weekly Carl's 2019 52 Project - Week 17 - Light

[Ganton Gunner]

Nice entrance to the run did they squeeze through together ?
framed well just enough round the sides to hold you in the middle.

 

[IanD]

Jeez!!! Not the bloody chickens again

Nicely done Carl. It's an entrance one way or the other

 

[BobBCN]

Yes, the frame within the frame works well, and perfect for the theme. Good job!

 

[FlyPhot]

Catching up: Wet - really well composed and the mono suits the idea well. Free - great colours and detail, really like the detail. Entrance - great colours again and suits the theme well.

 

[Nostromo]

Entrance
Pretty good. Chickens are very characterful.

 

[Leebert]

Loving the Chicken shot for Young. Nicely framed to. This shot made me smile - My Wife and I sometimes look after some Bantams for a friend and they are so full of character!

 

[Carl Hall]

Nice chooks

Thanks Dave, yeah they're awesome!

I like a chicken so its all good and I will take your explanation as to the theme

Cheers Allan.

Comical and interesting image Carl....love it!
I do enjoy a chicken too....not in that way....I enjoy the company of chickens....ooo, that sounds weird now!
Oh stop typing Gareth!!!:banghead:
I should explain....as child I used to help my Mum keep chickens (bantams) so I think they're hilarious to watch!
Great naming technique you have there too....Optimus Prime....inspired!!
Anyway, a fitting image for the theme, with some great storytelling!
Nice work Carl!

Cheers Gareth! Yeah I jokingly said that I was going to name one of them Optimus Prime, and I got told "you can't do that". So I did!

i like how the entrance to the coop creates an additional frame, adding some strength to the image. nicely done and a unique take on the theme.

Thanks Gremlin!

Nice entrance to the run did they squeeze through together ?
framed well just enough round the sides to hold you in the middle.

Thanks Peter. Usually the first one out will stand on the edge of the ramp for a bit which winds up the two that are inside trying to get out

Jeez!!! Not the bloody chickens again

Nicely done Carl. It's an entrance one way or the other

Ha, thanks Ian, I'm sure there will be a lot more ways of shoehorning chicken photos into the 52 over the rest of the year

Yes, the frame within the frame works well, and perfect for the theme. Good job!

Thank you Bob.

Catching up: Wet - really well composed and the mono suits the idea well. Free - great colours and detail, really like the detail. Entrance - great colours again and suits the theme well.

Cheers Jim.

Entrance
Pretty good. Chickens are very characterful.

Thanks Dominic.

Loving the Chicken shot for Young. Nicely framed to. This shot made me smile - My Wife and I sometimes look after some Bantams for a friend and they are so full of character!

Cheers Lee. Yes they each have very different characters!

 

[Carl Hall]

Week 12 - Young.

I don't have any kids or young pets, so young is a bit of a tricky one for me! Thankfully I am getting quite into gardening and spring has arrived, so I've got a couple of things in the garden to shoot.

This is one of the tips of a new blueberry plant which is shooting up now! I don't have a macro lens for my X-T2 so I dug the old Canon 5D2 out and used the 105mm Sigma.

 

[Scots_quine]

I was racking my brain to think what plant this was - no way would I have gotten blueberry! Really nice light and depth of field. (My garden will be starring in quite a few of the themes in the coming months so don't feel bad!).

 

[IanD]

I like it Carl. Nice DOF, nice soft colours and I like the fact that the leaves/buds at the top and bottom of the image are in focus

 

[Carl Hall]

I was racking my brain to think what plant this was - no way would I have gotten blueberry! Really nice light and depth of field. (My garden will be starring in quite a few of the themes in the coming months so don't feel bad!).

Thanks Joan! I've really started enjoying my garden so I think it's going to be a common theme over the next few months. I started a personal project over in the film section of TP last year, where I took photos of my vegetables as the garden progressed (link here if you're interested) and it was a lot of fun.

