Be Excellent To Each Other

Please vote for your favourite picture - one vote per person. The poll will run for three days
Also, please feel free discuss any of the pictures in this thread

The third photography challenge is up and running - details are to be found here. Thanks to all those that took part - please take a moment of your day to enjoy the pictures and vote, everyone! Looking forward to seeing everyone's pictures in the next challenge - get snapping folks!


OK, here are this month's entries:

Photo ONE:

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Photo TWO:

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Photo THREE:

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Photo FOUR:

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Photo FIVE:

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Photo SIX:

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Photo SEVEN:

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Photo EIGHT:

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Photo NINE:

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Photo TEN:

I particularly like number six for the distortion that the water causes to the reflection of the architecture, and for the reflection of the photographer as I am always conscious to get my reflection and shadow out of shot where I can, but maybe shouldn't make that a hard and fast rule, and also number four for the sheer blue-ness of the picture.

Photo Three for me. It's a beautifully-textured picture of something I wouldn't even think of photographing...

Love the textures on three.

I also like 4, it has that "wow" factor about it. Definitely my favourite.

1, 7 and 10 are too wishy washy for me...they look a bit bland and dont really grab me. (this may just be due to the fact that Im used to seeing rivers/glens/waterfalls etc my whole life)

2 and 5 look like something you'd see on a post card...not bad pics...just not special either.

6 is pretty funky and modern.

I like 8, but there just seems to be something missing...theres no real focus point in it. The rocks and swans seem to be fighting for the centre of attention.

The textures on 3 are pretty cool and the photo has a kind of extra terrestrial feel about it.

9 needs more fish or cropping down.

Definitely number 3. Largely because it takes something relatively ordinary and makes it otherworldly.

Hmm, tough decisions, and on my pleasant walk today I've been ruminating hard on what to choose. I've stared a bit longer and here are my thoughts:

(ALERT: All these comments are strictly IMHO and I fully realise that I am repeatedly wrong on such things. Don't base your own judgements on my comments, but on the photos themselves! You will see stuff I've missed, or wonder why I've blithered on about something that looks perfectly well-placed.)

1, 7 & 10:

Fast flowing streams make good subjects, especially in woodland, but they are surprisingly tricky to pull off. The danger areas are over-exposure and noise, and a lack of focus - as it's tempting to get as much vegetation and river-bank feature and water in as much as possible. This results in a cluttered, unfocused feel and the thousands of leaves, thin twigs and woodland litter can make a bitty, noisy image unless carefully shot and lit. I made bad mistakes for a fair while trying them, but it is trial and error and nowt's lost by experimenting with them. I still haven't cracked them, but I'm getting there.

Photo seven has a grey/white sky and over-exposed landscape/horizon behind the curve of the bridge. On grey days even if sunny, it's best to keep as much if not all of the cloud bank out as possibly. This has been attempted, but I would personally have sacrificed the top of the bridge and concentrated on the arch and the water underneath. A clever technique even on auto (which I use more often than not on my camera, as it can usually be trusted to get results) is to focus on a light colour if you want a darker shot and then pull the frame over the shot you want before fully clicking. This will balance the colours more. The reverse goes if the shot is too dark, aim for the darkest point and pull over and it will have a lighter colour balance.

Photo ten has a good idea in holding a sort of V shape frame of the water, boxing it in. Again though, the light is a little washed out and the framing isn't quite right - tricky because of the noisy elements. The colouring and shading near the rocks are good though. I might have tried zooming in more on the rocks and seeing if I could get a good little rocky nook with trickly water shot, or tried shooting with the lens poking through the leaves. With features like these 3 shots, I find getting as close to the ground as possible and emphasising the riverbank and bulk of the water in the shot at the expense of the surroundings sometimes works too.

Photo One is a solid angle to go for, but the distraction of the pathway doesn't really add anything and the empty water of the lower part and the cluttered distant horizon of the river marrs it. Also, grey/white sky again. I would personally have zoomed in to have pure river-bank and river around the rocks, and played with the light-focus until a rich, smoother shot came along. It is a tough location to shoot on though, so kudos for risking it.

