Which one would you choose?

pemmett

Well here I am...my soul laid bare for all and sunder to see. I have learned everything I know from all of the wonderful people who have participated in this year long competition. So I send a big thank you to all of you and in the same breath wish you the best of luck in the final round. :lust

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I have spent the last four days getting up at 2:30am to go to balloon festivals, going to bed after midnight after going to a concert, to stepping out of my back door in my pajamas all to get the seven shots below.

Unfortunately I have been told at short notice that I need to go on a business trip and will not have time to re-shoot. So for one last time I come to you to humbly ask your opinion to see which picture has the best chance of beating you all :rofl
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I have posted a poll, but would really appreciate if you could also leave any comments which would help me. Thank You



1. Frangipani Flower



2. Burn Baby Burn




3. Up Up and Away




4. Start of a long day




5. Playing the Blues




6. Singing the Blues




7. Singing the Blues (#2)

shatch

Playing the Blues

If you hadn't have shot so many good photos, I could have chose easier.

urbanaries

Start of a long day

pemmett wrote:

<o:p></o:p>I have spent the last four days getting up at 2:30am to go to balloon festivals, going to bed after midnight after going to a concert, to stepping out of my back door in my pajamas all to get the seven shots below.

Where's the one of you in pajamas? I vote for that one!

Seriously, you should feel very good about your choices, it was tough to pick my favorite between three different images. Amazing work, very unique shots.

photogmomma

Singing the Blues

I don't see the first one, but the others are awesome!!!

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with not just one photo in mind. It seems like everyone knows what they're doing and I'm still jumping between photos!!

Awesome group!

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

shatch wrote:

If you hadn't have shot so many good photos, I could have chose easier.

Thanks Steven. I shot nearly 2,000 photos over the 4 days and spent a lot of time going through the images and wittling them down to these 7. I thought about if I should post less, but I couldn't get it down any further

Thanks for your time and input.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

urbanaries wrote:

Where's the one of you in pajamas? I vote for that one!

Seriously, you should feel very good about your choices, it was tough to pick my favorite between three different images. Amazing work, very unique shots.

Lynne, the flower was the one I shot in my pajamas If there was a shot of me in my pajamas the decency police would be knocking at my doorstep in an instance

Thanks for the vote of confidence and the time taken to help me on my journey.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

photogmomma wrote:

I don't see the first one, but the others are awesome!!!

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with not just one photo in mind. It seems like everyone knows what they're doing and I'm still jumping between photos!!

Awesome group!

Andi, the first one was a picture of a Frangipani flower which are very simple and beautiful flowers.

I was fortunate that this weekend presented me with a number of opportunities to shoot as it allowed a variety of ideas. I'm still very much jumping between shots, which is why I needed everyone's input

Thanks for the input and feedback.

Tessa HD

Playing the Blues

i like 5 & 7 best! 7 shows more emotion which is probably why I lean more toward it, but I had originally voted for 5. so change my vote!

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Tessa HD wrote:

i like 5 & 7 best! 7 shows more emotion which is probably why I lean more toward it, but I had originally voted for 5. so change my vote!

Tessa, thanks for the feedback. I've been doing the same thing over and over again - which is why I can to you for help :-) I keep looking at each image and seeing qualities that I like and thinking that's it, then I see something else in another shot...

Thanks for the time taken to give me your input, I really appreciate it.

Dee

Burn Baby Burn

Burn baby burn
I like that one the most. It's most compelling to me, tells a story, although I'm not sure what the story is -- but since you posted hot air balloons I guess it's related to that. In any case the person looks hopeful, respectful of the flames, the colors and contrasts are fantastic.

It's not anything I've seen posted often, and it has the "unusual" factor. It doesn't looked photoshopped, composited, or fake.

The flower looks a little grainy to me, and I've seen singers before, ho hum! :-) although singer #2 is also interesting. But since I don't like black and white, the vivid contrasting colors in Burn baby burn win it for me.

Hope that helps.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Dee wrote:

I like that one the most. It's most compelling to me, tells a story, although I'm not sure what the story is -- but since you posted hot air balloons I guess it's related to that. In any case the person looks hopeful, respectful of the flames, the colors and contrasts are fantastic.

It's not anything I've seen posted often, and it has the "unusual" factor. It doesn't looked photoshopped, composited, or fake.

