General Photography Competition #172 [Voting]

[zeppelin]

Vote for whose photo you think is best

IBrake4Rainbows
"Hanging"
Queensland, January 2009
Canon EOS 400d
Contrast & Colour Adjustment.

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294185d1232527924-general-photography-competition-172-hanging.jpg

Suka
"Two of my passions"
2nd January 2009
Nikon Coolpix S210

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294187d1232531003-general-photography-competition-172-dscn0198-resize.jpg

Aiasib
Amber
12.23.2009
CanonPowershotS5iS | sepia.

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294189d1232540312-general-photography-competition-172-img_4272.jpg

John Thawley
Sailing
Gulf Of Mexico, Naples, Florida
December 20, 2008
Leica Digilux 2
Leica DC Vario Summicron 7mm-22.5mm f/2.0
ISO 100
Aperture f/5.6
Shutter 1/1000
Focal Length 15.4mm (62mm equiv.)
Captured in RAW - post processed in Aperture - color, contrast, saturation & sharpness.


http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294190d1232541975-general-photography-competition-172-thaw_240619.jpg

Scottie300z
Sundown
Denton, Tx
Nov 14
Canon Sx100

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294267d1232555355-general-photography-competition-172-3002800540_66a6cdfe44_o_d.jpg

zeppelin
Hazy Sunset
January 5 2009
Canon 350D | 1/1250s; ISO 100; f/5; warming filter, curves adjusted

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294310d1232582187-general-photography-competition-172-img_6183.jpg

Leo_Ant
Nikon D40x
Last December

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294322d1232633492-general-photography-competition-172-2342896.jpg

Drakkie
"Tight fit"
21-1-2009
Rt Magic and Aegean Leader passing the Caland Bridge, Port of Rotterdam
Pentax K10D + 18-55mm

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294364d1232705069-general-photography-competition-172-photocomp_edit.jpg

John Hegg
Tug & Barge
Chicago River
1/7/2009 2:44:43 PM
FinePix S5000
Tv 1/85
Av 3.6
ISO 200
Captured B/W post processed PS Elements Levels, Curves, Sharpened

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3221049611_2d0fdb9bbe_o.jpg

superwaxer
Sunset over Taupo
17/12/2008
Canon 400D | f/22 | 30 sec. | ISO 100 | 18mm
Adjusted Raw Image for Brightness, Contrast and White Balance | Straightend Horizon | Cropped

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294396d1232775793-general-photography-competition-172-10ykq35.jpg

[zeppelin]

Johnnynumfiv
"Where are your roots?"
1/24/08
Canon 40D
RAW editing, saturation, contrast, brightness

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294726d1232824301-general-photography-competition-172-img_0358a.jpg

Timothy (in VA)
Sycamores
November 8, 2008
Sony DSC-S500

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=294910&d=1232860444

Dary
Finally, a cloudy day!
Today
Nikon D300 + Sigma 10-20mm | HDR

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294914d1232874431-general-photography-competition-172-sunrise.jpg

Sauc3
Ben Reynolds
26/01/09
Canon 40D
70-200 f2.8L IS
3 580 EX IIs, 1 on camera (no flash) triggering 2 slaves.
1/125th @ f5.6
ISO 100, 70mm

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachments/photography/294935d1232977604-general-photography-competition-172-_mg_0761.jpg

Soloracer
"Solace"
Late November 2008
Nikon D60

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=294936&d=1232987672


Good luck to everyone this week!

[f6fhellcat13]

Drakkie, that water is a very pretty color. I don't remember seeing anything quite like it in your other pictures.
Was this at a different port than usual?
What makes the water so green?

[Soloracer]

just out of curiosity..

i'm a photographer for my university's paper and one thing that i must pay attention to is editing. the point i am getting to is that for print purposes, if you edit a photo to a certain level, it is no longer a photo but a graphic instead.

seeing as this a PHOTOgraphy competition, could someone fill me in with UCP's policy on this?

