General Photography Competition #155 [Voting]

[zeppelin]

Vote for whose photo you think is best

#1 Mustang Fan
The Dog
4 days ago..
Pentax K10d - ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/90 Shutter Speed.



Scottie300z
Go Snail Go
Fort Worth Botanical Gardens
Sept 1
Canon PowerShot S5 iS



Drakkie
"Rusting away"
Former dock crane, now birds nest
Former RDM Shipyard, Heijplaat
Pentax K100D + Sigma 10-20mm
August 31st




John Thawley
Home
Taken from my backyard in Bonita Springs, Florida
September 9, 2008
Leica Digilux 3
Leica 14mm-50mm f/2.8
ISO 100
1/30 sec. (hand held)
f/2.8
RAW conversion in Aperture - Noise Ninja

superwaxer
Coastal Panorama
07/09/2008
Canon 400D | 18mm | ISO 200 | f/11 | 1/40 sec | ND Grad Filter
Panorama created in Photoshop | Adjusted colour levels



Timothy (in VA)
Cape Lookout
August 8, 2008
Sony DSC-S500



basman007
Air Time
13/09; taken a couple hours ago
The Netherlands
Canon 40D + 70-200 2.8L IS
F3.5 - 1/400 - ISO100 - BW effect

Best of luck to this week's entrants!

[#1 Mustang Fan]

No votes for Thawley? Yet I've got votes for my snapshot?

C'mon people get a sense of style/good photography.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by #1 Mustang Fan

No votes for Thawley? Yet I've got votes for my snapshot?

C'mon people get a sense of style/good photography.

I would have vote for John, but the fact that the image is not centered prevent me from voting, up to now. the other pics simply don't suite my tastes, sorry guys. They are good pictures, really!

[henk4]

I think Superwaxer kindly explained how he constructed the picture that now seems to be winning. And I know we had the discussion about the use of photoshop many times before. In this case for me things have gone too far. I think photography is about what you can do with a camera, and not with a computer. If he had made the shot by overlapping exposures, it would have been a masterpiece, now it is purely artificial.

[Spastik_Roach]

Got to agree with you here Pieter. bit sick of it TBH.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Amen Bros

[superwaxer]

Originally Posted by henk4

I think Superwaxer kindly explained how he constructed the picture that now seems to be winning. And I know we had the discussion about the use of photoshop many times before. In this case for me things have gone too far. I think photography is about what you can do with a camera, and not with a computer. If he had made the shot by overlapping exposures, it would have been a masterpiece, now it is purely artificial.

I have to admit, Im very sensitive when it comes to post-processing my photos. In this case I felt that what I saw was not what I was able to put on film due to not having a wide-angle lens. Although I did some photoshop work on the picture, I dont feel that its "artificial" as such. I simply created what I saw. Isnt that what photography is about?

If what I have done is "artificial", then using filters and burning a print should also be considered as "artificial".

"Photography is, at its core, the manipulation of light, and the light captured by millions of photosites on a sensor is just as valid as that captured by blobs of chemicals on a roll of film." (David Seager)

[fisetdavid26]

Basically what you just said more or less confirms what Sauc3 said in the other photography competition thread.

I'm by no means a good photographer, but I totally concur.

[superwaxer]

Please also note: The two pictures that i have combined are 100% original. I didnt add clouds or anything as such. I used the right filters and I waited for the right time to take the shot. What I have done only gives a wider field-of-view, it doesnt change the quality or appearance of the picture.

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

I would have vote for John, but the fact that the image is not centered prevent me from voting, up to now. the other pics simply don't suite my tastes, sorry guys. They are good pictures, really!

With all due respect,

Rule of Thirds

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by #1 Mustang Fan

No votes for Thawley? Yet I've got votes for my snapshot?

C'mon people get a sense of style/good photography.

Thank you for that.

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by superwaxer

I have to admit, Im very sensitive when it comes to post-processing my photos. In this case I felt that what I saw was not what I was able to put on film due to not having a wide-angle lens. Although I did some photoshop work on the picture, I dont feel that its "artificial" as such. I simply created what I saw. Isnt that what photography is about?

