94 Angles & Shapes first tries

kdotaylor

I had some time to play indoors this afternoon, and this is what I have so far. Thanks for looking--all comments are appreciated!

#1 Button


#2 Eggs


#3 Colored Pencils


#4 Colored Pencil Points


#5 Shape of the World

Jenn

#3 is my favorite!

travelways

I like the button a lot!!!

- I was thinking about some details like this, too .....

tinamarie52

I love the button with the 'x' stitching.

It looks like you shot the eggs with a flash or in a bright window and the reflected light distracts me.

I think the broken pencil tip interrupts the repetitive shapes, but I do like the image.

I have to laugh because I shot eggs and colored pencils yesterday, too! I'll move on to my other ideas.

What lens did you use for these? Did you use extension tubes?

Chris

kdotaylor

"Great minds.....", right, Chris? I'll try to do some re-shoots of the eggs. The light was on pretty bright above them.
I shot these with my 105mm lens...no extension tubes.

PedalGirl

I really like #3 ... love the colors and the circles in circles.

sapphire73

I really like the first 3 and enjoyed seeing your thread. The first might be my favorite except for it feels like the button may need slighter sharper focus - to my eye. The light is a bit bright in #2 but I appreciate the way you composed this shot and bring out so many details of the eggshells and the carton. #3 is an interesting shot with its colors, shapes, and processing. Not sure what I think about the balance of the colors - especially the red one on the far right. More stream of consciousness type of questions: Is #3 reminiscent of something we've seen recently (from someone on dgrin)? And does it matter or have any impact if it is?

Gretchen

kdotaylor

Ok, a couple of re-shoots for your consideration. Are these better? Thanks for any advice!

#1 Button, which I still like:


#2 Colored pencils, re-shot:


#3 Eggs, re-shot:


#4 a new one--pine needles

angevin1

Those eggs are Wicked! I mean they look like stuff from another world at first glance.

For me:
1. texture
2. Color
3. Shapes
4. Cold

sapphire73

I am really liking 3 and 4. I think shapes when I see the eggs (and how creative you are to compose the shot like that!) and I think angles when I see the gorgeous shot of the evergreen needles.

Gretchen

PedalGirl

I still like your original #3. The new edit of your eggs... I'm seeing some incomplete masking or something along the top edges of the middle and right egg.

TonyCooper

I like the original #3 of the colored pencils, but would like
to see it re-shot with the pencils beyond the tips just a
little more in focus so the image is clearly of pencil tips.

slpollett

Those eggs do absolutely nothing for me, but I love the colored pencils. I guess I am more a fan of colors than lack thereof. I can't decide if I prefer the original #3 or the new #2 though. Like them both, but maybe lean toward the original #3.

Sherry

kdotaylor

Thank you for your input, everyone. I'll try to shoot more of the colored pencils later.

Jenn

.. but but but .. I LOVE the Pine Needles! Beautiful!

Troy Raymond

I needed a second opinion. My wife and I like the pine needles. The only one out of the bunch we'd want hanging on a wall.

ghinson

I think the eggs have potential (they make want to open them in PS), but by the what I would hang on the wall criteria, it's the pine needles.

Troy Raymond

If you use the eggs, instead of masking to darken the back ground, duplicate the layer in photoshop (Ctrl j) turn the top layer off, click the background layer and darken it so the background is to your liking. Then turn on and select the top layer, add a layer mask, grab a smaller blurry brush, select black (black makes it invisible) then paint the background out. This will show the darker background beneath, if you go to far, simply switch to white and paint the mistake back in. It does not erase, simply hide... and there is no masking needed.

ghinson

What I like about the eggs is that the surface almost looks lunar. Without thinking too much about how to do this in PS, if you can darken the shadows in the egg fronts, and make the lit tops almost glow, while increasing the textural structure in the surface, all the while hiding the background better as Troy suggests, it would give an other worldly look to the eggs. Little moons.

indiegirl

Original #3 pencils with a little more dof.

kdotaylor

Troy, I have no idea what you just said. : ) That sounds really complicated to me....I'm a burgeoning photographer but a Photoshop idiot.

I played with the eggs just a bit more, because I really like the eggs.
A. Eggs


And, since a lot of people like the pencil idea, I played with those, too. This one has more DOF.
B. Pencils


Or are the pine needles better than either?
C.

I think my final entry will be one of these. Any final thoughts? THANK YOU!!

Troy Raymond

Good Luck. lol Love all three. That doesn't help does it...

PedalGirl

I still like the pencils.

billseye

For me, every one in the second set and the original #3 are strong and bring different reactions to the theme. Eventually, in a case like this, I'd advise you to read the comments, take them with a grain of salt and then pick the one YOU like best. That said, here's my 2 cents:

Button: The shape of the button and the "X" of the stitch should work well. I think the lack of comment my be related to the monochrome color palette, which is not a bad thing IF there's something else really compelling about the image. If it were my picture, I'd be wanting to do some more aggressive processing to really bring out the textures and shadows. I'd work on sharpening the button itself, too.

Colored Pencils: I like the original #3 and don't really have an issue with the DOF. It remains my overall favorite.

Colored Pencils #4 and Reshoot: I'm not sure the broken tip in the original was a bad thing. Without it, it seems way too ordinary. As an aside, in the reshoot, you changed from and odd (5) number of pencils to an even number (6). In general odd numbers will yield more pleasing compositions, as they did here. The reshoot also seems to have lost some sharpness (focus, not pencil tips ) and the texture of the background is not as effective for me.

Eggs: The reshoot is much better from the lighting perspective. There's something directly behind the rear center egg that looks like a halo at the top of the egg. Not sure what it is, (from a cut-out in the carton?), but it creates a distraction. And, echoing my comments above, the centered composition and even number of subjects makes it feel pretty static as a composition.

Pine Needles: Beautiful. Sharp focus at just the right focal plane in the image; an interesting pattern to the needles; an appropriately selected aperture that yielded just the right DOF; and the coolest teensy pine cone ever, placed pretty close to the exact lower left rule-of-thirds intersection.

kdotaylor

Thank you ever so much for your comments... I'm having a difficult time making the decision for this challenge!

Kinkajou

I would agree with what Billseye said and just add that though the pine needles make a great image, it is less 'on theme' for me personally. I can see how there are angles in it, but if I looked at the image in any other context, the angles wouldn't be a primary focus of the image, you know? That said, I really do think it is a great photo