Shot of the Week February 2020 - Iggy Tavares

[Iggy]

S5-Shoot From Above - The Dancing Troupe

Shoot from above was this week’s challenge.
All sorts of ideas were racing through my head on how to fulfill this challenge within Croydon.
I had resigned myself having to go into London to the top floor of Guy’s Tower or maybe even the Shard.

On Tuesday night however, we attended the Croydon Mayor’s Chinese New Year’s Extravaganza in the Town Hall, raising funds for charity.
Here there was some nice entertainment, but it was difficult to get clear images from floor level for the feature in Croydon Advertiser.
Fortunately, I noticed that the hall had a narrow internal balcony running round the top of the hall.
I located the door to the balcony staircase and made my way upstairs for unrestricted view of the festivities.

My SOTW features a colourfully dressed troupe performing their dance routine.
I was lucky with the camera flash and the two candelabras satisfactorily lighting the scene.
Mission accomplished as far as I was concerned with a unique image from above.

[Iggy]

S6 - Rule of Thirds - Gull vs Mallard.

This week’s challenge was “Rule of Thirds”
On Friday I was passing a large pond in Dulwich surrounded by tall trees.
One does have to make the most of whatever is on offer.

It was quite a sunny afternoon which resulted in dark shadows on silvery water!
The usual wealth of water birds was sadly lacking.
I had come out unprepared with no bird food.
So I resorted to throwing tiny pebbles and twigs into the water.

This eventually brought out a pair of mallard ducks.
However, they were not prepared to hang around with no offering of food.
So I took a few quick shots of the male mallard that appeared as a dark blob.

Fortunately, a sea gull landed in the pond to investigate and its image was more discernible.
Just a little tidy up and the gull image was ready.

The mallard needed the curves adjusted to bring out the colours and a fair amount of tidy up.
Picked this technique up via a YouTube video!

Which image do you prefer?
Neither, is OK.

[Mike Farley]

Which image do you prefer?
Neither, is OK.

Hi Iggy

One is a duck shot and the other is similar, so you can guess my response.

It is encouraging to see that you are continuing with the set theme for each week.

[Franke07]

S6 - Rule of Thirds - Gull vs Mallard.

Which image do you prefer?
Neither, is OK.

Hi Iggy, you picked a rather challenging environment for this weeks shot - the contrast range is very large! Aesthetically the Mallard shot is more pleasing, despite the highlights. The gull by contrast is less so. Hope this is useful

[Iggy]

Thanks Mike & Frank.
Your comments are much appreciated and helpful too.
The intention is to work on the mallard duck image to make it more appealing overall.
Perhaps even on the gull image that I currently prefer.

I am rather enjoying this year's SOTW because of the challenge with the set task.

Need to sort out images for Nature Competition first!

Regards,
Iggy

[Iggy]

S6 - Rule of Thirds - Gull vs Mallard.
Finally tried a few modifications by lightening the right hand side on the duck.
Difficult to say if it is any better. I think it was to bright.

Hence:
New modified version this Saturday morning!

Another modification Sunday afternoon: Top highlight patched out roughly.

Must get on with images for Amateur Photographer and SLF Competition!

[Iggy]

S7 - Intentional colour palette - Colourful Attire

Apparently, the most popular pairings are orange & blue, red & green, and yellow & purple.
Pink & yellow go pretty well together too!
I like the way the head gear reflects her jumper and dress.
Lucky with the colours in the backdrop too.

[Mike Farley]

[quote="Iggy"]S6 - Rule of Thirds - Gull vs Mallard.
Finally tried a few modifications by lightening the right hand side on the duck.
Difficult to say if it is any better. I think it was to bright./quote]
The bright spot at the top of the second shotPart is a distraction. Presumably you left it in for a better fit with the rule of thirds theme? As Frank says, the lighting on the scene did not do you any favours.

[Mike Farley]

Apparently, the most popular pairings are orange & blue, red & green, and yellow & purple.
Pink & yellow go pretty well together too!
I like the way the head gear reflects her jumper and dress.
Lucky with the colours in the backdrop too.

A colourful shot, indeed. At first, I thought that there was a strange lighting effect on the model's face, but I think that is the unusual way she is made up. If this were mine, I would do some tonal adjustments to darken the girl's body and brighten the face. In particular, I would work on lightening the eyes and surrounding area, maybe adding some Clarity as well (if using Lightroom). It can make all the difference in a portrait. As it stands, the lighter areas are directing the eye's attention away from the girl's face, rather than towards it.

[Iggy]

Mike wrote:
If this were mine, I would do some tonal adjustments to darken the girl's body and brighten the face.
In particular, I would work on lightening the eyes and surrounding area, maybe adding some Clarity as well (if using Lightroom).
It can make all the difference in a portrait.
As it stands, the lighter areas are directing the eye's attention away from the girl's face, rather than towards it.

Thanks Mike for the helpful feedback.
It is surprising how one misses the obvious aberrations in ones images until it is pointed out.
The model on a catwalk had light catching white make up on her nose and one side of the chin.
Low light and her walking restricted the quality of the image.
I will try your suggestion out if I can in Photoshop and re-post later in the week.

Feedback is always welcome & much appreciated.
Iggy