The flower looks a little grainy to me, and I've seen singers before, ho hum! :-) although singer #2 is also interesting. But since I don't like black and white, the vivid contrasting colors in Burn baby burn win it for me.

Hope that helps.

Dee, Thank you very much for your feedback. I'm torn between the singer and the balloon heater image. My only concern with the burn image is that, as you mentioned, you weren't sure what it was, which may put people off. I know I could ude the title to explain a bit more, but...

The balloon heater image has had the least amount of post production work which is one one reason I really like it, however it's the first time I shot a concert as well and really like the singer image due to the emotions he is expressing.

Thanks again for you time and encouraging words.

Felicia

Singing the Blues (#2)

It was a hard choice for me. I really like the lighting and mood on #5. But if it hadn't been titled playing the blues, I would have not "gotten" the shot. So, I chose #5 (edit: "Oops! I meant #7") because there's a lot of emotion in the shot. Plus, you know he's got to be belting out some notes just by looking at the strain in his neck muscles. It's the shot that stirred the most emotion in me.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Felicia wrote:

It was a hard choice for me. I really like the lighting and mood on #5. But if it hadn't been titled playing the blues, I would have not "gotten" the shot. So, I chose #5 because there's a lot of emotion in the shot. Plus, you know he's got to be belting out some notes just by looking at the strain in his neck muscles. It's the shot that stirred the most emotion in me.

Felicia, Thanks for your feedback. It's good to get feedback that the shot has emotion in it, which it what I am trying to enhance by using black and white.

Thanks for the time taken to help me.

PaulThomasMcKee

Singing the Blues (#2)

I'm so impressed with your work ethic...2000 shots! I don't think my old computer will even hold 2000 more images.

I agree with what felicia said about Singing the Blues #2 . That's a fantastic capture .

Best of luck to you!!

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

PaulThomasMcKee wrote:

I'm so impressed with your work ethic...2000 shots! I don't think my old computer will even hold 2000 more images.

I agree with what felicia said about Singing the Blues #2 . That's a fantastic capture .

Best of luck to you!!

Paul, Thanks for the encouragement and kind words. I'm not sure if 2,000 shots is called "work ethic" or "desperation"

I look forward to seeing all the entries and wish you also the best of luck.

Kropotkin

Frangipani Flower

Wow, great shots, all of them!

With my limited expertise, I can only judge based on taste, rather than knowledge, but I hope this is useful anyway.

1. A really stunning shot, striking and powerful visually. Great colours. I think this is the most beautiful of the pictures, but I don't know whether a contest will be judged on perceived effort or the difficulty of a shot. I suppose you should get extra points for this one, given that it was taken in your pyjamas!

2. Another really striking image. I love the flames, you can almost hear the gas burning and feel the heat. If I had one criticism of the picture, it's that the people underneath are too well lit. There's too little contrast, or rather, the shot would be even better if the contrast between the flames and the people in the basket were greater.

3. Technically, a great shot, but rather unexciting. It's a picture of some balloons. Unless you're into ballooning, it's not going to boil your tea for you. This is my least favourite shot (even though it's still a fantastic picture).

4. I love the contrast of the stillness of the sky and the jeep, and the energy of the people unloading the basket. You captured the movement really well. Another strong shot.

5. This has a kind of intense stillness which I really like. But it's not obvious what the chap in the picture is doing. If you hadn't told us he was a musician, we would never have known.

6 and 7 Both more really strong shots, which have really captured the intensity of the performance. It's hard to say which I prefer between the two of them. It's probably #6, as this is a slightly more unusual picture, even though it's less flattering for the subject. #7 looks better, but is a bit more conventional image, the kind of thing you'd expect to see on a record cover or in a music magazine. But any of these three shots are easily good enough to appear in a professional publication.

Choosing a favourite is really hard, and I'm torn between #1 and #2. #1 because of its vividness, it's a real punch in the face, which is good in a picture. #2 because of the way you've captured the power of those gas burners. All of them are outstanding though. You really are exceptionally talented.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Kropotkin wrote:

Wow, great shots, all of them!

With my limited expertise, I can only judge based on taste, rather than knowledge, but I hope this is useful anyway.

