Simon's 52 in 2021

Week 39 - Door(s)

With the weather forecast grim for the next week, I wanted to get out and get some door shots in on what's likely to be the last sunny day for a while. So a quick outing to Barry Island (home of Gavin & Stacey) this morning - only 10 mins away. As soon as the theme was announced, I knew I wanted to try and get the beach hut shot, and it needed the sun for the vibrant colours. That's my preferred shot, although I actually quite like the red doors of the amusement arcade too.

Beach Hut doors
Doors1 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Doors in a wall
Doors5 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Arcade doors
Doors2 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Lifesaving doors
Doors 3 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Kiosk door
Doors4 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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Fab set of doors :)
 
You are absolutely right, the vibrant beach hut (and wall) doors need strong bright light.
I think I actually prefer the doors in the wall. Possibly because it's not something I've seen before.
 
They all work for the theme and it would be tough to choose one. I like them all. The bright sunny day and blue sky definitely work for the beach huts.
 
Allan.H said:
Beach huts are nice and vibrant that would be my choice
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-Oy- said:
Fab set of doors :)
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LC2 said:
You are absolutely right, the vibrant beach hut (and wall) doors need strong bright light.
I think I actually prefer the doors in the wall. Possibly because it's not something I've seen before.
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Bebop said:
They all work for the theme and it would be tough to choose one. I like them all. The bright sunny day and blue sky definitely work for the beach huts.
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Thanks for all the feedback this week folks. Always appreciated! :)
 
Week 40 - Architecture
Goodness, so many options with this theme. I nipped down to Cardiff Bay, where there's so many different architectural styles of building from old to modern and everything in between. Seemed to be too many to choose from, but I whittled them down to this selection. I hope you like them.

St David's Hotel and Spa
Supposedly a 5 star hotel, although to be honest, it's starting to look a little tatty on the outside. Interesting canopy on the roof that always reminds me of a fish.

St David's Hotel & Spa by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

A sneaky three way choice here incorporating the old and new. The iconic building of the Pierhead, the Wales Millenium Centre (The "Armadillo") and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament).

Pierhead building, Millenium Centre and Senedd by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Roald Dahl Plass (with the Wales Millenium Centre).
The biggest hurdle here (and in the one below) was getting the shot without any people cluttering up the scene.
Sci fi nerds amongst you might also notice that this place was also used in the Torchwood series - there was supposed to be a secret lift under the massive chrome fountain!

Roald Dahl Plass by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

The unmistakable Wales Millenium Centre. One day I'll get down there and get a shot of it lit up in the dark. It was a tough choice between this one and the Roald Dahl Plass for the main theme page, but really, you can't beat this!

Wales Millenium Centre by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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Nice set Simon.
Its hard to pick a favourite, and yet most architecture seems to "work" better when its close to water.
 
I think you chose the right one.

Last time I was in Cardiff I wanted to get a picture of that lettering. did a full loop and tried and tried to see it, but couldn't.

Googled it afterwards to find out it was not on the Millennium Stadium... :oops: :$
 
Kell said:
I think you chose the right one.

Last time I was in Cardiff I wanted to get a picture of that lettering. did a full loop and tried and tried to see it, but couldn't.

Googled it afterwards to find out it was not on the Millennium Stadium... :oops: :$
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Thanks
Yes, having two places that hold events called “Millenium” didn’t help. the Millenium Stadium is now the Principality Stadium, so less confusing…..apart from locals who continue to call it the Millenium Stadium
 
Good stuff - as a Dr Who / Torchwood fan I'd love to go to see the last two :)
 
All good but I think the last one works the best a very impressive building
 
Good to see you got the secret entrance to Torchwood in one of the shots.
I saw The Alarm at the Millennium Centre a few years back :) so recognised parts of your photos as I looked through.
 
Week 41 - Red

Ahead of the game this week!

We were away for a couple of days break in Bournemouth when this week's theme was announced. The second of these shots, the colour popped tree at Kingston Lacy NT, was taken BEFORE I saw @Cobra's announcement of Red I promise you!!!!! When I saw the theme, I though it might be worth a go, even though I know colour pops are an acquired taste, but then I saw the groyne markers on Bournemouth beach during a walk yesterday, and I though this would fit the bill perfectly!

Red 1 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Red 2 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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Nice pair Simon, I particularly like the simplicity of the Marker
 
Cobra said:
Nice pair Simon, I particularly like the simplicity of the Marker
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Thanks Chris! I prefer the marker too. I had a few different shots, some without the foreground rocks, and some with a windsurfer in the background, but I think this one works best.
 
Cobra said:
Nice pair Simon, I particularly like the simplicity of the Marker
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SimonH said:
Thanks Chris! I prefer the marker too. I had a few different shots, some without the foreground rocks, and some with a windsurfer in the background, but I think this one works best.
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Allan.H said:
The groyne marker for me too
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seaodyssey said:
I like the groyne marker as well, but the colour pop to the tree works well.

Pete
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HelenC said:
You stole my thunder with the groyne marker so a great idea :D
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Thanks for the feedback last week folks - appreciate the comments.
Should have my "irregular" shot up in next couple of days.....
 
Week 42 - Irregular

Some possibly more obvious options this week, and one that somehow came into my head and I couldn't shake off.

Irregular 1
A wall alongside a footpath at Penarth clifftop. I quite like this colour version. The greenery of the weeds adds to the general haphazardness of it all.

Irregular 1 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Irregular 2
A B&W conversion of the above shot. Was always going to shoot/convert a B&W version of this, as in my head it would work well, but either my conversion and PP is rubbish or it just (in my opinion) doesn't come across quite as well as the colour version

Irregular 2 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Irregular 3
A closer shot of the wall. I like this one.

