COMMENT THREAD for December Contest***

[handmade34]

Please post all comments for December Contest here...

Painting White...

[Solly Mack]

1. and we're off...

Neat photo!

[handmade34]

2. I am sure we are all seeing white

these days... :fistbump:

[Solly Mack]

3. Oh yeah...but we'll see even more after this contest is over. Seems to work

that way. A really good photo opportunity comes along for the contest that has just finished. Happens to me anyway.

[postatomic]

4. I think I might go with this one

Seen lots of great white photos posted already. Anxious to see what everyone comes up with.

[Celebration]

5. I'd say that

fits the subject matter well. Are you sure you need the frame, though? It might detract a bit. :rofl:

Have you considered a different crop?

[handmade34]

10. I think you have a good point!!

;)

[postatomic]

11. I was going to remove the frame

But I thought it'd give me an unfair advantage. I will try a different crop though.
:D

[alfredo]

21. The Bokeh is very nice. It would be a shame to crop it out.

[Solly Mack]

6. I think it needs to be a square...perfect symmetry for the perfect white.

[postatomic]

12. Couldn't agree more

A true work of art like this needs to be In The Square.
:D

[Solly Mack]

14. lol! as an added bonus it also gives you your title - In the Square

[Callalily]

8. I don't care what everybody

says, this one really "speaks to me."

Great composition! :rofl:

[postatomic]

13. Thanks. You don't think it's too white?

I was worried that no one would see the message I was trying to convey.
:D

[NV Whino]

30. If you have never seen the movie

I've heard Mermaids Singing, track it down and watch it. It's an older Canadian film. Very charming, but you have essentially (and accidentally) posted the punchline.

[Earth_First]

7. I'm a bit worried about my first submission...

I pushed the boundary of the theme and it's a near full foreground crop.

Lot's of great shots though...

[handmade34]

9. I love creative thought

but if you are seriously worried... you can always use that as a placeholder until you find a better one? It is true that "Red, White and Blue" conjures up an entity of its own and does not focus on white... but we all interpret differently...

[blueraven95]

20. Hi Earth_First

welcome to the photo group!

I personally love your submission because of the creative interpretation of the theme. I hope you decide to keep it in.

:hi:

[bluedigger]

23. Welcome to the contest!

Don't worry about pushing the envelope. It's impossible to predict what the voters will like. I just try to present something they will enjoy looking at. Thinking outside the box is often a good strategy! It's all for fun! :fistbump:

[intheflow]

15. NV Whino... what is "Bleached" a photo of?

:shrug: I'm thinking it looks a bit like sculptured mashed potatoes, but somehow "bleach" + "mashed potato" is a cognitive disconnect for me!

[Swampguana]

18. I was wondering what it was as well

Looks almost like some portion of a reef is my best guess

[intheflow]

22. Oh, wait. Is it a bone?

:shrug:

[NV Whino]

29. It's a deer antler

I shot it with my point and shoot as an experiment and liked it so much I didn't bother to get out the big camera.

[intheflow]

16. Saphire!

That's gorgeous! Good thinking to combine egg shell with sugar - you must be a baker! I also love the bowl, it perfectly compliments the shape of the eggs. Awesome composition and the warm backlighting gives it a "hearth and home" feel. Good job, You! :thumbsup:

[Mira]

19. May I second every word of that? n/t

[intheflow]

17. handmade34, may I please change the title of my submission?

I was having a dyslexic moment when I posted. :dunce: The title should be "Mop Mutt."

[handmade34]

24. no worries

if it is too late to edit, I will add the appropriate title when posting in GD... :-)

[intheflow]

33. Muchas gracias!

:hi:

[handmade34]

25. Hey all...

I am on the road for the next three days... will try to check in late, wherever I settle for the night... :crazy:

[Celebration]

26. HappyCynic

I have to say I :rofl: at yours.

Love it.

