DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
Gold digger
Gold digger
sarampo


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Puzzle Macro III (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DL Macro for Nikon
Location: Portugal
Date: Dec 18, 2009
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/200
Galleries: Abstract, Macro
Date Uploaded: Dec 18, 2009

This is the tip of a corkscrew, the pieces of old corks are still visible as brown "gold".
Setup is easy:

[thumb]840541[/thumb]

Used a dvd back to get a blue tone, and an external flash with eBay triggers.
The hardest part was to get my lousy Sigma to get from 1:2 magnification ratio to something better, so I had to use all three Kenko extension tubes, so the camera was a bit ridiculous :-P

I will hope to get a 7 with this, should be a personal best, but one can only hope.

I tried a few more shots:
[thumb]840542[/thumb](a Rubik's cube) and [thumb]840544[/thumb] (a shower head) :-D

Statistics
Place: 108 out of 137
Avg (all users): 5.0556
Avg (commenters): 5.9444
Avg (participants): 5.0972
Avg (non-participants): 5.0139
Views since voting: 897
Views during voting: 304
Votes: 144
Comments: 20
Favorites: 0


Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
01/02/2010 07:23:31 PM
Greetings from the Critique Club

This is an interesting macro puzzle, and I think you accomplished that part of the challenge quite nicely. There were several people who guessed it correctly, but only a few that knew for sure what it was.

I love the colors that you got out of the dvd and reflections of your counter top. The blue highlights on the cork screw don’t quite work though in the overall composition, they look more like accidental flares rather than supporting elements.

A few things that I think brought your score down are:

1. The horizontal cork screw does not have much dynamics. I think it would have worked better with either a diagonal or straight on with the end of the corkscrew falling out of focus. Overall it is out of balance.

2. The blue light streak from the DVD is really nice, but with just the one it seems out of place and distracts from the composition.

3. The spots (dust?) at the bottom need to be cleaned up.

4. The focus point is not on the most interesting aspect of the corkscrew. It seems to be on the cork in the last bend. I think this composition would have been a lot better with the point in complete focus. The DOF with macro is so shallow (even at f/16) you really have to have a point of interest for the eyes to focus on (unless it is an abstract) in my humble opinion.

5. There is not much separation between the background and corkscrew. I’m wondering if you could have positioned the flash behind the corkscrew, dialed down the flash output, and with the camera on a tripod shot with a slow shutter speed capturing the ambient light with balanced background light. You could have used a bounce card for fill maybe.

6. The flash seems to be pretty harsh judging by the highlights; did you cover the flash head with something to diffuse it? I like to make little soft boxes out of Kleenex or other boxes with cloth on the front of the box to create softer lighting. Bouncing the flash would also have helped.

This was a fun challenge and I hope you are not to disappointed in your score. There are a lot of wonderful macro shooters here at dpc and the bar is just so high. You photo is a good one and you should be proud of it. I also liked your Rubik’s cube and shower head shots. I think the shower head is my favorite.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/27/2009 10:00:16 PM
Glass ornament detail?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/27/2009 02:41:57 PM
Extreme close up of a corkscrew with some cork on it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/27/2009 10:29:46 AM
Corkscrew..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/27/2009 02:18:29 AM
glass decoration
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/27/2009 12:14:11 AM
Corkscrew?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/26/2009 05:31:03 PM
Drill?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 10:40:47 PM
ok, a cork screw with little bits of cork on the thingie (how's that for specifics?) not sure...but is your sensor dirty??? good idea...had me stumped for quite sometime...had to see the "thingie" as a thumbnail to get it...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 02:18:20 PM
The tip of a cork screw, looks like glass, very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 01:20:10 PM
goldschlager? :) corkscrew?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 01:11:04 PM
stumped
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 10:10:41 AM
ice 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/22/2009 12:15:04 AM
Looks somewhat like a corkscrew.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 10:06:33 PM
A slug of Goldschlager going down without the body around it??? but I really think it's the tip of a cork screw with cork dust on it. nie photo though
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 12:28:17 PM
Is this a corkscrew?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 12:11:07 PM
Corkscrew tip?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 11:50:09 AM
Corkscrew and melodramatic lighting
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 08:18:36 AM
Perhaps an icicle decoration? Whatever the little dots of gold are in the background are great... would have been nice to have more of those.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 06:41:45 AM
the point of a wine bottle opener
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/21/2009 03:22:43 AM
An icicle?
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/19/2024 08:11:12 PM EDT.