ratio is another evidence for the great photographic skills behind this shot. I am really touched and impressed by this picture.
“Crop” from DrOrloff: A blacvk and white how I love them – superb lighting and contrast and great sharpness on the corn. Also interesting, that you created an image of something that is just waiting to be cropped”. As this corn looks like it is waiting for the harvester. The dark trey in front of the smooth soft clouds also creates high dynamic and contrast and makes it very exciting. Only two things come to my mind, that bear some potential of optimization. I think a wider focal depth that also brings the tree and the rear part of the field in focus would increase the contrast of the dark tree structure and the smooth clouds – and one thing is something, that could only be changed with post processing - unfortunately the horizon seems to be a shallow slop line – so you had to decide if you want a tilted horizon or a tilted tree. The first looks far more natural so I would have decided the same way you did and get the tree upright and the horizon slightly tilted – but – as this tree perfectly contrasts from the soft background, it would be an easy task to extract it and tilt it a bit to the left and then tilt the whole image a bit to the right and suddenly both – tree and horizon would be perfectly aligned.
„Autumn Crop“ from coker: For me this picture is a bit like the London Eye – pod picture – it looks more like a normal picture and less like a crop that makes the difference. Sure it is just a crop of a tree but somehow it still looks like the lower part of a tree in a leave covered lawn. So therefore what I expected from a fascinating cropped image is not really made by this picture.
“Finished” from davidtrout: A really touching photo with so many metaphors. The leaving person that is kept in total anonymity, the empty mug that shows, by the remains that is was once filled, the overall atmosphere due to the b&w. Great atmosphere, very exciting shot and a really piece of photographic art. The crop is also great as you have no clue where you are or who the “actors” are. I really love this shot and have no idea how to make it better
“A BOUNCY PICTURE!” from melmcc82: Wow – this picture definitely wins the price in the category “dynamic shooting” . Can imagine how hard it is to jump on a trampoline with a child in one hand and a camera in the other. Astonishing what a great portrait you managed to shoot under these conditions. Here the crop is the natural result of limited arm length and distraction of the own massive movement. Therefore the picture has its very own dynamic and looks very interesting (and lovely to see how much she enjoys to jump with you on the trampoline)
“The Shoot” from alun: I have to say – a really impressive and authentic shot. Fixing your eye on the open weapon, the two rounds and the shooters hand is very impressive. The nice blur of the background perfectly frames the actual object and the traces of work on the thumb makes the picture even more authentic. This looks like the hand of someone who is used to work with his hands (and therefore also the shooting seems to be part of his work) and not like an office guy for whom shooting is just a hobby. Color range of green, black, brown and golden is very harmonic – an absolutely well balanced picture.
"Hanging out" from By: allanj255: what a cheeky moment you captured with your crop. This is brilliant to see a smart mouse that profits from the fact that humans feed nature animals. The moment is really great and you managed to shoot it in a nice focal range. Sharpness and dynamic are both a bit weak – I think with a bit more dynamic, contrast and sharpness (especially on the rusty nail and the right ball) it would be a brilliant picture – but it is still an amazing one.
"Unfinished business" from By: drofmit: and the series of great crops continues. I love the way you expose the unfinished spider web – the way how the back light illuminates the fragile construction and how good is this, that in the background you can see even a second spider web. The pano-proportion perfectly supports the proportion of the web and working with the two focal layers is creating lots of harmony but also dynamic in this picture. Finally, great color range: these colors look really in tone – nothing disturbs – all fit together.
"On the Beach" from bforbes: A good example how good a crop can be used to create a great pano. Especially since we have a chance to buy high-resolution cameras without investing as much money as you need for medium-sized vehicle, images can be used to crop such panos as they still show so much details. The scenery looks really nice and the color contrast between the blue water and the yellow sand is amazing. Also good how the two dark shaded persons stick out from the bright background. I personally would have cropped away a bit more of the lower part of the picture (having its lower rim where the sand stops to be yellow). This would have focused a bit better on the nice yellow/blue contrast and IO also love were widescreen panos (they look so stylish :wink
As often, so hard to define a winner, 2 and 3 as there are so many great contributions this week. At the end (as so many pictures were technically brilliant) it was the level of “making a special image” by using the crop, that influenced me in nominating the ones on the rostrum
So here is my very personal ranking:
Place 1: “I Spy“ from timcx500e. I love this shot (well – being a father of three might have influenced me a bit in seeing this great picture of a child, but also without that – such a great crop – such a great photo.