I like it Carl. Nice DOF, nice soft colours and I like the fact that the leaves/buds at the top and bottom of the image are in focus

Thank you Ian

 

[-Oy-]

I like that a lot. Lovely soft colours

 

[Fuji Dave]

Great colours and Dof in this young image Carl.

 

[BobBCN]

Spot on shot. Fits theme-wise, and technically sound.

 

[Carl Hall]

I like that a lot. Lovely soft colours

Cheers Dave!

Great colours and Dof in this young image Carl.

Thanks Dave.

Spot on shot. Fits theme-wise, and technically sound.

Thank you Bob.

 

[Daniel_Paul]

Very nice shot for Young Carl, love the DoF you've chosen too!

 

[GarethB]

Lovely macro work Carl!
Sharp in all the right places and super colours.
DoF is spot on too.

 

[Carl Hall]

Very nice shot for Young Carl, love the DoF you've chosen too!

Cheers Daniel!

Lovely macro work Carl!
Sharp in all the right places and super colours.
DoF is spot on too.

Thanks a lot Gareth

 

[Carl Hall]

Week 13 - Food

Last year I had a go at growing crown prince squash in the garden (I grew loads of veg and took photos for my Home Grown project). I was a bit disappointed that I only managed to get two squash in total, but they were massive and lasted on the kitchen table all through autumn and winter, so I'll probably grow some more this year.

This is the smaller one of the two, which I peeled, cored and cut into chunks to use for tea tonight (squash risotto, yummy!). The rest is going in the freezer to use over the next month or two. Between the two squashes I had about 12 lbs of cubes, which I think is about the weight of 25-30 chicken breasts, so we'll get a few meals out of them!

I set the photo up on the floor as using grey (the tiles) and orange (the fruit) together seems quite trendy nowadays. I used a soft box up close on either side, but lighting isn't my strong point so any critique there would be helpful and appreciated!

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, crown prince squash smells a lot like melon, but tastes like a very sweet pumpkin

Fuji X-T2 with 23mm f/2.

 

[GarethB]

Great image Carl!
I love the colours and textures. The vivid orange of the squash works very well with the tiles.
Can't fault the lighting....as I understand it (and I'm no expert) with food it's the softer the better, so the softbox was the right decision.
Squash-tastic!

 

[Allan.H]

A nice use of colour Carl, the lighting looks good, very even throughout the image (again no expert) I would have cropped the left and right leaving just four lines coming out from under the tray, but thats just a matter of taste I suppose, others will disagree.

 

[Carl Hall]

Great image Carl!
I love the colours and textures. The vivid orange of the squash works very well with the tiles.
Can't fault the lighting....as I understand it (and I'm no expert) with food it's the softer the better, so the softbox was the right decision.
Squash-tastic!

Thanks for the feedback Gareth

A nice use of colour Carl, the lighting looks good, very even throughout the image (again no expert) I would have cropped the left and right leaving just four lines coming out from under the tray, but thats just a matter of taste I suppose, others will disagree.

Cheers Allan, I'll have a look at another crop when I get home later. I liked the way the darker lines cut through the grey tiles but it might be better cropped to remove them. Ta

 

[Fuji Dave]

Food is a nice and colourful shot Carl, liking the overhead view you have taken it at and yes maybe a little more crop but still good.

 

[Carl Hall]

Food is a nice and colourful shot Carl, liking the overhead view you have taken it at and yes maybe a little more crop but still good.

Thank you Dave

 

[IanD]

Works great Carl. Nicely done and good back story to help. I think I agree with Allan on the cropping suggestion, but all looks good

 

[Carl Hall]

Works great Carl. Nicely done and good back story to help. I think I agree with Allan on the cropping suggestion, but all looks good

Thanks Allan! I haven't got round to cropping it yet, but I'll have a go this weekend if I remember!

 

[Carl Hall]

Week 14 - Smooth (SooC)

This is a SCOBY, which stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. I've started making kombucha at home, and grew this SCOBY from scratch over about a month. Kombucha is a fermented tea drink that (allegedly...) has a lot of health benefits. To make kombucha you add the SCOBY to a large container with cooled sweetened tea and it ferments the liquid into kombucha over about a week.

