Simon's 52 in 2021

The clouds do look overcooked to me too.. but you've captured a definite abandoned mood with the processing.
 
As Ian says, I'm surprised the clouds have been lost to white given you were doing HDR.
HDR often causes grittiness, but ususally keeps detail rather than losing it (but I suppose that depends on what the original brackets were).

But anyway. That's a great shot of the boat left to die. Which is a shame and also probably a huge waste of money - surely it must be worth something, even if just the scrap value.
 
Week's 27/28 Indigenous and Plant

There's nothing more indigenous than a robin, here captured against a brilliant blue sky. I was going to crop this much more tightly, but he was sitting on this bare branch, so "out there" against the sky, it seemed a shame to waste the clarity of the background which makes him stand out so well as he belts out his song

DSCF1457 by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

I was going left field with this, with some machinery, but my sunflowers in the garden just look glorious (well I think so..... :LOL: )

Sunflower and bee by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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Agree with Simon. Both are fab pictures. You're right about the crop on the robin. Giving it space in the frame has really added to it IMO.

Lovely touch with the bee on the sunflower. The RH edge of the frame isn't perfect for me, but I can't see a way of doing anything about it. Crop that sliver of a stalk off and you bring more attention to the cane (?) and that errant leaf top right would appear even more detached. All could have been cleared up before shooting but removing the support that is keeping the flower up, and tearing off leaves isn't the most sensible of ideas...
 
Harlequin565 said:
Agree with Simon. Both are fab pictures. You're right about the crop on the robin. Giving it space in the frame has really added to it IMO.

Lovely touch with the bee on the sunflower. The RH edge of the frame isn't perfect for me, but I can't see a way of doing anything about it. Crop that sliver of a stalk off and you bring more attention to the cane (?) and that errant leaf top right would appear even more detached. All could have been cleared up before shooting but removing the support that is keeping the flower up, and tearing off leaves isn't the most sensible of ideas...
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Thanks - valid feedback about the right hand edge. I keep missing these little things when framing as I focus too much on the main subject.….
 
The Robin certainly is giving it his all (y)
 
SimonH said:
Thanks - valid feedback about the right hand edge. I keep missing these little things when framing as I focus too much on the main subject.….
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I was once told to go round all the edges with your eye before you press the shutter.



Occasionally I remember to :)
 
Two fab shots there :)
 
Two great images. I particularly love the light on the sunflower... it glows!
 
HelenC said:
Two great images. I particularly love the light on the sunflower... it glows!
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Thanks! It's so bright! I wondered if I'd got the exposure slightly too high, but it certainly works for me. I added just a touch of vignette as well which I think helps...
 
indigenous and plant are both lovely colourful images, really nicely captured.
 
Indigenous
A well isolated Robin, who looks like he's having a good old sing song.
 
Indigenous - Not a shot I would ever have dared to attempt on my old 7D (mk1). Can you imagine the mess that blue sky would have ended up as !!! (Maybe that was just me).
He does stand out well against that sky. Nicely crisp and some action going on.
Plant - Bug shot - no comment. ;)~
Actually, the bee is sufficiently not the main subject that I don't mind it. Nice colours captured.
 
Week 29 - Dominating

I was going to go with a building or similar given the theme, but I thought I'd think a little differently, so here'a shot of one of the players from my local cricket club dominating the bowling earlier today ;)

Dominating (the bowling) by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
Fits the theme for me, you have caught the action well.
I might have cropped the top and bottom a little but thats just personal taste
 
Nicely shot. The lack of fielders in the image emphasises that he's on top of the bowling (whereas a slip cordon and silly point would indicate a different scenario). Good to have caught the ball and to have more or less frozen the action whilst still indicating movement.
 
Yep - good take on the theme :)
 
Dominating
It looks like he's been having a bit of a roll around in the grass. The action has been well caught and the ball is in a good position in the frame.
 
Catch up on comments for me...
Great Robin shot for Indigenous and such a typical pose for them too - singing away perched at the top of something.

Love the sunflower for plant. We've planted some this year too, but they don't look as glorious as this.

Dominating - great action shot. I thought the bowler was at the other end, but what do I know? :LOL: Seriously - looks a very tricky shot to get.
 
Bebop said:
Catch up on comments for me...
Great Robin shot for Indigenous and such a typical pose for them too - singing away perched at the top of something.

Love the sunflower for plant. We've planted some this year too, but they don't look as glorious as this.