Keep at it though. Water's one of the trickiest elements. Grrr.

Photo 2:

I really like the overhanging branches against the sky, it's a good twilight colour as well. The lights are warm as well, but at the same time the image is a little mysterious and threatening. Good atmosphere. It's a shame that the bottom of the picture loses it a bit as the curtain doesn't quite fall to the bottom. I would have chopped say the bottom 5th a cm below the shimmering reflected lights. I might have chanced lightening the background beyond the branches as well in photoshop to make it stand out a bit more. But that may have proved impossible. I might tinker myself and see what I can do. I like this one though, it's got a good atmosphere. It needs to be boxed a bit more, and maybe there could be more water with a lower angled shot (though that may have ruined the branches idea to reposition) but I like it.

Photo 3:

This one grows on me the more I see it. The first time I saw it I wished it had been cropped a little more at the top and bottom. And thought that it was pretty interesting, but not the strongest contender. The more I look at it the more I like however. It has an alien landscape feel, with the sharp light blue and the grainy sand mounds almost being a full blown dune-sea. At the same time it works in a literal sense as well, and the grain of the sand against the sheen of the water is a really nice contrast. Aside from a bit of possibly needed cropping of top and bottom (which ironically might be detrimental to my landscape notion) this photo is a really front-runner.

Photo Four:

At first this was my favourite. I like the strong vibrant comic-book blues of the sky and sea, contrasted with the rugged coast. There's a strong dynanism to the shot as well, and the sweep of the sea works nicely with the curve of the hill. The only problem is the middle ground which seems too squashed in the image by being on the strict half line. I would have kept two-thirds coast and one third choppy sea I think, but that would have lost some of the interesting surf. A tricky problem! I love the colour and the lighting though.

Photo Five:

Another strong photo. The sunset of the sky is beautiful. The reflections on the water are well clarified too. The only flaw is that it's a bit difficult with the pure silhouette as to be sure what precisely you're looking at. It's definitely a bridge on first glance, but there's a frustrating lack of detail. Again though, I can't work out how I'd fix it. Maybe I would have gone for a portrait shot - I do have a fondness for them even with subjects that make landscape shots. I would have focuse this on the bridge's middle section, keeping the bank edge at the bottom and a little less sky at the top, so the orange is more emphasised. The rooftop and reflected window on the left are nice, but not essential in my opinion - so I'd go "This is a fuck-off nice bridge and warm glowy light reflection" type portrait.

Photo Six:

Modernism! Progression! Man's inhumanity to man! I like this one almost because of the 'fuck-it, I like 'em' mistakes and the polaroid feel. The no-no of the photographer in the picture and the two jarring elements and the blur and the discordence. It's not automatically clear what you're looking at and its a bit cluttered but the style limits the damage done by the washed out sky and it's a bit different. Should have been a bit more symetrical half-and-half though, a little more towards the left.

Photo Eight:

Hard decision this one. One that makes you go 'coo' when you first see it, for the extreme loveliness of the subject matter and amazing richness of colour. The framing and action is a bit off though. It really needed to be taken a few steps forward, reducing the rocks and shingle to a third and opening up the lake a bit. (Could that be done, though? Or would it remain a narrow strip despite the angle. The rocks are really nice though so it'd be a shame to miss the water fringe ones. A few more seconds to allow the swans to get closer to the centre, and shot closer up, or better yet on the left or even out the picture would have made a positive difference too, with less clutter and more clarity that way. But the reflections are beautiful, the light amazingly well judged and picture has a rich feel. It's just the framing and the timing and the lack of decisive focus that makes it a little sterile though. So close though! Whoever took this one is going to win sooner than later, me reckons.

