Hi all,

The theme for round 3 of the photo competition is:

'Shape, Form and Texture'

What does this mean?

Take photographs which show the tangible qualities of an object. For example, try to highlight the roughness of a weather-beaten brick wall, or the clean, shiny surface of a glass vessel. Photograph the straightness of a fence, or a pier, or a row of cabbages. Photograph the smooth curves of a car, or a spring, or a blade of grass. Photograph the roundness of a ball or the sharpness of a knife. Show what an object is like.

It's a slightly tricky subject I know, so I've posted some example shots to give some ideas here (http://www.cawte.nildram.co.uk/Round3Samples/). These are just a few of my ideas, not competition entries. Feel free to use these ideas yourself or come up with your own.

I chose this theme because I wanted to encourage us all to use the camera in a new way, without necessarily requiring the use of expensive equipment. Imagination and the ability to 'see' an image are key here. Good luck everyone, please post your entries here (http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/showthread.php?t=293372)

Put me down for the cabbages ;)

Away we go then

First entry is up.


WizzBang

couple up from me too, although i may change them, stuck indoors at moment but do have some ideas for when it stops raining ;)

Si

Good topic Andy,

Good pics so far :D

Darren

For my last picture of the tree entitle blurrrr I was wondering wether people think I should post a sharper picture, I quite like the blured look, but for the the topic would it be better to post a more defined image?

Ian

I'm going to redo my woof woof one for similar reasons, it's slightly blurred due to being a hand held shot so out comes the tripod or better weather :D

Si

Ian, what is your ching picture of? Can't work it out :rolleyes::D

It is a glass pen and pencil holder

Managed to get a rather cool lighting effect when I turned the lights off and covered the flash with my finger.

http://www.millerfamily99.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mini-bloodred.jpg

[Edited by ianmiller999 - 1/20/2004 9:22:15 PM]

Just wondering how many pictures people take for each competition so far I have taken 44 pictures and only 1 of them can I say I am happy with.

I bet you could get some nice effects with light shining through that. Got any laser/neon style lights lying around? :)

My last pics, I took two shots of the water and about 10 shots of the lava lamp.

I took a few shots but they came out blurred because of camera shake and my lack of knowledge. I only have casio qv r4. I will post some more of my efforts here later. And maybe re try taking the lighting effects 1s. Got plenty of time to do it in lol.

http://www.millerfamily99.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mini-PhotoCompetition21.jpg
http://www.millerfamily99.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mini-PhotoCompetition22.jpg



[Edited by ianmiller999 - 1/20/2004 9:46:24 PM]

Hanslow

I fire of atleast 40 plus shots for each one that i post :eek: thank god for 1 gig micro drives :D

Si

I was wondering if other people thought it may be a good idea to start another thread for people to post there pictures which they did not want to post for there competition 2?

I've taken somewhere between 30 and 50 frames for each of my recent competition entries. Some are test shots to gauge lighting and exposure, some are taken with varying apertures to get the depth of field right, and some are just plain failed attempts at the final image.

With the last round being 'motion', I've had a higher failure rate than usual - I have versions of 'falling' in which the walnut hasn't yet hit the water or where it's dropped all the way through the frame. I have out-takes of 'endgame' in which the king had already fallen over when the shutter fired, or in which it wobbled a bit but didn't fall over, or in which it just skidded across the board rather than toppling as it should.

Trial and error is part of the process. The nice thing about digital is that it's free - so experiment and enjoy :)

Ian: good idea. Click! (http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?ThreadID=293722)

James

Beautiful Gecko :)

Si

As there anyone doign the contests on film (apart from dba)?

If you are taking 40-50 shots per 1 picture submitted thats 2 rolls of film:eek: and processing at £6 each :eek:. The wonders of digital :)

Darren

Darren

Bob T uses film aswell :)

Part of the reason i fire off so many is because i don't know what i'm doing :D so i bracket shots and see what comes out best, i'd imagine the more you do it the less shots you fire, but with digital it really doesn't matter :D

I'd be interested to know the other difficulies they might face in regards to medium choice.

Si

I'll try and fish out my toad picture later, which unfortunately I can't enter as it was taken a couple of years ago. Looks very nobbly though ;)

I stand corrected :)

Whilst we are on topic. Does anyone have an EOS 30 (EOS Elan 7E (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=206441&is=USA))?
I considering ordering one when I'm over im the states instead of getting a second hand UK body.

Darren

Here's Mr Toad :) He was only about 3 inches long sat outside our backdoor one summers night :)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve.hanslow/Toad.jpg

On the full size image, you can really see his nobbles :eek::D

[Edited by Hanslow - 1/21/2004 8:07:23 AM]

Ayers Rock, I was trying to get the straightness and smoothness of the chain vs the rough rock. Canon Ixus I

http://www.gregh.co.uk/jpegs/ayersrock.jpg

Camera Model Name
Canon DIGITAL IXUS
Shooting Date/Time
15/01/2004 09:58:49
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/250
Av( Aperture Value )
7.1
Image Size
1200x1600
Flash
Off


[Edited by gregh - 1/21/2004 9:06:39 AM]

Darren: I have the EOS 33, which is the same as the 30 but without the eye controlled focus. Given that I wear glasses (so it's unlikely to work), and only has 7 focus points anyway, I figured that the much cheaper 33 was the better bet. It's a very decent camera - solid, quick to focus and offers all the control you might need. It resembles the D30/D60/10D quite closely. Is there anything specific you wanted to know about?

Owing to its rather limited display capability, though, custom functions are clumsy to set - you'll need to have the manual to hand to remember which is which. Mirror lock-up and 1st/2nd curtain flash sync are set this way.

Excellent shot gregh :)

As a point of interest, those people who have submitted entries what kind of rights management do you have employed. There are some really nice shots here which I could use in some of my design work. I'd be interested in using some of those (with permission of course!)

Also a site which some of you might find interesting if you want to make a bit of cash (albiet small change) from your photys. iStock (http://www.istockphoto.com/). I often source images from here and have to pay for each one I use, the site makes some money and so does the photographer. For the more advanced photographers there is also iStockPro (http://www.istockpro.com/) This is a pro site with proper money being changed hands for rights managed photos.

Angrynorth has a point.

But might I suggest www.alamy.com (http://www.alamy.com) instead?

Why?

Because they're based in the UK, which is nice, and I can vouch for the fact that they get pictures sold.

Either way, though, some of the shots in these threads have real commercial value. So why not make the most of it? Goes towards that PPP or even the next set of tyres...

SB

Fair point about commercial value. Selling photos, protecting rights and policing usage is an horrendous can of worms that I try to avoid wherever possible - but then again I'm not trying to make a living out of photography! My personal view (as an amateur photographer producing images just for the pleasure of it) is that 'copyright' is actually a dirty word, bandied around by large corporations looking for ways to fix prices and rip people off. Maybe that view would change if I started producing IP for a living. (Actually I do - I'm an electronic engineer - but that's beside the point).

Angrynorth: I'm sure that if you were to contact the photographers directly they'd be happy to discuss terms. Personally I've looked into charging for photos and decided that - by the letter of the law (tax, self-employment, insurance etc) - it's way too much hassle unless there's a lot of money involved.

Cheers Andy, I have saved thumbnails with usernames of photos that have interested me that I can see using in the future. When the time comes that I think a picture would fit I will contact the photographer.

Its worth remembering though, that once you have taken a photo, it is your intellectual property and therefore covered by copyright law immediatley. If I were to use an image without paying or letting the photographer know, I would be liable to copyright law and charges.

You should protect what you have created. I know how bad it feels when you do something really nice and then see some cheap b a s t a r dized version of it elsewhere. images/smilies/mad.gif

I suggested iStock because the amounts you make per photo are only big enough for beer money and therefore *techincally* don't need to worry about taxes etc. (That is unless you are selling squillions of images on there.)

Edit because I can't believe I can't say b a s t a r d i z e d

[Edited by angrynorth - 1/21/2004 10:30:02 AM]

hey,i still use film!! Neopan C41 in a Contax G1

ps great subject,and whats the close date?

[Edited by dba - 1/21/2004 11:12:38 AM]