Results and Feedback for "The Moment" Assignment

[keithsnell]

Thank you to everyone that participated in "The Moment" weekly photography assignment.  There were many wonderful images submitted for this assignment, and I learned a bit from each one.  The guidelines for this assignment were to "attempt to capture a significant "moment" by anticipating the shot and being ready to capture it when it happened."


Michele's Moment No. 1 Good grade - not so good grade image was a wonderful example of capturing "The Moment."  I love the fact that Michele anticipated the emotional moment as her children returned home from school with their grades, and was prepared to capture it.  I think she did an awesome job capturing both the happy excitement of her son and the dejected disappointment of her daughter.  As Dave Leiker said in his comments to the image, the rhythm, expression and composition are all wonderful.

Moment No. 1 Good grade - not so good grade
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Jaime Dorotan's Magical Thumb image is also a wonderful capture of a more subdued "magical" moment.  He did a wonderful job conveying the quiet contentment of the moment.  The soft warm light contributed to this feeling, as did the relatively large aperture which effectively softened the background while still providing "context."  Great job, Jaime!

Magical Thumb
Photographed by Jaime Dorotan (girod)

As many of you stated in your comments to Dave Leiker's Pollen Gathering image, it is an amazing image.  It would have been a wonderful composition with both the stamen of the flower and the edges of the petals in focus, which is difficult to do just by itself.  As you can see from Dave's example, as long as the stamen and edges of the petals are in focus, we can accept the rest of the flower being soft.  To be able to capture a composition with the stamen, the edges of the petals, and the bee in focus is simply amazing.  I love the fact that Dave set the camera in manual focus and composed the image he wanted, and then waited for the bee to fly to the right place in the image in order to capture the shot.  This is a great indication that Dave is in charge of his camera, not the other way around.  Although the auto capabilities on our camera are nice to have, sometimes "manual" settings and conscious decisions by the photographer are required in order to get the shot.  I think Dave was being modest when he said "the bee was doing all the work."  The truth is that Dave put a lot into the image by "thinking out" the composition and anticipating the moment.  Awesome job Dave!  This image deserves Editor's Choice for Artistic and Technical Merit.

Pollen Gathering
People's Choice and Editor's Choice for Artistic and Technical Merit
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)

At the risk of "arm chair quarterbacking" an already great image, I wanted to propose an alternate crop for the image.  I found the leaf on the right side of the image a bit distracting, and wondered if the image was just a wee bit stronger with that part cropped out of the image:

Pollen Gathering
People's Choice and Editor's Choice for Technical Merit
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust), alternate crop by Keith

I enjoyed Becky Jenner's David & Beefy image, and can imagine the cat softly purring in the warm sun.  This was a wonderfully peaceful and comforting image that brings back memories of a more carefree youth.

David & Beefy
Photographed by Becky Jenner

And Becky's Stuck image was a great capture of an "oops" moment, and brought back memories of times I've been stuck in similar situations.  Images that evoke memories of emotional moments from our past are always powerful.

Stuck
Photographed by Becky Jenner

Marilyn's Freeze!! image made me smile, and I enjoyed the "layered" complexity of the composition, with the reflective window both providing more depth to the image, and giving us a glimpse into the hidden activities on the other side of the wall.  I loved the intent expressions on the faces of the children.  Wonderful job capturing the moment Marilyn.

Freeze!!
Photographed by Marilyn McKinney

Chris' Chickadee in flight image was a great example of how sometimes the "impressions" conveyed by an image become more important than the actual subject.  Several people commented that the chickadee reminded them of an angel, and I think it was this first impression that is responsible for our being emotionally drawn to the image.

Chickadee in flight
Photographed by Chris Schoenfelder (schoneyc)

Alan's (Ribot's) Safe image was another image that made me smile.  Great job capturing the intensity of the referee.

Safe!
Photographed by Alan Albrecht (Ribot)

I also smile at the social commentary in the Punch Line image.  It's sometimes important to recognize that people need to be listened to, and to recognize how wonderful a gift it is to give someone our undivided attention for even a short period of time.  I also smile at the parallels between their actions and those at a more "adult" party.

The Punch Line
Photographed by Keith

I hope that Sheila's wonderful image of The confused, the sleepy and the skeptic was not lost in amongst all the other great submissions.  This was another image that made me smile, and I commend Sheila for capturing the shot.  Hopefully the bride and groom enjoyed the image as well, and will appreciate that someone was so conscientiously recording the memories of their special day that was flashing by all too fast.

The confused, the sleepy and the skeptic
Photographed by Sheila Ancheta (burzilai)

Bodie thinks she is human!
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)

I couldn't help "playing" with Rick's Bodie thinks she is human! image.  Can you identify all the changes?  (As with all of the images on the site, you may want to view the image in a color managed browser like Safari.)

Bodie thinks she is human!
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick) modified by Keith

Rebecca did a nice job of capturing "the look" from McKenzie in her A spot of tea image.  That girl is going to be a handful, and is already starting to "stare down" her parents when getting scolded.  One minor tweak to the image was to adjust the white balance.  I've found that a useful tool for "tweaking" the color tint of a JPEG image is to use the "gray" eyedropper tool under the curves adjustment to "snap" colors to neutral.  Although there didn't appear to be a good "neutral" to click on, I've sometimes found that clicking the gray eyedropper on the whites of someone's eyes provides enough of a correction to create more pleasing skin tones.  The effect is subtle in this image.

A spot of tea
Photographed by Rebecca

A spot of tea
Photographed by Rebecca, color tint/white balance correction with gray eyedropper in Photoshop curves dialog
(and just a touch of "levels" adjustment to lighten the skin tones)

Thank you to everyone that participated in this assignment.  Hopefully it helped reinforce the idea that outstanding photographs are captured based on the "anticipation" of the photographer.  

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.

Keith

[Michele]

Hi Keith,

Thank you again for all your efforts.  But I don't agree with you on one point...  "Hopefully the bride and groom enjoyed the image as well, and will appreciate that someone was so conscientiously recording the memories of their special day that was flashing by all too fast."

Well, if I were remembering my wedding day (ha!) I would hate to remember it as the ushers being confused, bored, and skeptical.  Actually, maybe that would have been my first clue?   

Anyways, all the images were great fun.

[prairiedust]

Thanks Keith, but really - I was just lying in the grass while the bee was working his little beebutt off.  The bee and I both are grateful to all of you. Your recommended cropping is great and does focus attention on the most important elements.  I think of myself as a dirt-and-weed photographer so I tend to leave some trace of wildness in things just to keep it from being too, ummm...., flowery.  But I know you're right about cropping, and it gets the bee off of that dead-center of the picture area.