2016_52 - Week 1 - Metal

I've decided to attempt the 2016_52 challenge having not completed one since 2010!

 

Each week a topic is picked and all participants attempt to take a shot matching the title.

 

Week 1 was metal.  Thought I'd try and get some molten metal! Used a 70D on a tripod (useful having the articulated screen!) and a 580EX2 off camera on a stand. Manual focussed, put it on a timer and tried to get lots of smoke!

 



Camera make:Canon

Camera model:Canon EOS 70D

Focal length:105 mm

Max lens aperture:f/2.8

Exposure:1/125 at f/13

Flash:Fired, compulsory mode

Exposure bias:0 EV

Exposure mode:Manual

Exposure prog.:Manual

ISO speed:ISO 100

Metering mode:Partial

2015_52 - Week 2 - Fragile

Bit of a depressing one I'm afraid.....but for 'Fragile' I went with 'Life is Fragile'.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/2 @ 135 mm, ISO 400, No Flash

2015_52 - Week 1 - Bliss

Week 1 - Bliss

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/5.6 @ 135 mm, 6s, ISO 100, No Flash

Week 1 - Bliss - Comments
Well this photo was a nightmare! I started off thinking I'd do some whisky in front of my loudspeakers, but I decided this was a weak composition and a bit too much like a shot I'd taken back in the 2010_52.

So I thought I'd do a close up of some of my Linn hi-fi gear as listening to music on the set-up is my idea of bliss - especially with a well-recorded disk like the one that is in the open tray. (Raising Sands)

To get both the title of the cd and the words on the left hand side of the shot I had to blend two exposures as even at f/5.6 the depth of field was too thin. I then processed the shot in Silver Efex to give more punch to the blacks of the unit and then brought the coloured LEDs back in.

The LED's were over-exposed compared to the black of the casing and I had to adjust their brightness accordingly and remove a little flare around the digits.

Finally I added a slight vignette as it seemed to give the shot a little more impact.

The Hi-Fi set-up (in the unlikely event anyone cares!)
I firmly believe most people have never heard a decent hi-fi and many who listen to my setup are surprised by how much detail that they've never heard before is coming off a CD they thought they knew! The frightening thing is that it is possible to spend many times the value of my hi-fi for ever increasing sound quality. (Although the returns are diminishing as you get into the tens of thousands!).

Anyhow - the system:

Linn Ikemi CD player - superb reproduction and built to last - the CD tray is solid metal and so strong you can lift up the whole (very heavy) player by grabbing it!

Linn Wakonda Pre-Amp

Two Linn LK140 Amps - one to drive the treble, one for the bass and midrange.

Interconnects - gold plated, solid silver cores.

Speaker cable - Bi-wired with Silver plated, OFC core cables.

Speakers - Castle Harlech MKII's

Mains - ISOL 8 minisub & a bunch of hi-end mains cables.

Happy New Year!

Hello all and a very Happy New Year.

I plan to blog at least weekly during 2015 - I'm going to do the 2015_52 on TalkPhotography.

The warm-up week's theme was 'patterns' and my attempt is below.

The next week is 'bliss' - I'm still thinking about that one!

The TalkPhotography thread is here: http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/philthejugglers-2015_52-week-0-patterns.572965/#post-6649719

FUJIFILM X-E1, f/2 @ 35 mm, 1/1900, ISO 200, No Flash

2013_52 Week 3: Gravity

Well I risked life and limb for these shots! I stood about 1/3 of the way down a sledging slope and used my 135L at or near wide open (f/2.0) to capture these shots. All need a little boost in exposure to get the snow white.

To assemble the tryptych I first cropped the middle shot to get the subjects a similar size in the frame to the other two and then used the Lightroom print function.

All were taken on the 1Ds3 - thank goodness for its good servo AF!

 

2013_52 Week 2: Season

For this week's topic I considered doing something with spices, but then decided to go for a wintry portrait.

I spent some time waiting for a suitably wrapped-up person to walk past and asked if I could take a couple of shots. The kind lady agreed, and here is my favourite.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/4 @ 200 mm, 1/200, ISO 200, No Flash

Project for 2012 - a '52 - Week 1 - Direction

This is a project for 2012 - I enjoyed doing the photo-a-week project back in 2010 (see here) and fancied trying again this year.

Each week a new theme is posted. Participants then take a photo to match the theme and post it in a thread for others to comment.

The 'TalkPhotography' discussion thread is here

Rather than go with my first instincts of signposts or someone pointing, I thought I'd imply interest in a direction outside the frame.

I was deliberately challenging myself here shooting handheld with my Zeiss Makro Planar T* 100mm f/2 ZE. It is a manual focus lens so I thought wildlife might be 'interesting'.

Shooting at f/2 I was pleased with the sharp focus and narrow depth of field. I cropped slightly in Lightroom to put the eye on the thirds.

Week 1 - Direction
What the hell's that up there?

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/2 @ 100 mm, 1/1250, ISO 400, Flash