Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

submit a photo to the urban75 critics

Thanks Jessica and Stanley :)

Stanley - have you got any of these pics up online yet? I'd love to see them.

Re the Holga, I think the apertures are f/11 and f/8 but I could be wrong. I think it's quite funny they originally sold the cam with two aperture settings but actually with only one aperture - when you moved the slider it changed nothing :D It's only with a recent upgrade they now have 2 working apertures.

I love the idea of just pressing the shutter not really knowing what you're going to get. I'm one who can worry a lot about "is the right speed set" or "hang on, if I focus just a little bit more here ... or there ..." and lose the feeling of emotion. Of course, there is a time and a place for both approaches - and a technical knowledge is indispensible, but just going with a feeling, and hoping it turns out ok just makes me feel giddy with joy :)
 
I have just started messing about with a Holga as well





I have to agree that it is quite liberating not having to mess about with numerous settings and half the time you don't even bother with the viewfinder as it's not exactly accurate.
 
Vintage Paw said:
...

Stanley - have you got any of these pics up online yet? I'd love to see them.

...
Click to expand...

This is the only Yashica J Star shot I currently have online. May upload some more later. No meter. Cheap FujiColour 100 film. Pure guess work with the settings from years of shooting at small apertures. I love the quality this camera gives.

01.jpg


No PhotoShop or PP either. Straight scan from neg. Lovely colours.
 
baffled - I love those two :) The way the Holga treats sun flare is great (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/474439925_5306955e85_b.jpg - the one on the right is mine). I've only put one roll through her yet, and it's not developed, so all I have to go on is the holgaroids I've shot. If I can get results like yours I'll be very happy :)

Stanley: you're right, fabulous colours :) Hard to believe that was such a 'guess' shot - it's a tough subject with the dark foreground and the bright sky, but it's been handled perfectly :)
 
portman said:
This one...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveamis/490250945/

I'd be grateful for any comments and constructive criticism on the idea behind the image and the execution...

Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...

OK. Like it being in b+w. Suppose my advice would be to crop tighter and focus more on the stripey chairs (as you have done with the little huts in a neighbouring pic). The chairs having fallen over is not particularly interesting but the strong vertical lines of the material looks like a good element to visually exploit.
 
chooch said:
One from today:
Chipiona. Extreme range, so a bit blocky, but...
Click to expand...

Like it. Shame about the low quality and the underexposure of the man and the dog. But I do rather like the composition, strong shot.
 
Forkboy said:
Some recent pics from a little urban exploration (an old hospital that's virtually demolished now..)

http://xs315.xs.to/xs315/07182/Wallpaper2542.png

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07214/Ravensparkj.jpg

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07213/Ravensparkh.jpg

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07212/Nursestation423453513.jpg
Click to expand...

The first one works best with its simplicity. Great textures and colours. B+W one is OK. Third one is way too obviously photoshopped, hate any mixing of B+W and colour, frankly it's tacky. Last one has too much going on at once, am I looking at the book, the window or the floor?
 
Forkboy said:
Some recent pics from a little urban exploration (an old hospital that's virtually demolished now..)

http://xs315.xs.to/xs315/07182/Wallpaper2542.png

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07214/Ravensparkj.jpg

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07213/Ravensparkh.jpg

http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07212/Nursestation423453513.jpg
Click to expand...
Same in parts as Alef's critique; first one's alright but the exposure/lighting is a bit poor. You could play with that to give it some focus, in the sense of highlighting something.

Second one - hmm, looks a bit weird. Enlarged/noisy/bad JPG? Something funny about it - if you can't fix this, exploit it. Find some crazy artistic/film filters in Photoshop or whatever and make it 'worse'. Otherwise quite a good shot.

Third - I like this, despite the shoppery. Straighten it up and I'd like it more. I'm not sure the floor needs to be completely desaturated, assuming you have. I love the ceiling though - no idea what's going on there. Scary place! Overall nice bit of experimentation which could be optimised a little.

Fourth, composition's crap. Lighting's lovely but it's got half a wall in it for no reason. I hate trying to do portrait landscapes for this very reason - I have the same problem. Otherwise could have been nice work.

You're quite good at this so keep going!
 
OK, first one I've ever submitted to the tender mercies of the critics, so here goes.

dscf4012.jpg


Up near Betwys-y-Coed, we'd stopped so I could have a sneezing fit (I was driving), and found ourselves by this lake. As usual, the sky wasn't like it appears in the photo, but there was just something about the timbre of the light that said "photograph me", so I reached in and got the camera.

I was being bitten to bits by mozzies, in between sneezing, and ideally I'd have whipped the tripod out of the boot, only I didn't think that was wise on a narrow and fairly busy bit of road.

As things turned out, it wasn't too bad - I photographed it at 12MP-Fine on my S7000, and at full res you can see some slight blurring, as the light was going and we were down to 1/60sec or so exposure time.

