Author Topic: Results and Feedback for the "Water" Weekly Photography Assignment  (Read 2525 times)

keithsnell

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The guidelines for this assignment were to compose an image that conveys the "essence" of water, what it is (liquid), how is looks, feels, tastes, behaves (flows), the role it plays in life, or some other meaning or characteristic associated with water.


Carol's image of Water in Motion was a great capture.  The amount of water suspended in the air, as well as the displacement of the water as it was pushed forward by the swimmer definitely helped to convey the power and effort of the swimmer.  Nicely done.  (And nice job using a high shutter speed to avoid motion blur on the swimmer.)


Water in Motion
Photographed by Carol Burkett


Chris' take in Clouds of Relief was a different interpretation than what I anticipated, but I can certainly understand this interpretation based on the hot dry weather we've been having here in Kansas.  I would love to have seen this same scene with water pouring down from the sky...


Clouds of Relief
Photographed by Chris Franklin


Sploosh! was another amazing creation from Michele.  I can see from the shooting data that she used a long (5 second) shutter speed, and I assume she used an off-camera strobe to "freeze" the water droplets in the air.  The combination of slow shutter speed and flash combined to show motion (the soft blur on the apple) while still providing great clarity in the water.  I love the way the bubbles coming up from the apple show the passage of the apple into the water.  Obviously this shot required great timing (and I imagine a bit of experimentation).  This in another great example of visualizing a concept and then creating an image that conveys that concept by setting the scene (and camera) appropriately.  This image was selected as People's Choice and Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit.  Awesome!


Sploosh!
People's Choice and Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder


I enjoyed Alan's image of the Fox River, and was especially struck by the silvery reflections on the surface of the river.  This image evoked memories of times spent by the water, with feel of the breeze in my face and smell of the water.  It seems like a small detail, but I thought the softness of the trees in the background, with just a touch of light showing through the leaves went a long way towards setting the "tone" of the image.  Nicely done.  It's sometimes surprising how such a simple image can so effectively evoke memories of past experiences.


Fox River
Photographed by Alan Albrecht (Ribot)


Alan's Chambers Island, Lake Michigan image was also successful at evoking memories of time spent by the water.  Again, it's interesting to observe how a small detail helps set the tone of an image.  In this case, the soft blue haze on the horizon evokes memories of past times on a large lake or ocean where the water continues on until it becomes one with the horizon, giving a unique perspective and sense of scale to our surroundings.


Chambers Island, Lake Michigan
Photographed by Alan Albrecht (Ribot)


I suspect that the harsh mid-day light (gotta love that EXIF data) contributed towards the challenges Rick had in capturing the images of his Small Stream.  Rick made a valiant effort to "soften" the water and create that soft flowing look that we talked about in the assignment description by choosing the lowest ISO and stopping the aperture WAY down.  Rick said he knew I was going to comment about the adverse effects (softening from diffraction) of using such a small aperture, but he did it to get the slow shutter speed.  I suggested that he might also want to try using a polarizer, which would have helped eliminate the reflections from the rocks (and some from the water), helped control the contrast, and also allowed him to shoot at a slower shutter speed without having to stop down the aperture quite so much.  Using a polarizer will typically reduce the exposure by 1.5 to 2 stops, so with a polarizer he could have exposed the image at f16 (on the borderline for diffraction effects) and still had a shutter speed of 1/25 second, which would have still been slow enough to prevent the water from getting "chunky."  Obviously the best solution is to go back and shoot the scene under less harsh light, either under overcast/cloudy skies, or in the early morning/late evening.  It's really tough (almost impossible) to capture pleasing images of moving water under harsh lighting conditions.  (Valiant try though.)


Small Stream
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)


Rick's Rock in the stream image was better, helped by shooting the scene in partial shade.  This allowed Rick to shoot at a more reasonable aperture of f18, although again a polarizer would have helped.  (Shooting moving water is one of the few situations where I actually use a polarizer anymore.)  This was one of those "almost, but not quite" images that I'm sure would have been better under overcast light.



Rock in the stream
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)


I really liked the smaller vignettes of the scene that Rick chose to portray in his first two images, and think that his images of the Small Waterfall would have also benefited from tighter framing (and less contrasty light).


Small waterfall
Photographed by Rick Pepin (TrvlRick)


Sue's image titled Water, Water, Who Sees the Water ?? was a great image that made me smile.  There's no water in the image, but that's the point.  The expressions and posture of the guys are what makes this image, and even the dog looks a bit dejected.  Great capture of this "storytelling" image Sue.  (Any luck on the well yet?)


Water, Water, Who Sees the Water ??
Photographed by Sue Pepin


Sheila's image titled Silver Surfer or Aquaman? was a wonderful capture, and one of those fortunate "happy accidents" that we have to be ready to find during our image editing.  Obviously though this image would not have been possible without Shee's technical prowess in setting up the lighting conditions, backgrounds and props required to capture the water with a 3-dimensional form.  Its that "form" that ultimately makes this image a success, and the lighting setup that gives the water that form earns this image Editor's Choice for Technical Merit.  I should have asked you earlier, but what was your lighting setup for this series Shee?  You did a great job giving the water "form" and flow.

All three images in the series were great, but to me the first one was a standout because of the "happy accident" and the third image in the series had very pleasing colors and tonality and a nicely balance composition.


