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Assignment 4 - 'Insanity of Humanity' or 'Metal'
- Thread starter Applespider
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andiwm2003
macrumors 601
Applespider said:
the original rules said "5. A member may submit a maximum of one (1) artwork per assignment." (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/163036/)
but i'm happy with a few more pics. especially since i have no good idea for this assignments yet.😱
andiwm2003
macrumors 601
jared_kipe
macrumors 68030
I like it, simple.OutThere said:
Oh and I vote for no more 2 topic thing. Everyone just does metal and doesn't try for the primary goal.
neut
macrumors 68000
jared_kipe said:
Everyone? 😉
Here's my second submission:
Combined I. of H. and metal ... this photo (and my previous submission) were shot at the local dump. 🙄 Everything that we are ends up at the dump ... we leave it up to birds, rodents, and bacteria to clean it up for us. 😡
That's my daughter in the shot. 🙂 It was our first time to the local dump; it was an eye opening experience. If you throw things away ... you really should see where it ends up. 🙁
peace | neut
Clix Pix
macrumors Penryn
jared_kipe said:
The reason this turned into two topics was because it was a tie and the simplest solution was to allow people to choose which they wanted to depict. Since "metal" is a heckuva lot easier than "Insanity of Humanity," it's not surprising that there are more images showing it. Maybe next time people will learn not to vote for something which sounds cool but which in reality is difficult to actually photograph.
jared_kipe
macrumors 68030
Did you add the vignetting? It seems severe and from the DOF I would guess it was shot at a medium to high aperture so there shouldn't really be any vignetting. It is lovely though, what lens? If its a 35mm film body I'd guess around 24-28mmneut said:
EDIT: I guess by the aspect ratio it probably isn't 35mm film or a Canon or Nikon dSLR. Maybe an olympus 4/3 system?
jared_kipe
macrumors 68030
OutThere
macrumors 603
So, any conclusion on whether or not I can enter a second photo? I'd like to poke around and put up an "Insanity of Humanity" entry.
I personally think that the easier and more broad a topic is, the better shots we'll end up seeing, as people have a better time finding and setting up shots of, say, metal, than the insanity of humanity, so the time is spent getting really good looking shots instead of trying to find something to take a picture of in the first place...
I personally think that the easier and more broad a topic is, the better shots we'll end up seeing, as people have a better time finding and setting up shots of, say, metal, than the insanity of humanity, so the time is spent getting really good looking shots instead of trying to find something to take a picture of in the first place...
Clix Pix
macrumors Penryn
jared_kipe said:
Not necessarily.... I think we've seen some pretty good images of "metal" so far.
Unfortunately, unless one of us just happens to be on the scene when someone runs amok or does some crazy thing like Michael Jackson dangling his kid from a balcony, I would suspect that we're just not going to get that many creative or great depictations of the rather vague topic "Insanity of Humanity."
Clix Pix
macrumors Penryn
OutThere said:
Yes, you can enter a second shot -- hey, I entered two of "metal!" I guess I really should delete one of those...
Definitely you make a very good and accurate point vis-a-vis the topic and depicting images.... Certainly if I can be somewhere and spot something which i think will be fun to photograph, knowing it fits the topic, and can spend a little time with trying the shot from different perspectives, etc., that is much more rewarding in the end if I bring home a good shot rather than wasting a lot of time trying to figure out what the heck to shoot to fulfill a nebulous and vague topic assignment.
Abstract
macrumors Penryn
I have submitted 2 photos to "Insanity of Humanity," and none towards "Metal", so it can't be THAT hard. To me, "Insanity of Humanity" refers to humanity's need to do senseless things that put their lives in danger, or just make no sense whatsoever. What feeling of accomplishment is there for some of the things we do.
My submission had a pair of shoes dangling from power lines. Why? Why would someone spend so much time doing that? It's a hard thing to do.
My 2nd photo for this assignment is below, also for "Insanity of Humanity." Hey, everyone else is doing it! 😉 Not as sharp as I'd like (at all), but it was taken with only my 18-55 mm Nikkor kit lens with me, and these guys were moving FAAAAAST. I manually focused the entire time since they were always moving closer and farther away from me. It was the 1st time I absolutely had to manual focus. Very difficult. I couldn't tell whether he was in focus or not quickly enough. 130 shots of these guys, and around 10 of them ended up this good, and it isn't even "great." 🙄 Everything ended up really blurry and dark at 55mm, so I was forced to use my lense between 18-30 mm just so I could shoot at f/3.5-4.5 rather than at f/5.6. A little bit of light goes a long way when they're moving this fast.