[bluedigger]

27. I like that one too!

:thumbsup:

[Solly Mack]

28. I teehee'd loudly.

It's a great one!

[HappyCynic]

31. Glad to give you a laugh

I'm glad I gave a few of you a laugh. I didn't have anything good for white like all the other submissions. So I thought I'd go for a humourous shot and also try out my new macro setup (I recently got a bellows, focusing rail, and some old manual lenses). My entry probably won't get very far but as long as a few people get some amusement out of it, I'm happy.

[Solly Mack]

32. I think it will do quite well. It's a great photo and it is funny.

[handmade34]

35. anyone who takes time to

really look will appreciate it and the theme! ;)

[Mz Pip]

34. I am so impressed

with the variety of photos submitted. All wonderfully different takes on the theme and that's what keeps it interesting!

[handmade34]

36. me too...

just settled for the evening, got online and so impressed with number of varied photos already submitted... Very Nice!

[Mz Pip]

37. BTW...

You are doing a fine job on your virgin hosting effort! :thumbsup:

[Mira]

38. Seconding this as well.. Excellent work hosting, especially

as it happens in the midst of business travels. Your present and keeping us informed nevertheless.

:thumbsup:

[ManiacJoe]

39. Gotta give props to Tabatha for "White on Black".

:applause:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

40. if this were a real photo

contest with real judges, and there was justice in the world

THIS PHOTO WOULD WIN, HANDS DOWN

with GD, we shall see

[Mira]

41. Reminds me, as I agree with you completely, of the last

minute entry one time by "soup" never to be seen from maybe before and certainly not again, who had a colorful big bird in flight with a fish it its mouth and then proceeded to win first place.
Remember?

[Mz Pip]

44. +1

It is spectacular.

[Celebration]

46. It is a fantastic image, but I have a question

How is it possible that the bird is so well lit and the background so black?

Is it fabulous camera work and lighting conditions? Or is it more post processing than most of us do for these contests?

In all honesty, I don't know, because I am a real slacker on post processing. So far, it hasn't interested me that much. I just tweak a few little things and am done with it.

I also am not much of a technical camera geek.

So, I am very curious as to exactly how this photo was done. Any ideas? I guess it could be a big spotlight on the bird at night. But how would you know when it was about to take off? I have to say that would REALLY be remarkable.

But, whatever. Like I said, it is a fabulous image. If it's post processing then I (or maybe we) need to learn a few things. If it is some sort of spotlight at night then I give up. I'll pass on that, LOL. If it is post processing, do we need another conversation on that? Because pretty soon, everyone will be doing the extreme post processing, which is fine if that is what we collectively want. But we need to know.

[Mira]

47. I think when the contest is over we ask the photographer.

Your questions make sense to me, and we all are anxious to learn more.
I had not finished picking my chin off the floor to think to ask these questions myself.

[CC]

48. It very well may

of been as taken with a slight adjustments. They most likely exposed for the bird and under exposed the surrounding area. The contrast between the white/light bird and dark background makes it hard for the camera to catch both in detail so it would leave the background darker. I would of gone with an under exposure in a difficult situation like this if I had too since you can rescue that much better than over exposing the bird then trying to correct it in photoshop. We also don't know how many tries captured that one photo. I know people that still own and use light meters for stuff like this.

It isn't that different from how I single out flowers from the garden. Get the exposure for them and let the background go dark along with a narrow depth of field.

[Celebration]

50. well it is amazing

I would think it would be much easier to do this with a flower than a flying bird. You really don't get that many chances to fool around with settings, etc. for a flying bird. Of course you could know the conditions so well that you prepare for this ahead of time. If so it is truly amazing.

I've done the same thing you describe with flowers, and yet, I've never had the background turn out that dark..........darker, yes, but not that dark. Maybe the conditions were not quite the same though. Of course, my camera isn't that great in low light conditions, so that could be the issue.

