NOTEBOOK - A New Challenge

bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
edited August 16, 2009 in People
If you survived Framing, let's see what you make of this one. (And if you didn't try framing, give this a try anyone - it'll be good for you.

One day between now and August 9, pick a day on which you will NOT carry a camera. No camera of any kind. Instead, I want you to carry a notebook. What I want you to do is to consider that notebook your camera for the day, and use it to take five 'photos.' In each case I want you to describe the photos in great detail. Where you 'took' it, how you 'shot' it - describe the subject, the angle from which you 'shot,' the exposure, what else is in the frame. In other words, I want you to describe each image as you would if you were looking at a photograph and were asked to tell someone everything you could about it.

On August 8, post your best 'photo' of the five - and then let the food fight begin!

Yes there is a point to this exercise - in fact, there are several points. And, yes, it does have instructive value, even if you don't see that now.

Good luck!!

And P. S. There are still openings in the August 17-21 workshop in Boston.
bd@bdcolenphoto.com
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
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Comments

  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited July 26, 2009
    I did this with BD in his class last spring and it was both hard and useful. More than you might expect. It was bitter cold February in Boston which didn't help things. Now it's 75F and 100% humidity on Nantucket and the crowds are here. I think I'd try again.

    BD, why don't you participate in this one with us? i'm sure you have nothing better in your day job as nothing at all has been happening in Cambridge or to Harvard faculty.
    If not now, when?
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited July 26, 2009
    rutt wrote:
    I did this with BD in his class last spring and it was both hard and useful. More than you might expect. It was bitter cold February in Boston which didn't help things. Now it's 75F and 100% humidity on Nantucket and the crowds are here. I think I'd try again.

    BD, why don't you participate in this one with us? i'm sure you have nothing better in your day job as nothing at all has been happening in Cambridge or to Harvard faculty.

    My 'photo' is of a kitchen in a frame victorian house on a quite street in Cambridge, Mass, near the Harvard campus. In the foreground, within about three feet of my 21 mm lens, we see an upper back and shoulders, wearing a dark shirt with a collar - they fill the bottom third of the frame. Protruding from the collar is the neck and head of a white male, with short-cropped hair, and we see the back of a policeman's hat on his head. Over the cop's right shoulder we see a black man, wearing glasses, of small stature, about 55-years-old. The black man, who's left hand seems to be resting on the top of a cane - which we can't see much of, has his mouth open and looks angry. To the right of the black man we see the top halves of two kitchen chairs, a sink and counter, and light streaming through and around white curtains into the kitchen, blowing out areas where the light strikes. To the black man's left there is a lightfilled doorway into another room.

    How's that, Rutt?

    P.S. Neither we, nor anyone other than the two men in the photo, can have the slightest idea what is taking place in that kitchen - but we sure can write our own stories about it!

    rolleyes1.gif :ivar wings.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Hmm, let's see...

    We are looking onto the stage of a theater from the door of a private box. A man with a gun in one hand has climbed over the banister of the box and is in midair having jumped toward the stage below. In the foreground in shadow, we see the famous silhouette of the tall man with the beard, slumping. We see a mixture of exhaltation and fear on the face of the leaping man, seen in profile. The people surrounding the slumping man show confusion. The faces in the audience all look upward at the man in midair.

    BD, set a better example, please.
    If not now, when?
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    rutt wrote:
    Hmm, let's see...

    We are looking onto the stage of a theater from the door of a private box. A man with a gun in one hand has climbed over the banister of the box and is in midair having jumped toward the stage below. In the foreground in shadow, we see the famous silhouette of the tall man with the beard, slumping. We see a mixture of exhaltation and fear on the face of the leaping man, seen in profile. The people surrounding the slumping man show confusion. The faces in the audience all look upward at the man in midair.

    BD, set a better example, please.

    Hey, do as I say, not as I do - get out there and "shoot."
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    I had to do this a bit from memory since I was driving, but what caught my eye was a young (20's) Asian woman walking up the exterior metal staircase to a single second story door, on an otherwise un-interesting wall of an apartment building. The siding is horizontal clap board. She has a short haircut, a dark brown dress, and her head is down (likely watching her step, but the idea of exhaustion also came to mind). The clapboard is a pale yellow. Framing captures her near the bottom right of frame with the door in the upper left. Sun creates faint shadows on the wall.

