[U-Man]

soosh – that foggy sunset photo really is fantastic. It jumped out at me on the first night. I like to “call’ the top 10 to myself sometime during the first day. I had that one pegged as a strong contender for #1.

The whole series is good, but I like that one the best.

[U-Man]

U-Man, I have a question; if it’s too personal, kindly decline to answer.

OK. First of all. Thank you. I’m flattered. I honestly feel weird writing this because, I don’t know, I just have fun with this stuff. I have learned and have an innate ‘eye’ that works OK but I don’t feel like an expert.

That said; you asked so here goes.

I am a bit of a goof-ball. Kids like that. I like being around kids and doing stuff and they can tell. (Of course, I can get bossy and peevish with them sometimes, too. But I know I’m not perfect.) My kids know that I do alot of stuff with them and for them. At first, when I needed them for a pic they would frequently get the “This is important to me and I do stuff that is important to you…” lecture. Now, they know what I want and I think they like the interaction as well as the end result. The older kids are pretty easy. Even if they aren’t really into it they can find the maturity to get through it. My middle loves the attention (of course she does – she’s the middle kid). I have definitely bribed smaller kids.

My kids have seen most of the stuff I post. Forks through Barbie heads, drunk American girls, toddlers getting shot with a foam-ball shooter, battling bananas, etc. They know I have an odd sense of humor and seem to enjoy it. They might think that it’s normal for dads to be like this. Maybe it is. I can’t remember any time that they weren’t up for a goofy photo.

Some things I have learned:

Get everything set up (especially lighting) and test it on a chair or adult or something before getting the kid models. I’ve “lost them” while messing around with flashes and such.

Many people don’t smile really naturally for a camera. I have good luck telling kids to just stop smiling and let me make them laugh. And tell them that when they do laugh KEEP THEIR EYES OPEN AND LOOK AT ME! Funny faces, fart sounds, pretend tripping, repeatedly telling them not to smile…whatever works.

Really shallow depth of field is nice – but 100 blurry shots of a moving toddler suck. There’s a happy medium.

Shoot outside in natural light – but get into the shade.
If you can get your flash off of your camera you’ll get better results.

I still want to push the kids too far. “Just a few more…” I have to fight that. Sometimes the best pic is the first damn one. Then again, sometimes it’s not. I find that for set-up stuff I should do a short set, let them relax and look at the pics on a monitor. I’ll find stuff to fix or tweak and then do another short set.

******

The Mopsy thing is interesting. We’re competing, but like to see the other one do well at the same time. It has definitely brought us closer together. I’m sure a part of why she started farktography was to strengthen that link between us. But just a part. She likes this stuff just as much as you or I. I bought her a Canon Rebel XSi for Mother’s Day a few years back. She cried – so I guess she liked it. I am really proud of her. How many women pick up a new hobby at 65 that involves learning from scratch such things as Photoshop and image hosts and f/stops and composition. I’m serious. She didn’t know what a right-click was when she started! (that part didn’t help our relationship – computer lessons over the phone are difficult).

As orionid/kestrana and olavf/justkat can attest. It’s nice to share this photography passion with someone. 🙂

I don’t know if that addresses what you were thinking. And nothing here is profound. But that’s my ramblings for the evening.

[U-Man]

Hey I just came back here after voting. I missed the above comments. I’ll certainly respond – but right now the eldest and I are going to go see if the spring peepers want their picture taken. 🙂 If I forget, please remind me. 🙂

[U-Man]

Thoughts? Because there can bee only one…

For this theme, two is the way to go. #1 is sharp, tight, unmistakable as to the subject and intent. But this theme is artsy fartsy, so #2 with it’s quirk, ambiguity and motion lends itself to the theme. To put it another way, #1 I can see in National Geographic, #2 I can see in a high brow art photograph magazine.

I agree. I like both shots but the second fits this theme better. The caption could draw in a handful of ‘Fark votes’ (as opposed to photography votes).

[U-Man]

I don’t have strong feelings about this. But, since a decision has to be made…

No punctuation.
Letters of the alphabet. I was envisioning the Latin one but any modern alphabet is OK.
No hieroglyphics. If you enter a letter that would be uncommon on Fark, please include a description so that we can all learn (and recognize how great your entry is).

[U-Man]

Well, at least you’d have a giant collection of fancy dresses!

Interesting. That ties into a photo I just did. It might show up this week under the idea that ‘a little bit out there‘ is artsy-fartsy.

[U-Man]

Coming into Wednesday night, I had high hopes for a #1 with my tilted glasses. But I saw that bridesmaid place coming two days ago. Jasihn’s shot light bulb was back around 15th or 20th place – but it was knifing through the competition. And rightfully so. It is a kick ass photo and fits the theme. 🙂

Congrats Jasihn.

[U-Man]

ya know, I haven’t been able to find a black and white school bus (other than line art pictures) *any*where. But if I were to find one, I would totally send it to you 😉

K. I’ll send you some Sprite Zero.

[U-Man]

Okay, is it wrong that I read that as sprite zero at first glance? For a brief moment I thought U-Man was giving us a weird and inexplicable window into his hydration habits.

I thought I had already posted but the intarnets ate my response. Or I forgot to actually hit ‘submit’. One of those two…

Anyway, I did the same thing! I totally read it as ‘Sprite’.

[U-Man]

To be clear, all of the usual Farktography rules apply with this theme. Correct? Or can we use post-processing effects?

I will like this theme either way. 🙂

[U-Man]

Either of the “not funny” ones. In the “Funny” ones, I’d argue the subject is the girls, not the glass since you can’t really even see the glass itself.

I know. But I was going for different. Outside the box. A unique interpretation. You know, a B&W school bus. 🙂

(written with teasing mellow kindness and zero spite)

/looks like I should have used one of the other ones anyway.

[U-Man]

…no offense, U-Man; you got a vote, too…

Definitely none taken. I consider it a ‘great minds think alike’ thing. 🙂

I was running through the entries last night when my 4-year-old walked up behind me. She said, “Ooooo. I like that pink one Daddy” in reference to your glass blocks. She then spouted off several beautiful childish comments about the pic. I wanted to record them but didn’t, and now they are completely lost. They were good though! And cute.

[U-Man]

Thanks for the feedback.

Just to round out the portfolio, I went with the higher risk, but possibly high gain funny, somewhat outside-the-box shot. Me being me, the ones I posted here didn’t quite make the grade so, just before bedtime I gathered the girls together for another take. I don’t know if it’s any better…but it’s posted. 🙂

[U-Man]

Hoping my pipe picture is still kosher for this contest…

I don’t see any problem with it.
/and, yes, I understand your concern. 🙂

[U-Man]

I could really use some hep here, I’ve got some possible entries, but can’t narrow it down. Do any of these jump out at you? They’re all in a row on my Flickr photostream FYI, so if you goto the first link, you can keep clicking “<- newer" til you hit the end.

Please help, I’m sick, and tired, and can’t think clearly.

Curvy crystal > Glass Eye > 12
Nebula > Hurricane > Nebula
+
Mothership.

I don’t have strong opinions about these rankings. I tend to appreciate three different subject so that’s why I arranged them like this. Two from the first groups of three would be OK though.

Hope you feel better soon.

[Author]

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