Weekly Competition #35 - "Sky's the limit..."

Swanbourne Daybreak

My old ist DS with 18-55

1/125, f 11.0, ISO 200 55mm

Millenium Bridge, London
*ist DS, Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm 1/100s f/4.5 iso400

Memories of Summer




K10D / DA12-24 @14mm / f22 / 1-30sec / ISO100

Orion in this evening's night sky




K10D, DA* 16-50 @ 34mm, 10sec, F2.8, ISO 200

I was hoping to do better today but the weather was against me - rats.



Sigma 10-20 at 14 as I recall, 1/125 at f28

Mike

Was out on Exmoor when suddenly out of nowhere... I had the fisheye on at the time and didn't have time to change it!




K10D/Pentax 10-17mm fisheye @17mm/F9/iso 100/1/2000 sec/not cropped just resized & converted to B&W

*istD / DA 18-55mm at 18mm / 12s at f/8 / ISO 400 / Time 23h08 / remote flash

We now await our judge...

Most of us seem to have sorted the image size out OK, or reposted after being deleted, so not a bad start at all to our new set of "rules and guidlines" - which I hope we feel is helpful to everyone entering.

Working on it now guys... :arrow:

Excellent

Results... Weekly Competition #35 “Sky’s the limit…”

Firstly thanks to you all for ploughing through you archives for entries – I don’t know if your week has been anything like mine but I haven’t seen a sky all week that would have been worthy of entry even if I did have the time to shoot it…

I picked this theme as it’s one of my favourite subjects, even though I couldn’t really enter this week I was very intrigued to see what you could all come up with. I think the number of entries that came in on day one made it clear that you all enjoy shooting dramatic skies too…

Thanks to AJ for the tip to get some of the judging/comments done early. Would've been impossible without doing it that way...


AlfaFoxtrot – Great colours (might become a familiar theme ) and good to see the trees nicely silhouetted against the sky. I really like the way that the pink/mauve swirls radiate, almost as if they are the exhaust gases from a flying saucer that’s just landed In terms of composition, I think it’s just lacking a little in the way of a focal point. Also, what ISO were you set at? There’s a bit of grain/noise creeping in on the left side of the frame although it could just as easily be the jpeg compression. Anyway, nice shot to kick things off with this week…

Malo1961 – Great immediate impact, full of intensity and drama. I love the combination of angular lines around the horizon and smudged pastel oranges and blues in the top half of the frame. Great exposure control too – was that in camera (filters?) or in post-prod? Would probably work well as a fine-art style print. I think you can guess I like this one…
3rd Place So full of drama...

MX veteran – A recent shot, good to see that you’ve been getting some good weather! It’s a lovely gentle sky but I think you might have missed a bit of a trick here. Looking around the frame, I can see the rocks along the shore line and the pools – I would have honed in on these using a wide-angle lens to give some foreground scale, maybe trying to make a feature out of the sky reflected in the pools.

Serendipity – Drama in bundles, yet there’s a dreamy quality to your shot that I think comes from the out of focus tree-tops in the middle distance. The vivid orange colour is amazing (is it enhanced? Boosted Col Temp or 81/85 filters?) and sets well against the silhouetted fence and tree. However, I think the composition could work a bit harder to keep the viewers interest. The very top third of the frame is a little empty for my liking, maybe a crop to a panoramic format just above the tree could help to add some balance? Or I might have used the line of the fence a little more to draw the viewer into your scene.

Teejay – I see this is only your 2nd post so welcome to the forum! That shaft of light is what this shot really hangs on – reminds me of sitting on a balcony whilst on holiday waiting for the rain to come or after a storm for the clouds to burn off. It’s a shame that you didn’t have other breaks in the cloud to help add some light to other areas. These moments are only fleeting but given the chance to shoot this again, I feel your composition might have benefited from getting down to ground level and using some of the palm trees silhouetted against the dramatic sky.

