Tekforums
Chat => Photography => Topic started by: XEntity on June 05, 2010, 11:36:24 AM
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As Zpyder won the last competition, he has decided on the below:
To define "Experimental" in terms for this competition:
Unconventional photos, be it a different technique or subject, the aim of this theme is to get everyone trying something new. For some members it might just actually be entering a photo which is new, but for the more photographic members Id like to think they will get creative and try something new!
Id like people to consider the whole photo and the process involved to get it when voting too. A photo might look really good, but in terms of how experimental the photographer got with it, it might be quite basic. Obviously though, the best looking photo that uses the most experimental method etc should win.
Things I am thinking/hoping people with think of: Light painting, different materials (reflections/lenses etc), post processing (if its allowed?), abstract (but not just macros of keyboards etc!)
Things I am hoping wont be submitted, as theyre just too easy...high-speed shots freeze framing things like water droplets or things in flight etc, macros of day to day items, they may look funky, but its hardly experimental.
Entries to be received by close of play 3rd July
Voting starts on the 4th and closes COP 10th July
Have decided to use the 4 weeks photography and 1 week voting as I had mentioned before, rather than month end, as we dont normally manage to meet month end and sooner have a litle extra time for taking photos to allow everyone to take part! Any objections and Ill change it ;)
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Cheers. Thinking about it this could be a pretty difficult competition, but I really am hoping everyone gives it a shot and that we get some truly unique photos entered. And when it comes to voting, please remember to judge on the method/technique, not just the final image.
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well Im on holiday next week, which will either be really really good, or really really bad for the likelyhood of my entering!
Ill try to keep experimental shots in mind while Im sunning myself!
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Must admit, I am now struggling to think of something truly different to do, Ive got an idea, but I dunno if I can be assed enough as itll be a bit fiddly!
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Came back after the pub last night and decided to have my first go a light writing, had lots of fun but theres WAY too much ambient light in a London back garden. Also dont have a tripod so it was all handheld by a drunk mate. Still, was some experimental fun.
I dont intend any of these to be my entry, just thought id keep you updated on my progress.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4673819943_2219e3d3be.jpg)
led to this ...
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4674442978_c33172f8a5.jpg)
which inevitably led to this ...
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4674442050_02cc228649.jpg)
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Haha classic :D
What time did you do that, just curious on terms of the background lighting? I know that if I were to do light painting itd be indoors with the doors and curtains closed to block out as much light as possible, after 11pm I think!
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It was getting on for midnight, as dark as it was going to get. The garden behind me was lit by light coming from the house windows. It essentially never gets dark in London.
Just ordered a faux-gorilla pod and a multi pack of LED lights from dealextreme, if they get here in time that might make things easier. Also got my $3 IR remote working so the experimenting is working!
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Good idea, I did something similar a few months back, but using a green laser on a wall, but must have deleted the pic as it wasnt a good pic, just playing around..
... But have the one below, you can see its quite a powerful laser (this is in day light and not long exposure!)
(http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss347/entityxenon/Banderson-Green-LazerMedium.jpg)
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Right here is my first entry, but you need to let me know if this is experimental photography or is this deemed too much Photoshop.
This was taken earlier today and consists of 19 photos making a 360 Pano, then Distorting around polar coordinates.
Let me know if its allowed!
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4676061094_c7c9739a6a_b.jpg)
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Id say its allowed. Ultimately its up to the voters in a little under 4 weeks time to deem whether or not it is truly in the vein of the competition. It certainly is very awesome, and totally unexpected which is great. Im just hoping we get a load more random images :D Ive got an idea that takes the term experimental quite literally, requiring the use of one of the labs at uni :D
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Cool I have another idea, so might let everyone decide which one to submit, if the other idea I have actually works, as the other one is just photography..
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Okay, so its not the best photo:
(http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9731/img1111n.jpg)
I took it the day the snow all started this year, but you cant actually see it in this photo. It was a rather stupid decision really...
It was originally for my photography AS work, I wanted to do something a bit different so I used the bulb setting.
I quite like the way you can see the Spinnaker Tower through my arm (:
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I like it though, its a good pic, almost looks like an album cover.
But unfortunately cant be put in the comp as the pics need to be taken this month :( or ): for you backwards smiley person..
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oh, I didnt know that ): I shouldnt have said then I guess. Oh well, I could always do a different picture if I can be arsed...
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Be arsed, we could always do with more pics! d:
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Yeah, shame, its a really good pic, but alas rules are rules. Theres been a few times a comp theme has come up that Ive thought "Oh this picture would be ace" and then realised its not valid :(
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Another weekend... Dont forget to take some more photos! Interested in the kind of things that people are going to come up with!