The SCOBY is gross to look at, but rubbery and smoooooooth to touch.

The photo was taken on a Hasselblad 500cm medium format film camera with 80mm lens and 21mm extension tube. The film was Kodak Portra 160. It was developed and scanned by Filmdev and is how the scan came back, so is SooC.

More info on my kombucha here

 

[FlyPhot]

It's a good image, even though i'm not sure what it is!

 

[Fuji Dave]

YUCK and Gross, it looks like a Crumpet gone badly wrong. A good clear shot though Carl.

 

[Daniel_Paul]

Carl, I literally came here just to find out what it was!! Great choice for Smooth on that front!!

 

[gremlin16]

looks like a wet crumpet to me. Nicely composed, nicely framed, and a nice amount of detail in the shot to portray its smoothness. well done.

 

[GarethB]

Great image....though as others have said, it looks a lot like a soggy crumpet!
Having read your pages on your site Carl, I am impressed with your level of knowledge and commitment to learning about this previously (to me) unheard of beverage....very interesting indeed, though I probably won't be trying it myself.

Is the concept like those 'friendship cakes' that people used to bake in the seventies?
Evidently one would receive a live yeast thing, ferment it to grow more, bake a cake, and then pass the yeast thing on to a friend to repeat the process.
If you could keep the yeast going, it could last for years....perhaps indefinitely.

Nevertheless, it's a very interesting image with a great story.

 

[LC2]

Hi Carl,

Entrance - An entrance can be an entrance, even if you're exiting through it
It's a fun shot, but to me feels a bit tightly cropped in at the sides and maybe a bit soft? Dunno.

Young - Lovely crisp detail against the nicely blured out background DoF used wisely here.

Food - Nicely done. I'm not great with lighting either, but it seems good to me. It's not like there is anything blown or specular or anything.

Smooth - Er yes, I'm sure that's good for you. Grown a bit like penicillin eh? If we don't see a week 15, we'll know not to try ourselves. My only critique would be to ask if it needs so much space top & bottom. Dunno, maybe, maybe not.

 

[BobBCN]

FOOD - looks evenly well-lit, and fine for the theme.
SMOOTH - unusual stuff. I too thought it was a crumpet at first. As with food, well-lit and clear.
Both good shots!!

 

[Carl Hall]

It's a good image, even though i'm not sure what it is!

Thank you Jim.

YUCK and Gross, it looks like a Crumpet gone badly wrong. A good clear shot though Carl.

Ha yes, it does look like a bad crumpet! Thanks Dave.

Carl, I literally came here just to find out what it was!! Great choice for Smooth on that front!!

Cheers Daniel!

looks like a wet crumpet to me. Nicely composed, nicely framed, and a nice amount of detail in the shot to portray its smoothness. well done.

Thank you Gremlin.

Great image....though as others have said, it looks a lot like a soggy crumpet!
Having read your pages on your site Carl, I am impressed with your level of knowledge and commitment to learning about this previously (to me) unheard of beverage....very interesting indeed, though I probably won't be trying it myself.

Is the concept like those 'friendship cakes' that people used to bake in the seventies?
Evidently one would receive a live yeast thing, ferment it to grow more, bake a cake, and then pass the yeast thing on to a friend to repeat the process.
If you could keep the yeast going, it could last for years....perhaps indefinitely.

Nevertheless, it's a very interesting image with a great story.

Thanks a lot for the comments Gareth. I like to learn new things so it's been fun to grow and make! I've not herd of friendship cakes but they sound interesting, but I'm not the cake maker in my house so I think they'd turn out looking worse than the SCOBY

Hi Carl,

Entrance - An entrance can be an entrance, even if you're exiting through it
It's a fun shot, but to me feels a bit tightly cropped in at the sides and maybe a bit soft? Dunno.

Young - Lovely crisp detail against the nicely blured out background DoF used wisely here.

Food - Nicely done. I'm not great with lighting either, but it seems good to me. It's not like there is anything blown or specular or anything.