Place 2: „Up the roof“ from Dr. Mhuni. Especially when comparing this shot with a typical shot from this building, it is very obvious, why this image is so special (and in addition – also technically so well done)
Place 3: „saxophone“ from ReklawyksEkul. The minimalism of this b&w, the interesting lightning (and the fact, that you don’t show the mouth makes this a very special photo for me – also very artistic.
Also very close to the rostrum (and believe me, it was really hard to finally decide on the ranking):
“Cone of Death” from johnriley
“Feeding time at the zoo” from Beebee
“concrete reflected” from Bill_And
“Sheltered by my daddy”
“Allard” from Hyram
„Up the roof“ from Dr. Mhuni. What a great shot and showing perfectly what my intension was with this week’s topic - I assume, the picture was taken from a building like this http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Watphomedpavillon0408a.jpg&filet... The photo behind this link is kind of nice – showing the dimension of the whole thing but it is also somehow “boring” – having this “I have seen this 1000 times before” effect. With the crop of more or less the same thing, you created a complete new image/impression – people start to wonder what it is, see details they normally might miss and suddenly the same object becomes so much more exciting. Technically also a great shot with the perspective compression, perfect aligned horizontal lines, brilliant color harmonies and superb focus. I already loved your “golden boys” picture last week and this is another great shot from this place
“The sea in reflection” from tiger308. Also a great usage of a crop – actually we still see the landscape of the nice coastline, but in a much more exciting way then with a direct shot. It also puts the person into a much more exciting context with the scenery then just have him stand in front of the scenery as it is often done on vacation snapshots. Really good crop. Only thing that I would change next time is to enhance focal depth so that the earpiece of the glasses gets into focus. I could also imagine, that a slightly bigger crop would be OK – but there I am not sure . Perhaps also interesting to try is, to use the photo of the man and take another one from the scenery and then crop it as an overlay on top of the glasses. With all the nice perspective and distortion features of tools like CS4, you can easily create a perfect bowed reflection and with such a crop in a crop, you have even more control on how the reflection should look like (but yours looks great – just a proposal for someone who likes to play with photos) – oh and finally – I like it, that you managed to take the photo without a reflection of yourself in the glasses. Seeing the photographer would be too much of distraction.
“Cone of Death” from johnriley . Wow – this competition starts with really great samples showing why crops are such an important feature. I love this shot as it brings back to our minds, for what military planes are constructed – most of them are used to kill, to destroy or to prepare killing and destroying. I like aircrafts a lot, they fascinate me – seeing the elegance, the shapes, the power, the speed – and all this fascination kind of hides the real purpose. Your crop (and also the honest title of the picture) brings this back with a very clear, flourishless, visual language. The limited availability of colors and the hard light/shadow settings also support the message of this picture. And as always – also technically a great shot.
“Chromed” from aliengrove. A picture that shows the pure power of this Harley engine and also the enthusiasm owners of such custom bikes put into their “toys” to make them even more special. The colors I like a lot (especially the contrast of these warm colors of the flames and the cool chrome part). Focal depth I also like – any kind of out of focus or even Bokeh would not work here, as this shot is about the elegance and beauty of this piece of technology – so every detail should be showed as you did in your image. What I don’t like is the bad cleaning condition of the lower chrome parts – but this is not your fault – it only shows, that the owner is perhaps not one of these crazy custom bike guys who always walk around with a duster to polish the bike every 20 seconds.
