OOYCZ #2 Weather Finals/RESULTS

JAG · January 25, 2014

These are the final images.

Only those who are entered into this thread are the only ones to give short critiques to all the images except your own. Once you have finished doing so, private message me your top 3 images that you like. Please be sure to list them as First: (number of image), Second: (number of image) and Third: (number of image).

To private message, click on my user name and go to my profile. You will see the private message link there.

I will post the results in by the 31rst or sooner if everyone participating gets their choices in.

After I post results, all others who wish to critique may do so on this thread!

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grandmaR · January 26, 2014

This challenge was to make us feel the weather with some post processing. Not in any order these my reactions to the weather that is shown. More my feeling about the weather and maybe less about the actual photography processes (because I know how I feel but I don't know that much about photography).

#2 I love the tree on the left that is backlighted. I would have thought that the lens flare was a flaw, but the reflections on the ice makes the sun feel cold. Someone suggested that the little dot in the middle be removed and on considering it, I think that would be a good idea.

#4 - I love the sun streaming through the clouds. The scene below with all the tanks is very industrial and not the normal pretty-pretty type scene and I really like that. Because of the oil tanks and the refinery in the background, this makes me think that it is in a hot area of the world, but the steam rising from the various stacks shows me that the weather may be cold and not hot. I would like to see the steam emphasized a little more although I guess that would be difficult to do and still have the sun and the clouds. Maybe to crop a little of the foreground.

#7 Is beautiful and has a lot of contrast without the light areas washing out or making silhouettes out of the dark areas.

#5 is just so foggy (it makes me feel wet and cold) and I do like that the foreground is in focus showing that this isn't just some picture taken by someone who can't focus. Even with the fog, the figures are somewhat distinct. I'm not sure whether the lack of color is from the fog, or if the photo has been rendered black and white.

#3 - I really love that I can recognize the skyline and I know that it is summer down there. This one is the only one of the photos that says HOT to me. The colors are hot, the whole scene looks like it is simmering in the heat.

#6 Looks like it could be a painting that could be used on a greeting card (and this is meant as a compliment) I love the snowyness of the picture all the while it is in focus - so I think it HAS snowed, but is not still snowing. I love the snow on the clapboards of the house. It feels crisp and cold. I do wonder why the door on the right is just partly in the photo.

kdotaylor · January 26, 2014

#1. I love how you've captured the rainy day. I can all but feel getting wet. There's just enough blurriness without losing the details; and I like how the grays and yellows compliment each other. Maybe you could have straightened things up; the photo looks like it's leaning a bit to the left.

#2. Beautiful sky and clouds! I've seen lots of photos with sun flare recently...must be a fad. I personally am not that fond of the look, and wonder if this photo would be improved upon by shooting with the sun behind you.

#3. I like the use of repetition in the patterns of both the clouds and the buildings. The gray and yellow is a lovely color combination. Also, I like that I can still see some detail in the skyline and that it's not just silhouetted. I wish I could see just a bit more detail in the city and also in the dark upper left part of the sky.

#4. This entire photo is lit perfectly. I love the rays of sunlight; and the fact that there's so much detail both on the ground and in the sky; and I like the grand scale of the scene. I'm not, though, a big fan of the subject matter.

#5. This is gorgeous. I love the placement of the horizon, and the placement of each person on it, and that each person is doing something completely different. The fog/blurriness/grayness is perfect. At first I thought I would cut off a bit on the left, but then decided that the extra empty space works better.

#7. Lovely! Beautiful sky and clouds, and just enough detail in the water. I wish I could see more detail in the rocks, and that the horizon weren't dead center...what if you'd gotten lower to take the picture?

ShootingStar · January 26, 2014

Hi

This is my first time criticizing, so please don't criticize too much my critics :-) But if you have advice I will gladly listen to them.

#1 What I like about this shot is that you really get the feeling of you trying to dry in the car while it is still pouring outside. I wish there were not this slight tilt. I would recommend trying another crop for the right side. But overall you got the brief as I really feel the weather.

#2 I think colors of this shot play weel with the heat feeling. I like the different lines in the picture. I don’t know if you have another one where the sun is more in the corner. It is just that the flare is a bit too centered for me.

#4 Watching the rays of light through the clouds is something I really like so I am very attracted to this picture. Plus the industrial foreground brings drama to the picture. Really love this shot! Hope after the storm.

#5 I like the postreatment on the people. It almost look like a painting. However I am not sure what weather you are trying to convey.

#6 At the moment it is not displaying on my computer, I will come back later & edit this post

#7 Huge fab of sunsets & sunrises so this is a shot I love. I wanted to go for such a photo but as other people pointed out to me when I submitted ideas, this is a nice picture, but it does not really convey the theme to make you feel the weather.

