Weekly Competition #160 - ND 1.8 - ND 3.0 Competition

Hi all – was actually a bit surprised about the low number of entries – thought every fotographer is running around, experimenting with filters, tripods and long exposures – however – there are some interesting entries. Here my – as usual – very subjective comments.

Collins Street by i-Berg: A classical light track scene with a brave tripod position (well I hope, this was a little island in the middle of the road). The starburst nicely goes together with the star decoration. In general I would have chosen an even longer exposure time to make the tracks a bit more dramatic.

Down By The Bay by JudithAnn. A wonderful BW night shot with clear focus and nice star effects. Would also be interesting to see the color version of this picture to see which warm or cold atmosphere these few lights create. Wish the photo would show some stronger evidence of long exposure time, such as a more smooth water surface – however, as I said in the beginning – still a really good night shot

Night at Southport Pier by johnriley. Perfect perspective and nice color tone of the foreground. background a bit blur and my biggest problem I have – I personally am not a big fan of noise – I know – a very subjective view point but I somehow find it always a bit disruptive
Jodrell Bank by Daniel Bridge. An amazing Scifi-like night shot with a perfect positioned antenna, an awesome silhouette of the forest and a nice light gradient in the sky. Might also be an option to make this one with a slight circular track of the stars – but in the end, this might also have destroyed the appearance as it would perhaps be too stereotype. So as it is – great and one of my favorites.

Newport Bridge by in5omniak. Also a great night sky with a wonderfull gradient – the bridge is really “queasy” and the light accents make the whole scene even more dramatic. Perhaps a bit more focus in the background.

River in the Shaugh Prior Valley - South Devon by simonarthurs. Great milky river shot. I often find these river effects slightly kitschy, but this photo is just great – the colors are so harmonic, the perspective shows the wide nature and the water appears so smooth that it percetly fits in the overall mood. This is really poster quality

Pier HDR by cardiff_gareth. I love this HDR (well – I am anyway an HDR fan). This is just the right level of HDR (I am a bit tired of these overdynamic pictures of old ruins and toilets, which are then sold as surreal. This one here uses HDR to support the mood – not to dominate it. The color contrast of foreground and sky is great and the focus really good. Just again a bit too much noise in the sky (for me) – especially when compiling HDR, noise is often multiplied.

Cloudy Water by tomw. The title perfectly describes the picture – this somehow really looks like Islands, sticking out of low hanging clouds. I would have chosen an even lower stand of the camera to emphasize the perspective width even more. Also the limited range of colors fits perfectly to the topic of this photo

Lexington Avenue aliengrove. OK – first of all – it seems your travel budget is far above mine – on al my NY bsuiness trips I never ever had sch a great view out of my hotel . Wonderful blue hour shot of a famous location – nice light tracks and nice color contrasts. Only thing I would have changed is, the correction of the lens distortion – some lines are a bit tilted too much – with a clearer perspective, this shot would show the cold, harsh atmosphere of this city even more.

Got a train to catch ! by BAJ. What a classical motive and similar like on the NHM picture some weeks ago, these motion blured persons really show the hectically situation of a train station in a perfect way. Also amazing how “frozen” some persons are – they seem not to move at all. Having taken the shot a few more steps to the right would have improved the perspective of this picture (one of the scenes, where I think that THE central clock of the Grand Central, should really be exactly in the middle of the picture)

deep river thoughts by Danny_boy. A nce blue hour shot with lots of moods and nice color contrast, but I miss a bit the special kick of a long time exposure. The river could have been more smooth. However – also amazing, how long your friend did not move and appears so sharp and in focus.

White Water by GaryJohn. Here I find the effect a bit over the top. Even if the title is “White “Water” – this is really white and does not really look like water anymore due to the lack of any structures. The splashes are an indicator but only a tiny one.

