Critiquing my "Seed" Blue Ribbon

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5- 5.6G ED DX

09/26/2006 12:52:15 AM · #26

Originally posted by Ivo:

Okay.........this is ridiculous! Ursula,from now on you are only allowed to submit things that you have knit ..... or built from rice krispies squares. DOC, if you would just clean up the damn weeds from your front lawn we would not have this problem! ShutterPug, have you not heard of "DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE"??? Me, I like my poppies because they make fun treats and I find everyone is much nicer when they levitate. hehehe

I don't knit :( and I don't like cooking :( :( I do like poppies though, but I don't eat them, or stuff made from them :).

Rebecca

Nikon D80

09/26/2006 12:56:37 AM · #27

Personally, I would have voted the outtake much higher. I was surprised to see this ribbon, if I'm being honest, because it had some focus issues and in my mind, dandelion shots are the new wine glasses - evidence two on the front page plus dozens of others liberally spinkled throughout other challenges, and they always seem to score inexplicably high despite being really really really cliche by now. And yeah, for me, the cliche tends to kill my appreciation of the photo, and appreciation is most of what determines my vote.

The outtake macro is technically superb and provides a slightly different twist on the cliche, which softens its deflator qualities. What wows me is appreciation given to all the little details we tend to overlook, and macro accomplishes that for me. This aspect of photography has grabbed me more than anything else about it since day one.

But no one else on DPC thinks this way, it seems, and this is probably why my scores are consistently in the crapper, so my opinion is pretty much worthless 'round these parts. ;)

09/26/2006 12:58:14 AM · #28

Originally posted by ursula:

Originally posted by Ivo:
Okay.........this is ridiculous! Ursula,from now on you are only allowed to submit things that you have knit ..... or built from rice krispies squares. DOC, if you would just clean up the damn weeds from your front lawn we would not have this problem! ShutterPug, have you not heard of "DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE"??? Me, I like my poppies because they make fun treats and I find everyone is much nicer when they levitate. hehehe

I don't knit :( and I don't like cooking :( :( I do like poppies though, but I don't eat them, or stuff made from them :).

Are you telling me you have never eaten a poppyseed roll, to name just one example? All those baked goods with the little tiny black seeds sprinkled on 'em? Heck, I have poppyseeds in bulk quantity in my spice drawer...

R.

09/26/2006 01:00:11 AM · #29

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by ursula:

Originally posted by Ivo:
Okay.........this is ridiculous! Ursula,from now on you are only allowed to submit things that you have knit ..... or built from rice krispies squares. DOC, if you would just clean up the damn weeds from your front lawn we would not have this problem! ShutterPug, have you not heard of "DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE"??? Me, I like my poppies because they make fun treats and I find everyone is much nicer when they levitate. hehehe

I don't knit :( and I don't like cooking :( :( I do like poppies though, but I don't eat them, or stuff made from them :).

Are you telling me you have never eaten a poppyseed roll, to name just one example? All those baked goods with the little tiny black seeds sprinkled on 'em? Heck, I have poppyseeds in bulk quantity in my spice drawer...

R.

Oh, that! [ getting all red and embarrased ] I was thinking, oh well, I better go now.

Ivo

09/26/2006 01:02:50 AM · #30

Ursula,thanks for the comment on my poppy. This issue about the border is going tomake me cry. I found that border in a gutter when nobody wanted it. It only had 3 sides and one of which was bruised and bent. I nursed it back to life and thought to display it with my poppies. I guess I should have left it in the ditch. (Violins playing in the back....weep weeep ...... cheese with my whine!)

09/26/2006 01:07:23 AM · #31

Originally posted by Ivo:

I'm shedding huge tears here .... ohhh, an abandoned border, rescued, it's just so uplifting to read that. Ayyyyyyy!

09/26/2006 01:11:10 AM · #32

Originally posted by ursula:

Originally posted by Ivo:
Ursula,thanks for the comment on my poppy. This issue about the border is going tomake me cry. I found that border in a gutter when nobody wanted it. It only had 3 sides and one of which was bruised and bent. I nursed it back to life and thought to display it with my poppies. I guess I should have left it in the ditch. (Violins playing in the back....weep weeep ...... cheese with my whine!)

I'm shedding huge tears here .... ohhh, an abandoned border, rescued, it's just so uplifting to read that. Ayyyyyyy!

I'm thinking "illegal immigrant" and wondering if we need to turn Ivo in to the INS?

R.

09/26/2006 01:12:23 AM · #33

Hey ursula, I went with the shot I did because I felt that the technicals of the macro would have a difficult time overcoming 6 other dandelion macros that looked just like it. I really thought there would be at least a few other dandelion macrio shots just like The Paratroopers. When I saw that there weren't, I was afraid I had made the wrong choice (plus at about 5 votes, the ribbon shot was a 5-something).