Photo Nine:

Fish, and very nicely shot fish too. Definition is great and I'm impressed with the shale too. Image could have been cropped a bit, losing a strip along the left. It's a pleasant, relaxing picture with some good colour. A bit limited maybe and windows-screensavery though. Good contender this one, but not the winner for me. Still, I'd be pleased to call a shot like that my own. I'm crap at macro.

After agonisingly strong head-scratching:

NUMBER THREE IS THE WINNER!

(Nice watery font there.)

Yup, the sheer is-it-a-Doctor-Who/Kim Stanley Robinson-landscape or is it just some beach taken close up nature of this photo really pleases me. And others too apparently. Kudos!

And an honourable mention goes to number two for the idea - I think you should try some more and see if you can pull it off. I'm going to try a similar shot next time I'm out and about for twilight photog.

Just bumping this a little so those who haven't voted yet don't miss the thread.

Poll closes tomorrow (Thursday) at 10:30am(ish) so give a little click if you will

So the votes are in and we have a crack team of counting staff made up of bank and Post Office personnel counting as quickly as their little sticky fingers can manage.

Lets go over to Peter at the swingometer... no, wait, we have a decision...

PHOTO NUMBER THREE is the winner of the watery photo competition.

So, it is time to own up to your photos! I only know one of the submissions because I was an entrant. I'm looking forward to finding out who the happy snapper is who has their reflection in the watery sculpture, and who had the enviable holiday in photo number four.

My photo was actually number three. We went to Blackpool for a funeral last week as many will know, and that was the Blackpool sands after the tide went out. I just liked the rippling textures of the sand and all the little oasis of water.

It wasn't my absolute favourite water photo, but I wanted to submit something newly taken. I had previously taken these two of the very top of the high fountain in Lancaster's Williamson Park, which I quite liked:
In full view they are quite detailed, and I like all the tiny bubbles of water.

Anyway, I didn't think my photo would win, so it's a lovely surprise. Thank you to all those who voted for me. I'd like to thank my publicist, the cast and crew, my family, Craig, for always being there and, most importantly, I'd like to thank God.

So, who do the other pictures belong to?

ten was a good turnout, hopefully the next challenge will have even more participants and even more people will get out and about with their little snappy boxes. The next theme is 'lines', the challenge closes on the 18th May and further details can be found right here.

Huzzah

Well done Mimi!

Danke.

Actually, I see that the poll is half an hour behind because the clock in the board is an hour behind GMT? Is that right? Oh well, I am sorry about that - I did not know and I will remember this for next time.

I will proudly stand up and claim 0 votes for number nine!

That would be me Taken just off Golden Bay, Malta.

Cheers for your critique, NervousPete: I couldn't manage to get the detail of the interesting bits of sea, as well as the jagged land without a central horizon placement, unfortunately. It was a tricky decision.

Also, thanks for all the people who voted for mine. Hoorah for photography.

I like number nine - I think it is the most 'fun' of the pictures.

I think a little bit of cropping in might have helped the focus a bit more:


What's his name?

Well done Mimi!

Amazing shot there of the water fountain as well. May I be boorish and ask what camera you use?

Mine was Mr Reflection in the Sculpture - no.6! I had some really nice ones of a sunset in Cardiff bay that were tempting to use, but I stood sternly by the 'photo taken during compo timespan' rule. The photo was taken at the Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay. I aimed my camera at the edge of the Torchwood monolith, which has water cascading down it. You get a really interesting distorted dual image looking at the corners. On the left of the pic you can see me, and my mate Jon behind me with a roll-up and the plaza. To the right you can see the curved front of the Millenium Centre with its darkened giant words carved into the front.

Probably the weirdest photo I've taken. Glad you liked it, thanks Mimi!

(Had to comment on my own further up the page, or that would have tipped off who I was by its exception. Tried to be muted with the praise therefore, obviously I think its the best photo ever taken on this forum by a country mile. )

You're right about the cropping.

Sean - because he's a Ramirez.

I find taking pictures of fish very difficult


I wish the one below were a bit sharper:


Does anyone know if there is a 'trick' to getting it right - your fishy shot there looks pretty clear, Craster.