ChrisE – I like this, it works really well and has a lovely sense of balance to it. Great exposure using lighter coloured buildings set against the imposing sky. You’ve really used your vantage point (another bridge?) to good advantage and the positioning of the bridge and river banks help to guide the viewers eye into the scene. What I want to know is did you get soaked taking this shot? I imagine you avoiding a proper drenching by disappearing for a coffee in one of the café’s along the river bank!
Joint 5th

Ikillrocknroll – Where is this? Looking at the houses it could be the edge of any town… Any other day, I expect that this scene would be nothing special but the combination of the quality of light you have on the grasses and a really interesting sky turn it into something quite special. The colours of the grasses really compliment the shades in the sky. The composition and 2:1 pano format work really well too.
Joint 5th
Rob – I ended up clicking on your PentaxGallery link because of this shot and you clearly have a very special talent…

Viewfinder – Patches of light like this skipping across the British countryside is one of the things I love about being out in the landscape. In weather like this there’s an equal chance of it pee’ing down with rain or being bathed in lush sunshine. It’s a great scene but I feel you could have worked harder with the composition. Using a wide angle to include some foreground may have helped or a tele-focus to pick out one of the farm buildings as the sun rakes across it. On screen here I might have gone for a portrait crop to focus in a little more on the patch of light, maybe lose 3-5cm off the right and 8cm or so off the left helps to concentrate the eye…

Daniel Bridge – when I set the theme, this is what I was hoping to see some of! A great example of what to shoot when the light maybe isn’t playing ball and you’ve got ruddy big clouds scudding around the sky. Nicely balanced exposure and some really interesting trees silhouetted – wouldn’t have worked anywhere near so well if the trees were covered in leaves.

McBrian – A really simple, yet very effective composition. All the elements in the scene help to balance the picture. Getting a sunset as vibrant as this is a rare thing. Without the clouds being where they are it would easily lose colour and impact. Bet you’re gutted not to have the original neg to pull a nice fresh scan out of…

Hyram – This is one that I’m not sure about. The scene and the subject work really well in the way that you have presented it – the boats and sky in grainy B+W/Sepia are the right effect but there’s elements that I feel don’t work so well. Maybe it’s my monitor but the buoys show in an odd green colour. Also the sky could handle some darkroom/PS work to increase the mood. In the darkroom I’d want to hold back the top left quarter as I feel it’s way too burnt out.

Johnriley – not really my cup of tea so difficult to judge. Being able to combine images to create this sort of image is beyond my skill level in PS. I like the tower and the lighting on that is great – combined with the space sky gives it a mystical quality that wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi novel. However, in the left hand bottom corner maybe you need to take a look at the masking just above the drystone wall. Looks like you’ve left in a slither of sunlit fields which just doesn’t look right to me.

GaryMoffat – This image immediately grabs me as being exceptionally well balanced – the colours look so right with each other! You have just about every shade of baby blue in the sky and it’s nice to see it not over-darkened with too much polarizer. Equally the light on the land is beautiful and has really pulled out some vivid greens that contrast in a lovely way with the sky. In some of my comments on other images I talk about a lack of a focus point – this shot works so well it’s doesn’t need one, the sky and the sunlit marshy land are the focus. Gorgeous…
4th Spot So nearly my winner - loved the colours just wanted more drama...

Deecy – A nice shot with the sun diffusing through the clouds. The wedge of land is well silhouetted but in my opinion the shot could have worked a little harder for you with the composition. Not sure what you were shooting from but I might have moved round to the right a little to attempt to make a little more out of the tower on the right and bring that into shot a little more. Also, I’m not certain what’s happened with some of your colours? The sea isn’t a terribly natural shade and I’m seeing some green & magenta creep into the clouds. What PP have you used on the shot?

Dirk1000 – WOW this has immediate impact – mainly because it’s not your usual angle of view looking down and into the clouds. Reminds me of a time (pre 9/11) when I used to steal rides up front for my job as an airport supply manager. I’m intrigued how you got this shot – my own similar efforts were affected with terrible reflections and scratched/iced-up windows Whilst I think this shot has great initial impact, there’s nothing for my eye to settle on…

Clarky – Good choice of cropping. I like the pano format you’ve picked. Am I right in guessing that including anymore from the top of the original frame would have resulted in a slightly empty, featureless sky? Whilst it’s a nice image I just feel that the sky is maybe lacking a little drama, there’s very little going on of interest in the right-hand third. Also the high-lights are a little too blown for me – how did you take your meter reading? I’d have grabbed a spot reading from just above and to the side of the tower hiding the sun to concentrate my exposure focus on the sky which would have silhouetted the skyline more.