    If I get to reshoot this, I think using a flash up high to create to steam light down the wall (like it were coming from an off-camera outdoor flood) would add effect.
    - Andrew

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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    adbsgicom wrote:
    I had to do this a bit from memory since I was driving, but what caught my eye was a young (20's) Asian woman walking up the exterior metal staircase to a single second story door, on an otherwise un-interesting wall of an apartment building. The siding is horizontal clap board. She has a short haircut, a dark brown dress, and her head is down (likely watching her step, but the idea of exhaustion also came to mind). The clapboard is a pale yellow. Framing captures her near the bottom right of frame with the door in the upper left. Sun creates faint shadows on the wall.

    If I get to reshoot this, I think using a flash up high to create to steam light down the wall (like it were coming from an off-camera outdoor flood) would add effect.


    OKAY - I APOLOGIZE. Rutt is absolutely correct - I set a bad example with my Gatesgate example (though I was responding to him.)

    I do not want you to do this from memory. I do not want you to make up anything.

    Pick a day; get a notebook; and get out there and "shoot" five images. Then post the best one on August 6.

    Thanks, and good luck!
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2009
    Want to. Don't know if I'll be afforded the time day job, and wife out of town.... I know, if not now, when?... My photowalk might be around the back yard or while my kid has a playdate and I spy on them....
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2009
    adbsgicom wrote:
    Want to. Don't know if I'll be afforded the time day job, and wife out of town.... I know, if not now, when?... My photowalk might be around the back yard or while my kid has a playdate and I spy on them....

    That's cool.mwink.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • Mr. QuietMr. Quiet Registered Users Posts: 1,047 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    I would like to, but I do not know when I can get out and do it......I guess you will know by August 9!
    If you work at something hard enough, you WILL achieve your goal. "Me"

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  • 1pocket1pocket Registered Users Posts: 298 Major grins
    edited August 3, 2009
    I like this idea!

    I forgot to bring my camera with me last Friday -- I wish I had seen this thread then! But by nature I do recall framing at least one shot in my mind's eye. Didn't write anything down, though.

    I read somewhere that it has been demonstrated by scientific study that you can actually improve a physical skill by practicing -- only in your mind! The study involved shooting basketball free-throws. Those athletes practicing in their minds improved more even than those practicing on the court, iirc!

    I used to play a pretty mean blues harmonica, and one way that I found real good for coming up with new, more creative "riffs" was to first just imagine the sound, and then once I had it developed in my mind, I would try to imitate it on the harp.
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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 4, 2009
    1pocket wrote:
    I like this idea!

    I forgot to bring my camera with me last Friday -- I wish I had seen this thread then! But by nature I do recall framing at least one shot in my mind's eye. Didn't write anything down, though.

    I read somewhere that it has been demonstrated by scientific study that you can actually improve a physical skill by practicing -- only in your mind! The study involved shooting basketball free-throws. Those athletes practicing in their minds improved more even than those practicing on the court, iirc!

    I used to play a pretty mean blues harmonica, and one way that I found real good for coming up with new, more creative "riffs" was to first just imagine the sound, and then once I had it developed in my mind, I would try to imitate it on the harp.

    And think of all the guitarists who are constantly playing 'air guitar' mwink.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • Mohamed.GhuloomMohamed.Ghuloom Registered Users Posts: 305 Major grins
    edited August 5, 2009
    I'm shooting a landscape oriented photo with my 18-70mm lens. It's a window I am shooting from inside the room where the sunlight outside is very sharp, so the curtains of this window are looking full black. I use the spot metering mode to lock the Ev on the brightest point so I get a silhouette feeling of the window.

    How is that? mwink.gif
    I actually did as you instructed dear
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  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 5, 2009
    B.D., can I clarify when you'd like the 'photos' posted? I've seen mention of the 6th, the 8th and the 9th. Now I'm confused! ne_nau.gif

    Thanks!
    Travis
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 6, 2009
    I'm shooting a landscape oriented photo with my 18-70mm lens. It's a window I am shooting from inside the room where the sunlight outside is very sharp, so the curtains of this window are looking full black. I use the spot metering mode to lock the Ev on the brightest point so I get a silhouette feeling of the window.