Irregular 3 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Irregular 4
Not sure why, but the idea of using a scrabble board and the word "irregular" popped into my head and I couldn't shake it off. So here it is.

Irregular 4 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Tricky choice for the main theme. I'm going with 3, but could have gone with 1 or 4 as well.
 
Irregular wall. That certainly fits the the theme.

Irregular 2, I quite like this, my personal thoughts would be more contrast, and it would work even better :)

Irregular 3 absolutely the right Irregular for the theme

Irregular 4 :LOL:
 
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I think I would have gone with your chosen shot too.

As for the B&W conversion, it’s very much personal preference (and I like my images heavily contrasty), but have you tried the ‘J’ trick?

If you use Lightroom, hitting J will bring up Black and White clipping. So anything that’s pure black ( i.e. it has no detail) will be blue and anything that’s pure white will be red.

So you hit "J" and bring a the blacks/shadows up until you have no more blue (or the tiniest hints) and do the opposite with the whites/highlights - that is, bring them down until there is no more red.

Your image will then be as contrasty as possible with no loss of detail.

It doesn’t always work, but I find it’s a good place to start.

If you don’t have LR, I don’t know what to suggest other than I’m sure other programmes have similar warnings built in.
 
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Kell said:
I think I would have gone with your chosen shot too.

As for the B&W conversion, it’s very much personal preference (and I like my images heavily contrasty), but have you tried the ‘J’ trick?

If you use Lightroom, hitting J will front up Black and white clipping. So anything that’s pure black and has no detail will be blue and anything that’s pure white will be red.

Hit J and bring a the blacks/shadows up until you have no more blue (or the tiniest hints) and do the opposite with the whites/highlights - that is, bring them down until there is no more red.

Your image will then be as contrasty as possible with no loss of detail.

It doesn’t always work, but I find it’s a good place to start.

If you don’t have LR, I don’t know what to suggest other than I’m sure other programmes have similar warnings built in.
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Thanks Kell. I don't use Lightroom (yet). I have Photoshop Elements 18 (doesn't have this feature AFAIK), Luminar 4 and Capture 1. All of course have the ability to fiddle with contrast. I've pushed it contrast a fair bit in PE18 and it certainly looks better for it..
 
I agree with other commentary - I think high contrast mono would make the irregularities stand out much more. Interesting subject - I love how photographers can find beauty in something that most people would walk past without a second glance.
 
I also have to agree with the comments above. A good set to choose from and the Scrabble board made me smile
 
I was going to try a stone wall, but you beat me too it.
The scrabble board is genious

Pete
 
I prefer your chosen picture too but I’d like to see a contrastly version of the mono as others have described.

I like the scrabble board too!
 
Boots said:
I think the one you chose works very well.
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Cobra said:
Irregular wall. That certainly fits the the theme.

Irregular 2, I quite like this, my personal thoughts would be more contrast, and it would work even better :)

Irregular 3 absolutely the right Irregular for the theme

Irregular 4 :LOL:
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SimonH said:
Thanks - will have dabble with the contrast....
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Kell said:
I think I would have gone with your chosen shot too.

As for the B&W conversion, it’s very much personal preference (and I like my images heavily contrasty), but have you tried the ‘J’ trick?

If you use Lightroom, hitting J will bring up Black and White clipping. So anything that’s pure black ( i.e. it has no detail) will be blue and anything that’s pure white will be red.

So you hit "J" and bring a the blacks/shadows up until you have no more blue (or the tiniest hints) and do the opposite with the whites/highlights - that is, bring them down until there is no more red.

Your image will then be as contrasty as possible with no loss of detail.

It doesn’t always work, but I find it’s a good place to start.

If you don’t have LR, I don’t know what to suggest other than I’m sure other programmes have similar warnings built in.
Click to expand...

HelenC said:
I agree with other commentary - I think high contrast mono would make the irregularities stand out much more. Interesting subject - I love how photographers can find beauty in something that most people would walk past without a second glance.
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FlyPhot said:
I also have to agree with the comments above. A good set to choose from and the Scrabble board made me smile
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seaodyssey said:
I was going to try a stone wall, but you beat me too it.
The scrabble board is genious

Pete
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Simonbrown16 said:
I prefer your chosen picture too but I’d like to see a contrastly version of the mono as others have described.

I like the scrabble board too!
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Thanks everyone as usual for your comments - always appreciated.

As a number of you suggested the mono would look better with boosted contrast, here's a go at that. Thanks for the suggestions, it's definitely better I think!

Irregular - high contrast by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
SimonH said:
Thanks Kell. I don't use Lightroom (yet). I have Photoshop Elements 18 (doesn't have this feature AFAIK), Luminar 4 and Capture 1. All of course have the ability to fiddle with contrast. I've pushed it contrast a fair bit in PE18 and it certainly looks better for it..
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If you process the RAW file in Elements there is a similar thing to check the highlights etc. I normally click the Auto button first then hold down the (goes off to PE to check!) ALT key with either the White slider or the Black slider it will show you the clipping mask. You can then adjust it using the slider.
 
Scots_quine said:
If you process the RAW file in Elements there is a similar thing to check the highlights etc. I normally click the Auto button first then hold down the (goes off to PE to check!) ALT key with either the White slider or the Black slider it will show you the clipping mask. You can then adjust it using the slider.
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Thanks Joan
 
Week 43 - Halloween

A number of challenges made this week really difficult to do what I wanted, so all I’ve been able to do is this quick and dirty iPhone shot sorry folks…..

Halloween by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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