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DPChallenge Forums >> Current Challenge >> Upside Down: What I have Learned
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05/11/2002 04:44:47 PM · #1
When I originally saw this challenge topic, I was a bit disappointed. I didn't know what I was going to do that was not just a normal 'mundane' photograph.

When I finally decided what I wanted to do, I started making photos. I actually submitted a photo on Wednesday. I looked at it and looked at it some more... I decided I didn't like it so I got the camera back out. Using the same subject, I changed it's environment a little bit and changed the perspectives and changed the lighting around. I came up with a photo that I liked even better. I posted it on Friday. I looked at it and looked at it some more trying to visualize the comments that I was going to receive on it. I nailed down 4 or 5 aspects of the photo that I felt that I was going to hear about when the voting started. I got the camera back out :)

Finally, today (Saturday, I posted yet another photo that seems to eliminate my ideas of flaws in my last submission.

In the process of creating this submission, My final result is nothing like what I had envisioned in my original idea.

Lesson learned:

When you think you have your photo ready, spend about 20 minutes looking at it and try to critique it just like any other voter here would do. When you isolate these flaws, try to eliminate them with a re-take of the photograph. During the process of re-taking your photos, you may find that your final result is much better than your original idea.

I took 67 photos for this challenge and used #51.


05/11/2002 05:37:11 PM · #2
My two challenge photos have both been shot at home. When I first set up to shoot, I pay some attention to things like lighting and framing, but I initially just take some shots where I move the subject around a bit and get things from different angles. I upload them and immediately notice things that work really well and things that don't work at all. Most of what I do after that is to try to reproduce certain aspects of the shots I liked - the framing from the second shot with the focus from the sixth shot and the lighting from the tenth shot.

I took 111 photos for Advertisement and used #111. I took 22 photos for Upside Down and used #8.
05/11/2002 05:50:12 PM · #3
I think I took maybe a 100 photos to get the one I wanted.

The first 40 were taken at night with low light (which were horrible), the next 40 with morning, natural light and then the final 20 with the morning light and some tweaking with light filtering.

All the time tweaking the elements and composition.

Light is such a powerful element I must spend most of my time trying to get it right.

05/11/2002 05:57:01 PM · #4
Originally posted by hokie:
Light is such a powerful element I must spend most of my time trying to get it right.

A photo's lighting is usually what grabs me the most. I am drawn to photos where I like the light and color even if I don't care much for the subject. When I first got my digital camera, I took a bunch of photos without subjects. I didn't realize that there weren't any subjects because I was shooting all the pretty light and colors. Eventually I learned to be sure I had a subject for the photo before pushing the button. ;-)


05/11/2002 06:00:07 PM · #5
Lighting makes a great difference as magnetic showed in his earlier posts this week... he showed some good examples of what can be done just by moving the light source...
05/11/2002 10:17:29 PM · #6
Well, I would have taken a lot of photos, but rain and an uncooperative subject intervened.... so I only took around 6. Whenever I take a photo, draw a picture, make a 3d model, a render, or an animation, I ALWAYS end up hypnotised by it, sometimes for hours. Does anyone else have this? Am I just really obsessive? I stare and stare and stare. I stared at my submission for this challenge for ages yesterday and have done some more staring today. I have no idea how people will comment, other than to point out the obvious low quality of the image owing to my camera, which I compensated for with despeckle and sharpen, thus pretty much posterising the colours. I like the result more than the original, but it's going to be criticised for sure. This is fun though :)
05/12/2002 02:11:06 PM · #7
Originally posted by lisae:
Whenever I take a photo, draw a picture, make a 3d model, a render, or an animation, I ALWAYS end up hypnotised by it, sometimes for hours. Does anyone else have this? Am I just really obsessive? I stare and stare and stare. I stared at my submission for this challenge for ages yesterday and have done some more staring today.

I am always in love with the most recent "good" photo I've taken. I've learned that something isn't really good until I come back after being in love with a few other "good" photos and still think, "Damn, that's one nice photo!"
05/12/2002 02:34:07 PM · #8

I am always in love with the most recent "good" photo I've taken. I've learned that something isn't really good until I come back after being in love with a few other "good" photos and still think, "Damn, that's one nice photo!"


Amen to that! If I hang something on the wall and I get sick of it quickly then I know it wasn't worth the trouble. My submission for Upside Down is one of those :(
05/12/2002 03:50:32 PM · #9
ditto. alwost didn't submit. havent really had time to work out a good concept or photo. I happened to shoot my submission while taking some pics of my son & his friend at a park (no, no upside down kids in my photo!). I saw it later, thought, hmmm, not too great, but at least it doesnt suck, so what the heck. I'm throwing it into the ring.

I'm really looking forward to next weeks challenge.
05/12/2002 04:48:05 PM · #10
Here is what I have learned from this challenge, there are just some places you can't shoot without permission and they are not places you would expect. I had a few REALLY helpful police offices point that out to me.
05/12/2002 05:43:51 PM · #11
Originally posted by Corey:
Here is what I have learned from this challenge, there are just some places you can't shoot without permission and they are not places you would expect. I had a few REALLY helpful police offices point that out to me.

My dad ran into that problem last time he visited me. He's nuts about his video camera, and he was wandering the downtown skyways taking videos of people, architecture, and whatnot. (For those who don't know, skyways are like indoor sidewalks on the second or third floor of buildings that connect them so that you don't have to go outside in winter.) While filming some cool ceilings in one building, he wandered through the doors of a bank. The security guards apparently called the police, and he had a shadow for the rest of the day.

05/12/2002 08:50:57 PM · #12
Yeah, the most unexpected places. For transitions, I was at one point taking a photo of a shredder at the local recycling center, that is, until the supervisor showed up and asked for my photo permit. At a dump???
05/13/2002 12:44:00 AM · #13
I know what you mean. I was shooting down at Union Square in Seattle when the security came out and told me I couldn't photograph on public property. It sure looked pretty public to me. Anyways, it happened after I got my photos. Then I moved around the corner and shot some more. Let them try to catch me.

One thing I learned is to always bring your filters with you. While I was walking around the area in Seattle I discover a great little park with some excellent architecture with flowing water and water falls. And of course I didn't bring the new neutral density filter I had just purchased so I could slow my shutter speed down and shoot the flowing water without overexposing the image. I will definitely have to go back to that spot with a tripod and my filters.

Tim
05/13/2002 05:59:28 AM · #14
heh, i just submitted the cr@ppiest picture yet
05/13/2002 06:14:53 AM · #15
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
heh, i just submitted the cr@ppiest picture yet

me too, it sucks so bad there is a loud vacuum noise when I check the stats
05/13/2002 11:54:16 AM · #16
Originally posted by conceptgraphics:
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
[i]heh, i just submitted the cr@ppiest picture yet


me too, it sucks so bad there is a loud vacuum noise when I check the stats[/i]

Mine is doing crappy as well. It's being "misinterpreted" :) yeah that's it...

05/13/2002 02:25:18 PM · #17
Originally posted by joebar:
Originally posted by conceptgraphics:
[i]Originally posted by magnetic9999:
[i]heh, i just submitted the cr@ppiest picture yet


me too, it sucks so bad there is a loud vacuum noise when I check the stats[/i]

Mine is doing crappy as well. It's being "misinterpreted" :) yeah that's it...

[/i]

yeah well I had a decent picture but I replaced it with a crappy one. Sheesh I just can't get over it.
05/13/2002 02:53:19 PM · #18
I like mine okay, but nobody seems to get it. Had the most perfect one when I noticed the camera date was set wrong! DAMN!
05/13/2002 03:01:17 PM · #19

ok, it's not that my pic is cr@ppy, it's just a departure for me. more of just a caught shot of something that was happening around me, not set up or pre-planned *at all.* Which is not what I've been submitting. I was curious how it would be received.
05/13/2002 08:35:00 PM · #20
Originally posted by magnetic9999:

ok, it's not that my pic is cr@ppy, it's just a departure for me. more of just a caught shot of something that was happening around me, not set up or pre-planned *at all.* Which is not what I've been submitting. I was curious how it would be received.


Same for mine magnetic! Mine was a ligit shot--but other than adjusting the settings (I always shoot in manual) and lining up the shot--it was pretty spontaneous. Call it a hypothesis, but part of me submitted mine last second to see if my scores really reflected the time and effort I put into a picture, or not. Well, let me just tell you--If I don't come in last...:) You people are good--very, very good!
Interestingly, I am getting some good comments noticing the very reasons I took the picture in the first place--so that is good. Man this storm here is bad. I might have to shut down the machine. Gasp, no DPC for the rest of the night?!!


* This message has been edited by the author on 5/13/2002 8:45:02 PM.
05/13/2002 10:59:03 PM · #21
I hadn't planned on even entering this challenge, but I happened to grab a shot Saturday that seemed to fit. It's my first entry here, and noone's leaving comments other than "that's nice".
I can't believe that there were so many reflection pictures! I didn't even think of that.
As for there being places that won't let you take pictures... There was a carnival set up at the local mall last week, and I was harrassed for taking pictures! Can anyone think of a good reason that I shouldn't be allowed to take pictures at a carnival???
05/13/2002 11:03:12 PM · #22
Originally posted by indigo997:
As for there being places that won't let you take pictures... There was a carnival set up at the local mall last week, and I was harrassed for taking pictures! Can anyone think of a good reason that I shouldn't be allowed to take pictures at a carnival???
Because a mall (or restaurant, museum, church, etc.), while it is open to the public, is not public property.

05/13/2002 11:31:05 PM · #23
Got a great comment on mine today....

5/13/2002 (7:06:39 PM) - DIFFERENT. BUT I THINK IT WAS USED BEFORE

05/14/2002 05:09:06 AM · #24
Was your comment all in caps too? I'll bet that is the same one that left the stupid comment on my photo. I think someone is trying to pull our chains.
05/14/2002 07:47:07 AM · #25
alecia: did the storm keep you from this addictive website? : )

indigo: i have been told by mall security guards several times that no photography is allowed in the mall. it's also happened to me at ikea. at ikea, they said it was because their competitors use it to copy their products. well, hello, couldnt they just get the catalog and save themselves some effort? at the mall, they dont have a good reason, but it's their property, so i just say ok, whatever ...
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