Claire

billseye · January 26, 2014

1. This really succeeds at making me feel the wet, rainy atmosphere. I can almost smell the wet, damp air. The overall processing isn't particularly dramatic for me, but the compositional and color highlight of the yellow headlights and glare adds good effect to the atmospherics of the scene. I also like the emphasis created by bright reflective pedestrian sign in the background. There were comments earlier about the cropping and horizon-leveling choices you had from the original file. I think you created the best compromise you could considering the original file's crop. Overall very effective and met the challenge well.

2. The cool white balance creating the blue haze cast across the trees really emphasizes the coldness. For me, the lens flare (other than the small dot in the center of the trees) also works to impart the coldness. What I don't think works so well is the unfortunate blown-out sun highlight at the top. There's also a pretty noticeable color shift from yellow-green to reds in the foreground grasses and I'm not really sure what the intended subject is. Finally, I wish the patches of snow were whiter instead of appearing as a neutral gray. All that said, this image is effective in conveying coldness and the processing is highly dramatic - it definitely met the OOYCZ instructions!

3. I really like the extreme placement of the silhouetted horizon. It really places an emphasis on an interesting sky. I'm not sure what "feeling" the weather conveys, though. The color palette of yellows and golds implies warmth to me; the sky is an interesting combination of still and moving, but the rigidity of the buildings doesn't impart any hint as to wind. It could be really warm, still, and humid. OR... It could be windy and cold. Just not sure. The processing is dramatic, though. Both the crop/composition choice and the emphasis on the yellow color palette are striking and effective in drawing attention to the photo.

4. What really I like here is the drama of the streaks of light hitting the horizon. The factory steam throughout the middle of the image gives a sense of cold, but the warm colors of the upper right provide a contrary sense of warmth for me - an interesting effect of sensory contradiction. My biggest issue is with the almost perfectly centered horizon. It seems to create the horizon as the visual focal point. I find my eyes bouncing back and forth between the top and bottom. Perhaps that was intentional as part of the warm/cool dissonance of the image overall. At any rate, it kept me looking for quite a while!

6. There's so much to like about this! It's a very busy image, but the parts are all working together really well. So... starting from the sensory - I'm in a pretty warm room wearing a t-shirt right now, but I have the sudden urge to go close the window behind me. Definitely nailed the "feeling part. Your color processing is really strong. The white trim around the window and door is toned down just to the point of allowing the pure white of the snow to contrast against it. This appears to have been shot with a long focal length, flattening the front-to-back perspective... yet ...there's clear delineation between the bottom foreground, the side (tree) foreground, the subject window/door, and the hint of the house's interior, followed by yet another layer of an internal background window. Wow! I can't say the processing per se, is dramatic, but the composition and exposure and color management is dramatically well done in all respects!

7. Such a classic sunset - taken on one of the country's (make that the world's) most beautiful stretches of roadway (California's Highway 1). I'm about to make that drive tomorrow - taking the long way to a workshop next week. But I digress... This gives me a sense of weather, because I know that it's the kind of sunset most likely to appear in the winter. Despite the warm tones, I suspect it was a chilly evening. It also evokes the damp sea air and the sounds of waves hitting the shore. I also suspect that the processing has emphasized some level of saturation and color contrasts, but not so much to make it unrealistic. As I noted before, I wish the crop on the left allowed for water all the way from the horizon down, but that's a minor nit to pick, I'm also wondering if some localized shadow adjustments might have revealed a bit more detail in the rocks. Nice work!

Photoaddict · January 27, 2014

1. This photo definitely portrays a wet rainy day feel. I even get a sense of a colder rainy day from the tones. I would have preferred a much wider shot, but I like the blurriness added by the rain on the windshield.
3. This photo has a hot and hazy feel to it. I like the tones, but it seems that all of the viewer's attention is drawn to the right of the photo leaving the left a little dark for my taste. It does, however convey sense of dry climate heat.
4. This is a spectacular capture of rays breaking through the clouds. They act as leading lines guiding the viewer's eye to the entire photo. Not a big fan of the foreground, however all the white and smoke (or steam) from the industrial area does combine in this photo to make you fell heat and cold at the same time.
5. This is a terrific shot of fog with almost a minimalist feel to it. Well framed and processed.
6. This shot is extremely well done, conveying cold with force. I do find the tree (or shrub) in the left to be a bit distracting. For the subject this is well framed and excellently processed.
7. This shot is a fantastic capture. The cloud formation drawing the eye deeper into the photo. The tones portraying a feeling of heat and cold at the same time. Excellent job.

CHANDLERJA · January 27, 2014

1. While this photo does portray a rainy day well, I am not a big fan of the drops on windshield. I would like to see a wider shot as well. The partially cropped sign, white car and edge of the trucks rear lights are a bit distracting to me. The overall crop also feels a bit crooked. I do like the overall colors and think they nail the rainy day feel this was going for!

2. I love everything about this image but the comp. I would liked to have seen this shot at a wider angle and cropped as a panoramic shot. Everything else including color, light, focus and subject are excellent and really give an impression of a crisp winter day!

3. As with #2 I love just about everything about this image except the comp. I would have tried darkening the entire city to create one continuous silhouette and cropping it as a 1/3 pano with the sky being the dominating subject. the color and light are perfect. I might have tried sharpening the building edges up a bit after making them a silhouette.