What I would have tried is, to get rid of the people reflections in this filter box (especially the really obvious green shirt guy). In addition, I would have chosen a slightly less tilted angle to see a bit more details of the engine – not necessarily a frontal view but at least some more frontal then yours. A last – but really tiny thing (and perhaps not everyone would agree on that) – as you have this nice split of warm colors on the right and cold on the left – I would have darkened the brownish ground that shows up in the lower left corner and between manifold, gearbox and filter box. This in total black or in a grayish-blue color setting would have been better in my eyes
„saxophone“ from ReklawyksEkul. And the good shots continue - I love this one as well – also personally, because one of the things I don’t like with saxophone players is, that they always lick the embouchure of their instrument!!. That you cut-off this “nasty” detail is so much appreciated . Great that you switched to black and white as this perfectly goes hand-in-hand with the b&w theme on his shirt and it is again great luck that the vertical structure on his shirt so much goes hand in hand with the vertical orientation of the instrument. I also love the combination of the soft, blur, semi-dark background and the already overexposed (but in this case overexposed in a great way) part of his shoulder, instrument and right hand. A pity that the focal depth seems to lay on his instrument belt and not his hand which therefore appears a bit blur – but hey – in Germany we have a phrase called “Jammern auf hohem Niveau” which literally means whining on an advanced level – (I am sure you have a similar impression in English) – this is not a draw-back – this is just a tiny detail. So a very artistic, moody and authentic crop.
“Shoot!” from GlynM: First of all – amazing to have a K20D and a K7!!! Interesting idea to show you “at work” and I also like the fact, that Pentax have positioned two vital buttons in a position, that allows easy pressing and adjusting at the same time. Your shoot nicely shows some details of a crop but I somehow miss a bit the “wow” effect. The image feels a bit like you wanted to show the display of the camera and but I miss the complete new perspective on looking at a cameras detail. Another tiny issue (but no idea how to prevent it) I think it would be better, if the LCD does not show the inactive display elements that much – might be, that they disappear when shooting in a slightly different angle (LCDs sometimes show this effect) – but on the other hand – it was perhaps your intention to show the complete potential of the display – and then it would be a good angle.
“Feeding time at the zoo” from Beebee: This competition so much develops in a way I wanted it to be – what a great “snap shot” (in a very literally way ). This crop starts like a little riddle (like – what the hell is this) then it provides a little shock and once you realized, that this is pure nature and the way it must be, it turns into something special (and I have to admit – it even brings some black humor). The crop is perfect – not showing the face of the bird makes it a bit more enigma what kind of creature it really is, that enjoys Tweety which makes it an even more interesting shot. Tweety itself brings a great color accent to the image (nice contrast with the grey tone of the beak. To see the blur fence is OK for me – might be better without but hey – there was a fence, so what should you do. The only really sad thing is, that the beak is not in focus (especially as this is the sharp, awful killing machine). I am sure, that you are also a bit disappointed when seeing the shot on your screen the first time – but this does not change the fact that you had a perfect timing and a perfect eye for choosing the right crop.
“concrete reflected” from Bill_And: For me an amazing picture – what a great color contrast of this golden reflection and the dark blue car – and to top this even mire, adding this dark red “whateveritis” into the upper right corner of the picture. I love to crop cars like this (you found perfect suture lines – couldn’t be better in my opinion) – showing the whole thing is never as exciting as showing a typical shape of a car – sometimes a roof radius tells you immediately what kind of car you look at – you don’t need the front, side, tires etc. The sharpness is brilliant, as well as the perspective. Not sure if I would have added the black frame (as it somehow reduces a bit the brilliance of the picture) but this is an subjective feeling – the frame is not really a constrain of this picture.
“Allard” from Hyram. Cars seem to be a good object for crops – here it is combined with this oligochrome color setting which I think, is a great combination (of simplified shapes and colors). Showing part of the number brings you into the world of racing and showing the exhausts shows the sheer power of the machine. Not showing too much of the car lets you wonder what kind of car it is (and only by reading your description I now know that it was a dragster car). A superb picture which (for me) goes in the direction of photo art. Also exactly the kind of picture I had in mind when defining the topic of this week’s competition.
„bike circa 1940`s“ from malcolm leader. From a crop-perspective a great shot – by focusing on two details of this vintage object, you really nicely show its vintage nature. The traces of years of usage – the missing shining surfaces and somehow also the BW creates a perfect impression that this is an old object. I find the Bokeh in the background (grass) still a bit to hard – to obvious structure which creates some background noise (a bit softer edges here might have isolated the handle and bell even more. Also I find the picture slightly too dark – I assume this should also support the overall vintage mood but it appears a bit too dark for me. Nevertheless –as I said in the beginning – the crop is really good and for me a good way to show this old bike.
