***** January 2007 Competition *****
Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen the theme for January 2007 is:
"Portrait of Activity"
What I'm looking for is photos of people busy doing something, not posing for the camera but really engaged in whatever they are doing. Whether its making the dinner, knitting a scarf or riding a bike etc. see if you can capture a look of concentration on the task. If your camera has a slow sync flash feature that could be worth experimenting with.
I'm not sure I've seen a thread with the previous themes so I've put this together from last month's thread:
Film Titles, Light, Red, Power, Flange, Camel Toe, Detail, Industrial, Focus/ Depth of field, Contrast, Impact, Water, Communication, Speed, Shine On, Music, Oddities, Reflection, Friendship, Shape, Etraordinary, Candid.
"Portrait of Activity"
What I'm looking for is photos of people busy doing something, not posing for the camera but really engaged in whatever they are doing. Whether its making the dinner, knitting a scarf or riding a bike etc. see if you can capture a look of concentration on the task. If your camera has a slow sync flash feature that could be worth experimenting with.
I'm not sure I've seen a thread with the previous themes so I've put this together from last month's thread:
Film Titles, Light, Red, Power, Flange, Camel Toe, Detail, Industrial, Focus/ Depth of field, Contrast, Impact, Water, Communication, Speed, Shine On, Music, Oddities, Reflection, Friendship, Shape, Etraordinary, Candid.
good one, for a bit of fun shall we? 
Fegusd's second image is the sort of thinking of as the person's face is sufficiently large in the frame and you can see the activity that they are engaged in.
Not quite the activity I was thinking of but great idea... you are excused from including any image of the activity she is performing in this case ! 
Doesn't matter if the activity isn't intensely physical, the subject is engaged in doing something that is occupying their interest and that's the important thing. In this case the camera makes a different kind of face with square eyes and a round mouth so its a definitely a clever photograph, but ideally for this competition I'd like to see human eyes and face.
I like no. 5 from Mrs Fish too but a lower angle and more frontal view would be more engaging - trouble is if you start rolling around on the floor at their eye level they'll become more interested in you than the box. Maybe a favourite episode of tellytubbies or a video game (for older children of, say, about 35 years!) would be sufficiently distracting ?
olf said:
Tempted to try and catch my baby daughters 'nappy face'.
Not quite the activity I was thinking of but great idea... you are excused from including any image of the activity she is performing in this case ! SGirl said:
This isn't a very "active" activity, does it count?
Doesn't matter if the activity isn't intensely physical, the subject is engaged in doing something that is occupying their interest and that's the important thing. In this case the camera makes a different kind of face with square eyes and a round mouth so its a definitely a clever photograph, but ideally for this competition I'd like to see human eyes and face.
I like no. 5 from Mrs Fish too but a lower angle and more frontal view would be more engaging - trouble is if you start rolling around on the floor at their eye level they'll become more interested in you than the box. Maybe a favourite episode of tellytubbies or a video game (for older children of, say, about 35 years!) would be sufficiently distracting ?
2jamesl said:
i do have slow synchro flash but what does it do?
When the camera takes a normal flash photo it sets a fairly high shutter speed e.g. between 1/60th and 1/250th of a second. The camera adjusts the flash output to provide enough light according to the aperture in use. You usually get a correctly exposed and sharp subject but with a dark background. If you take a photo on a lit street at night you will see points of light from street lamps, shop windows etc.
Slow sync flash (night mode on some cameras) sets a longer shutter speed e.g. between 1 and 3 seconds, it fires the flash but leaves the shutter open so that more light falls on the sensor/film to give more detail in the background. If you re-take the same night time street shot as above you should now get a sharp subject and be able to see details in the pavement etc. - though if you or your subject move after the flash has gone off and before the shutter closes you will see some motion blurring.
The trick is to use the motion blur above to good effect. Try panning as someone walks or cycles past, you should get a sharp image as the flash goes off followed by some interesting streaks showing their motion. Its a bit hit and miss so you may have to take quite a few shots before chance delivers one that is just right !
te51cle said:
I like no. 5 from Mrs Fish too but a lower angle and more frontal view would be more engaging - trouble is if you start rolling around on the floor at their eye level they'll become more interested in you than the box. Maybe a favourite episode of tellytubbies or a video game (for older children of, say, about 35 years!) would be sufficiently distracting ?
The chances of that shot ever happening again is almost none, the two younger ones are now walking and never sit still. That shot was pure fluke in the first place
So what are the best from the other shots?
euhhh.. taken with the crappy camera:
Singing to the mother of the bride (whose face is a good definition of bliss - it was a heartfelt song and frankly some of us could have cried with it
these two are quite occupied dancing Sevillanas, unfortunately not a hope in hell of catching their faces
Singing to the mother of the bride (whose face is a good definition of bliss - it was a heartfelt song and frankly some of us could have cried with it
these two are quite occupied dancing Sevillanas, unfortunately not a hope in hell of catching their faces
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