Silver Surfer or Aquaman?
Editor's Choice for Technical Merit
Photographed by Sheila "Shee" Anchetta (burzilai)



Red Wine
Photographed by Sheila "Shee" Anchetta (burzilai)



Pour me a cup of water
Photographed by Sheila "Shee" Anchetta (burzilai)


Shee's raindrop images were also outstanding.  It was hard to pick a favorite between the two.  Refracting a rain drop did a wonderful job capturing the shape of the drop and the refracted image of the background, and A raindrop captured wonderful clarity and color in the leaf.  The leaf in Refracting a rain drop does look a bit over-sharpened to me, and I might have tried only selective sharpening the raindrop, or using the "fade" option under smart sharpening to prevent the highlights on the leaf from becoming too prominent.  This is a wonderful image that could perhaps be improve slightly by preventing the distraction of oversharpened highlights on the leaf.


Refracting a rain drop
Photographed by Sheila "Shee" Anchetta (burzilai)



A raindrop
Photographed by Sheila "Shee" Anchetta (burzilai)


I appreciated Marilyn's image of Snails & tadpoles in the desert? because of its insightfulness.  I've said before that the three primary qualities that are hallmarks of great imagery are that they are captivating, insightful, and compelling.  In some ways, the quality of being insightful is the most important, because it is this quality that helps us to observe or better understand something new about the world that surrounds us.  It's fascinating to see the small creatures that survive in the sparse water in the desert.


Snails & tadpoles in the desert?
Photographed by Marilyn McKinney


Marilyn's image titled Under the water at Lost Creek was another composition that probably would have benefitted from the use of a polarizer.  The polarizer would have helped to eliminate the glare (and hot spots) on the water, and would have allowed the viewer to better see the fascinating world under the water.


Under the water at Lost Creek
Photographed by Marilyn McKinney


I really liked the flow of water in Marilyn's image titled Slow flowing water at Lost Creek, but I was distracted by the slightly out-of-focus background.  (It looks like there might be a bit of motion blur too.)  I wonder if she could have eliminated both of these issues by reframing the image to concentrate on the beautiful color and form of the flowing water in the foreground.  The shutter speed and aperture were just about perfect to capture the water, but the inclusion of the slightly out-of-focus background became a distraction.  I can't say for sure whether it was even possible to frame the scene with just the flowing water, but I can imagine what a fascinating (and almost abstract) study it would have made.


Slow flowing water at Lost Creek
Photographed by Marilyn McKinney


Juilie's Ocean Star captured wonderful colors in a fascinating environment, but I suspect it also suffered a bit from motion blur (shot at a shutter speed of 1/25 sec).  Julie very smartly bumped the ISO up to 3200 to try to get the shutter speeds she needed, but it looks like this still wasn't quite enough.  Photoshop's Smart Sharpen filter does a wonderful job with this image though, since it's "intelligent" algorithms are smart enough to apply sharpening only to the areas of the image that are close to being sharp, and leave the rest of the image alone.  I've attached a version of the image with Smart Sharpening applied below Julie's original image.


Ocean Star
Photographed by Julie Schroeder (WriteHeart)


Ocean Star
Photographed by Julie Schroeder (WriteHeart), Smart Sharpened in Photoshop

Thank you to everyone that participated in this assignment.  As usual, you are an inspiration, and have helped me discover new ways to use my imagery to convey ideas or concepts.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2011, 05:09:56 PM by keithsnell »

Michele

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Re: Results and Feedback for the "Water" Weekly Photography Assignment
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2011, 08:30:54 AM »
And you would be right!  Do not ask how many tries I experimented with because it would be embarassing...  I did use two strobe lights that I manually set off.  One hand had the cable shutter trigger and the other held the infrared button I would normally attach to the camera for the lights.  First I would click the shutter, pick up the apple and drop it while setting off the lights.  I did this in total darkness.

Thank you again for the motivating comments.  I kind of need them right now.  I have had some challenging situations where  I tried my very best that has demotivated me.  

So thank you.  By the way, again, stunning images in this assignment!  Rick did a fab job!  As did everyone!

Michèle

P.S. Anyway to increase the photoessay date?

« Last Edit: July 30, 2011, 08:44:52 AM by Michele »

keithsnell

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Re: Results and Feedback for the "Water" Weekly Photography Assignment
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2011, 08:58:00 AM »
Hi Michele,

Thank you for the additional description of how you captured the shot.  That makes it even more impressive.

And thank you for asking if I could extend the date for the photo essay assignment.  I'd be glad to do that (especially since I haven't had time to put anything together myself.)  I still didn't do a good job capturing images during the workshop that I could have used for a photo essay (or photography lesson).  I need to get much better at thinking about potential stories before I go out shooting (and during the shoot itself).

I think I'll extend the photo essay assignment for another week, and also let that assignment suffice for the the week of 1 - 7 August.  I think photo essays are a great skill that everyone should practice.

Keith

WriteHeart

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Re: Results and Feedback for the "Water" Weekly Photography Assignment
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2011, 01:22:03 PM »
This was a fun challenge. We went to the aquarium. I probably had better pics, but I liked the starfish and how the water played with it. Unfortunately, it was a tidal pool so it shot water into the pool every couple minutes. So you were definitely right, there was a lot of motion blur by the moving water (and the fact that no tripods were allowed in the aquarium).

That selective sharpening is cool!!!! I will research how to do that. Thanks so much for your feedback and the processing!

burzilai

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Re: Results and Feedback for the "Water" Weekly Photography Assignment
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2011, 08:55:44 PM »
Michelle great technique, I thought you used fast shutter, but then I noted your speed, it was great, FYI: i got late casting my votes in this homework, the clock ticked after MN and I couldnt cast my votes, I was in the middle of uploading my photos, nwei, add 1 more vote for you photo  ;)

Thank You Keith for the Technical merit, really appreciate it, again great images submitted here, very inspiring.
Shee :)