„Jaguar XK150“ from gartmore: Also an eye-catching crop that really lives from his special perspective and the superb color accent of the red brand logo in the middle. Seeing the radiator mascot in this angle is much more interesting compared to the more common lateral view. Also great that you captured the detail with the leather belt, as this is really something, which is so much different compared to modern cars. I only see one major issue on this shot and this is the slightly tilted perspective that is especially obvious in the radiator grid. With such a clear symmetrical overall image formation, I would prefer a completely aligned radiator – so using the distortion tool and pulling the lower right corner a bit to the right and cutting the crop that the middle line is exactly in the middle and vertical would be better in my opinion.
"London Eye" – Pod“ from mudge: A really amazing construction which allows obviously so many great shots. In this case I would suggest to be a bit more radical with the crop – the way it is, shows the cabin and it is clear, what we see. The nice thing with crops is, that they can create surprising new impressions, the object should not be visible on the first sight – I like it, when you think you look at something and only when starting to think about what you see, you realize what it is (or in extreme cases, the original stays incognito). I played a bit with your shot – if e.g. you would have cut-off only the roof part (just above the head of the tall guy in the left part) and add more cloudy sky to it, the picture looks a bit like a hangar construction (a bit like the giant former Cargolifter hangar in eastern Germany) - just one idea (but I am sure such a construction like the London-I provides many others).
“You lookin` at me ??” from TOZZA27: One of these shots that seems to tell another story. When I saw it, I immediately thought of these poor creatures who have to spend their “lifes” in laying batteries – it looked very jolting – protesting – a perfect picture for a campaign against these forms of agri”culture”. Looking closer, you could see that the chicken is in far to good condition to be one of these egg machines. The crop is ideal – it focuses on very striking parts of the animal – adding the fence reminds us, that these birds are not free. If the eye would not be partly covered by the fence, it would be perhaps even more eye-catching (especially as this birds eye has a very special color). Also a bit a pity, that the eye is already out of the focal plane.
„quarter sun“ from ArsenAl: A great backlight shot. I could imagine that, when seeing the whole scene, many parts would be in deep shadow abd the overall picture might be too dark. By focusing on the brilliant yellow petals, you brought so much light, warmth and life into the picture. The blur dark greenish background is great – it lets the petals shine even more. Also good, that the center of the flower is not completely dark and shows some of the ornamental structure. A very positive picture, very stylish and also a great crop
“Snack-time” from GaryJohn: Gary – you combine two design elements in a wonderful way – the crop and perfect timing. Shooting this dove in a moment where she seems to sit fully relaxed on the beast’s jaw adds a nice portion of humor to the picture. Having its pray sitting on his jaw also makes the beast looking so much more natural. From a technical point of view I would only add some more shadows and contrast to the rocky left part of the picture as this appears very diffuse and lacks some dynamic. For not getting the dove too dark it makes no sense to simply reduce the brightness but with CS4 filters such as Shadows/Highlights it would be possible to add shadows to the rock without getting the dove dark.
“would” from puma: a great crop indeed. The simplification of the color range to the brownish wood elements and the grey metal makes this picture very stylish. So good that you manage to find an angle, where we can see some water between the first and second boat – this not just adds a nice color contrast to the picture but also lets us feel more the environment in which the boats bob up and down. A bit more sharpness would make this picture perfect for me (but I can imagine with the need of short shutter time because of the moving objects and the very wide focal range of this row of boats you somehow had to find a compromise)
“Sheltered by my daddy” JudithAnn: Hi Judith – until this morning I was not really a fan of these “naked-baby-naked-daddy-B&W-pictures” where typically the daddy is a strong athletic guy holding a fragile baby….. your picture is a great exception. I really love it – it does not at all look stereotype. It is so harmonic, the soft tones fit perfectly to the obviously very young baby (looks like it is not much older than a few weeks). You show how much this baby needs protection by his daddy and mummy and your picture also shows how intense the daddy takes care of his new-born. The softness of his shoulder forms a perfect ground for the baby and the grading darkness of his hair forms a perfect upper frame to the whole scene. Not having his head centrally but very much cut-off is perfect.
