ENTRY Thread DSS #49 (WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge])

sherstone · April 19, 2010

Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge #49

Welcome to Round #49 of the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenges. This challenge is open to any Dgrin member. It will run from Monday, April 19th, 8:00am, PST time (GMT -7) to Monday, May 3rd, 08:00am, PST time (GMT -7).

The topic ready for your interpretation: WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge]

Close-up or macro photography can be an exciting way to explore what we normally do not look at or cannot see. This time around the idea is to try and capture a section of your subject either by using a macro lens or any other lens that will let you get close enough to isolate something that is not immediately obvious what it is, or part of. Even in extreme close quarters it is still very important to have proper lighting, composition etc...

One way to isolate is to get as close as you can to your subject and then crop a small portion of your image (1024x768). This will isolate your WTH photo even more.

P.S. The H in WTH could be many other letters but in this case it is: "What The Heck".

Your Judges:
Kidzmom (Winner of Round 46)
Guest Judge: quark

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your entry is to be submitted directly into a SmugMug gallery. It's pretty simple, just go to the gallery link below, and follow the upload instructions at the top of the page:

DSS#49 Entry Gallery

Remember, the basics stay the same: 1 entry per person, and the photo must be fresh, taken during this contest period. Do not use a minimal save method (such as "save for web"), and your EXIF will be embedded in your image, no worries!

To avoid disqualification, read, in full, the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge Rules, there have been some slight modifications

silversx80 · April 19, 2010

Ooooooooohhhhhh, I like

Confusing the viewer, something I excel at.

ic4u · April 19, 2010

C-O-O-L

JAG · April 19, 2010

hmmmm...we will see what we shall see!

travelways · April 19, 2010

So,... this will be a Macro of a Macro... COOL!

I think we'll have lots of fun this time again

ic4u · April 19, 2010

Sean, this may be a dumb question, but, should our subject matter be something that would ordinarily be obvious if seen from a normal perspective? Or can it be a not so common subject? Hope that makes sense:D

Tango · April 19, 2010

maybe Title the image with what it actually is?

sherstone · April 19, 2010

ic4u wrote:

Sean, this may be a dumb question, but, should our subject matter be something that would ordinarily be obvious if seen from a normal perspective? Or can it be a not so common subject? Hope that makes sense:D

I will leave that up to your creative interpretation, you are the creator, photographer and artist.
How ever you decide to interpret it to mean is the best way for you to go.

sherstone · April 19, 2010

AaronNelson wrote:

maybe Title the image with what it actually is?

If you would like to, that is fine. Again totally up to you, the artist.

travelways · April 19, 2010

Question for Sean

ic4u wrote:

Sean, this may be a dumb question, but, should our subject matter be something that would ordinarily be obvious if seen from a normal perspective? Or can it be a not so common subject? Hope that makes sense:D

I think I understand what Karin meant and I know you replied, but this makes me ask:

- The challenge is "WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge]"

Should this be a challenge where the audience have to correctly name the "UFO" object?

- if we identify it by title, than they will not have to guess ""WTH is that!?" anymore...

or, the challenge is to make the audience believe that what we say in the title is what they see in the picture?...

Does it make sense?

DeuceFour · April 19, 2010

Hmmm... The question is.. Is this a good enough excuse to go buy a Macro lens Hahaha..

pyroPrints.com · April 19, 2010

DeuceFour wrote:

Hmmm... The question is.. Is this a good enough excuse to go buy a Macro lens Hahaha..

I think that this can probably be done with any lens. Though wide angle will probably make it more difficult.

That being said, it's always a good time to buy a macro lens

sherstone · April 19, 2010

photo-bug wrote:

I think I understand what Karin meant and I know you replied, but this makes me ask:

- The challenge is "WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge]"

Should this be a challenge where the audience have to correctly name the "UFO" object?

- if we identify it by title, than they will not have to guess ""WTH is that!?" anymore...

or, the challenge is to make the audience believe that what we say in the title is what they see in the picture?...

Does it make sense?

Essentially my answer is the same.
The goal behind a challenge theme is to give a starting point
and let the creative juices of the participants take that start, hopefully molding it into something spectacular.

If you want to keep your audience guessing, take a really awesome image that is really hard to figure out.

or

If you want to give it all away in a title, in hopes that your audience will be more attracted to it, then go for it.

If I said you must all shoot a red shoe from the side only using one light positioned exactly 1 foot high and 45 degrees from perpendicular plus your F-stop must be F8 and shutter speed 1/125 of a second.
We would all know exactly what was expected but the challenge would be pretty boring.