1. A really stunning shot, striking and powerful visually. Great colours. I think this is the most beautiful of the pictures, but I don't know whether a contest will be judged on perceived effort or the difficulty of a shot. I suppose you should get extra points for this one, given that it was taken in your pyjamas!

Kropotkin, thanks for your great feedback for all the images, I really appreciate it.

I also really like the first image, but when I tell people that I went out into my back yard in my pajamas to take it, it kind of looses some of it's impact. That said it seemed to impact the neighbours seeing me climbing up a ladder in my pajamas with a coffee in one hand and the camera in the other

The contrast to that is the image of the gas burners, where I got up at 2am to drive 2 hours though darkened streets (in rural Philippines) to get to a hot air balloon festival, which wasn't even opened when I arrived at 4am so I had to wait around in the dark in the middle of nowhere for it to open, etc. Most people are much more impressed with the shot knowing this kind of the detail - but then title would have to be really long to get that point across

Anyway, thanks for your feedback and encouragement.

douglas

Burn Baby Burn

All great shots, my choice ended up being burn baby burn.

Tessa HD

Playing the Blues

pemmett wrote:

Tessa, thanks for the feedback. I've been doing the same thing over and over again - which is why I can to you for help :-) I keep looking at each image and seeing qualities that I like and thinking that's it, then I see something else in another shot...

Thanks for the time taken to give me your input, I really appreciate it.

i came back to look at your pics again. i hope you don't mind me giving my opinion on burn baby burn and why i prefer your last one to that one. my uneducated opinion is - it seems so straight on to me. i think a different angle and a little more information in the picture about what it is, or possibly less information, would have grabbed me more. That's why I voted for your last one.

Greensquared

Singing the Blues (#2)

Tessa HD wrote:

i came back to look at your pics again. i hope you don't mind me giving my opinion on burn baby burn and why i prefer your last one to that one. my uneducated opinion is - it seems so straight on to me. i think a different angle and a little more information in the picture about what it is, or possibly less information, would have grabbed me more. That's why I voted for your last one.

My thoughts exactly.

Best of luck to you!

evoryware

Burn Baby Burn

Burn baby burn. I do wish it were at a slightly different angle, like bending down. The jeep distracts.
The third picture is nice, but the colors aren't popping. I'm guessin those are white parts on the balloons so they are underexposed.

prity goldfish

Burn Baby Burn

the fire is too cool to pass up.

i have that same hat the blues singer has.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

evoryware wrote:

Burn baby burn. I do wish it were at a slightly different angle, like bending down. The jeep distracts.
The third picture is nice, but the colors aren't popping. I'm guessin those are white parts on the balloons so they are underexposed.

Thanks for the input. I'd love to be able to reshoot this image from a number of angles, because as you have mentioned it's just too plain and a bit distracting.

The sun was not cooperating with me on the day and the balloons all had a bit of a bland feel. This one caught my eye because of the composition.

Anyway thanks again for the feedback. Cheers.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

prity goldfish wrote:

the fire is too cool to pass up.

i have that same hat the blues singer has.

Thanks for taking time to feedback. I'm going between the two images and even briefly thought if I could combine them to please everyone

Thanks.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Trying to please everyone
Thought I'd have a go at please both camps of thought

1. Hot Blues Singer




2. Beware of the Blues Genie



I had fun anyway

Nikolai

Playing the Blues

pemmett wrote:

Thought I'd have a go at please both camps of thought
I had fun anyway

The top portion (above the hand) of #2 looks pretty strong:-)

BeachBill

Burn Baby Burn

I voted for Burn Baby Burn, because I have a soft spot in my heart for images of that type. Good luck to you. I know this is going to be a tough competition.

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

BeachBill wrote:

I voted for Burn Baby Burn, because I have a soft spot in my heart for images of that type. Good luck to you. I know this is going to be a tough competition.

Bill, thanks for the feedback. The images on your site are exactly the kind of excellent shots I was looking for - but somehow missed them :cry

I blamed many things for not being able to get those kind of images that day, but in the end I've put the blame on the fact that Mars wasn't aligned with Venus and there was no full moon

pemmett

Singing the Blues (#2)

Nikolai wrote:

The top portion (above the hand) of #2 looks pretty strong:-)

Nik, I'm glad you like my train of thought:D I was thinking that the portion above the hand and below the burner was the strongest portion but found that when I blew it up it kind of lost something

Back to the drawing board me thinks