Weekly Competition No. 41: Natural Light

Norwich Guildhall

I think this is a fairly natural light... Taken at 14:49BST so nowhere near sunset...
*ist DS, 18-55 @ 55, F22, 1/1500s 200ASA - hold camera well away from eye, line up vewfinder, shoot and hope for the best. Bit of post procesing in Photo Lab 3 & Paintshop Pro. (just histogram, gamma and dust removal!)

Battersea Power Station




K10D, Sigma 24mm F2.8 MF, 1/125s f/8.0 at 24.0mm iso100, Silkypix

Kit lens on K100D.

Not totally convinced it meets the topic but hey.




Nothing ventured!

Mike

natural light from a camp fire




from
Boyo

f8.0 @ 1/15s iso100 +0.5

The competition is now closed. Thank you to all who entered.

G

Well, here it is. The Day of Judgement.

First, a disclaimer. I have been on my travels (read travails) since Thursday morning. I saw the earlier entries on my screen at home, which did much better justice to them than the appalling screen on the Dell laptop I am using at the moment. I fear I am unable to see some of the subtleties of colour and shade that no doubt many later pictures contain. So I am sorry if they don't get the praise they might well deserve.

(In fairness to the Dell, it is a business machine, aimed at displaying text crisply.)

Now to the entries, which were legion (and of a high standard, as ever, which made judging difficult).

johnriley - St Malo Cathedral

I like the composition very much, and the play of the light through the stained glass onto the old stone walls is subtle and interesting. However, I feel the overall pinkish tone to be slightly incongruous in such a dignified building.


Danielbridge - tulip? silhouette

Stunning capture and lovely colours. Hard to fault.


Hefty1 - rays of sunlight through furniture.

I feel the contemporary style of the furniture (drawer handles especially) detracts from what might otherwise have been a stronger picture. We are used to powerful electric light indoors, so sunlight dappling the furniture has a pleasingly old-fashioned air to it. But to work well, it needs (in my view) pleasingly old-fashioned oak or mahogany.


spirit_of_will - Jewish Museum

(The picture in the link is a better size.) I love this picture; the symmetry, strong geometrical forms, nearly monochrome colours, the appropriately sinister air (are these cells?). Excellent.


alun - farm buildings

It could well be my screen, but this picture seems to lack contrast, and it also looks a bit blue. And it's rather "busy" - too much stuff that doesn't necessarily add anything to the picture. Nonetheless, it's very evocative, and excites the curiosity. And that's no bad thing.


Deecy - Sunlight through bare branches

I think this is a lovely picture marred by one thing. Did you use a starburst, or similar, filter? Whatever it was, the effect is rather unnatural to my eyes. This is a shame, because it is otherwise a great picture, and beautifully exposed.


Belinda - The fleet becalmed (off Studland?)

A super picture, and one which deserves to be printed ten feet high and hung on a yacht club wall. A small screen doesn't do it justice.


GlynnM - Autumn backdrop

This is another picture that needs to be printed to do it full justice. Lovely.


Nimitz - Rocks on the beach

Very nice, great light, good exposure, excellent three-dimensional quality. It's a matter of individual taste, but I think it might be a stronger image if you were to crop the sides and bottom - to get rid of the seaweed and concentrate on the rocks.


dirk1000 - Bonsai in the sun

I'm not a great fan of selective colour photos, or doggy pics, but this one works for me. It's a wonderfully whimsical picture. There's rather a lot of nothing on the right, but I am not advocating you crop it because I think the dog needs some space around him.


freetobe - Sundown on the Lee River

I can't make up my mind about this picture. The scene is delightful, the autumn colours magnificent, the light just right.

But somehow it doesn't quite work, and I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps, again, the Dell screen isn't doing it any favours. Perhaps it's just overkill - with the exuberant vegetation filling the sky and then repeated in the water. I'll be interested to hear the views of others.

But it deserves special mention, as it is so close to being superb.


Prieni - translucent shell

Lovely, but I would crop it drastically. It doesn't need context; it needs to be seen. One hesitates to be anthropomorphic about dead sea-shells, but it seems to have a welcoming smile on its face, which adds to the charm of the picture.


Gasman295 - Peel Monument, Bury

I am glad you titled this, as my first thought was of the Titanic going down. It's a dramatic picture, with the sun rendering the flag almost transparent. However, it's hard to know what it is, and I think there's too much sky and either too much or not enough of the structure. Too much because it's just a black mass that says little, or not enough because there's not enough to tell us what it is. In the circumstances, I would crop heavily (my usual remedy!), so that the flag totally dominates the picture and everything else becomes irrelevant.


JGOAR - A forest glade

This is rather appealing. The light at the end of the tunnel and the illuminated foreground are in contrast with the forbidding gloom of the forest. You've wisely given it lots of DOF.


Hyram - Strong Light

Wild Knight's skipper seems to have chosen to berth in the catamaran section and been caught out by the falling tide. Scilly of him, but he's a long way from home. It's quite difficult to get a high contrast picture right, and I think you've done well. Although it's a bit busy, that's appropriate in a picture of a marina, with forests of masts, and ropes and boats everywhere.


Epithet Man - floating leaves

You have successfully made a feature of the OOF highlights. Was that serendipitous, or intentional? No matter, it works very well.


Galoot - Strathconon, shafts of sunlight

This is a quite splendid picture; a powerful example of how shooting at the right time of day makes all the difference.


beakynet - Tree Light and Shade

An interesting idea; well executed as far as exposure goes. However, I am not sure that making the focus of the picture so small has helped. The window doesn't, in my view, need quite so much wall/door surrounding it. It's rather lost in a sea of planks.