Baring Falls by sandy. First of all I have to say that in my former life I was a geologist and already due to this – I love this picture with all these colored stones in the foreground. Here I also think that the milky effect is not kitschy but fits perfectly in the damp cool atmosphere of the scene – I almost feel the spray of water on my skin .

after the storm by PentaxAngel. Wow – this really looks like after the storm – the water looks frightening not smooth and it also looks like this river is far bigger and faster then normal. Also the crystal clear green leaves support this visual effect of looking at a scene after a heavy thunderstorm. Every dust seems to be washed away. Also great the limitation of the color range which basically shows white green and brown but not more.

Dancers Backstage by gartmore. Already just the staircase is great (very special colors for a staircase). In combination with the ghost dancers a really interesting shot (almost creating a mood of fear as if something bad is going on in this building and some people try to escape).

Zizim by DrOrloff. Nice idea to close a competition with a big bang . I know how difficult it is to shoot fireworks – here you really waited for the right moment. What I almost “hate” when shooting fireworks, is the level of smoke that appears after the first big explosions. But here it gives the whole scene also somehow a bit of a dramatic touch.

So here are my top three.
1.: River in the Shaugh Prior Valley - South Devon by simonarthurs
2.: Pier HDR by cardiff_gareth
3.: Jodrell Bank by Daniel Bridge

This is my last competition for the next three weeks - first I have to bring 40 kids on Germany’s highest mountain (by foot  and then I want to show my kids southern France. So have a great summer time and I look forward to, seeing you again in three weeks time.
Axel

Yes, I was surprised by the lack of entries and I wonder if the rather strange title put them off. You have to grab people with the headline!

However, nicely judged and a very nice winning shot indeed.

So, simonarthurs, here's your chance! What do you have to entice us with this week?

Well done Simon, Gareth and Daniel. Thanks Axl, and all the best with your (presumably student) group up in them thar hills.

Congratz the winner!
And congratz all!
Thanks Axel for rating!

Congrats to the winners, some lovely shots entered!

Congratulations Simon, Gareth, and Daniel! Well done! Wish I entered the competition but I just couldn't get the result I wanted... maybe more practice for me... I'm just glad to learn from the entries and the comments you made on them axel... Great judging!

Congratulations Simon a great image, and thanks Axel for you comments about my image

sandy

Greetings and apologies for the delay. Firstly, thanks for selecting my image and congratulations to everyone who had a go with filters (I took sooo many to get this shot!) and I'm not sure if I've won because of the image or the length of the exposure. Anyway I need to have a quick look at the previous competitions to select something.

Thanks once again

Well done Simon, and Gareth for the coveted second place, and to Axel for the comprehensive judging. Very nice to get a third place too.

I did do another composition of this shot, a tighter, portrait format crop with a 4 minute exposure, which showed the star trails more. Unfortunately, it also showed that the dish was also moving, to follow the stars.

Dan

wow cool they moved the dish but bad luck for photographers - only chance is then to combine both (sky from one and forground and antenna from the other) - but as I said - I am not sure if it really looks better as such star trails can easily look stereotype - I love the atmosphere on your photo as it is.....

Congratulations Simon! Well done on the win - an excellent shot. You sure you want to ditch your Pentax kit after all?

I had every intention of entering this competition myself, but at the time it opened, I had no ND filters. I scoured Bath for a Cokin ND-Grad P-series kit, but everyone was out of stock, has them on back-order, and apparently the French company has all gone on holiday for August, and stock was deemed unlikely to come in before September!

In the end, I purchased a few bits separately, but haven't yet got the measure of it enough to enter a decent shot... but if nothing else, the competition has (yet again) inspired me to try something new, even if there's nothing to show for it just yet.

So John, take heart! It wasn't the competition title that stopped me entering; it was the desire to do well, and to learn a new skill - which (thanks to the French holiday system) I wasn't quite able to pull together in time! But there's always *next* time, eh?

Congratulations!!

The low number of entries might have been because the fortnightly email missed this competition. I don't visit here all the time, but now I've noticed the competitions are weekly ... and I so could have entered this one .... but the newsletter is fortnightly, I guess I will
try and visit more often....
The reason I could have entered was because I bought a 6.66 stop and 10 stop (heliopan) filter in June and spent the whole of July playing with them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevepereira/sets/72157624610547795/

My long exposure Flickr set just made from photos in the last couple of months ... oh well.