PROJECT 52-2-10 Depth of Field: Shallow WINNERS

stevebrot · 09-14-2009, 11:51 PM

Finally got the shallow DOF entries judged. Thank you for your indulgence of the delay. I was in a foul mood earlier today due to certain personal matters and was concerned that I would not do a good job of providing constructive comments. So without further ado...

Judging this week's images was an incredibly difficult task! Limiting depth-of-field to isolate the subject or to create an abstraction is a classic tool in the standard "bag of tricks" that photographers commonly use. As a result, most of us are pretty capable with this sort of image. Congratulations to everyone for putting this tool to good use. See all images and member comments here: PROJECT 52-2-10 Depth of Field: Shallow.

While all of us use this tool, it is not always easy or straightforward to get the desired result. The challenge from my perspective is to:

Provide adequate isolation while retaining adequate context
Control focus so that the subject is still adequately sharp for a strong composition while appearing natural and/or appropriate to the eye
Control the out-of-focus areas so that they do not distract from the subject or composition

Comments (in no particular order):

Bruce (bramela) -- I liked the primary subject (flower head) with similar objects in the background, but the high contrast put me off a little. I wonder what it might have looked like with softer light.
Dave (daacon) -- Good isolation of the subject. Unfortunately the harsh light highlighted the imperfections on the face of the hood ornament.
xjjohnno -- The flowers are a blast of color, but the background is in competition with the subject even when blurred. A small change in camera angle with tighter composition?
rockmaster1964 -- The exposure, contrast, and focus are handled very well. Vertical composition with the hanger going out of focus perhaps?
Jeff (legacyb4) -- The bright green background is in strong competition with the shelf fungus. I was really interested in what textures might have been present in the surfaces of the fungus.
Gary (Damn Brit) -- The depth of field is very narrow, but the subject does not "jump" out at me. Some PP for contrast or saturation? Higher camera angle?
bluebronco -- The full size version of your ant picture has a lot of impact (particularly on a larger monitor). A little more of the ant would be helpful to the viewer. (I can hear it now..."Mr. Ant, could you please turn a little to the left to show more of your abdomen...")
photolady -- Your rooster has tons of character. I eye says it all! Busy bokeh (probably unavoidable) hurts this photo. The background blur was playing tricks with my eyes.
ovim -- The subject leaves are sharp and well exposed, but I found the jewel-like rims of the background leaves more compelling. A missed opportunity for a dreamy abstract?

Very Honorable Mention:

ceericks -- The extended hand is a powerful symbol. I came back to your image several times and, sadly, each time felt that it was missing something. A little more color perhaps...say, serious desaturation as opposed to a full B&W?
seacapt-- I like the intrepid gnat on the summit of the flower. A tighter crop perhaps. (I also really liked your "also ran" images posted on POTW.)
dragonfly -- The intense colors of the art glass really grab the viewers attention. I think I might have chosen the second of the two images, however.
ohce -- Your composition is simplicity itself. I was drawn to the clean grain of the wood.
John Araki -- I really liked the abstraction and the dramatic colors, but was left searching for the center of interest

Third Place:

DanLoc78

My eye was drawn immediately to the abstract elements of the curved side of the guitar. I don't know if it was your intent, but it was only after looking at it several times that I was able to see how the pieces fit together with the face above and the curved side below.

Second Place:

Rense

I like the concept of limited DOF in landscape. Did you consider cropping out the sky and letting the plants and ground stand by themselves?

And the Winner Is:

Tsukiouji

I guess I am a real sucker for incisive pictures of optical components, but this one jumped out at me when I first saw it and kept rising to the top. "Good Job" to a relatively new forum member.

As the winner of last week's competition, Tsukiouji will have the difficult task of judging this week's entries as we explore the world of "high key"

PROJECT 52-2-11 Exposure: High Key

Steve

*Rense* · 09-15-2009, 02:14 AM

Tsukiouji, congrats on this one, well deserved! Also congrats to Dan, with his wonderfull shot of the guitar.

Steve, great job on judging, thanks for the second place, I did not expect it at all. No, I did not consider cropping the sky out. Do you think that would produce a better pic? I am not sure....

Great entries everybody!

*daacon* · 09-15-2009, 05:25 AM

That was a tough one - great job of judging Steve thanks for taking the time for all the comments. Congrats to all and especially the 3 winners. Dan, Rense and the 1st place Tsukiouji.

As per my subject yeah it was an old truck in harsh light (nidday) I just liked it (impefections and all

)

rockmaster1964 · 09-15-2009, 05:45 AM

Congrats to all of the winners. Thanks for judging Steve and all of your comments.

seacapt · 09-15-2009, 07:21 AM

Congrats to the winners!
Steve fantastic job judging and thanks for the mention and comments.

ceericks · 09-15-2009, 07:55 AM

Congrats to everyone who entered a photo.
I tip my hat off to the winners, Dan, Rense and Tsukiouji.

Great job on the judging Steve!
Ill try the desaturation look on my photo and see how it comes out.

Corey

*photolady* · 09-15-2009, 08:46 AM

Congrats to all the winners. And the honorable mentions.

Rense, the sky kind of distracts my eye from the actual subject. Maybe that's what Steve was feeling too. Still nice photo though.

I don't know what I could have done with the rooster shot to get less busy background. He was in a chicken coop, with green plants behind the coop about 10 feet away. At first I was going to crop the boards out but that would have left him flat headed and wouldn't have looked right.

stevebrot · 09-15-2009, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by photolady

...At first I was going to crop the boards out but that would have left him flat headed and wouldn't have looked right.

Hard to control the background in a chicken coop!

That is what made judging this week so hard. All the shots were good and I had to get sort of nit-picky to manage some sort of ranking. I really liked that rooster's attitude.

Steve

*photolady* · 09-15-2009, 02:06 PM

Thanks for the comment on that rooster. Btw, I was outside the chicken coop shoothing through the chicken wire.

*DanLoc78* · 09-15-2009, 03:40 PM

Great job judging Steve and thanks for taking time to critique all of the photos. Hope you are in a better mood now

Thanks for third place and congrats to the top 2!

On to high key photography...what is that again?

*DanLoc78* · 09-16-2009, 09:13 AM

JanVan's week 8 winning pic, and Tsuk's week 10 pic are now up in the Project 52 gallery.

stevebrot · 09-16-2009, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by DanLoc78

JanVan's week 8 winning pic, and Tsuk's week 10 pic are now up in the Project 52 gallery.

Thank you Dan for posting those up. Are you the "keeper of the gallery"?

Steve

*DanLoc78* · 09-16-2009, 10:21 AM

In a sense, yes. And while we're on that subject...

ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN PICKED FIRST PLACE for either year 1 or year 2, if you could, please let me know the specifics for your shots. reference them by Year and Week so I know what photo you're talking about. Stuff like camera used, lens used, location. All that stuff is listed as 'unknown' in the gallery at this point. Send that info to me by PM if you get a chance.

mithrandir · 09-16-2009, 09:05 PM

Dan. The concept of a gallery is great for inspiring all of us. Thanks for doing it.