A really really perfectly cropped shot where also all the other photographic elements are simply perfect.
“Arches” from darlene: This picture has some pros for me but also some cons. It shows a nice range of colors with good complimentary contrasts and it also shows interesting structures. But I see also some technical issues (and I have to say – when using the closer look, they are even more obvious). The picture is very much out of focus – and the surprising thing – the static elements are blur – not so much the moving water. If the idea was, to make a long-time shot to smooth the water, I would suggest that you work with a tripod (to get razor-blade sharp static objects). Although, I am not even sure if it is motion blur or just not in focus. I also think that the contrasts are a bit too strong – the bolder in the middle with the nice ring structure, shows almost no structure in the white ring anymore, and also some of the reflections on the pebbles in the foreground seem a bit too hard for me.
“Ship Shape“ from stevistds: A great minimalistic, graphical crop. This image appears like a color key although it is a real color photo. This red “however-this-is-called” object is such a perfect eye catcher and it is even better that all other disturbing colorful elements are cut-off. The two background colors black and white are really on extreme sides of the light and color scale and together with the bright sunlight this lets the white areas be a bit to bright and the black elements not completely black but more a dark grey. Might be worth to reduce highlights a bit and to darken the mid-tones, but also the way how it is a really great shot
“London Eye Crop” from ISO: Another good example, how a crop can change the perspective and appearance completely – suddenly a famous giant construction like the L-I looks a bit like a bicycle wheel. Very clear structures with limited good contrasting colors. Perhaps a standpoint a bit more to the left would have been exactly under the middle axis and therefore would have created an even more symmetric picture of this architectural masterpiece.
„Afternoon Shadow“ from DGSPINK: Definitely an interesting object you spotted at the beach of Mauritius. For me a sample where I think, the crop could have been far more radical. It still appears too much like a “normal” shot from this tree debris – it somehow is too obvious. By focusing on some more details would lead to a less obvious shot and therefore increase excitement.
“I Spy“ from timcx500e: A really great shot that – for me – totally meets the this week’s topic. What a great combination of this nice wood structure and the curious, friendly child’s face. Having its eye in the center of the gap is perfect, the red freckles are a great supporting feature of the curious nature of the child and because of the smile it looks like spying through the fence and not like being locked away behind the fence. Also that you positioned the eye as the most important element of this picture perfectly on the upper right golden ratio is another evidence for the great photographic skills behind this shot. I am really touched and impressed by this picture.
“Crop” from DrOrloff: A blacvk and white how I love them – superb lighting and contrast and great sharpness on the corn. Also interesting, that you created an image of something that is just waiting to be cropped”. As this corn looks like it is waiting for the harvester. The dark trey in front of the smooth soft clouds also creates high dynamic and contrast and makes it very exciting. Only two things come to my mind, that bear some potential of optimization. I think a wider focal depth that also brings the tree and the rear part of the field in focus would increase the contrast of the dark tree structure and the smooth clouds – and one thing is something, that could only be changed with post processing - unfortunately the horizon seems to be a shallow slop line – so you had to decide if you want a tilted horizon or a tilted tree. The first looks far more natural so I would have decided the same way you did and get the tree upright and the horizon slightly tilted – but – as this tree perfectly contrasts from the soft background, it would be an easy task to extract it and tilt it a bit to the left and then tilt the whole image a bit to the right and suddenly both – tree and horizon would be perfectly aligned.
„Autumn Crop“ from coker: For me this picture is a bit like the London Eye – pod picture – it looks more like a normal picture and less like a crop that makes the difference. Sure it is just a crop of a tree but somehow it still looks like the lower part of a tree in a leave covered lawn. So therefore what I expected from a fascinating cropped image is not really made by this picture.