I was pleased with the reflection in the lake - just enough rippling to make it look reasonably natural - but it would have been nice for the land in the foreground to be a little less "black". I haven't fiddled with anything like that: the photo's as it was taken.
 
pembrokestephen said:
OK, first one I've ever submitted to the tender mercies of the critics, so here goes.

dscf4012.jpg


Up near Betwys-y-Coed, we'd stopped so I could have a sneezing fit (I was driving), and found ourselves by this lake. As usual, the sky wasn't like it appears in the photo, but there was just something about the timbre of the light that said "photograph me", so I reached in and got the camera.

I was being bitten to bits by mozzies, in between sneezing, and ideally I'd have whipped the tripod out of the boot, only I didn't think that was wise on a narrow and fairly busy bit of road.

As things turned out, it wasn't too bad - I photographed it at 12MP-Fine on my S7000, and at full res you can see some slight blurring, as the light was going and we were down to 1/60sec or so exposure time.

I was pleased with the reflection in the lake - just enough rippling to make it look reasonably natural - but it would have been nice for the land in the foreground to be a little less "black". I haven't fiddled with anything like that: the photo's as it was taken.
Click to expand...
Like that.

There's no way of telling whether it's straight or not, but I guess I'd like it rotated a tiny bit CCW so it seemed to balance a bit more.

Since the ground is probably lost in terms of detail, adding a bit more contrast (look up Photoshop or similar, and Curves) might bring the sky out a bit more, lending a little punch. In fact making the ground completely dark might help too. On the other hand it works as it is - a very calm and serene environment, and an image based on something fairly simple and fundamental.
 
e19896 said:
1140256920_ccffef193b_o.jpg
Click to expand...

The rounded corners and the subdued colours give a retro feel. Don't like the drop shadow, find that just gimmicky. Think I might prefer it if it had just the strong geometric lines or the clouds, having both -- plus the distracting lights inside -- make it rather busy. I like minimalism.
 
mauvais said:
Like that.

There's no way of telling whether it's straight or not, but I guess I'd like it rotated a tiny bit CCW so it seemed to balance a bit more.

Since the ground is probably lost in terms of detail, adding a bit more contrast (look up Photoshop or similar, and Curves) might bring the sky out a bit more, lending a little punch. In fact making the ground completely dark might help too. On the other hand it works as it is - a very calm and serene environment, and an image based on something fairly simple and fundamental.
Click to expand...
Thanks :) When (if) I ever fiddle with an image, it's usually in Gimp - my Windows stuff doesn't have the horsepower. But I don't know Gimp that well, either, so layering and masking are a closed book.

I did wonder about the skew, too: I'm pretty sure the horizon was level but you're right - it does look slightly squint.
 
If you're on Linux, Bibble is dirt cheap and a lot easier to use than the Gimp.

Although, you'll have to wait for the new version for layers and masks. I don't have any use for them personally. So I prefer Bibble.
 
mauvais said:
Second one - hmm, looks a bit weird. Enlarged/noisy/bad JPG? Something funny about it - if you can't fix this, exploit it. Find some crazy artistic/film filters in Photoshop or whatever and make it 'worse'. Otherwise quite a good shot.
Click to expand...

Looks to me like heavy use of unsharp mask. Squelch also, I think, went to far with sharpening on this statue pic in this month's comp.
 
pembrokestephen said:
Thanks :) When (if) I ever fiddle with an image, it's usually in Gimp - my Windows stuff doesn't have the horsepower. But I don't know Gimp that well, either, so layering and masking are a closed book.

I did wonder about the skew, too: I'm pretty sure the horizon was level but you're right - it does look slightly squint.
Click to expand...
When I look again I'm not sure - just have a play and see what you think works best.

GIMP is like Photoshop but harder to work. It has Curves too but it's possibly no use me telling you where, as when I followed a tutorial it had all moved around on my version.

Basically you want a subtle S like this (this shows Photoshop):

tut_curves_pswindow1.png


You can see the line would have run straight through the grid but they've moved the points slightly.

How subtle controls how powerful the effect is. Give it a whirl.
 
mauvais said:
There's no way of telling whether it's straight or not...
Click to expand...

(Here comes the maths teacher again.) You can tell if it's straight by the reflection in the water. All still water must be completely horizontal due to gravity, then the reflection will have to be at right angles. Draw a line of symmetry with the clouds to find the exact rotation. I'd say it's close to five degrees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

weltweit
Recommend me a good cloud photo backup
Replies
20
Views
323
weltweit
weltweit
N
Online photo storage recommendations?
Replies
12
Views
351
UnderOpenSky
UnderOpenSky
stethoscope
Photo books (portraiture, landscapes, wildlife, social commentary, street)
Replies
11
Views
516
Fozzie Bear
Fozzie Bear
hiccup
Casio wrist camera photos on U75
Replies
4
Views
398
RoyReed
RoyReed
Cloo
Help Anyone who can photoshop help me with something for my other half's birthday
Replies
13
Views
469
Cloo
Cloo
Back
Top Bottom