Dominating - great action shot. I thought the bowler was at the other end, but what do I know? :LOL: Seriously - looks a very tricky shot to get.
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Thanks - Robin was just a lucky shot. I do love sunflowers. Sun was right, a crop and touch of vignette - I was quite pleased with how it pops. The cricket one wasn't that tricky. I take a lot at our local club. Trick is mainly burst shooting, getting the SS right and hoping for the best!!!!!!! A lot of throwaways, but occasionally with a little bit of luck get a good one - like this one of my son batting.... :LOL: (I created a "Wall of Shame" album on the Club's Facebook page for ones like this, and it's filling up nicely...)

That'll be out by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
Snappers choice
A few to choose from, but I think you've gone for the right one. I like the isolation and pose.
 
You’ve picked the right one there. It’s the green eye that does it for me. The detail is really good.
 
Indigenous
Well timed capture of the robin, super sharp, I don't think it would have been as strong cropped in.

Plant
Your sunflower does look glorious catching the light. How high has its grown, i remember years ago having them in the garden and how they stretched into the sky.

Dominating
Well captured, i like how the batsman's eyes are following the ball. I imagine cricket is a good sport to practice photography with given the same sequence is repeated.

Snapper's Choice
Lots of variety with your images, personally prefer the Atlantic Wharf building with the light streaming through the middle.
 
StuartPearson said:
Indigenous
Well timed capture of the robin, super sharp, I don't think it would have been as strong cropped in.

Plant
Your sunflower does look glorious catching the light. How high has its grown, i remember years ago having them in the garden and how they stretched into the sky.

Dominating
Well captured, i like how the batsman's eyes are following the ball. I imagine cricket is a good sport to practice photography with given the same sequence is repeated.

Snapper's Choice
Lots of variety with your images, personally prefer the Atlantic Wharf building with the light streaming through the middle.
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Thanks Stuart!
I've got about 9 sunflowers in 3 rows of 3. They’re multiheaded variety rather than a single so don’t grow quite as tall as some, but they’re over 6ft.
I take quite a lot of photos at my cricket club, and get some crackers.
I quite like the building one too, better in B&W but I couldn't get the crop quite right from the shot frame, hence not m chosen one for the theme.
 
Week 32 - Fur

These shots of Atlantic Grey Seals were taken last week on our holiday in Pembrokeshire. The first couple were of a stunningly coloured apparent singleton nosing around some rocky coves near Abercastle. These were taken with my new (used) and very first Canon L lens, the 100-400 (original version) - blimey it's heavy :ROFLMAO: . I was on top of the cliff on the coast path, so the long zoom was very useful. The others (and there were an awful lot) were from around Ramsey Island were taken on my Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera as I didn't want to risk my 77D and L lens on a powerful RIB in fairly lumpy water!

1.
Grey seal nosing around coves north of Abercastle by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

2.
Great seal by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

3.
(heavy crop)
Grey seal (heavy crop) by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

4.
Young great seal on Ramsey by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

5.
Young seal carrying an injury by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

6.
“Batchelor Bay” on Ramsey by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

7.
Dozing seal by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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Nice sets of pix. You HANDled that watering can very well ;)

Sammy Seal pic 4 gets my vote :)
 
-Oy- said:
Nice sets of pix. You HANDled that watering can very well ;)

Sammy Seal pic 4 gets my vote :)
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Thanks! Pic 4 would have been better with his eyes open, but I think he was getting a quick 40 winks
 
Hands shows ingenuity and made me smile when I saw it. Prefer the colour version. I think you got your gloves from the same place BT do :)

1st seal shot for me. I like the framing with the open water around and it's less traditional.
 
That's a lot of cleaning products!

Nice variety of colour and begs the question, "are they normally lined up so nicely?" Or was there some staging involved :)
 
Fur - #4 for me as its in context with their environment.

Very colourful shot. Looks like you've got all the cleaning requirements covered..
 
Week 34 - Glass

Lots of ideas this week, but none have turned out quite the way I wanted. I'm trying (hard) to focus on the theme rather than a snapshot that incorporates the theme, but sadly I don't have either a particularly creative mind or the skills/mastery of technique to deliver what's in my head.

Glass 2: A nice glass ornament/paperweight, but probably needs something else, maybe a cut flower to give some more depth to the presentation

Glass2 by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr

Glass 3: Whisky bottle and glass. This was always my go to shot, but again, I need to work on my backgrounds - I haven't found anywhere in the house where I can get a good background and need to improve my skills in this area. The whiskey was nice though.... :)

Glass3 by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr


Glass 4: In my head this was a glasses on kindle shot at low level in B&W. I don't think the perspective is low enough, I need a closer focusing lens and the ability to master a way of getting a black background the way some of the other excellent photographers on here do.

Glass4 by Simon P Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
I would have thought inspiration might come after a tot or two or three from #3? Being mainly a landscape bod I'm not a great one for studio style shots so I'm afraid I can't be of much help.
 
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