“Finished” from davidtrout: A really touching photo with so many metaphors. The leaving person that is kept in total anonymity, the empty mug that shows, by the remains that is was once filled, the overall atmosphere due to the b&w. Great atmosphere, very exciting shot and a really piece of photographic art. The crop is also great as you have no clue where you are or who the “actors” are. I really love this shot and have no idea how to make it better
“A BOUNCY PICTURE!” from melmcc82: Wow – this picture definitely wins the price in the category “dynamic shooting” . Can imagine how hard it is to jump on a trampoline with a child in one hand and a camera in the other. Astonishing what a great portrait you managed to shoot under these conditions. Here the crop is the natural result of limited arm length and distraction of the own massive movement. Therefore the picture has its very own dynamic and looks very interesting (and lovely to see how much she enjoys to jump with you on the trampoline)
“The Shoot” from alun: I have to say – a really impressive and authentic shot. Fixing your eye on the open weapon, the two rounds and the shooters hand is very impressive. The nice blur of the background perfectly frames the actual object and the traces of work on the thumb makes the picture even more authentic. This looks like the hand of someone who is used to work with his hands (and therefore also the shooting seems to be part of his work) and not like an office guy for whom shooting is just a hobby. Color range of green, black, brown and golden is very harmonic – an absolutely well balanced picture.
"Hanging out" from By: allanj255: what a cheeky moment you captured with your crop. This is brilliant to see a smart mouse that profits from the fact that humans feed nature animals. The moment is really great and you managed to shoot it in a nice focal range. Sharpness and dynamic are both a bit weak – I think with a bit more dynamic, contrast and sharpness (especially on the rusty nail and the right ball) it would be a brilliant picture – but it is still an amazing one.
"Unfinished business" from By: drofmit: and the series of great crops continues. I love the way you expose the unfinished spider web – the way how the back light illuminates the fragile construction and how good is this, that in the background you can see even a second spider web. The pano-proportion perfectly supports the proportion of the web and working with the two focal layers is creating lots of harmony but also dynamic in this picture. Finally, great color range: these colors look really in tone – nothing disturbs – all fit together.
"On the Beach" from bforbes: A good example how good a crop can be used to create a great pano. Especially since we have a chance to buy high-resolution cameras without investing as much money as you need for medium-sized vehicle, images can be used to crop such panos as they still show so much details. The scenery looks really nice and the color contrast between the blue water and the yellow sand is amazing. Also good how the two dark shaded persons stick out from the bright background. I personally would have cropped away a bit more of the lower part of the picture (having its lower rim where the sand stops to be yellow). This would have focused a bit better on the nice yellow/blue contrast and IO also love were widescreen panos (they look so stylish :wink
As often, so hard to define a winner, 2 and 3 as there are so many great contributions this week. At the end (as so many pictures were technically brilliant) it was the level of “making a special image” by using the crop, that influenced me in nominating the ones on the rostrum
So here is my very personal ranking:
Place 1: “I Spy“ from timcx500e. I love this shot (well – being a father of three might have influenced me a bit in seeing this great picture of a child, but also without that – such a great crop – such a great photo.
Place 2: „Up the roof“ from Dr. Mhuni. Especially when comparing this shot with a typical shot from this building, it is very obvious, why this image is so special (and in addition – also technically so well done)
Place 3: „saxophone“ from ReklawyksEkul. The minimalism of this b&w, the interesting lightning (and the fact, that you don’t show the mouth makes this a very special photo for me – also very artistic.
Also very close to the rostrum (and believe me, it was really hard to finally decide on the ranking):
“Cone of Death” from johnriley
“Feeding time at the zoo” from Beebee
“concrete reflected” from Bill_And
“Sheltered by my daddy”
“Allard” from Hyram
_____________________________________________
Colors are the lack of darkness
You find more of my pictures here: https://pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com
Colors are the lack of darkness
You find more of my pictures here: https://pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com
Posted 25/10/2010 - 00:13
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Voting par excellence - well done for a very speedy and comprehensive judgement - I`m glad it wasn`t me who had to decide..................
Well done tim - lovely shot and very cleverly done.
Good show from all the runners up - not easy to win this one !
Tony
Well done tim - lovely shot and very cleverly done.
Good show from all the runners up - not easy to win this one !