Amilner – Tony, this is great – bags of drama and amazing colours (see, told you that theme would keep coming back!). This one is a definite contender – for my money you’ve picked the exact moment to get the best from the colours, there is so much light bouncing around off the sky and the sea and scattering light rays and drama all over the place.
My Winner for this week Congratulations

Justgetoutandride – Another sky in a similar vein to Tony’s effort above. Awesome saturated colours – how does nature know that Purple and Orange go so well together : It’s the foreground in this one that just lets it down. There’s too much solid black for my liking and the skyline could do with breaking up, maybe with some silhouetted trees or a mountain.

Tyr – I love dappled clouds like these. They are even better when you get a break on the horizon and they are lit from below for a fleeting moment. You have some lovely lines in this image, the waves heading one way and the lines in the cloud formation heading the other. The composition works rather well for me… However, it’s in the the way that the sun rays on the sea are rather unnatural and what looks to be noise in the darker patches on the sea that this shot is let down a little. Shame really, if it had ‘felt’ a little more natural this one would have been right up there…

Belina B – welcome to the forum and an interesting entry. Your sky looks proper angry and in such a contrast to what looks to be an otherwise calm and bright day. Like ChrisE’s image I can imagine there being the need to dash for cover from the rain. Composition, maybe you could have managed a little more as it’s a bit unbalanced with not a lot happening on the right side of the frame – shame really as the rocks lead your eye in that direction. I might have tried to get a little lower and closer to the rocks, even moving round so that the rocks lead me to one of the boats that are moored up.

Ianm – Welcome to the forum! I am just loving the fact that this was shot on an Optio Point&Squirt That aside it’s a beautiful shot and you’ve really done well with the exposure to hold all the colour and detail in the sky and the reflection. I’m guessing it was shot from a precarious position so little could have been done with the framing. In an absolutely ideal world I’d have liked to see the figure providing your propulsion a little clearer against the sky.
2nd Place Great effort and amazing shot

Galoot – Great sky, great shapes and great perspective. In the top portion of the frame the sky is so black that it’s almost an infrared effect. Is that the sort of look you were after? I’m intrigued to know what PP work you did as there’s a little posterization (sp?) in the middle of the frame.

Lilly – just check out that grain. Imagine this shot on PanF50 and the effect would be oh so different, but in a bad way! The grain here has helped to add loads of impact to this shot and I’m also loving the fact that the clouds look extra menacing when reflected in the lake. In colour this would be a ‘nice’ shot – in B&W it’s mean

Freetobe – Another warm welcome to the forum! Gorgeous glowing oranges that contrast really well with the deep twilight blue of the sky. I see what you were attempting here but for me it doesn’t work as a shot quite as well it might. There is too much emptiness in the frame and the foreground silhouettes lack any real interest. To improve things, given a similar opportunity again I might have tried to fill a lot more of the frame with the orange glowing clouds – 200mm would have done nicely and that would have filled your shot with loads more impact.

Kal 10 d – serene is the first word that I come up with. It’s a really nice gentle shot but yet full of impact. You have done really well with the exposure shooting straight into the sun like this. Did you use an ND grad? There are plenty of features around the frame (mist, clouds, trees, rising sun) that hold my interest but there’s something about the composition that I feel could be improved upon. A lower vantage point would have made more of the trees but lost the impact of the mist in the middle distance. A higher viewpoint and maybe a tele lens could have allowed you to concentrate on the mist. The trick is getting the balance right. I might have moved round to the left and framed the sun and the mist with the trees by switching to your 70-300mm. You’d have kept the mist in and maybe included more of the clouds on the right. However stuff my opinion… I bet it was just lovely being out and about taking pics on what looked to be a gorgeous morning.

Amoringello – each time I’ve scrolled to your shot it’s made me smile so for that alone it gets a highly commended. It’s a shot that has me asking one main question – why the arm coming out of the ground. I hope you didn’t bury anyone just for this comp!!! Anyway, it’s nicely set up and very well exposed especially on the arm itself but apart from that and the intrigue I feel it’s lacking a little something for this weeks theme. The sky isn’t particularly interesting – for me it’s all about the excellent exposure on the arm…

Nimitz – Another shot where good metering technique is required to record the scene the way that you want to. You’ve picked some nice interesting trees as the main subject and along with the grasses they contrast well with the sky. I feel that some of the high-lights are a little blown – maybe you could have saturated the colour in the sky a little more too. Also, it’s a shame about the tree branch in the top right cutting the corner like that and there’s a little too much movement in the branches in that same area – difficult to crop them out I guess…

Prieni – Nice sky and good use of a polariser to help reduce the glare and boost the contrast. Technically the exposure is bang on and I like the way that the lines of the cloud formations lead you into the shot – but where do they lead you to? It could just do with a single focal point to linger on – a yacht of cruise ship in the distance would do nicely!