If what I have done is "artificial", then using filters and burning a print should also be considered as "artificial".

I have not voted.

While I understand your defense of your image, the fact remains, you submitted two images, not one. Regardless if you put them side by side or stacked them on top of each other, the fact remains, it's a composite of two images. Pixel manipulation is pixel manipulation. So, I respectfully disagree.

The wider field of view you're proposing could have been accomplished simply by cropping at a 16x9 aspect ratio.

What troubled me most about your image (which is quite nice, btw) is the fact you didn't straighten the horizon. With all the work in Photoshop, I'd have thought you'd catch that.

Anyway.. I guess the guidelines for submission are subject to interpretation.. and you've got yourself a winning photo and a nice one at that.

JT

PS: This totally flies in the face of your argument... it references sensor... not monitor or file.

"Photography is, at its core, the manipulation of light, and the light captured by millions of photosites on a sensor is just as valid as that captured by blobs of chemicals on a roll of film." (David Seager)

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by John Thawley

With all due respect,

Rule of Thirds

I understand that, and I kinda agree.
well, I was not sure if to vote for you or not to vote at all.
In your image the bridge, so the center of the image, imo, is a little moved to the left, and since I see some geometrical lines in your picture, and all converging to the bridge, the fact that it wasn't in the middle of the shot disturbed a little the whole thing, imo.
It's a great image and I like it, I would have just preferred it if more centered. just personal taste.
But since you posted that link, I guess your are fine with your image, so the position of the bridge is exactly the one you wanted. in that case, you'll have my vote.

[scottie300z]

Originally Posted by #1 Mustang Fan

No votes for Thawley? Yet I've got votes for my snapshot?

C'mon people get a sense of style/good photography.

I voted for yours b/c it appeals to me beyond style. I used to work at a Petsmart and saw a dog that looked a lot like that get brought in to the vet after being hit by a car. And the look on the dog and color of the picture just fits the correlation.

Thawley's looks centered enough to me, and would have gotten my vote but I couldn't say no to the dog.

And I like the horizon not centered on waxer's. Good pictures all around, I thought about basman's as well. That water spray just looks great and the position of the boarder just towards the top of it works well.

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

I understand that, and I kinda agree.
well, I was not sure if to vote for you or not to vote at all.
In your image the bridge, so the center of the image, imo, is a little moved to the left, and since I see some geometrical lines in your picture, and all converging to the bridge, the fact that it wasn't in the middle of the shot disturbed a little the whole thing, imo.
It's a great image and I like it, I would have just preferred it if more centered. just personal taste.
But since you posted that link, I guess your are fine with your image, so the position of the bridge is exactly the one you wanted. in that case, you'll have my vote.

I think what that link fails to explain though, is WHY the "rule" of thirds can strengthen an image. Shots of piers extending out into the water are always the best example... if you place the end of the pier to the left or right of center, the viewer's eye is encouraged to look INTO the picture.. not just at the picture. Placing the focal point off center gives depth and added dimension.

As the link stated, once you understand and know that rule, certainly there are times you might want to break it. But for me, this was not the time, I wanted your eye to go down stream to the bridge... and further left to the direction of the light.

For the record, I would hope the purpose of participation in these little weekly contests is to learn and share. Obviously, there is no prize. And, I felt rather supportive with respect to the guidelines regarding Photoshop.

I like to teach. I like to raise the bar. I hope your members and participants here come to learn and grow. I do think it's important that people learn how raise their level of appreciation and learn about technique and how to view photography in hopes of improving their own skills. I spend much of my time viewing great photographers of the past and deconstructing their work to improve my own.

You may have also noticed that both my entries this week were shot with my Leica. This is my walk around camera and I prefer to do this sort of shooting with it because it's limited in it's range. It's nothing more than an expensive point n' shoot. Sort of. But I use it to stretch and broaden the way I approach and think about a shot.

Lastly, be assured, I'm a Photoshop guru. Everything I post here is edited in Aperture. I prefer to create photographs with no pixel manipulation.

As witness to my Photoshop skills, feel free to browse tutorials here and here.

Thank you for allowing this discussion.

JT