I've, of course, seen picture like The Escape, but not with a real background (instead of a black one which allows you to shoot from above with everything laid out). I thought this shot would take it "to the next level" and that would be rewarded. I guess I was right. ;)

Personally, I tend to respond to technicals (maybe a little too much). I wondered if I was being overdrawn to the technical nature of the macro and decided to fight that instinct.

I was going to include the word "hope" in the title of this post because I was impressed that emotion can still beat technicals too.

Message edited by author 2006-09-26 01:17:46.

Ivo

09/26/2006 01:13:54 AM · #34

Cool.....INS has 3 letters just like Ivo! Put them together and it spells ...INSIVO. That was a UN mission to the dark reaches of Newfoundland where they were brought in to secure the threatened moose population.

jfriesen

Panasonic LUMIX GH5

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

09/26/2006 01:15:44 AM · #35

Originally posted by ursula:

I thought Jason said somewhere he liked his outtake better than his entry, but I may be wrong. Anyway. It doesn't really matter. I agree with people here who have said that the outtake is better technically, but Escape has a wider emotional appeal. It's good to know that emotion will still beat technicals :)

well said.

And he did mention that he thought he had entered the weaker of the two

09/26/2006 01:16:39 AM · #36

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

For what it's worth, here's the ribbon-winner with a dose of Focus Magic applied:

Robt.

You know, the technicals I don't like are the blown highlight on the left and the lack of DOF for the whole dandelion. On 1900x1200, which is what I run, the shot looks to be properly sharp. Your shot, on my screen, looks oversharp. Sometimes I have to just make a stab at proper sharpness because not many people run 1900x1200. We all know my Broken shot was oversharp to the point of halos. I've been skittish about that ever since (on my screen those halos aren't very apparent).

09/26/2006 01:17:13 AM · #37

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Bummer. You should have entered the other one, I tell you. Really. That way I would have beat you ;P

BTW, sometimes a "real" background doens't look real, as in this image:

That one is perfectly real, made in the great outdoors, by the side of a road, on a windy day, uphill, really. But I was going downhill. I'm serious.

And, as you'll notice, it has one of the same problems your shot has - the front part of the dandelion is out of focus. That's what you get for trying to get a nice and blurry background on a closeup, especially with things like dandelion seed heads, that are about an inch or more in depth.

Message edited by author 2006-09-26 01:26:53.

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

09/26/2006 01:27:34 AM · #38

That's a great shot! I love the light.

I was thinking of my other attempt at this...

Simple black background.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

09/26/2006 01:45:42 AM · #39

If you don't mind me asking a dumb question but was yours a setup shot or did you wait for one to fly off on it's own?

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary

09/26/2006 01:54:01 AM · #40

Originally posted by yanko:

If you don't mind me asking a dumb question but was yours a setup shot or did you wait for one to fly off on it's own?

What do you think? If it were set up, how would it be done?

MichaelC

Sony Alpha a7R III

09/26/2006 02:04:58 AM · #41

with a hair dryer?

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

09/26/2006 02:07:31 AM · #42

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Originally posted by yanko:
If you don't mind me asking a dumb question but was yours a setup shot or did you wait for one to fly off on it's own?

What do you think? If it were set up, how would it be done?

I don't know, a wire? It was advance editing so I wasn't sure.

goc

Apple iPhone 4

09/26/2006 04:45:35 AM · #43

i will say only that the "story" of the photo is most important, the light is the second ... the other technical details are just something for fun :-), just look at the best photos around the world and you'll see ...
for example best national geographic photos as in "through the lens" book (do you have it?) are mostly grainy and soft (okay the majority of them are shot with analog cameras) but the story is the key here. right ?
i look at photos the same way.

peace

09/27/2006 01:41:35 PM · #44

Secret revealed!

My dad sent me this shot obviously taken while I was getting the shot. Note the creative use of the lens hood. :)

Message edited by author 2006-09-27 13:49:01.

jemison

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

09/27/2006 02:42:43 PM · #45

I find the outtake, while a nice shot, has a very distracting area out-of-focus in the lower left. It would have gotten a 7 from me.

ShaneBlake

Nikon D7100

09/27/2006 03:18:32 PM · #46

Originally posted by jemison:

I find the outtake, while a nice shot, has a very distracting area out-of-focus in the lower left. It would have gotten a 7 from me.

i was wondering if i was the only one bothered by that?...

still, i'd have given the outtake a point higher, depending on my mood that day...

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

09/27/2006 03:20:55 PM · #47

And THIS shot is a classic illustration of why "real" photgraphers use Manfrottos (or their ilk) so they can tripod the camera at ground level :-) I don't envy you having to shoot macro like that.

R.

glad2badad

Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro M.Zuiko Digital ED

09/27/2006 03:24:07 PM · #48

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Then you'd need a right-angle viewer? :D

Actually, I've found a small tabletop tripod helpful for these kind of shots, but you're still on the ground to look thru the viewfinder.