Author Topic: Results and Feedback for the "Frame of Mind" Weekly Photography Assignment  (Read 1524 times)

keithsnell

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Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Frame of Mind" weekly photography assignment.  The guidelines for this assignment were to compose an image that portrayed someone's "frame of mind," meaning somebody's attitude, mood, or way of dealing with the world around them.

Thank you to everyone that voted for my Teaching image, which just barely won the vote for People's Choice.


Teaching
People's Choice
Photographed by Keith

If I were to critique this image without knowing the circumstances behind it, I would probably recommend that the photographer try to control the blown highlights better.   :)  As it was, I did the best I could in the circumstances.  This image was taken at the Elk River Festival in Howard Kansas, where I was wandering around with a long lens on the camera with the intent to capture candid images of the festival activities.  Steve was teaching young children how to throw pottery, and Evan decided he wanted to give it a try.  Evan and Steve were in the deep shade of a tree, with bright midday sun behind them.  I tried to place as much of the tree trunk behind them as I could in order to block out the bright background, and underexposed slightly to try to keep the highlights from blowing.  I should have used fill flash, but my flash was back in the car, and I didn't have time to run back for it.  It did go back and grab it after shooting this scene, and it helped me get better images throughout the day.  (I originally left my flash in the car because I planned on using a long lens to capture candid shots, but soon found that lighting conditions in the mixed shade and sun were too contrasty, and I was better able to control the contrast when I used fill flash.)  I think the image was still successful at capturing the intent looks on both their faces.

I've awarded Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit to Jaime's image titled Unbearable Uncertainties.  This was a thought provoking image, beautifully rendered.  Jaime did a wonderful job with this image, especially considering the high contrast light in the scene.  This image has a depth of expression and feeling that sets it apart from most of today's imagery.


Unbearable Uncertainties
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Jaime Dorotan (girod)

Honorable Mention, and the special category "Editor's Thanks For Making Me Smile" award goes to Rick's image titled "I Love My Job."


"I Love My Job"
Honorable Mention
Photographed by Rick Pepin

This image was a bit "flat" and I'm guessing that is because it was photographed through a windshield.  Often, when you photograph through a car or plane window, the extra glass causes "flare" and reduced contrast in the image.  One way to try to compensate for this is by increasing the contrast in post processing.  I tried playing with the image for a few minutes in Photoshop to see what I could do with it.  I used several layers and the "levels" adjustment to adjust portions of the image by pulling in the white and black points, thereby increasing the contrast.  Here's the quick result (with my usual caveat that much better corrections could have been made with the raw file instead of a small JPEG):


"I Love My Job"
Photographed by Rick Pepin
Levels adjusted by Keith

Viewers are encouraged to respond to this thread describing why you like a particular image, or think it was particularly successful at meeting the guidelines of the assignment.

Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Frame of Mind" assignment.

Keith
« Last Edit: October 05, 2009, 09:39:22 PM by keithsnell »

sue.pepin

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Keith, I think you are way too hard on yourself!  When you wrote about blown highlights in your Teaching picture, if you were referring to that one spot over Evan's left shoulder, I didn't even notice it.  I think the picture is wonderful.