[f6fhellcat13]

just out of curiosity..

i'm a photographer for my university's paper and one thing that i must pay attention to is editing. the point i am getting to is that for print purposes, if you edit a photo to a certain level, it is no longer a photo but a graphic instead.

seeing as this a PHOTOgraphy competition, could someone fill me in with UCP's policy on this?

There's no specific point at which it becomes ineligible, but that photo of Dubai from the last competition passed what many members viewed as reasonable editing.

BTW, you're not supposed to vote for yourself.

[Niko_Fx]

just out of curiosity..

i'm a photographer for my university's paper and one thing that i must pay attention to is editing. the point i am getting to is that for print purposes, if you edit a photo to a certain level, it is no longer a photo but a graphic instead.

seeing as this a PHOTOgraphy competition, could someone fill me in with UCP's policy on this?

We've been there a million times. The photo comps started with no editing, I always favored no editing whatsoever, not even cropping, but just about everyone else started to ignore that by submitting edited photos (I currently edited photos of my own on the last two photo comps)....

As far as what the limit is.. I don't know, it would be a bit too hard to define. HDR's have a huge advantage over photos with some small post-processing done, but who's to say now that HDR (for example) is too much? There's no control anymore imo.

[Soloracer]

We've been there a million times. The photo comps started with no editing, I always favored no editing whatsoever, not even cropping, but just about everyone else started to ignore that by submitting edited photos (I currently edited photos of my own on the last two photo comps)....

As far as what the limit is.. I don't know, it would be a bit too hard to define. HDR's have a huge advantage over photos with some small post-processing done, but who's to say now that HDR (for example) is too much? There's no control anymore imo.

Yeah I have to agree with all of the above. I currently haven't edited any of the photos I've entered but who knows, photoshop makes it so easy to make a shitty photo look like a picasso I may have to do it just to keep up....


BTW, you're not supposed to vote for yourself. Sorry I was not aware and how did you know that I did.

Future note: I will not vote for myself.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Voting is public - your vote can be seen by other people.

it's also a basic statement made in the rules of the competition. Please read them before posting.

[f6fhellcat13]

Sorry I was not aware and how did you know that I did.

Future note: I will not vote for myself.

If you click on the underlined number next to a person's username in the poll box it will take you to a screen that shows who voted for who.

[#1 Mustang Fan]

Just out of interest, how did you set up that shot superwaxer?

I've been looking into long exposure times for shots such as that.

[Rasmus]

Soloracer: it's a fine line between photography and graphics, I'll give you that. However, photojournalism seems to be a bit more strict on its definition. Of course, you can't go around and pull an Adnan Hajj. I know a few Danish photojournalists and they all use Capture One, Aperture et al. in their RAW process workflow.

For me half the work is taking the picture, and the other half is processing it. Just like in the old days in the dark room.

Also, you may want to update the time and date setting in your D60.

[cmcpokey]

soloracer's vote has been taken out of contention. Zeppelin will need to weigh in to say whether you will be prohibited form entering for the next few weeks due to rule violation.

[zeppelin]

Well I've been nice in the past, too nice. After the last couple weeks of of comments and talk about editing, and the way run-off competitions work, I made this post (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/863226-post149.html). By now everyone should have read it, seeing as I've mentioned it in the past two threads. There are still limits as to how much editing images can undergo, and as well anyone can PM me for clarification at the time. As far as HDR goes, it's not as big of an advantage as one might think, HDR is very easy to (and commonly) overdone which has a negative effect on the image.

Soloracer, I'm sorry but self-voting results in a disqualification of your picture as well as a two week suspension from entering. This has been clearly stated in the rules posted at the top of every thread.

[Rockefella]

If you look at the bright side, you have 2 weeks to come up with a brilliant picture.

[superwaxer]

Just out of interest, how did you set up that shot superwaxer?

I've been looking into long exposure times for shots such as that.

Yeah Im a big fan of long exposure shots. It was about 30 minutes after sunset and quite windy. I set the f-stop as low as possible to allow me to get a longer exposure. Keeping the lens open for a while on this particular shot gave me that soft misty look of the water (due to the small waves). I took 5 different exposures all at different speeds to get the correct exposure time. When youre busy taking long exposures at night you can never be sure about the correct light meter reading you get on your camera for that particular shot. This is why I like to take several shots of the same subject at different exposure times. The best thing to do is play around with it and try to get as little amount of light into the lens as possible.