Namstoop - Peat briquette industry

I rather like this. The reflection adds enormously to the power of the picture, though I would have been tempted to increase the saturation a bit. The hopper is presumably on a submerged track, which may be what one can see in the foreground.


Dr. Mhuni - Lake Langano

Wow! The texture of those clouds is palpable. Wonderful three-dimensional quality, and spot-on exposure. A great picture, with real impact.


Sitav - Shafts of light

Great picture, slightly lacking contrast on my monitor. I suspect it would look lovely as a print.


Clarky - A Moth

Wow. Superb lighting; not sure how you managed to get the undercarriage lit when the light was above and behind - did you use a reflector? The plant really adds to this. Your best yet, in my view.


Bob and his Pentax - Early morning sunlight on "water feature"

Well caught. Pity the water is slightly ruffled; had it been totally still the picture would have been stronger. I like the contrast between the generally muted colours and the almost garish gold of the stone that has caught the sun.


Kal 10 D - Light filtering through fog

Absolutely lovely light; sadly the tree on the left rather unbalances the picture. I tried dividing the picture horizontally and vertically, and think that the upper right quarter by itself works better.


Amoringello - Iwo Jima Memorial

A photograph of a sculpture of a photograph. Cheeky. But it works well. I think you have placed the sun very cleverly, where it emphasises the hands holding the flag aloft. And the colour is good. A powerful image.


IKRNR - Dubai building

Again, the contrast on my monitor looks a bit low, but it's a good picture nonetheless. The sunlight manages to make the scene more interesting without obscuring the strong geometrical design.


P Schlute - Church flowers

This is a very pleasing picture, with the delicate flowers contrasting with the rough walls behind. It's restrained, sombre, and elegant. Beautifully exposed.


Tyr - Woodland Sun

As you say, this picture would no doubt look much better when printed. Computer screens generally seem to do greater justice to colour pictures. Compositionally, I think the picture is a bit too centred round the middle tree, but otherwise it's well balanced, and I wish I could have seen a print.


Keith Grant - Spring buds

Fecund is the word this picture conjures up; the buds are almost bursting with life. I like the composition and the colours, but (on this screen) the picture slightly lacks impact.


Gary Moffat - Squirrel

How rare to see a squirrel with it's tale down. Presumably it's providing some grip on the branch. This is an unusual pose, and you've managed to get adequate light on the body, and at the same time you have taken advantage of the halo effect from the sun behind the tree. Well done.


Gordon Holmes - Norwich Guildhall window.

I like the simplicity of this picture. The alcove provides an effective and natural-looking frame for the window, and is much better for being offset.


jb - Icelandic whale

Gorgeous. The sea looks like molten pewter, the flukes of the whale are as sharp as you could wish, exposure is perfect, and the birds add interest to the sky. And you've tamed the light.


amilner - Fairly natural light

This looks a bit like a lens flare test, where the lens passed. No need to mention it was a Pentax. The wispy-looking cloud has come out very clearly. I imagine an American religious publisher could be interested in this for a book-cover.


iceblinker - Battersea Power Station

You had some good, clear, air for this picture. This is a lovely record shot, but the power station is such a well-known, powerful, building that I'm not sure it needs the gasometer or a span of Battersea Bridge in the picture with it.


mike w - Misty fields

Well, this certainly fits the bill, and very well, too. You obviously get up earlier than I do, and this picture is the reward. Subtle and understated.


Boyo - Natural light from camp fire

Well, I can't say that firelight is unnatural, so your entry stands. I have no idea what you were burning, but the effect is most interesting, like burning wire. You've nailed the exposure using a pretty fast shutter speed, and got the fire in focus despite what must have been a large aperture. Well done.


Don - Sportsmans Park

A full rainbow. And a building that looks straight from the set of Twin Peaks. The lowering sky gives it plenty of atmosphere. What's more, it was shot today, just before closing time. An amusing, slightly out-of-this world picture of an event we have all witnessed but few have photographed.


Lilly - Ferns

I do like ferns, and I tried many times in Jamaica to get a good shot of them with the light filtering through. None were as good as this. However, I think this shot would have been better if the sun itself had been out of the picture, instead of creating a large washed out area. But it's very attractive even so.


This was a hard one to judge. There were a number of really excellent pictures, any one of which deserved to win. I am not going to give "highly commended" awards because the list would be too long.

Results:

First - Dr. Mhuni
Second - Clarky
Third - Galoot

G

Congratulations to Dr. Mhuni, and thanks for your comments, George.

I did take a shot of just the power station on its own too*, but wanted to try something more creative with the very familiar landmark.

* www.pentaxuser.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=58890#58890

Excellent judging George (impressively quick too!) and congratulations to Dr Mhuni - I look forward to next week's topic.

And yes, mine would certainly have worked better with some nice antique furniture but I have to work with what I've got...

Thanks George a silver medal
I didn't use a reflector but the sunlight was quite intense filtering through the trees above and behind the moth. I was lying flat on the ground to get the shot. So maybe the light was reflecting up off me or off the inside of flowers. :

Congrats Dr Mhuni a beautiful shot and worthy winner.

I also liked very much Amoringello's shot.

Thank you, george, for the well considered judging. Especially from your hotel room!

Well done our winners, and if Dr Mhuni would care to step forwards and start a new competition and a new thread please, we will see what we can do to rise to the new challenge!

Excellent job G. This was truely a hard one - and thanks a lot for the kind words.

Dr. Mhuni - a worthy winner - and no doubt Clarkys shot was one of the best so far.....very nicely done Clarky.