Smooth - Er yes, I'm sure that's good for you. Grown a bit like penicillin eh? If we don't see a week 15, we'll know not to try ourselves. My only critique would be to ask if it needs so much space top & bottom. Dunno, maybe, maybe not.

Thanks for all the comments Tim I've drunk a fair bit of it so far and I'm still here, although my stomach has been making some weird noises... I think you're right about the spacing at the top and bottom, although I wanted to keep this shot SooC and it's shot on square format film so cropping wasn't an option. I'll keep the spacing in mind for next time though!

FOOD - looks evenly well-lit, and fine for the theme.
SMOOTH - unusual stuff. I too thought it was a crumpet at first. As with food, well-lit and clear.
Both good shots!!

Thank you Bob

 

[IanD]

Nice scoby and nicely done Carl. Great backstory - saw this on Instagram too and commented.

If you get stuck at all. let me know and I can seek guidance from my lad, who has loads at varying stages

 

[Minx]

Big catch up on comments

Distant - I like the colour one better.
Cold - nice and simple and certainly cold, the B/W suits it in fact I think it suits the cold theme
Waiting - looks like he is waiting for the last bus, simple and effective.
Rough - certainly fits theme, I too wondered if some colour would enhance it.
Object - The B/W does suit this one an you have taken some great pictures with it I like the colour images too.
Wet - I like it, the green line adds a pop of colour that lift it. and I see the picture came out well.
Free - great colours and really good for sooc. I like the details in the feathers.
Entrance - That works for me, I too like the frame within a frame. I quite like the idea of keeping chickens for eggs but not of cleaning them out.
Young - great close up good use of DoF
Food - I like the view form above and the colours. I might have gone for a squarer crop but it works as it is.
Smooth - I am glad you explained it as I had no idea what it was, certainly got my interest.

 

[Carl Hall]

Nice scoby and nicely done Carl. Great backstory - saw this on Instagram too and commented.

If you get stuck at all. let me know and I can seek guidance from my lad, who has loads at varying stages

Thanks a lot Ian, I'm sure I'll get confused at some point so expect a PM sooner or later

Big catch up on comments

Distant - I like the colour one better.
Cold - nice and simple and certainly cold, the B/W suits it in fact I think it suits the cold theme
Waiting - looks like he is waiting for the last bus, simple and effective.
Rough - certainly fits theme, I too wondered if some colour would enhance it.
Object - The B/W does suit this one an you have taken some great pictures with it I like the colour images too.
Wet - I like it, the green line adds a pop of colour that lift it. and I see the picture came out well.
Free - great colours and really good for sooc. I like the details in the feathers.
Entrance - That works for me, I too like the frame within a frame. I quite like the idea of keeping chickens for eggs but not of cleaning them out.
Young - great close up good use of DoF
Food - I like the view form above and the colours. I might have gone for a squarer crop but it works as it is.
Smooth - I am glad you explained it as I had no idea what it was, certainly got my interest.

Thanks a lot for the comments Minx, much appreciated

 

[Carl Hall]

Week 15 - Above (Sooc)

Bit of a catch up for me as I'm a week behind. Went to London for a couple of days and took my new Minolta Autocord ("new" meaning new to me, it's 56 years old) as I'd not used it since buying it the week before. I had a roll of black and white film loaded and wanted to use the last shot up so I could use some colour film, so I pointed it up at the trees by the National Police Memorial and took an image. Only then did I realise it would fit the theme!

Minolta Autocord with Kodak Tri-X 400 film pushed to ISO 800. Developed in Kodak HC-110 dilution B and home scanned.

 

[Carl Hall]

Week 16 - Hot (SooC)

Single use plastics are a "hot" topic

Another shot from my time in London. This chap was with the Extinction Rebellion protestors in Parliament Square. Taken on the Minolta Autocord again, but this time lab developed and scanned. Image is as "SooC" as is possible with film.

Minolta Autocord with Fuji Pro 400H film, developed and scanned by Filmdev.