[CC]

59. It is a matter of being ready.

You'd have to use the manual settings on your camera and have it set and ready. You could either take test shots before hand and see where you need the f-stop and shutter speed or if you happen to have a light meter it could get you the reading in the area. I did forget/leave out the telephoto lens.


Not a flower but a good example.




This was taken in very bright early afternoon sun. There was a whole bunch of sleeping flamingos at the Philly Zoo. Boring all sleeping away but they were some of the brightest, most colorful flamingos I have seen so wanted a photo. This guy happened to open his eye, have no idea if others did or not. There are flamingos behind him but they are in the shade of a tree while he was just on the edge of the shade. I never thought it would go so dark as to hide the other birds completely. Settings on the camera were f/14 shutter was 10/4000 of a second and the lens was maxed at 300 mm. ISO was probably 200 since that was on my old D100 that is going to be converted to infrared one year. Since there were sleeping that fast of a shutter speed was just because it was so bright out but had the bird been flying it would of froze it pretty sharp at that setting as long as I had it focused on it.


I see tabitha has answered too. The best person to explain what they did but leaving mine because I typed already.

[tabatha]

61. I love that shot!

The eye is awesome!

[CC]

62. Thank you.

It was a lucky shot and taught me a lot about how much different the camera sees compared to the human eye/brain.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

49. if an object like that is lit in the

foreground, and the background is far enough away, this is perfectly natural photographically

[Celebration]

51. I can understand that

in theory, anyway. Would it be the sun lighting up the foreground, or floodlights? I am trying to place myself in the scene and figure it out.

Edited to add: You can see the water below, if you look closely. And after all, there is a a fantastic reflection, but the water is almost black. I just think it is odd that a light shining on a bird, whether the sun, or from a floodlight, wouldn't also shine on the water.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

52. also keep in mind it is a telephoto

lens which messes up spatial relationships too

[Celebration]

53. Like Mira said

We can ask when the contest is over. I really am curious.

[tabatha]

54. To answer your question, I always stop way way

down for white birds, e.g egrets, because with normal exposure they usually white-out to solid white.

Below is the first bird I experimented with - I just stopped way, way down - no post processing was required. The water just turned black. I was surprised. I never use flash, and I never use a tripod.

[tabatha]

55. I answered in #54

that I stopped way way down - because I could not get decent whites when I first started with digital. It is a problem with digital cameras, that whites can be overblown.

Here are some from other photographers (NOT MINE) on Flickr (there are many more)







I have also gotten black backgrounds with flowers by stopping down.

[Celebration]

57. Oh, awesome idea!

What I am really impressed about is that you managed to do this with the bird flying. A flower would be relatively easy, but not a flying bird. You must have been panning it perfectly. It is a great shot!

[tabatha]

58. I was shooting at 1/3200

I have managed to get a few shots of flying birds, mostly by luck.

The egret was flying west into the sun which was low as it was late - hence the glaring white on the head and the light was at an angle to catch the bird. The egret was flying over a creek that had tall eucs on the south side, so the water was in deep shadow. (I was on the north bank facing south)

Hence the combination of the lowering sun highlighting the white and the trees shadowing the water contributed to the contrast.

Also, I think there were 3 or 4 of the birds, and this was the one that crossed in front of the the lens as I pressed the shutter a few times. It was mostly a set of lucky circumstances.

Here is another fast shot:

[CC]

60. Oh I like this one too.

Love the detail but especially love the translucence of the feathers on the wings and tail.




too is because your contest entry is gorgeous.

[Celebration]

63. That makes sense

Love the hawk by the way.

[Solly Mack]

42. Wow. We're almost at 30 already.

"White on Black" is stunning!

Simply stunning.

[handmade34]

43. Only 3 slots left!!!

this contest may go to press a bit early... You are all just too good...

[handmade34]

45. ONE Space Left!!!

and seems as if a few people are considering change... it all is looking very White around here!

I am headed out into the cold 'white' morning... west towards Minnesota (a lot more white stuff)....

[alfredo]

56. I think one has been posted.