The water in your holiday shot looks amazing, Nyn - I like the balance of sea, land and sky.

A good camera with a very fast CCD, patience, and taking 200 photos for every decent one :0)

That said, yours look better than mine.

Ta. I took it a few days before the competition was posted, though, so it's a semi-cheat. I'll be going out looking for lines specially for this next one, though, and I'm bloody loving this new camera.

Good stuff. I must get snapping soon, also. I have lots of ideas for this one, though. Maybe too many ideas

The lion fish is a bit blurred in large format, Craster - it's not normal blurring, though - it's almost like 'double vision - like there's a shift somewhere. I wasn't sure if it was blurring due to motion, which might have been helped if I used a higher speed, or something to do with the glass or the angle I took the shot at - also, I think they use some kind of UV lighting in the aquarium, which seemed to be making it difficult.

I remember when digital cameras first came out I never thought I'd be able to afford one and couldn't much see the point, but the freedom of being able to just take hundreds of experimental shots with no cost is so liberating.

And you can see the results there and then! Storage cards are dropping in price, too. I got my 4gb SD card for about £15. Shame CF cards are still really expensive though. I think my 8gb one cost about £90, but I didn't bother shopping around or checking the internet.

As the only current Cardiff resident on the board perhaps using one of Cardiff's more famous landmarks as your subject was a bit of a giveaway. I certainly guessed instantly this one was yours!

I was trying to work out where the landmark was from as I thought I had seen it before (though it must have been on TV as I have never been to Cardiff) so my detective work was way off.

My camera is a Fujifilm S9100 according to the info on my Flickr account, though I thought it had a '6' in it somewhere, so I will check that presently. It's a nice, simple, easy to use camera. I hope to be able to afford an SLR one day in the future, but probably not for some time.

EDIT: yes, it is did have a '6' in it, it's an S9600 - I had a look and it is just the alternative number in Europe, apparently.

The shiny tower itself is very prominent in Torchwood, the building you can see in the reflection crops up in pretty much anything in Cardiff because it's visually quite arresting. Tends to get used for a lot of background shots in news broadcasts and the like.

Jessops do a buy-now, pay in 12 months* thingy if you know you can afford one in 12 months' time. (We need a Devil dimlie)


*no interest if you settle within 12 months, plus a £29 settlement fee. Go over the date, though, and you'll get stung for 29%APR over 3 years.

I think it is something that I'd like to save up for over a few months. Techincally, I could afford one now, but I like to have some money for emergencies, and it's not exactly an essential purchase as I do actually have two pretty much OK cameras to play with. I know that if I save for one then come the time that I can buy one and all is well then I have it to own and nothing can come bad of it, but if anything crops up whilst I am saving then I have that money for more important matters.

I shall not start looking at nice cameras though, else I get that 'bug' and my savings go 'ppoooooofff' and you are all subjected to pictures of 'interesting leaves' and the like.

Oh yes, absolutely. Saving then buying is much more rewarding than buying and paying off.

Aside from walking out of the shop with stuff you haven't paid for, and not having to run away from the pursuing security guards.

I broke my promise to myself and have been looking at nice cameras, though must resist. Gnnngghhhhhhhh..... Gnnnngghhhhhhhh....

Hah. Seriously, though, if you're happy with your current one, keep it! I wasn't happy with my S5 IS, so replaced it. I'm still not sure whether to sell it or keep it as a smaller snapshot camera though.

I am tempted to give my digital camera to a chemistry boffin friend of mine, who will run it through his moisture removing magic box, in the hope that it will fix the 'dropped into a glass of wine' issues I have been having.

Would that be a Vacuum Dessicator?

Dunno... if Bobbyaro is around (for he is said lab working person), he might be able to confirm/deny...

That should be a WMD.

I just told my robot to "Hold at 4 for infinity time"

I hope I get my plate back.

I've only just properly looked at these. They are all awesome guys! Well done!