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Just happened to be playing with a fish-eye adapter last weekend so luckily this pic is within the month - had a discussion with a friend at work and we came to the conclusion that a cow or a horse would look very funny in a fish-eye photo - fortunately another friend has horses so I took a few pics - really wanted to get the head distorted a bit and think I managed that with this one:
(http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/1300/bruce2k.jpg)
Horse was called Bruce and was very friendly, had to get about an inch away from his nose and at one point he decided to to sniff/lick the lens.
Also though Id post this one up, helicopter is a Eurocopter EC130 and has a bug like appearance, the fish eye lens seems to emphasise this a bit further.
(http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8370/whirlybird2.jpg)
(Both images taken with my fairly basic (and slightly dated) Canon RebelXTI/400D with opteka 0.20X fish eye adapter on top of the 18-55 kit lense set as wide as possible - so basically was equivalent to a focal length of 6.12mm )
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I know the feeling about the 400D feeling dated ><
I do like the helicopter one, I think it has a lot of potential if you had changed the angle a little and told the people to sod off for a minute :D
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(http://www.palmer934.plus.com/bird014.jpg)
For this pic I used the zoom on full and held the camera upsidedown in an unsteady manner.
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(http://www.palmer934.plus.com/bird014.jpg)
For this pic I used the zoom on full and held the camera upsidedown in an unsteady manner.
I think its been shopped :P
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roflmalofla !!!
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Just some tests against strong light.
(http://www.bmorell.com/images/albarn.jpg)
(http://www.bmorell.com/images/alcloud.jpg)
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Ive got my materials, might give it a shot at lunch
EDIT:
EPIC FAIL. Not only did it not work, but I now have very green fingers (they might fade for my interview on friday) as well as a pretty deep, but small, cut on my left index finger from a shard of glass getting well and truly stuck in.
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(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/fail.jpg)
So the idea was that glycerine is meant to have the same refractive properties as glass.
Put glass filled with glycerine in a bigger glass container of glycerine, and it disappears.
Well, thats the theory. Rather than just test with plain old glycerine, I put some resin dye in the bottom of a small perfume bottle, and topped it up.
Sadly something went wrong and you can still see the glass. Combined with the fact the first perfume bottle I tried shattered whilst I was trying to reseal it, sending glass and dye everywhere, including into my fingers, its a pretty bad fail!
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Ouch.. unlucky mate.
Im at a loss tbh not sure what to do for this one
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Yeah, at the time I thought I was making a really open theme that would get everyone involved and trying something new. And then a few days later I realised I made it pretty difficult instead!
Initially I had ideas of using different mirrors etc to do something with light across a black backdrop, but that would be way ott. And difficult, likely not possible either!
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Ye its quite a tough one, Ive got another idea, but ideally I need a girl... but might have to use myself and a remote (Would be better with a girl though but I split with my GF recently!)
@Bear - Nice shots, but the second one Id crop the bottom inch or so to get rid of the cars and maybe tweak it so that the house is in black silhouette, but good shots.
@Zpyder - Good idea mate, I thought as you chose the subject that you had a few ideas already
@Pete - Still makes me laugh
@Binary Shadow - Keep thinking!
@Dave - some fun shots, might have to look in to that fish eye adapter, can afford a proper lens ;)
@Sexytw - Where are your proper LED shots, I reckon that could end up quite well!
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For this pic I used the zoom on full and held the camera upsidedown in an unsteady manner.
I think its been shopped :P
nah, thats an Australian pigeon, you can tell by the plumage
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So the idea was that glycerine is meant to have the same refractive properties as glass.
Put glass filled with glycerine in a bigger glass container of glycerine, and it disappears.
Well, thats the theory. Rather than just test with plain old glycerine, I put some resin dye in the bottom of a small perfume bottle, and topped it up.
Sadly something went wrong and you can still see the glass. Combined with the fact the first perfume bottle I tried shattered whilst I was trying to reseal it, sending glass and dye everywhere, including into my fingers, its a pretty bad fail!
thats going to depend on the glass since not all glass has the same RI. I think its temparature dependant too, a collegue of mine uses oils with a known RI/temperature curve to measure the RI of sample glass, basically by changing the temp until it disapears.
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Yeah, I figured it would have something to do with the glass, didnt think temp would be a factor though!
I could probably fairly safely figure it out at uni if I was based there. No doubt asking one of the lecturers theyd know what glasswhere is made of what, and wed be able to match them up then.
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Still not managed and proper shots, its too damn light at the moment, that and my faux gorrilla pod never turned up. Still intending to enter tho, this Saturday has photo comp written all over it.
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@Bear - Nice shots, but the second one Id crop the bottom inch or so to get rid of the cars and maybe tweak it so that the house is in black silhouette, but good shots.
Yes I was going to but for now I have done nothing at all but resizing :)
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Still not managed and proper shots, its too damn light at the moment, that and my faux gorrilla pod never turned up. Still intending to enter tho, this Saturday has photo comp written all over it.
dealextreme im guessing?
