Critique Connie's (Clix Pix) 52 Week Project 2020 ------ AND IT'S A WRAP!!!! 53 WEEKS DONE!!!!

[bpdougd]

And here we go with Week 4's images!

I'm not the only one who likes to take photos of our resident geese:

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We've had a lot of cloudy, cold, yucky days lately so I decided to brighten things up a bit:

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Who's That Looking Back at Me?

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One of my first shots with my new 85mm f/1.8 lens:

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Inspired by an abstract in another thread, I decided it was time to play again with my iPhone and the slow-shutter app and have some fun with ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). The iPhone works really nicely for this, as it is much easier to handle than the camera.

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Holy anatidae, Batman. That's a lotta birds. The solo flower is my favorite. Very well done.

 

[Palouse]

Nice set, but my favorite is the reflection of the solo goose on the ice. It has a real and an abstract quality to it.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Doug! We've had a lot of geese on the lake this winter, but usually only about 50 or so at a time -- when we had about 150 of them one day I wondered if they were having a convention!

Yes, I like my solo yellow flower, too -- I have no idea of what it is, though. I picked up a small bunch (four of them: two red, two yellow) of them in the grocery store the other day but there was no convenient label giving them a name.

 

[Palouse]

Holy anatidae, Batman. That's a lotta birds.
[/QUOTE

My first thought, that's a lot of goose poop

 

[Clix Pix]

Nice set, but my favorite is the reflection of the solo goose on the ice. It has a real and an abstract quality to it.

Thanks Nick! Of all this week's images, yes, the goose is absolutely my favorite. I lucked out on my timing there, saw him walking tentatively on the ice and gazing down, pressed the back-button focus button and clicked the shutter....

Oh, yeah, we get a lot of goose poop on the walking trail that goes around part of the lake on the other side, as the geese can easily access it on their way to the grass where they like to hang out, too. When walking on that path, one really has to watch when stepping! Thankfully they don't get up on the boardwalk as often, so we don't have too much of an issue on this side of the lake.

 

[BillM]

Nice set Connie! The goose on the ice is my favorite too.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Bill! I had fun this past week using different lenses and different cameras as the mood or the situation struck me.... Some days I look out the window and see that a picture is just waiting for me to grab the camera, or other days when there's little action going on out on the lake, I look around to see what might be interesting to shoot indoors at home. When the weather finally warms up again I'll be spending more time away from home and outdoors.

 

[Binnur]

I really like the burst of yellow.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Binnur! It's been a cheery presence in the house during this period of gloomy, overcast days of winter!

 

[Clix Pix]

Here we are at the end of Week 5 already! Wow, time goes fast when you're having fun!

Weather has been kind of blah this past week, so I've been doing more tabletop/macro, and this particular shot was something which turned out quite differently than my initial intentions:

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On the one sunny day we did have, I got out on the deck with the 200-600mm and had a happy time with the Hooded Mergansers, including this little guy:

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When at the grocery store reaching for a package of mushrooms, I spotted these unusual looking Oyster Mushrooms, and brought home a package of them, too, to photograph. I did eat them later, and they're good!

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On another forum (MacRumors) someone started showing images of "Bubble planet" macros, which are fascinating, and he told us how to accomplish this. Well, I haven't had much luck yet with getting his kind of results but I did manage this shot, which I found rather interesting and colorful.

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[BillM]

Nice work Connie! I cannot decide on a favorite yet.

 

[Palouse]

A nice varied set, Connie. The mushroom one is very well done.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Bill and Nick! For me choosing the favorite of the week was a no-brainer this time, but yeah, I'm rather partial to them all, of course.

 

[kilofoxtrott]

Connie, the mushroom shot is excellent.
But I have to say, I like the others too.

Kind regards
Klaus

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Klaus! Yes, those Oyster mushrooms are interesting looking and I took a few different shots but liked this one the best. They're pretty tasty to eat, too!

 

[Gordo]

Wow - I am seriously behind!

Week 3 - love the water droplet shots!

Week 4 - the goose on the ice takes the cake.

Week 5 - the mushroom and the bubble planet are very cool.

 

[Binnur]

I too like the mushroom shot. I can't guess your subject in #1. The Bubble Planet looks very colorful.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, Binnur! The subject in the first shot.....well, it is an acrylic envelope sorter that is meant for use on a desk. I spotted it in an office supply store and was immediately intrigued by its shape, reflectivity and iridescence, so bought it and brought it home for experimentation. That first shot is what resulted!

 

[Binnur]

Thanks, Binnur! The subject in the first shot.....well, it is an acrylic envelope sorter that is meant for use on a desk. I spotted it in an office supply store and was immediately intrigued by its shape, reflectivity and iridescence, so bought it and brought it home for experimentation. That first shot is what resulted!

It has an interesting shape, I would never guess..

 

[BLX]

My very first photo of 2020 -- shot with the iPhone as I watched TV when the crystal ball descended and landed, the confetti started flying around and the US welcomed in 2020:

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Happy New Year ?