For example: The following shot was taken when the sun was at its highest point. In other words, the brightest time of day. I managed to get a longer exposure by turning down the F-stop on my camera, adding two polirizing filters and one ND Grad 4 filter.

http://i41.tinypic.com/8wwkus.jpg

Hope this helps! If not, just ask!

[#1 Mustang Fan]

So you weren't using a Nd filter for the shot you entered?

If you were using one possibly because of the extended exposure time you could smoothed the water off a lot more? I've been playing around with long exposure shots recently and I think its about time to get a ND filter, I'll probably get the VARI-ND which caters for all the ND stops. I've just brought a polarizing filter, and a friend from Nelson who is professional, told me that they can be a rough substitute for a 2stop ND filter.

Focus on Singh-Ray Filters: Colin Southern (http://singhray.blogspot.com/search/label/Colin%20Southern)

Thats one of his shots, and quite a good overview on long exposure photography, he gave me a bit more of a run down on it but its still good to read.

PS: That waterfall shot is great, but I think I see some vignetting with all those 3 filters ;)

[superwaxer]

So you weren't using a Nd filter for the shot you entered?

If you were using one possibly because of the extended exposure time you could smoothed the water off a lot more? I've been playing around with long exposure shots recently and I think its about time to get a ND filter, I'll probably get the VARI-ND which caters for all the ND stops. I've just brought a polarizing filter, and a friend from Nelson who is professional, told me that they can be a rough substitute for a 2stop ND filter.

Focus on Singh-Ray Filters: Colin Southern (http://singhray.blogspot.com/search/label/Colin%20Southern)

Thats one of his shots, and quite a good overview on long exposure photography, he gave me a bit more of a run down on it but its still good to read.

PS: That waterfall shot is great, but I think I see some vignetting with all those 3 filters ;)

No I havent used the grad filter for that specific shot but I have tried it with other shots but I just lost too much sharpness. The waterfall created a nice effect but its not a nice photogrpah I just used it as an example!

[#1 Mustang Fan]

Are you using a GND rather that a ND.

If your using a GND, is it a screw on or are you using it in a filter holder? Because if its a screw in you can't really alter where the GND effects the photograph unfortunatly.

[superwaxer]

Are you using a GND rather that a ND.

If your using a GND, is it a screw on or are you using it in a filter holder? Because if its a screw in you can't really alter where the GND effects the photograph unfortunatly.

Im using a GND with a filter holder. Yeah Ive seen those screw-on ones on TradeMe before - they're 100% gay in my opinion.

[drakkie]

Drakkie, that water is a very pretty color. I don't remember seeing anything quite like it in your other pictures.
Was this at a different port than usual?
What makes the water so green?

1st of all, sorry for my late response, project deadlines so a very busy period.

It was a canal this time, but the water ways are all connected together there so it's still the same colour. So even if it would be a different harbour, it'd still be the usual filthy brown/blue-ish colour.

As the picture is unedited, i think the colour was somehow created by the huge forces this very special tugboat created. It was pulling 100% with thrusters slightly left, releasing about 86t bollard pull on the lines :D

Location:
Google Maps (http://maps.google.nl/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.902097,4.227827&spn=0.003177,0.009656&t=h&z=17)

Interesting paper about the special kind of boat:
http://www.rotortug.com/downloads/its_paper_2000.pdf

[f6fhellcat13]

1st of all, sorry for my late response, project deadlines so a very busy period.
no problem. :)


It was a canal this time, but the water ways are all connected together there so it's still the same colour. So even if it would be a different harbour, it'd still be the usual filthy brown/blue-ish colour.

As the picture is unedited, i think the colour was somehow created by the huge forces this very special tugboat created. It was pulling 100% with thrusters slightly left, releasing about 86t bollard pull on the lines :D

Its affect on the water is pretty stunning.
That's also quite a cool boat. Can we look forward to pictures of it in the future? (all the pics in the .pdf were pretty bad quality.)