MPC #83 - VOTING 4/26 - 4/28 (Of yourself, by yourself, in context)

[SchralphMacchio]

I'm posting up the poll now because I'm going to be busy all day at work for the next couple of days, and then hoping to skip out of town for some Tahoe or Eastern Sierra skiing action (maybe I see you splitter?) ...

I know this MPC wasn't as easy or accessible as other ones - I did intend for this MPC to be tricky to just shoot on-the-fly and post up for the theme. I'm grateful for all of the submissions and that folks really tried to think about what and how they would capture. Thanks for the results. Also, for the record, I don't like the idea of choosing multiple submissions from the same person to go into the voting ... but if I did ... I really really appreciated the effort and results that Fuzz put out there.

So here are my five choices that resonated with me in terms of my theme. I'm happy to talk melodramatic praise and criticism, followed by pacifying attempts to find common ground, about all of them, and why others didn't make the cut, after I get back from the weekend

If it happens to be a tie on Saturday night, voting is extended into Sunday, and if it's still a tie, then I'll tiebreak on Sunday night.

For reference:

The idea is that you should capture an image of yourself, by yourself, in context to something else ... The idea combines the act of taking a self-portrait, with the goal of conveying a relationship to something else.

In context: can mean in an environment, or in relation to another more finite subject such as another person, or an object. The point is that you are a primary or secondary subject in the image, and the image expresses a relationship to another subject, which can be abstract or definite.

Altmanator




Wilbert




Fuzz




JayPowHound




bad dancer

[grskier]

Again, some very impressive shots!

[mtcham]

Again, some very impressive shots!

+1, so many great shots in this mpc! Good theme choice...

[Edgnar]

I thought this was going to be a closer contest. Great shots by everyone!

[HankScorpio]

Not to sound like cliché, but all these shots are pretty damn good. Tough choice.

[bad dancer]

Although I'm am honored to have even been chosen at all, given this is my first submission. I feel rather jipped due to the lack of controversy in this one. So I'll start be saying i think you should have picked my number 2 over number 3. But thankful nonetheless.
Congrats to Altmanator, you seems to be running away with this one.

[BigDaddy]

I think Lonnie said it best when he said, "This one's in the bag!"


Great shots and though I was not selected, it was fun and I understand why. Nice choice for contest, too, SM.

[Wiilbert]

Thanks Schralph!! I'm just happy to have made the finals, can't say that happens very often.

[Altmanator]

While it's totally personal preference for the finalists, I found Fuzz's other image with his head in the picture frame a more compelling shot along with Bad Dancer's other guitar one with the movement. I think the selection of these images might have helped me get a few extra votes

I really like Wilbert's shot and that's a hard shot to get especially if it was self timed without someone else pushing the shutter. Not that you're looking for my critique, but I wish there was a little more room on the left side of the frame. The bottom right foreground isn't adding much and the left side feels a little chopped off. Awesome shot though

[bad dancer]

While it's totally personal preference for the finalists, I found Fuzz's other image with his head in the picture frame a more compelling shot along with Bad Dancer's other guitar one with the movement. I think the selection of these images might have helped me get a few extra votes

I really like Wilbert's shot and that's a hard shot to get especially if it was self timed without someone else pushing the shutter. Not that you're looking for my critique, but I wish there was a little more room on the left side of the frame. The bottom right foreground isn't adding much and the left side feels a little chopped off. Awesome shot though

I just noticed that my second shot did not have my fret hand in the shot. Bwaaahaaa. Its just me spinning around the living room and not actually playing. What a Jong ! And thanks for voting.

[Wiilbert]

While it's totally personal preference for the finalists, I found Fuzz's other image with his head in the picture frame a more compelling shot along with Bad Dancer's other guitar one with the movement. I think the selection of these images might have helped me get a few extra votes

I really like Wilbert's shot and that's a hard shot to get especially if it was self timed without someone else pushing the shutter. Not that you're looking for my critique, but I wish there was a little more room on the left side of the frame. The bottom right foreground isn't adding much and the left side feels a little chopped off. Awesome shot though

Actually, I'm pretty much always looking for critique, so thanks! I'm not certain why I didn't have more showing on the left, except I think I was trying to avoid having me centre framed for some reason. I can't be held responsible for what goes through my head when I'm lining up a shot. Shot was taken with a wireless remote and a 2 second timer.

Congrats on the win, now please get the next one up!!

[Altmanator]

I'll have the next one up first thing tomorrow.

[powdork]

I just noticed that my second shot did not have my fret hand in the shot. Bwaaahaaa. Its just me spinning around the living room and not actually playing. What a Jong ! And thanks for voting.

it's ok, don't fret.

[SchralphMacchio]

I feel rather jipped due to the lack of controversy in this one.