DsrtVW · April 19, 2010

DeuceFour wrote:

Hmmm... The question is.. Is this a good enough excuse to go buy a Macro lens Hahaha..

You beat me to it I have been on the fence for while now. Give me an excuse(like I really needed one to get it) flowers are going crazy here.

travelways · April 19, 2010

sherstone wrote:

Essentially my answer is the same.
The goal behind a challenge theme is to give a starting point
and let the creative juices of the participants take that start, hopefully molding it into something spectacular.

If you want to keep your audience guessing, take a really awesome image that is really hard to figure out.

or

If you want to give it all away in a title, in hopes that your audience will be more attracted to it, then go for it.

If I said you must all shoot a red shoe from the side only using one light positioned exactly 1 foot high and 45 degrees from perpendicular plus your F-stop must be F8 and shutter speed 1/125 of a second.
We would all know exactly what was expected but the challenge would be pretty boring.

OK, Thank you

sherstone · April 19, 2010

DeuceFour wrote:

Hmmm... The question is.. Is this a good enough excuse to go buy a Macro lens Hahaha..

If you really like close up photography do you really need an excuse?

Photographer + gear + imagined need^just released*marketing/human nature = must have more!
Of course this equation is always balanced by
food on table + other obligations^significant other / limited finances = Do the best with what you have

tinamarie52 · April 19, 2010

Sean...awesome challenge. Another stretch!

Chris

travelways · April 19, 2010

DeuceFour wrote:

Hmmm... The question is.. Is this a good enough excuse to go buy a Macro lens Hahaha..

Normally I don't take enough macro's to need a macro lens - my zoom lens (Canon EF 24-105) does the job for my needs of close-ups (so far...)

However, for this challenge I'm thinking to rent one, if I don't get good enough results with what I have.

Velvet-Art · April 19, 2010

A cheaper way into the world of extreme macro is to get an old 50mm M42 lens off ebay along with a couple of sets of m42 extension tubes and an appropriate m42 to whatever-camera-you have adaptor.

That's what I did a couple of years ago, cost me all of about £30 for everything including postage, and I got both a 50mm f1.8 and a 135mm f2.8 lens.

I am really looking forward to this one, I really missed hanging out here for the last 2 weeks.

Tim

jwear · April 20, 2010

this is not going to be a hard challenges I get ask all the time when I show folks my shots

what

what the h____ is that

DeuceFour · April 20, 2010

jwear wrote:

this is not going to be a hard challenges I get ask all the time when I show folks my shots what what the h____ is that

rofl

Very Nice Hahahahaaa

BinaryFx · April 20, 2010

Challenge #49 are GO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0L1fPAoXrM

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

sherstone · April 20, 2010

BinaryFx wrote:

Challenge #49 are GO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0L1fPAoXrM

Stephen Marsh

That's the spirit! AWESOME stuff!
Thanks.

rteest42 · April 20, 2010

And we can post-process the HECK out of this, right?? and make it even MORE what the HECK is it??
I'm in!

sherstone · April 20, 2010

rteest42 wrote:

And we can post-process the HECK out of this, right??

LeeHowell · April 20, 2010

I've been playing around with some macro shots recently! How convenient...Now I'll have a purpose to what I'm doing :-P

Paintguy · April 20, 2010

On a side note you can get a a pack of 4 macro filters on ebay for around $20.

BSGreen · April 20, 2010

This should be fun. Just picked up my new macro lens last week.

The Curious Camel · April 20, 2010

Sean, to be sure are you saying we should be so close as to be more abstract? That you can't tell what it is originally or am I over thinking it?

peace, gail

sherstone · April 21, 2010

The Curious Camel wrote:

Sean, to be sure are you saying we should be so close as to be more abstract? That you can't tell what it is originally or am I over thinking it?

peace, gail

You should shoot a red shoe

Seriously though. I am not saying that you should do anything other than get in really close. It's your choice as to how recognizable or how abstract it is.

Even if I was more specific in the theme requirements - it still is up to the judges how they will interpret what they feel should be a WTH photo. (No PM'ing judges to ask either

)

The Curious Camel · April 21, 2010

sherstone wrote:

You should shoot a red shoe
Seriously though. I am not saying that you should do anything other than get in really close. It's your choice as to how recognizable or how abstract it is.

Even if I was more specific in the theme requirements - it still is up to the judges how they will interpret what they feel should be a WTH photo. (No PM'ing judges to ask either )

ok, thank you

*ENTRY* Thread DSS #49 (WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge])

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ENTRY Thread DSS #49 (WTH is that! [a close-up identification challenge])