Petekd – cracking shot, that I think I’ve seen before or one like it. There’s loads in this image that work really well for me. You have the shutter speed and the movement spot on, there’s good detail in the rocks and the sunlight catching the rock on the right is gorgeous. The colour of the sand, sea and sky all balance well with great exposure control and it has a lovely tropical feel to it. It’s a great image and you should be very pleased but does it fit this weeks theme? I don’t think the sky in this one is the staring role – you’ve composed with the foreground and middle distance taking up 2 thirds of the shot for a reason and that reason was that there wasn’t much going on in the sky.

Snappyhoffy – I’ve made a couple of early morning sorties around Swanbourne but never had much luck with the weather. A very atmospheric image but it feels a little empty to me. I might have switched to a longer lens and honed in on those two main trees and ditch a load of the foreground. I always seem to find that tele lenses work better when working with mist…

Iceblinker – one of my favourite locations, with so much potential. You’ve picked a bit of an odd vantage point in my opinion, especially with that lens. The sky is great and the time of night is ideal with the lights just coming on on the banks of the Thames. It’s a great sky and in London with all the aircraft going overhead you have to use the vapour trails as a feature as they are impossible to avoid. Shame about the people on the right which I find distracting – again difficult to avoid but it is do-able. How come you shot at ISO400 and 1/100s? No tripod? Try again with one, at a similar time of night but dial in ISO100 and maybe use an ND filter to drag the shutter speeds much longer so all the people record as a blur.

Xbow – some nice colours and nicely formed clouds but I’m not sure what you’re attempting with the composition. Doesn’t really work for me…

Hefty1 – Ah ha a Simpsons sky – days like these were few and far between last summer. Maybe we’ll have more joy this year? The sky is lovely in this shot but overall the composition is lacking a little focus for me – could you have used the tractor tracks to lead the eye around? Did you use a polarizer? I think it might have injected a bit of life into the green shoots in the field.

GlynM - Orion is one of my favourite features of the night sky and this is a really good effort to think around the theme – to be fair I had half expected to see some star trail efforts…

Mikew – Great use of a wide angle and alternative viewpoint which is where all the impact in this image comes from. The sky, nice as it is, is lacking something special for me though.

Utopia Poppy – Immediate impact and a sky that is filled with drama. Not sure this would have worked all that well in colour so good decision to do the conversion to B&W. I’d have maybe liked to have seen a little more of the strip of land at the bottom just to anchor the shot. The other thing that strikes me is that the chopper looks too static – might have looked a little more natural with a slower shutter speed and showing movement in the rotors. That aside – highly commended.

Promhandicam – I know how frustrating shooting lightning can be. It’s a great effort just to get it in the frame and in this image the lightning is quite large in the frame. Big shame that it doesn’t sit nicely within the composition – my eyes keep settling on the grubby building in the bottom corner…

Unlocker – What a perfect blue sky and you’ve done a real good job with the exposure balance including the sun. This is one of those times when a bit of flare helps to add to the feeling and sense that the sun’s brightness is so intense. Vapour trail… not sure that I like it in this shot and overall this pic lacks impact to be one of this weeks contenders.

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Phew... it's done! Congrats to amilner and good luck with setting and judging next weeks comp!

Prieni - Were you hoping to miss out on top spot by not entering your lighthouse image you've showed off in the other section? Not saying it would definately have won but certainly worthy of a cigar!!!

Will

Will, that would have been nice to have some focal point. Problem was, this area of the Pacific, namely the Lau basin, seemed to be void of anything. I didn't see a single dolphin or fish for the whole four weeks, would you believe. We saw one ship, a Japanese research vessel, but it was quite far away (and at the time the sky wasn't interesting at all).

Thanks for judging a competition with a lot of entries!

Congrats Tony, well done!