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Right in the spirit of the monthly subject i tried something iv never tried before.. light painting.
Now its my first attempt and i wont have time to try again so hopefully my shot will be worthy.
Ill do a little write up.
Had to wait for the place to get dark, so was gone 11pm when i started, not really as dark as id like but was as good as it was going to get.
So the scene with the standard pop up flash:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1400/4728186183_248c92aaba.jpg)
Now for the dark bit, quite fiddly as im not 100% familiar with the camera controls so was fumbling a bit but set manual focus, closed the apature down and set for a long exposure.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1189/4728187665_57ae7924ce.jpg)
Now i add the torch!
This is my submitted photo for the competition:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/4728821716_96a3f61a39_b.jpg)
With more time and space i think this could look pretty sweet. I could use a better torch as well, the massive maglite i used was spilling light everywhere :(
The rest of the set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12512629@N07/sets/72157624218247047/
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@ Binary Shadow - I really like it!
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Still not managed and proper shots, its too damn light at the moment, that and my faux gorrilla pod never turned up. Still intending to enter tho, this Saturday has photo comp written all over it.
dealextreme im guessing?
Yep. Had my order partially delivered so ive got 10 LED torches but really need something to keep the camera steady.
@BinaryShadow Very nice indeed, youve got the exposure just right.
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It does suffer a bit from ambient lighting. If you did it in proper darkness (in a garage?) with smaller torches you could get away with shining one from the front and one from the back etc?
You were trying to do something like this?:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1274/1081955652_cab28db87e.jpg)
(fairly dark room but not pitch black, ultra bright dive torch, and something like 1:2000 shutter speed I think :D
The main thing is, has it got you wanting to experiment some more? :D
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Something like that yeah, shutter speed is way too high though, need to play the light over the suject so was running 20-30 second exposures.
It would be better if it was darker however most of the light is spill from the torch, next time ill stick a paper shroud on it to focus the light better.
Yeah its turned out quite well for a first attempt so ill be experimenting some more for sure.
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well since everyone seems to be experimenting with low light photography I though Id give it a go too. Walking back from a gig in the early hours of Friday morning and decided to do an impromptu drunk photo shoot under a street light with my flatmate. So here is my attempt at portraits using rather low amounts of ambient light...
(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2003/81608162.jpg)
(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5872/85680964.jpg)
(http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6384/91512436.jpg)
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I like those a lot actually. It makes me wonder, has your flatmate done modelling before? Question is which are you going to enter? 2 and 3 look more professional, but I think #1 has something more "raw" about it, making you wonder just what she is looking at, whether its something good, or bad.
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I think Ill enter the second one... I was very happy with how they turned out. Flatmate is a singer though has done modeling work in the past so Id say the first one is good mostly thanks to her being able to pose well.
There really wasnt much light - the pics were taken with the ISO cranked up to 1600 and the aperture wide open which gave the really shallow depth of field in the 2nd one. Not done any post processing aside from cropping the first one.
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Theyre wicked Dave really nice work. What camera do you shoot?
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Its just a canon 400D (or actually the US version which I bought refurbished off e-bay about a year ago) - had been intending to use if for a while but never got round to it until the last couple of weeks - so far have messed around with a fish eye adapter at a friends house, taken pics at two of my flatmates gigs and then these few quick photos on the way home...
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and now for something completely different.
(http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q429/Seriouswebspace/entry.jpg)
OK, I couldnt be arsed to go and do something incredible, but I guess that does for Experimental ;)
(http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q429/Seriouswebspace/duck.jpg)
And the image I should have entered last time but the forums hacked it down to insignificant. Finally sorted out the password for my photobucket account :)
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Heh, itd make a good small device wallpaper :D
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Like the new pics, just a reminder COP Saturday is the deadline for the last photos!
So get posting any more experiments!
My other idea, failed, due to the type of glass :P I think what I was planning works better with perspex but havent got any, so my original post will stay for the comp, some good pics entered by all so far though!
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COP?
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Close Of Play ;) Sorry!
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Right looks like Im probably not going to be around tomorrow morning, If someone/anyone could put the pics up for voting in the morning if possible?
Also anyone who has multiple pictures could they make it clear which they want in the comp? (If they havent already) otherwise the last picture posted will get submitted as per the rules.
Have a good weekend all, and you still have the rest of today to put in a photo!
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Im massively failing at this months comp. Intended to have a bash at some food photography as ive always been quite interested in trying it but doesnt look like im going to get a chance. Also not sorted my light writing out.
Dammit.
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Heres one, taken late on last night at Hassop Hall
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4759543261_91faf8ab08_b.jpg)
Camera: SONY DSC-W270
Exposure: 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture: f/3.3
Focal Length: 5 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire