Sunday, August 26, 2012

In Motion by Mike

I had to start with this (cropped) photo I took while at Jason's cabin.  I waited for a long time for the hummingbird to come back to get more shots.  In the end, one of my first shots was the best:

#1- Petroff Cabin at Lake Royal, ON  f/2.0  Shutter Speed: 1/160s  ISO400  50mm
#2 - Herb & Gloria's back yard in Winkler, MB  f/20 Shutter Speed: 0.6s  ISO100  28mm
#3 - Herb & Gloria's back yard in Winkler, MB  f/20 Shutter Speed: 0.6s  ISO100  21mm
 I adjusted the contrast and saturation in #3 above.  The original is below.  Which do you like better?


#4 - Herb & Gloria's back yard in Winkler, MB  f/7.1  Shutter Speed: 1/15s  ISO100  55mm
#5 - Crystal Crescent in Winkler, MB  f/29  Shutter Speed: 1/4s  ISO100  27mm
#6 - Winkler Park Playground  f/9.0  Shutter Speed: 1/20s  ISO100  18mm
#7 - Winkler Park Playground  f/5.6  Shutter Speed: 1/25s  ISO100  21mm
#8 - Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler, MB  f/5.6  Shutter Speed: 6s  ISO100  130mm 
#9 - Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler, MB  f/10  Shutter Speed: 20s  ISO100  75mm
#10 - Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler, MB  f/2.0  Shutter Speed: 2s  ISO100  50mm

6 comments:

  1. Mike, I really like the photos you did this week!
    #1 is a great capture! Very cool.

    For picture #3 I think I like the edited version better. Did you try different shutter speeds for this shot? It's a nice shot, just wondering how it would look if you used a similar shutter speed to photo #4?

    #6 is VERY cool! I want to try that kind of shot this week yet. Very fun. It's my favorite overall.

    #7 how difficult was that to take? I've never taken a successful swing picture. It's cool! :P

    #8 & #9 are so nice, Mike. I'm impressed. I like #8 better than #9.

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    1. Thanks Lisa, this assignment was really fun. I was worried at first that I wouldn't get any good shots, but I'm proud of what I managed to achieve with a bit of experimentation.

      For #3 and #4, I did experiment with various shutter speeds and these two were the best of the bunch for sure. With a faster shutter speed, I found the photos much less interesting and with a longer shutter speed, you couldn't even tell it was Ellie in the photo.

      #6 was painful. I absolutely hate spinning rides, so spending several minutes on that thing was not much fun. Made me sick to my stomach. But the results are cool. I got several more shots that were also worthy of publishing, but I reached my 10 pic limit.

      I forgot to mention that I cropped #7. That shot was taken using the panning technique. It's so difficult to get the face in focus, but I coached Ellie to try not to move her head as she was swinging. That helped me get her face in relatively good focus, despite the slow shutter speed. I also tried a bunch where I was on the adjacent swing trying to match my swing cadence with Ellie, but none of those turned out very well. With more practice though, I think it could work.

      Re: #8 & #9, Karla said the same thing: #8 is better. I got some really nice photos of that fountain from far away, where you can see the whole fountain, but then the streaming water is much less prominent and the picture doesn't really fit the "In Motion" theme as well. Be better for a "night shots" theme.

      I'd have no objection to doing an "In Motion Take 2" some time.

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  2. I think #7 is wicked awesome! I love the colour, the happy kid, the motion in the background and focus on the subject. Great shot!

    #6 is fun. I saw that idea on DPS and thought "hmmm, I wonder where I could find a merry-go-round in Winnipeg". I think they're illegal here :p Another great photo Mikey!

    #3 I like both saturation levels but I might like one in between even more :D I find the green in the edited photo over powering but I really like how the pink jumps out.

    #8 could be a postcard for Winkie town. It's not an especially beautiful fountain but your composition and exposure are right on!

    #5 were you riding on the back of a truck or how did you take that? I like that Ellie is such a willing participant in your photo assignment.

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  3. #7 - One of my favourites for sure.

    #6 - We happened to be at a gathering of Karla's friends at Winkler park, so when I spotted the merry-go-round I definitely had to try it out (saw the idea in DPS too).

    #3 - I'm partial to the adjusted photo. I'll have to try one somewhere in between and see how it looks though.

    #5 - This shot was actually done by zooming out during the exposure, similar to your English Garden photos (it seems we all tried this technique). I did it without a tripod and without really any tips on how to get a good shot like this. I hadn't even really read about this technique - I just thought of it on my own and tried it. I had Ellie run towards me and I tried to zoom out at a rate that would keep her the same size as she ran forward. Very tough to do obviously, as she's still pretty blurry. It definitely helps to keep the subject in the middle of the frame when using this technique.

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  4. #3 Is my fave. I do like the colours more saturated. I like the fluidity of the shot. It shows motion very well. The end result is very painterly ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/painterly?s=t ...see definition #2)

    #9 Is also good I think I like the composition better in it than in #8. I like how the water looks like it would feel fuzzy. I like fuzzy things.

    #7 Captures motion to a tee! plus Ellie's grin is almost infects. The exposure is great and your pan is dead on.

    #10 Is a stumper for me. I don't quite get it

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  5. I don't even really like #10 that much, but it was the only "night traffic" shot that I got during the assignment, plus I thought it was a bit, I don't know, mysterious. I was finished taking all the fountain shots and I quickly went over to this area where they have some wheat growing and I captured a single vehicle going across (the bright white streak are the headlights). Definitely the weakest of my offerings this week.

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