Tony
K20D,*istD ( now a dedicated M42 digital ),K100D,MZ5N,P50,ME Super,Spotmatic 1000,Spotmatic,ESII,ES,H2.18-55 II,18-55,75-300 FAJ,35-80 FA,80-200 F,28-105 FA,Sigma 24-70 AF Aspherical,Sigma 28-300 Hyperzoom , Praotor II 500 M42,Centon 500mm mirror,and a few Pentax M42 Taks,super-Taks,smc Taks,A and M lenses.Benbo trekker,7dayshop monopod and a Lowepro rucksack.
I am now on Flickr which is nice !
I am now on Flickr which is nice !
Posted 25/10/2010 - 00:19
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Voting par excellence indeed and a different idea for a subject, very interesting. Tim was in my frame for the winner, congratulations to him and the others runners up for their work.
Barrie - Too Old To Die Young
https://pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/barrieforbes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189482630@N03/
https://pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/barrieforbes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/189482630@N03/
Posted 25/10/2010 - 00:27
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Congratulations to Axel for speedy and incisive judging and for picking a subject which encouraged so many first class entries. And well done to Tim on coming top of the pile. It was a great competition.
David
David
Posted 25/10/2010 - 05:07
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Great, another week where I wake up to a result. Many thanks for the speedy, detailed judging Axel and for the second place. Congrats to Tim for his lovely winning shot.
Some excellent entries this round - perhaps to be expected when the choice of subject is such a key photographic technique.
Some excellent entries this round - perhaps to be expected when the choice of subject is such a key photographic technique.
Posted 25/10/2010 - 08:45
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Axel - Many thanks for setting a great subject and for your exhaustive, exceptionally prompt and detailed comments and judging.
Congratulations to Tim for the win, the runners up and once again everyone else for a fantastic set of images.
Glyn
Congratulations to Tim for the win, the runners up and once again everyone else for a fantastic set of images.
Glyn
Posted 25/10/2010 - 08:48
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Congratulations to timcx500e for the winning shot.
Many thanks to Axel for an unusual competition, that produced some interesting entries.
I am glad you liked my entry
Taking photographs in car museums, it is very difficult to get the whole car, so unusual crops become the norm
Many thanks to Axel for an unusual competition, that produced some interesting entries.
I am glad you liked my entry
Taking photographs in car museums, it is very difficult to get the whole car, so unusual crops become the norm
Hyram
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
Posted 25/10/2010 - 08:49
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Amazing comments - so thoughtful and helpful. It has taken me just over an hour to read all the comments and look at each of the entries.
Everything is possible - just not today.
K7, K100d, 18-55mm kit, 50-200mm, Sigma 70-300mm, 50mm f1.4, 16-45mm f4.0, 50-135mm f2.8
K7, K100d, 18-55mm kit, 50-200mm, Sigma 70-300mm, 50mm f1.4, 16-45mm f4.0, 50-135mm f2.8
Posted 25/10/2010 - 08:56
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Axel, you've worked long and hard on that and very well done indeed.
Congratulations to all our winners in another very tight competition with lots of excellent contenders!
Congratulations to all our winners in another very tight competition with lots of excellent contenders!
Best regards, John
Posted 25/10/2010 - 09:12
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Shocked but delighted! Axel thank you very much for the comments and prompt judging. Some excellent images again this week. I will be posting the new competition later today. The judging is going to put my one finger typing skills to the test , thanks again ,Tim.
Posted 25/10/2010 - 09:15
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Thanks Axel for producing such a comprehensive and punctual assesment.
Posted 25/10/2010 - 21:49
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Thank you to our Judge...This sure makes up for the first judging comp you did!
Your comments are detailed and wonderfully expressed. It makes entering a comp so worth while...thats Axel.
Congrat to Tim...it was a delightful pictures...great work to all the runners up.
Your comments are detailed and wonderfully expressed. It makes entering a comp so worth while...thats Axel.
Congrat to Tim...it was a delightful pictures...great work to all the runners up.
Posted 26/10/2010 - 05:48
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Well done Axel, and congrats to Tim & the winners.
Posted 26/10/2010 - 20:33
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thankyou kindly Axel
well won tim
well won tim
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