Fortnightly Competition # 17 "Hands"

Sorry for the last minute entry, only just shot it.



The Jewellery Maker

[IMG]http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/chikagel/pp_IGP8960-Copy.jpg[/IMG]

K10D
Super Takumar 55mm 1:1.7
f5.6 1/20th sec
Taken at 17:06 10/06/09

Comp. now closed! Just in from yoga so, will get the last min ones done and results up in an hour or so. Lilly

Fortnightly Competition # 17 "Hands"

I was very impressed with such a high standard of entries and it was so good to have so many b&w entries also which made my task all the more difficult
Such an interesting theme in the end, that you interpreted in so many different ways.
TBVH it was a tough call between first and second for me, so I decided in the end by which I would have on my wall. Well done, it was a great submission by all.
Now, I wonder what body part we could have next?

Heidi: The way this has been framed and the action of the hands is lovely, mono suits it perfectly. I do think the burnt out highlights on his hands detracts from the detail of the fingers prints! I have a suspicion you altered the curves and in doing so you have an unrealistic tone of silver gray coming through on the top hand with no detail again and lost detail in the blacks of the keys. I would also make my watermark a bit smaller for comps. Great effort though, you are getting there.

Tony-O: Very nice, this made me smile; I love the attention to the detail you have applied in the composition, a story with links. Great mono conversion and choice of tone perfect and all the detail in the hands. Willie is a fav of mine too, haven’t got this one though, what a great portrait of the man too. Which lens did you use?

Aiki: This is another lovely entry, I love the de-saturation you have applied and the hands are very expressive and tell the story perfectly, sharp and good crop. However, I think it could be improved with ½ stop more exposure and in levels I nudged the light side a bit up, a little too dark as it is.

Prieni: A very simple and graphic statement that is technically good in all the right areas... The poppy ring is a beautiful finishing touch and makes me imagine a beautiful blond hippy girl the other side of the tree! I could see used in advertising easily.

RR: I like to take this type of shot and I like it because it comes with an edgy and questioning statement. The mono conversion and DOF is spot on with her hand pin sharp, I love the starburst on her glasses. Bokeh with interest. Being very picky I know, but there is very slight loss of detail in the areas under her digits, I would be tempted to burn in a bit there.

Strawberryberet: I smiled when I saw this, middle generation hand, has the same ring as myself! A straight forward interpretation of the theme that is adequately done but lacks a bit of impact, maybe if you had had a go at b&w, it may have given it a more dynamic look about it? Nicely composed though & technically sound.

Hyram: I get the idea but I wish there was more of the hands in the shot, there seems to be a lot of empty space on the exposed left hand. I am not terribly keen on choice of colour; I think something more neutral would draw more attention to the subject.

Father Ted: Another nicely done mono conversion, very classic abstract shot, delicate fingers on the fret. Nit picking, stepping back a bit from the subject might invite the viewer in more. Well done though.

MikeW: I do love this, the rich colours, the shapes, the subject and the depth of field and exposure is well done. I think cropping to top bit off would improve it, but still leaving the wrist in. Very nicely composed, and a great shot.

Hefty: Very creative & imaginative, I would never have thought of this ever! Great choice of props, location and models. Action man looks really hunky, but you cropped his leg off! I bet you had a giggle enacting this & technically a sound shot. The ‘lots’ of tweaking in PS was subtly well done.

Rob: Another well done b&w of an everyday scene that we are all familiar with, but composed with style and interest. The blur of fingers is just right, I am a fan of movement in images and this works well. It does lack a bit of contrast but by adjusting levels left and middle, bumped the contrast up and gave more impact.

JudithAnn: This is just lovely and I am a great fan of this type of photography. The expression on mums face is so natural and encouraging, toddler so worried she cannot reach, great shadows. A very good mono, well converted again, I do wish I could see the toddlers other hand and foot though. With them missing it keeps drawing my eye to them and I should be focussing on the ultimate link of hands. Great story, well done!

Darkmunk: Oooo la lah this is gorgeous and so well conceived, a sensually subtly lit shot which suits the mood. I love the shapes the textures the form, the movement, everything about it really! Plus, a story to boot that it entirely open to any interpretation. Magnificient would have on my wall anyday.