Maybe I can stir up the pot

Remember, I made it clear that the "context" part of this MPC was all about the relationships that were expressed in the image.

Altman's was a clear choice, but I'd like to share the specific attributes that I really loved. The execution and concept was great, and the relationship of self to the camera equipment is fantastic. The most awesome thing to me about the execution is the tonal contrast layers - you have this outer ring of muted earth tones in indirect light, then you have this inner ring of neutral grays and light blacks. Then the LCD - BAM! Bright blues and orange and a highly expressive subject expression - it just provides some incredible subject contrast that immediately draws the eye. Very very well done.

Wilbert's was a great execution of setting up the shot and thinking about the relationship/subject position etc. I liked the interaction between Wilbert and the falls through the composition of the image.

So here is why I picked Fuzz's star trail image over the portrait frame image. His portrait frame shot is amazing from a technical standpoint - lighting, the composite shopping, colors, etc. But the relationship between the two Fuzzes and the house is really unclear to me. The two Fuzzes are also not looking directly at each other, nor are they "different" in any way (that could express some bipolarity or duality of personality etc). The sunglasses don't help either, because I am losing personality. So what's the story there? It was just unclear to me, maybe I didn't read enough into it. The story is much more clear with the astro shot, as you can see where he is looking and his relationship to his camera and the night sky, and maybe it does help that I've been seeing his posts for years and I know how much passion he has in that area. The composition and lighting of the foreground against the star trails is not easy and very well executed. With the motion blur, Fuzz does become second-fiddle to his telescope in this image, and maybe that's where it could be stronger. Very very well done though, because these kind of shots take several hours between setup, exposure sequencing, and post processing - not to mention weather windows and straylight or objects in the sky messing things up. So, thank you very much for the effort Fuzz.

JPH - fine composition, secondary subject that is clear, but I think the colors and contrast processing could be better. Looks like a bright lightly overcast day but I think you could wring more out of that lighting if you have access to GIMP/Canon DPP/Photoshop/LR/other stuff. Are you shooting RAW?

bad dancer - I liked the two guitar ones better than the yoga balancing thing because there was just a simpler expression of self and relationship here. The other guitar shot was good, but you are not as clearly in it as a subject, as per the theme! I would have tried to compose the light source outside the frame of the image, as it is several stops brighter than your face or the guitar fretboard. I liked the motion blur and out of focus of your face. I would love to see what this looks like with your left fingers in tack sharp focus and the light source outside of the frame.


BigDaddy and others, thanks for the efforts. Like I said, I know I made this one not as easy for everyone to play!

Is that enough pot stirring? COMMENCE CONTROVERSY!

[systemoverblow'd]

I feel rather jipped due to the lack of controversy in this one.

I don't usually like to correct peoples spelling (because mine is atrocious) but the word is gypped. It means to cheat or swindle. It's a derogatory term linked to gypsy's. Much like saying someone jew'd you out of money. Not that we have many (or any) real gypsies here, but felt the need to let you know.

[SchralphMacchio]

sweet, the controversy was self-created! bad dancer, you are a JONG xenophobe!

[JayPowHound]

I'm shooting raw and editing with cs5, but I'm very new to the whole process so any advice is certainly appreciated.

I did a little exposure and contrast painting (if that's even what you call it?) to the sign to help make it more visible, but aside from that and the crop I didn't change much.

What else would you have done? I'm clearly in way over my head with the CS5 purchase, but I'm having fun learning as I screw around with it more and more. :-)

[SchralphMacchio]

JPH,

What I would have done would have taken a little more time.

I think the image would be stronger with a little less brightness on your face and glasses, and a lot more more on the Fenway Park sign. This might mean developing two different RAW imports into CS5 and then bringing them together as a blended composite, using masking of each layer. Scott Kelby's book provides some instruction as to how to do this.

I might have also warmed up the image file for your face a bit by driving up the reference color temp, and then also used a color temp to get neutral white out of the Fenway sign that is in the reflected image. The light on your face and glasses is strong and kind of flat, so in CS5 I would have played with the contrast curve to drop some of the midtones and deepen the contrast between your hair and scalp, and all the texture on your skin and face to make it all pop a little more. Likewise, in the reflected image I would push a pretty strong S-curve to crush the quarter tones and really pop the sign with strong contrast, pushing the midtone white all the way up to a three-quarter tone if possible without adding noise etc. I would probably saturate the image used for the sign, while leaving the background face image a little more flat.

[JayPowHound]

^^ Wow. That's so far beyond my knowledge or skill set, it really inspires me to read, try, and learn. Thanx..

[SchralphMacchio]

Scott Kelby is a pretty good place to start, because his books are very practical (one concept at a time) and fairly simple to follow. The older books on Amazon (for CS4 for example) are applicable and possibly half the cost of the current books. Once CS6 comes out, the CS5 books might get cheaper.