[anneb]

Very nice effect with the corona there, Blutarsky, But I don’t believe that’s a utility pole 😉

[anneb]

If you’re not doing so already, “Save for Web” likewise makes a smaller footprint, at the expense of some EXIF info, that might help significantly.

I don’t like giving up the EXIF, so I solve the problem by putting my pix up on flickr, and then making a smaller inline image that links back to the image page, as found on the “show all sizes” link for my pix. With flickr’s TOS, you don’t have a huge amount of leeway for link creativity, but it they give you lots of sizes with the inline code already there. When it comes to getting my entries up, I’m lazy.

[anneb]

Couple thoughts on this week, (it’s great not to be slammed for time, at least for the moment!)

U-man I love all your shots, I should’ve figured out at first glance the aqua-leaper was a toy, but I didn’t! My fave, however, is still the one with the paint-covered kid. The water’s so crisp, but it still manages to be invisible in the original shot.

Corsec67

My “Fountain” entry is doing much better than I expected, which is always a good thing.

I sure didn’t expect that to be a tanker truck- I sort of expected a teeny little hose or something being the cause. Well seen!

Elsinore, my fave of yours is really the big girl/little girl shot, it’s great how much the picture changed even though you retained the bulk of the shot.

KarolA, I like your Koi crop- it’s puzzling, but I really like the full photo… I have problems with those Koi at the arboretum, getting them nicely in focus, without falling in. Nice (-:

[anneb]

Looking for patterns in results after the fact is always interesting… In this case all the entries with text, with the exception of Marley’s “Sunoco” photo, got 4 votes or less. It looks like people weren’t responding to things you had to read this time. I wouldn’t have predicted that, but the numbers speak for themselves. 🙂

In terms of looking for the quick reaction or punchline, text often wins- but in terms of actually looking at the image, text seems to lose. There was an exhibit here recently of some very well done photographs of post-Katrina New Orleans. We were discussing that the ones with words on signs, people spent less time looking at than they spent on the photos without text, even though the non-text parts were just as detailed and poignant. The text seemed to rob people’s attention from the rest of the photo.

So I guess it makes sense for this particular contest, that the text didn’t have as much effect.

[anneb]

Whoa! Those are some pretty freaky X-rays. Take it easy on the hand… I hope it recovers fast and smooth!!!

[anneb]

Red flash on my holga?

Hmmmmmmmmmm

[anneb]

My big bag is a Tamrac expedition 5, present from Hubby. It carries close to everything in the world. It has the square footage for two bodies + lenses, but the little adjustable velcro pads don’t lend themselves to it nicely, it’s really made for one body with a pretty long lens attached, plus fru. (Mine is an 80/210, but I can see someone easily carrying a body + 300mm lens in the bag, f’r instance)

It has room for more than I use it for, which is usually a couple of extra lenses, my flash (SB-600, get the 800 if you can) CF cards, pouch of rechargeable AA’s (flash), the Kata raincoat, a poncho for ME, notepads, yadda yadda. You can also strap a tripod on the back, but that’s where I’m least thrilled with the bag. I feel like I belong in a bumper car arena when I have it cinched in. My tripod ends up floating over my head, where it can and does snag anything it can reach. You all who are oh, above 6’2″ maybe, might not notice this.

The shoulder pads and panel facing your back are padded, that’s huge. It has decent attachment points to let you carry water bottle/snack and double up as a day hiking backpack, for going out in the bush to shoot, when I can’t quick go back to the car and get X, and it works fantastic for that. Also, it’s more weatherproof than the shoulder bags I’ve used. So if I’m trudging around carrying lots of stuff, I don’t get as tired carrying the gear.

Given this can be amazing overkill, when I want to go lighter, I suppose could use an older shoulder bag. But if I don’t need all that stuff, I’m more likely to just toss a flash, lens, and a couple batteries/cards into a photo vest, and just wear my stuff in my pocketses.

[anneb]

😯

Ok, so I finish my class (which kept me from paying attention to any thing else photo- compressed summer schedule!) then scramble to get ready for half a week with my kid at scout camp. Get back last night, and this morning, I notice, whoa. So many flickr buds with bug pix. Whyzzat? Um..er…

The dragonfly pix on my CF card from camp that haven’t been dumped yet will just have to wait for another time. I did put a couple up, but why I envotenated them I have no clue, it’s almost noon!

[anneb]

What’s even more interesting about that is that the original description of the theme included the word “lonliness” 😉

You mean it changed, and I never noticed?

I blame sunspots.

[anneb]

…
Not that there aren’t any brilliant shots – there’s an abundance- but they seem to hit closer to desolation,isolation and alienation than solitude….

This week’s theme was more open to interpretation than some themes, and especially with a word like “solitude”, you get people’s connotations and interpretations wrapped up in things even if it isn’t the same as the dictionary definition.

I was actually talking to hubby about that last night- I was kind of intrigued how many people seem to, at least in the photo theme, seem to connect solitued with lonliness. I haven’t gone to count, but it does seem that there’s a pretty even break between “solitude for peace” and “undesired solitude.”

[anneb]

This just in: Farktographer reports seeing face of Billy Crystal in pile of old socks. Film at 11.

[anneb]

I dunno if it was totally misread so much as stare at word in confusion and finally resort to google.

:hangs head in shame for not knowing:

[anneb]

“I like it and it works” isn’t helpful, I guess, so I’ll try to nail down what I mean by that. Starting this week, I’m taking a critique class for first summer session, so I bet it’s good for me to try to nail some of this down for myself, too! I guess what makes me vote for something entails some (not all) of the following.

It fits the theme, even if it’s jamming it in a bit sideways. Ok, if it’s jammed in to the theme kind of sideways, I’m probably MORE likely to vote for it…

It’s shot from an interesting viewpoint, not the most obvious or cliche one, which follows from ^^^.

It fits in with the other shots, and provides a nice sense of flow.
OR
It sticks out from the other shots as different.
Yes, I know, those don’t match. That’s why you shouldn’t listen to critics TOO much 😈

The shot is technically correct (for theme-appropriate values of ‘correct:’ focus, lighting, exposure, etc.)

If it has a face, am I looking at it, esp. eyes, or the back of someone/something’s head? i.e. If the subject has some sentience, can I relate to it?

Nothing glares in the shot as not belonging, and the elements of the shot, central or not, work together well.

It makes me want to know more about it, or, It passes the “yeah, and I should care, why?” test.

Oh, and of course, “I posted it.” (see previous thread) 😉

All in all, I do find myself voting for a number of shots every week. There are some really enjoyable pix posted out there!

[anneb]

Yup. I want to make sure it shows up on the FSM, because it won’t otherwise. I mentally tend to just subtract one from it in my brain, afterwards.

[anneb]

Thanks Curious and Monkeybort.

//By fans I mean the ones in the storage area at home 😛

They wouldn’t fit on the escalator, would they? 😉

I love the gnome.

A friend had for several years (may still, for all I know) passed around a little wooden chicken from family member to family member, each Christmas, as a reminder of who was going to make the big meal for the
family get together the following year. A couple years ago, I kidnapped the chicken for a week, and took it places, then presented friend with a little book of photos of all the things that the chicken did with me. (We went to the grocery, the dentist, sat on Santa’s lap, ran away to Philly….) (yes, that friend is still speaking to me.)

Since then I’ve been off and on looking for just the right thing to bring around with us on our travels, to put in our family travel photos. We don’t take lots of vacations, so I don’t think of it often, but I haven’t really found the right thing, yet.

But something like that gnome would come really close!!! I think I’m looking in the wrong places for a vacation mascot.

[Author]

Posts