    How is that? mwink.gif
    I actually did as you instructed dear


    MUCH more detail. MUCH. MUCH more detail. A landscape of what? Describe it; what do you see, and where? What is the lens set at in terms of focal length? What f stop and why? Color or black and white? How have you exposed it? What color are the curtains? Etc. Etc. Etc. :ivar
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 6, 2009
    thoth wrote:
    B.D., can I clarify when you'd like the 'photos' posted? I've seen mention of the 6th, the 8th and the 9th. Now I'm confused! ne_nau.gif

    Thanks!


    Good question. Actually, I am going to D.C. tomorrow, returning home late Monday. So let's say Tuesday, which is the 11th - giving everyone a few extra days. :D
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    Alrighty... I'm going to kick this off with my 'photo' offering. Interestingly, I was expecting to hone my ability to see what is there by working on this assignment. I thought I'd wander around, paying attention to compositions instead of my camera, and out would pop a story that I hadn't seen before. Instead, however, I began to anticipate stories to compose. This photo, which I took on Saturday and used to replace my first 176 attempts :D, is one of the first times I truly knew what was going to happen in a candid photograph. Now to work on getting my camera ready for the shot too... thumb.gif

    Enough babble; here's the photo!


    "This landscape-oriented black and white photograph is of a small room of painted cinder blocks. A metal and plastic valance hides a row of lit florescent lights along the top of the wall on the left but does very little to light the room. The adjacent wall, in the back of the room, is nearly entirely consumed by a large window and looks out into a blown out sky and overexposed yard. The light from outside fans into the room, causing dark shadows to form in front of the objects in the room.


    "On the bottom left, in the foreground and extending slightly out of frame, sits a large dark reclining chair stacked with newspapers and, beside it, sits another. Next to the second chair lies a carefully made hospital bed also strewn newspapers and some magazines. With a 30mm focal length, the lines created by the backs and front edges of the chairs, and the headboard of the bed, exit the frame about one-third its width from the top left corner. The lines of the bed do the same at about one-third the height from the top right corner.

    In the second chair sits a carelessly placed elderly woman. Her slightly-twisted hips are wide, making her torso seem unnaturally small, and her back is hunched, dragging her chin and expressionless face to her chest. In the foreground in the bottom right quarter of the frame, is a young girl, left arm and right leg slightly outstretched in a running position. Her hair is blown back and her entire body is slightly blurred from the motion."



    Enjoy!

    Thanks B.D., once again, for a wonderfully stimulating assignment!
    Travis
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    thoth wrote:
    Alrighty... I'm going to kick this off with my 'photo' offering. Interestingly, I was expecting to hone my ability to see what is there by working on this assignment. I thought I'd wander around, paying attention to compositions instead of my camera, and out would pop a story that I hadn't seen before. Instead, however, I began to anticipate stories to compose. This photo, which I took on Saturday and used to replace my first 176 attempts :D, is one of the first times I truly knew what was going to happen in a candid photograph. Now to work on getting my camera ready for the shot too... thumb.gif

    Enough babble; here's the photo!


    "This landscape-oriented black and white photograph is of a small room of painted cinder blocks. A metal and plastic valance hides a row of lit florescent lights along the top of the wall on the left but does very little to light the room. The adjacent wall, in the back of the room, is nearly entirely consumed by a large window and looks out into a blown out sky and overexposed yard. The light from outside fans into the room, causing dark shadows to form in front of the objects in the room.


    "On the bottom left, in the foreground and extending slightly out of frame, sits a large dark reclining chair stacked with newspapers and, beside it, sits another. Next to the second chair lies a carefully made hospital bed also strewn newspapers and some magazines. With a 30mm focal length, the lines created by the backs and front edges of the chairs, and the headboard of the bed, exit the frame about one-third its width from the top left corner. The lines of the bed do the same at about one-third the height from the top right corner.

    In the second chair sits a carelessly placed elderly woman. Her slightly-twisted hips are wide, making her torso seem unnaturally small, and her back is hunched, dragging her chin and expressionless face to her chest. In the foreground in the bottom right quarter of the frame, is a young girl, left arm and right leg slightly outstretched in a running position. Her hair is blown back and her entire body is slightly blurred from the motion."



    Enjoy!

    Thanks B.D., once again, for a wonderfully stimulating assignment!

    Great "photo!" clap.gifclap.gif Seriously. I'd love to see it.
    So what did you learn from this assignment?
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    There was a photo i wanted to take when i was traveling into interior Pakistan i was riding on vehicle. At evening time just 1 hour before sunset, the vehicle came across a very dusty environment and that was the picture to take.

    There were people working on the road with drilling tools in their hands, there was dust all over and labor wrapped their faces with cloth. Sun was on other side and created beautiful silhouette effect. Dust was looking so golden in that sunlight.

    If i was able to shoot that scene, i would have set my lens at 18mm, f/5.6 and shutter 1/60-80, ISO 100.

    I saw it, more than year ago still looking for a chance to shoot that image.

    headscratch.gifscratchheadscratch.gif am i on right track ?? you want me to shoot fresh images like this ??

    Interesting assignment. mwink.gif
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

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  • thoththoth Registered Users Posts: 1,085 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    bdcolen wrote:
    Great "photo!" clap.gifclap.gif Seriously. I'd love to see it.
    Well I'd love to show it to you but I wasn't allowed to take a camera! rolleyes1.gif

    bdcolen wrote:
    So what did you learn from this assignment?
    I think the tendency of most beginner photographers (read my tendency), especially with digital, is to shoot shoot shoot and hope like hell there's something good in Lightroom. This assignment, however, is awfully labor intensive and forced me to annotate only those shots I felt were interesting. It was simply not feasible to write down every single thing that I ran across. The assignment makes one be particular -- and that's important.

    More importantly, though, is foresight. Since I was paying close attention to my surroundings, and looking for something specific or special, I started predicting what was about to happen, versus trying to record something that just happened. That, I think, is the real value here. I started shooting foward instead of backward.

    This was a fantastic assignment and I hope everyone here has taken some time to participate.
    Travis
  • heatherfeatherheatherfeather Registered Users Posts: 2,738 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    Better late than never, right?

    I thought of this assignment so many times last week while fishing. The area was so mucky I didn't dare bring my camera, though I wished for it many times. I took so many photos in my brain to make up for the lack of a camera in my hands.

    Setting is this:
    Landscape oriented, wide angle, color photo, though the colors are muted due to the early morning hour and the mist. I think I would have chosen f9-f11. There is sunshine through the mist making the photo very bright, but moody.

    Winding in an "S" curve through the frame is a clear creek with rocks in the bottom that you can easily see. The banks of the stream start out low and bushy nearby and then change and become about 6-8 feet high and extremely muddy. You can see where the stream curves around the bend and then swings back into view about 200 yards in the distance. Standing in random on the banks are about 40 backlit fishermen in small groups each holding a 3-5 foot circular net. Each one is looking interestedly at the water, straining their eyes to see what it hides. Some are holding coffee cups, and most are wearing hip waders or water boots.
    The mist is thick enough that the fishermen that are furthest away are more muted and hidden by the mist than the ones close up. But everything has that glorious backlight characteristic of an early morning sunrise facing east. The water sparkles in the sunshine as it flows over the rocks.

    At the base of the photo, where the stream appears the widest in the frame, you can see a big red salmon swimming. At the bottom of the frame you can see the toes of polkadotted waterboots, obviously of the photographer, in about 5 inches of water in the flowing stream.
  • adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    Missed opportunity
    I never made the time to create an actual photowalk. What I did find was myself people-watching like never before, watching expressions and looking for moments that could speak for the whole. But I never managed to carve out the time to do this as a block.

    So, I have learned some (I think), but I blew it on creating the text photo and maximizing the exercise. Thank you, though for the exercise which has become a bit of what I do while just walking or waiting.
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
  • FlyingginaFlyinggina Registered Users Posts: 2,639 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2009
    Gonna be late, but the photo exists. I'll try to put it up first thing tomorrow.

    Virginia

    Oh, and following after thoth and heatherfeater is like trying to do stand up comedy right after Steve Martin.
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  • Tina ManleyTina Manley Registered Users Posts: 179 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    Hi, B.D.! I'm so glad you're on SmugMug!
    Sorry to be late to class but I just realized a few days ago that there was a class. I didn't quite follow the rules because my camera is always with me, but I did spend a lot more time visualizing and less time actually taking photos. I really enjoyed it and got some nice mental pictures. My favorite is of my granddaughter on the back porch at our farm. We're shucking corn and the late afternoon sun is behind Sophie lighting up her strawberry blond hair that perfectly matches the backlit corn silk. The framing is tight on Sophie and the corn and from a low angle. I "used" my M8 and the 75/1.4 lens wide open so only Sophie and the corn are in focus. Sophie is so used to my camera that she ignores it but in this case there wasn't even a camera to ignore! That's what was fun about this assignment. I didn't have to try to be invisible.

    Thanks, B.D.

    Tina
    www.tinamanley.com
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    There was a photo i wanted to take when i was traveling into interior Pakistan i was riding on vehicle. At evening time just 1 hour before sunset, the vehicle came across a very dusty environment and that was the picture to take.

    There were people working on the road with drilling tools in their hands, there was dust all over and labor wrapped their faces with cloth. Sun was on other side and created beautiful silhouette effect. Dust was looking so golden in that sunlight.

    If i was able to shoot that scene, i would have set my lens at 18mm, f/5.6 and shutter 1/60-80, ISO 100.

    I saw it, more than year ago still looking for a chance to shoot that image.

    headscratch.gifscratchheadscratch.gif am i on right track ?? you want me to shoot fresh images like this ??

    Interesting assignment. mwink.gif

    You are definitely on the right track, Awais - Now, do 'shoot' a fresh assignment. Go out without your camera, 'shoot' five photos with your notebook, and post one. Tell us what you saw, how you framed it, what was in the frame, what lens you used, what exposure and why, what you included in the 'shot' and what you left out, and, perhaps most important, why you took the photo. mwink.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    Better late than never, right?

    I thought of this assignment so many times last week while fishing. The area was so mucky I didn't dare bring my camera, though I wished for it many times. I took so many photos in my brain to make up for the lack of a camera in my hands.

    Setting is this:
    Landscape oriented, wide angle, color photo, though the colors are muted due to the early morning hour and the mist. I think I would have chosen f9-f11. There is sunshine through the mist making the photo very bright, but moody.

    Winding in an "S" curve through the frame is a clear creek with rocks in the bottom that you can easily see. The banks of the stream start out low and bushy nearby and then change and become about 6-8 feet high and extremely muddy. You can see where the stream curves around the bend and then swings back into view about 200 yards in the distance. Standing in random on the banks are about 40 backlit fishermen in small groups each holding a 3-5 foot circular net. Each one is looking interestedly at the water, straining their eyes to see what it hides. Some are holding coffee cups, and most are wearing hip waders or water boots.
    The mist is thick enough that the fishermen that are furthest away are more muted and hidden by the mist than the ones close up. But everything has that glorious backlight characteristic of an early morning sunrise facing east. The water sparkles in the sunshine as it flows over the rocks.

    At the base of the photo, where the stream appears the widest in the frame, you can see a big red salmon swimming. At the bottom of the frame you can see the toes of polkadotted waterboots, obviously of the photographer, in about 5 inches of water in the flowing stream.

    Wonderful 'photo,' Heather! clap.gif Now, cross your heart and hope to drop all your photo equipment in the river - did you really see this as described? rolleyes1.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    adbsgicom wrote:
    I never made the time to create an actual photowalk. What I did find was myself people-watching like never before, watching expressions and looking for moments that could speak for the whole. But I never managed to carve out the time to do this as a block.

    So, I have learned some (I think), but I blew it on creating the text photo and maximizing the exercise. Thank you, though for the exercise which has become a bit of what I do while just walking or waiting.

    You're quite welcome. And now think about the photos you'd be getting if you always carried a camera. mwink.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    Hi, B.D.! I'm so glad you're on SmugMug!
    Sorry to be late to class but I just realized a few days ago that there was a class. I didn't quite follow the rules because my camera is always with me, but I did spend a lot more time visualizing and less time actually taking photos. I really enjoyed it and got some nice mental pictures. My favorite is of my granddaughter on the back porch at our farm. We're shucking corn and the late afternoon sun is behind Sophie lighting up her strawberry blond hair that perfectly matches the backlit corn silk. The framing is tight on Sophie and the corn and from a low angle. I "used" my M8 and the 75/1.4 lens wide open so only Sophie and the corn are in focus. Sophie is so used to my camera that she ignores it but in this case there wasn't even a camera to ignore! That's what was fun about this assignment. I didn't have to try to be invisible.

    Thanks, B.D.

    Tina
    www.tinamanley.com

    Welcome, Tina! (And to those of you who don't know Tina Manley - DO go look at her website! :D

    As usual, Tina, great shot! (And I know I don't need to tell you to - always carry a camera. rolleyes1.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • heatherfeatherheatherfeather Registered Users Posts: 2,738 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    bdcolen wrote:
    Wonderful 'photo,' Heather! clap.gif Now, cross your heart and hope to drop all your photo equipment in the river - did you really see this as described? rolleyes1.gif
    Yep... Caught 65 salmon at fish creek last week. Yum. My hubbie kept laughing at me wishing for my camera. Other fun scenes: A muddy fisherman carrying nets with his pocket stuffed with salmon... the tails hanging out flopping with each step... Kids holding up strings with 6-10 salmon as though it was a trophy. But most of all... me head to toe covered in mud. I actually have a photo of that one. But that early morning light before the creek opens for fishing... that is the best.
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    Yep... Caught 65 salmon at fish creek last week. Yum. My hubbie kept laughing at me wishing for my camera. Other fun scenes: A muddy fisherman carrying nets with his pocket stuffed with salmon... the tails hanging out flopping with each step... Kids holding up strings with 6-10 salmon as though it was a trophy. But most of all... me head to toe covered in mud. I actually have a photo of that one. But that early morning light before the creek opens for fishing... that is the best.

    You need a waterproof P&S to have with you all the time - Olympus Stylus maybe?
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • FlyingginaFlyinggina Registered Users Posts: 2,639 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2009
    Lady in Red in the Rain
    ****** http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">****** name="ProgId" content="Word.Document">****** name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11">****** name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> A woman of middle age wearing an orange-red raincoat, a red rain hat, and black high heels holds a cherry red umbrella over her head in the pouring rain. She is crossing an intersection of a commerical street lined with brownstones and another street at right angles to it. We see her in the foreground of the photograph in a three-quarters view with her face almost fully visible. Her expression is alert. In the picture, the rain shows as soft gray streaks.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    The woman seems to be moving from the upper right to the lower left corner of the frame. She is crossing kitty corner through the intersection, and the photograph catches her just as she has left the cross walk that is straight in front of the viewer and moved kitty-corner directly into the middle of the commercial street.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    The umbrella is held in her right hand, one foot is well in front of the other, her body is leaning forward and her left hand is raised, with her palm making a stop motion to something outside the frame of the photograph that is apparently off to her left.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    There are faint red reflections from her coat and umbrella on the wet street.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    Straight ahead, we see a tree-lined sidewalk that seems to converge with the left hand side of the street in the far distance. The arched boughs of the trees that line the street are a soft, green in the diffuse light of the heavy overcast. They appear to provide cover for a distant single pedestrian, carrying a black umbrella, and walking away from the viewer.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    In the middle distance, to the right of the lady in the red raincoat and on the corner across the street from our viewpoint, is a local convenience store. Although we are at 90 degrees to the store, we can see that produce is being displayed in baskets out front in an area enclosed by a wrought iron fence and protected by a permanent roof. We cannot see into the store, but it looks like someone has opened the door and may soon be emerging. On the side of the store facing us are large advertising signs in the windows covering what appear to be windows. The words are written in bright red. Although there are two parking spaces in front of the windows, they are not occupied.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    At the right edge of the frame, we can see what looks like the back of a parked delivery truck. It is white, with red trim. Just beyond the frame, we can see what looks like the entrance to an alley and a brick building beyond.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    There are no moving vehicles in the picture. Except for the lady in red and the person with the black umbrella, there are no people in the picture.
    <o:p> </o:p>
    Although the photograph is taken with a Canon 40D, using a relatively wide angle lens (24-30 mm) at f 8, there is a soft, pastel feel to it because of the rain. Only the woman in red, who is in the foreground, really seems to be in sharp focus. The photograph is slightly grainier than many might like in a color photograph, but the thick cloud cover and the rain made the scene darker than it appeared to the naked eye, so ISO 800 was used. Also, I cloned out the edge of my own red umbrella showing at the very top of the photo.



    Virginia






    <o:p> </o:p>
    <o:p> </o:p>
    _______________________________________________
    "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus

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