5. To be honest there is nothing I can find to critique with this image. I would have done nothing different. I can smell the saltwater and feel the cool breeze. Excellent!

6. I would love to see a tighter crop of just the bottom half of the window with the bushes at a 1/3 crop with the windows being the main subject. I think that would really show the feel of winter you were looking for without the distractions caused by the partially cropped roof, tree and door. The color, lighting and subject are spot on!

7. As with #2 and #3 I love just about everything about this image except the comp. I would try cropping it as a 1/3 pano with the sky being the dominating subject. The sky is stunning and should be the stand out feature of this image. The color, lighting and subject are spot on!

sapphire73 · January 28, 2014

1 This definitely communicates the feel of a rainy day! I like the raindrops on the windshield, creating an interesting effect with the lights of an oncoming car. Ideally, I would have liked to see this straightened a bit and perhaps wider but am impressed at how well you convey "rain" with your entry! Even on this gray day, there is plenty to draw the eye in this photo - headlights, brake lights, the yellow sign up ahead. Very nice.

2 Lovely to feel the sunshine and see the blue sky in the midst of winter. I like the layers of interest in your composition with golden grasses in foreground, the river of cold water, and the bare trees in the background. It might have been interesting to see this with a bit cropped from the top and the bottom to give it more of pano crop. Very nice, dramatic entry!

3 I like the warm tones, the city skyline and the clouds in the sky. I was thinking that I would have liked to see the skyline as a dark silhouette but then noticed and appreciated the subtle distinction between the buildings in the foreground and those further away. Overall, a very nice composition emphasizing the sky and anchoring it with an interesting skyline!

4 The beautiful rays of light in the sky contrast with the gritty industrial "landscape" below. I am always drawn to rays of sunlight coming through the clouds. In this case, showing that the beauty of nature can touch (and enhance) even the mundane subjects in the lower half of the composition. You definitely met the challenge of entering a dramatic photograph that shows us the weather and helps us feel it!

5 Great subject for this challenge - showing the fog with a composition providing several layers of interest. One wishes the fog would dissipate so we can see this more clearly, but that's a good measure of how well this entry conveys the effect of a foggy day. I like being able to see the outline of the figures clearly in spite of the fog. And I think the pano crop is very effective. Well done!

6 I like the way this photograph communicates a snowy, cold day in such an appealing way. I really like your composition and processing. I feel the chill of the snowy weather while appreciating the beauty of the snow dusting the window panes, etc. The instructions for this challenge invited us to try wide angle shots or even a panorama, but you found another effective way to create a strong entry. Lovely!

Gretchen

JAG · January 29, 2014

Thank you all who have participated! You all did a great job!

The Results of this round is as follows:

Image - Points (out of a possible 18)

1 - 4
2 - 3
3 - 6
4 - 4
5 - 11
6 - 9
7 - 5

Now this thread is open for all who wish to critique who didn't get a chance to participate!

grandmaR · January 29, 2014

Not sure that 21 is the correct possible total, since I didn't think we could vote for ourself. If six people out of seven voted all for the same person it would be 18 wouldn't it?

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. They were all pretty much on target. Just FYI - I was not of course driving the car. I wouldn't try to take a photo and drive in the rain in town (although I might on occasion in more salubrious circumstances at slow speeds).

kdotaylor · January 29, 2014

My link is missing...not sure what happened, but here is #6

billseye · January 29, 2014

Thanks for the comments everyone. I find this exercise to be a good way to strengthen the our craft - both as receiver and provider of comments. Reading and responding to the comments from the instruction threads seems to have helped improve my entry.

kdotaylor · January 30, 2014

billseye wrote: »

Thanks for the comments everyone. I find this exercise to be a good way to strengthen the our craft - both as receiver and provider of comments. Reading and responding to the comments from the instruction threads seems to have helped improve my entry.

I agree...very good practice giving feedback on others' photos, and learning from reading comments on my own photo

JAG · January 30, 2014

grandmaR wrote: »

Not sure that 21 is the correct possible total, since I didn't think we could vote for ourself. If six people out of seven voted all for the same person it would be 18 wouldn't it?....

You are correct! I was cleaning my desk this morning while my computer was booting and found the paper that I had tallied the scores up on. I noticed that I had 21 circled, then I realized my mistake! So I came in to fix it and saw you already had noted it. Good catch! Nothing like keeping us all on our toes!

grandmaR · January 30, 2014

I come from the perspective of a long time score-keeping for many different kinds of events often by computer. I have often been able to figure out what scorekeepers are doing wrong (such as figuring time penalties using 100 minutes per hour rather than 60 minutes per hour) by looking at the results they get.

sapphire73 · January 30, 2014

It was a fun challenge and great to have more participants than last time! Many thanks to all who contributed entries and commentary.

BSGreen · January 31, 2014

Wonderful images everyone!

OOYCZ #2 Weather Finals/RESULTS

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