Womble: and another b&w, guess I am being spoilt! Nice DOF and sharp where it counts, but would have liked to have seen a nice sharp pencil lead there, the front hand obscures the pencil and is really not well defined as a hand due it being all out of focus. I wd have redone the shot showing the back hand, pencil and more of the front hand and even some of the sketch to illustrate the story, if you know what I mean?

Haworth: A very nice entry indeed, first of all I love the mix mono type background and the flesh tones of the hands. Perfect DOF ad focussing and interesting to look at. I really cannot fault it at all.

The Results are:
1st – Darkmunk
2nd – Haworth
3rd – Tony-O

Highly Commendeds – MikeW & Prieni

Blimey, need to go for a lie down and a large G&T after this week Lilly

Over to you Plymouth man!

Thanks for the judging Lilly and congratulations Darkmunk

Thanks also for the comment, a "Well done" from you for a mono shot means a lot

Well done Lilly for some excellent judging and well done to a good winner. Not huge numbers but a varied selection of shots and all in my opinion of a high standard technically and artistically which must have made it harder to judge.

Personally I liked RR's shot for sheer joie de vivre and a composition which he may claim was serendipity but I'm sure wasn't and for simplicity I liked strawberryberet's trio of hands.

I think Lilly deserves her G&T well earned this week.

Mike

Congratulations to Darkmonk for first place, a very deserved winner. Well done also to Tony-O, MikeW and Prieni for the placements.

Thanks Lilly for the great judging and my wonderful second place, I couldn't be happier, especially as I only got my act together to put in an entry so late in the day.

Hi Lilly,sweet third,thanks for that.The lens was the Zeiss 35 f2 Distagon.Lovely lens,but you need to enjoy manual focus.It was a very interesting topic,in fact it was on my ''standby list''in the worrying event i win another compo(i'm a lazy ''B'').Congrats to Darkmunk et al.And enjoy the no doubt large G+t,after yoga that should go directly to spot!! Tony

Congratulations to Darkmunk and indeed to all entrants.

Thank you Lilly for the competition and the judging.

The colour in mine was partly inspired by the early Cyanotypes as exmplified by Anna Atkins who is considered by some to be the first female photographer.

I also have a fondness for the old blueprints, basically a photographic process, even though they had disappeared decades before I needed to print drawings

Congratulations to Darkmunk for a well deserved win and to Lilly for some very fine judging!

Anyone would think we were playing to the judge!

OK, I'll admit I was...

hey hey! I won!
Thanks Lilly. Sorry for the late response - been out dancing with the owner of the     ...hands.
I'm really pleased you mentioned hanging it on the wall, as my internal brief was to make something to go in a frame. cool!
I loved Hefty's scene, well conceived, well crafted and funny, that girl is hot! and the dude? well I hate him already
Also Prieni and Judith Anne, and Hayworth's - beautiful... and... (edit) oops! take children to pre school

Right, er.. better get my thinking cap on, but I think it might be something about movement.

Congratulations to all of you, so so many fine pics! A good contest it was. I would have been in real trouble, if I had to name the first one !
Liked many: Haworth, Prieni, Mikew, Hefty (good, that there is always sb who makes you laugh !) but also Tony, RR, Ted and Womble.

After posting my hands I made a print out and was totally dissappointed It was dark and greenish. Made some corrections and posted it to the gallery. I wonder if it is better now ?
I also regulated bit the lightness of my screen.

But I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with a camera in this pottery.... ))

Congratulations to the winner, and to Lilly for putting so much effort into the judging.

The "would I hang it on the wall" test is certainly a good one, and I have to admit I'd always known my photo wouldn't pass that test. Still, with a bit more practice I might get there.

Right, on the the next one - Movement.

Robert.

Well done Darkmunk and well done Lilly! Good selection of entries again, always a pleasure to take part.
Better start moving this fortnight...

Prieni

Congrat to the winners.

Yes Lilly I see what you mean about the childs foot and hand being cropped out.....I have it in the orginal...I was a bit to focused on the helping handmissed that I cropped it there

I too loved the shadows in this picture

Now take a break form this job!!