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sliknik
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I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:37 am

With my 365 project, that is. It became a hard slog towards the end and I am very happy to see the end. I believe I got what I wanted primarily, which was to develop my familiarity with my camera, get an better judge for focal lengths and exposure settings.

About 8 months ago I posted my 365 project looking for some encouragement and motivation. I only got one person to respond (Voldenuit) but I am grateful. I am sure some of you took a brief look and if some persevered I thank you. Seeing that a few people consistently checked my photos was a great motivator.

If you are interested you can have a look here (I've reversed the order, now last to first, so you will start with a portrait of my wife (which was my last shot, just click the arrow to advance): http://photography.ramkarran.com/365/e341658d3

I've also done a little write up on a few of my conclusions on my blog here:
http://blog.badlightgoodlight.com/2010/12/29/at-the-end-2/

I think it's worth a look, and my thanks if you agree :)

Happy New Year and best wishes for the New Year to everyone.
 
etilena
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:08 am

just had a quick look. i like what i've seen so far. a lot of contrasty, deeply saturated images, and most photos where there is context to the subject matter. i'm quite impressed that you put so much effort into getting the pictures taken, processed and posted. keep up the good work. :)
*yawn*
 
ludi
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 12:11 pm

That's downright inspiring. Nice work! I particularly like the contrast on many of your artistic black-and-whites -- almost no grayscale yet the subject is very clear.
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mmmmmdonuts21
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 12:26 pm

Wow fantastic job. Resting Drama (photo 103) is my absolute favorite. How you captured the sky in that photo is incredible.
To Start Press Any Key'. Where's the ANY key?
If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing
You know, boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like a woman. You just have to read the manual and press the right buttons.
 
sliknik
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:24 pm

This one seems to be the favourite of most people. I nearly didn't get it as my friend an I had taken a series of photos and were about to leave, when I decided to try a wide angle view with the sky being dominant. We had driven far out of town looking for a break in what seemed like endless storm clouds. After spending about 20 minutes here, the sky had partially cleared and the sun was beginning to set, producing that dramatic sky.

I've think a monkey with a camera could have captured a good picture there, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

mmmmmdonuts21 wrote:
Wow fantastic job. Resting Drama (photo 103) is my absolute favorite. How you captured the sky in that photo is incredible.
 
sliknik
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:25 pm

Thanks, I have a bit of a weakness for high contrast monochromes. Subtlety is not my strong suit :)

ludi wrote:
That's downright inspiring. Nice work! I particularly like the contrast on many of your artistic black-and-whites -- almost no grayscale yet the subject is very clear.
 
sliknik
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:44 pm

Thanks. By about 2/3rds of the way in I had figured out the processing that I like and I had put together a set of presets in Lightroom. Most of the time I just clicked a preset, made minor corrections and uploaded. The hardest part was usually keyword tagging (I'm a bit OCD).

etilena wrote:
just had a quick look. i like what i've seen so far. a lot of contrasty, deeply saturated images, and most photos where there is context to the subject matter. i'm quite impressed that you put so much effort into getting the pictures taken, processed and posted. keep up the good work. :)
 
bdwilcox
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:18 pm

I have a really bad weakness for bold, minimalist composition with highly saturated, warm colors (I call it the 'National Geographic aesthetic'). Because of this, I naturally gravitated to 5, 14, 15, 37, 66, 78, 101, 108, 165, 170, 233, 259, 260, 264, 270, 272, 280, 281, 294, 300, 324, 325, 351. There were a few other good ones that I liked (like 322), but they were plagued with exposure and/or focus issues. Many of the these photos could really be improved with some tweaking in Photoshop; it's not cheating if you simply make the photo how it appeared in your mind's eye.
 
kamikaziechameleon
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Re: I'm done!

Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:29 pm

I would say that the photos that I don't appreciate are frequently the ones you didn't post a comment on, they have less of a story or less context. I really appreciate your technical skill and dedication to the project. I would like to do this, just to start using my new camera, but alas I only have a fake SLR, only one lens and after using a real one for a class, this is just not cutting it.
 
sliknik
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Re: I'm done!

Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:02 am

Thanks for the detailed review. I know how hard it can be to do that for such a large number of photos, I really appreciate your time. I had reversed the order of the photos in the album to newest first. You are quite right about focus issues in earlier shots, they tended to come mostly when I used my manual focus macro lens. The depth of field is razor thin and the lens is very heavy. As I got more practise I tended to have fewer focus issues and became less tolerant of them also.

As far as exposure goes, past the earliest third, any apparent under or over exposure were aesthetic choices, usually to create a mood. I shoot RAW, so I have a fair bit of leeway to adjust exposure. Quite a few of my photos are over exposed 1 stop or more in processing. A lot of my monochromes are heavily pushed with the blacks set high for a very high contrast look.

bdwilcox wrote:
I have a really bad weakness for bold, minimalist composition with highly saturated, warm colors (I call it the 'National Geographic aesthetic'). Because of this, I naturally gravitated to 5, 14, 15, 37, 66, 78, 101, 108, 165, 170, 233, 259, 260, 264, 270, 272, 280, 281, 294, 300, 324, 325, 351. There were a few other good ones that I liked (like 322), but they were plagued with exposure and/or focus issues. Many of the these photos could really be improved with some tweaking in Photoshop; it's not cheating if you simply make the photo how it appeared in your mind's eye.
 
sliknik
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Re: I'm done!

Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:06 am

Thanks for looking. Early on I had decided not to title any of the photos so as not to influence people's impressions. I enjoy getting others' unique interpretations and titling and captioning will influence that. But towards the end I decided to try titling and quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, that also tended to cause people to agree with what I said, rather than making their own conclusions.

kamikaziechameleon wrote:
I would say that the photos that I don't appreciate are frequently the ones you didn't post a comment on, they have less of a story or less context. I really appreciate your technical skill and dedication to the project. I would like to do this, just to start using my new camera, but alas I only have a fake SLR, only one lens and after using a real one for a class, this is just not cutting it.
 
ludi
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Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: I'm done!

Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:49 pm

sliknik wrote:
Thanks for looking. Early on I had decided not to title any of the photos so as not to influence people's impressions. I enjoy getting others' unique interpretations and titling and captioning will influence that. But towards the end I decided to try titling and quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, that also tended to cause people to agree with what I said, rather than making their own conclusions.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, and to be honest, I had the same reaction: Once the titles stopped coming, I cared a bit less. These days anyone with $500 can be well on their way to taking technically-good photos, given a little practice. Anyone with access to the Internet can post a photo gallery with almost no investment at all. What sets apart an artistic project like yours is the ability to guide the viewer through a story-telling process. A teasing title, a brief tagline...something that starts the imagination rolling, but without fencing it in.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration

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