Couldn't resist picking up this lovely rose today while at the grocery store:

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Wonderful close-up

OK, rather than waiting until tomorrow to share this past week's results, I'm posting four images today:

This one is a new and improved version of one I posted on the "Transitions" thread in the Collective Shoot. I chose an image that had been shot just a couple of moments prior to the one that was in the
CC, as the light was a little better, not quite as dark yet, and also I spent some time working with the DXO Prime noise removal tool, which now that I have discovered it, is amazing!


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Last winter and again this winter we have had some resident Hooded Mergansers, and I've been fascinated by them. Usually I haven't been able to get decent shots because they are skittish and go racing away when they sense potential danger. One reason I wanted that 200-600mm lens is to see if I would have better luck capturing images of these guys. Finally one day we had sunshine and decent weather and I went out on the deck with the new lens in hand. I was surprised that the little guys didn't immediately go swimming off, but instead remained where they were, pretty much in front of me and in the middle of the lake. Nonetheless they were still a challenge and I did have to do some cropping, but at least with the A7R IV and this new lens I got much better results than I ever had previously.

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One day last week which was cold and icky I spent indoors and that is the time to pull out the macro lens and start experimenting. The flower with which the leaves came had already seen better days but the leaves looked pretty good so I pulled out the light box and had some fun. I love the results one can get when shooting something from underneath it, and in this case, by actually putting the leaf directly on the light source.


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Yesterday's warm weather was a real gift, and we all enjoyed it -- humans and geese! I spent a happy hour and a half or so out on the boardwalk with the 135mm and the geese, who at times were really close as they were feeding. I got a couple of fun shots of heads dunking into the water and emerging from the water, but this image is the one which stands out to me because of that water drop and the reflection.....

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OK, folks, here we go with what I shot in Week 3..... As you'll see, I was trying something new in terms of macro and abstracts but also still appreciating my birdies......

First up, the Brown Hooded Mergansers. I haven't yet figured out if they're females while the black-and-white ones are males or if they're two different types of Hooded Mergansers...... This was kind of a "grab shot" when I caught them in good light.

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I've always been fascinated by those wonderful photos we see of drops and reflections in the drops, so this week after obtaining a bottle of glycerine I set out to explore the possibilities. Heh, it's harder than it seems! One has to be careful that the drops don't drip so fast that they aren't there for the image and also that whatever is being reflected is OK, and not showing something unwanted. This was the result of my first attempts.

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The other day when at the grocery store I bought something which will eventually prove to be useful around the house but in the meantime my first thought was, "hey, this could be fun to shoot!" and I dropped it into the shopping cart. Experimented with it and, yep, had a lot of fun. This was the best of the images that resulted.....

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In an abstract frame of mind..... I've had this thing a long time and when doing some cleaning-out of a drawer the other day, ran across it and thought, "oh, yeah...." So spent a little time with it under natural lighting in "Studio A," which is my bedroom with the wonderful windows that allow in lots of sunshine and bright light -- perfect when I then at times use the dresser that sits under those windows as my work surface for positioning small subjects.

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So while I was in "Studio A" this afternoon, I did some shots with a different subject and while they are OK, they really were not quite what I wanted, so later today I went to "Studio B," which is my dining table with space for various props and lighting sources as needed..... Spent another hour or so shooting again and in the end, this was the result with which I am most happy:

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.....And that's it for Week 3!!

Fantastic series here - I'm already a fan of your close-ups

And here we go with Week 4's images!

I'm not the only one who likes to take photos of our resident geese:

View attachment 1654220

We've had a lot of cloudy, cold, yucky days lately so I decided to brighten things up a bit:

View attachment 1654221

Who's That Looking Back at Me?

View attachment 1654222

One of my first shots with my new 85mm f/1.8 lens:

View attachment 1654223


Inspired by an abstract in another thread, I decided it was time to play again with my iPhone and the slow-shutter app and have some fun with ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). The iPhone works really nicely for this, as it is much easier to handle than the camera.

View attachment 1654224

Cool shot of the duck reflecting in the ice
That last one - WOWf

Here we are at the end of Week 5 already! Wow, time goes fast when you're having fun!

Weather has been kind of blah this past week, so I've been doing more tabletop/macro, and this particular shot was something which turned out quite differently than my initial intentions:

View attachment 1654630

On the one sunny day we did have, I got out on the deck with the 200-600mm and had a happy time with the Hooded Mergansers, including this little guy:

View attachment 1654631

When at the grocery store reaching for a package of mushrooms, I spotted these unusual looking Oyster Mushrooms, and brought home a package of them, too, to photograph. I did eat them later, and they're good!

View attachment 1654632

On another forum (MacRumors) someone started showing images of "Bubble planet" macros, which are fascinating, and he told us how to accomplish this. Well, I haven't had much luck yet with getting his kind of results but I did manage this shot, which I found rather interesting and colorful.

View attachment 1654633

You did a fantastic job on that last one - well done!