It was a crazy display, especially when they fell off. 😱 I wish I had a faster mid-range or telephoto lens with me. The size of the "bowl" (don't know what it's called) was very deep, so sometimes they were close, and sometimes they were far away. They moved up and down that bowl-thingy, so I just waited til he got close.
My submission had a pair of shoes dangling from power lines. Why? Why would someone spend so much time doing that? It's a hard thing to do.
My 2nd photo for this assignment is below, also for "Insanity of Humanity." Hey, everyone else is doing it! 😉 Not as sharp as I'd like (at all), but it was taken with only my 18-55 mm Nikkor kit lens with me, and these guys were moving FAAAAAST. I manually focused the entire time since they were always moving closer and farther away from me. It was the 1st time I absolutely had to manual focus. Very difficult. I couldn't tell whether he was in focus or not quickly enough. 130 shots of these guys, and around 10 of them ended up this good, and it isn't even "great." 🙄 Everything ended up really blurry and dark at 55mm, so I was forced to use my lense between 18-30 mm just so I could shoot at f/3.5-4.5 rather than at f/5.6. A little bit of light goes a long way when they're moving this fast.
It was a crazy display, especially when they fell off. 😱 I wish I had a faster mid-range or telephoto lens with me. The size of the "bowl" (don't know what it's called) was very deep, so sometimes they were close, and sometimes they were far away. They moved up and down that bowl-thingy, so I just waited til he got close.
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Abstract
macrumors Penryn
Applespider said:
Normally, I'm not that big on rules (look everyone.....I'm double-posting!!). I actually like things to be loose, but I don't want to see someone submit 2 photos from the same set of photos (eg: more than one from the dump). Pick your BEST shot for the topic.
Maybe we should make a 2 photo limit for the assignment thread, and a 2 photo limit for the "Photos Taken before April 2006, But Happen To Fit The Assignment Topic" thread. However, maybe the rule should also state that the photos cannot be of the same subject, nor can any of them be from the same set of photos. Again, I don't wanna see 5 photos from the same set just because you think they're all good enough. Sorry. 😱
Abstract said:
That's kinda what I meant. You can have more than one entry for an assignment but not of the same subject - whether it's the dump, a high street or whatever. But if you want to take pictures of two entirely different subjects then it's OK. In this case, I think the dump fence shot and the dump shot are different enough that you could say they were taken in different places.
Clix Pix
macrumors Penryn
Applespider said:
What about the two images I submitted, then? Technically they're both of the same subject, taken from different perspectives to point up things in a different way....one being more of a macro zooming in on the metal bits than the other. I'd be happy to delete one, easy enough to do....
One thing I look for in submissions is not only if the photo addresses whatever the topic is, but also creativity and technical excellence. Also, if the viewer looks at an image and says, "nice....but what IS it?" then in my opinion that doesn't fulfill the assignment. If a viewer looks at an image and thinks that it could look better with some judicious cropping or that it needs to be better exposed, then IMHO it is not making the grade as far as technical excellence. There is a difference between "snapshots" and good photography.
One thing we do need to remember here, though, is that MacRumors itself is NOT a photography site and that even within this forum devoted to digital photography we have all levels of photography know-how and skill sets, all levels of camera gear, and many people who are just jumping into digital imaging for the first time.
What exactly is our goal here with these assignments? I'm beginning to think that perhaps Chip has the right idea, that we need to maybe set them up so that someone can submit something and specifically ask for "words" -- help and critiques -- or specify that he/she is just sharing, no commentary requested. I also think that it might be good to actually vote on images at the end of the time period. Right now there is no great incentive to post images because there is not that much commentary provided or final ranking and we've spent more time arguing over the topics than really expressing appreciation for the work we've seen! Maybe we should vote for the top two or three images at the end of the time period while we're deciding on the next topic? Most photography sites do this, have an actual competition (or several) each month or within a given time period and that really seems to motivate people into getting out there with their cameras and shooting. Some sites actually have a POTD (Photo of the Day) POTW (Photo of the Week) or POTM (Photo of the Month).
Abstract
macrumors Penryn
Then from what you're saying, we shouldn't be able to submit more than one shot. "Technical excellence," after all. We should only be able to submit ONE photograph if this were a real monthly contest, and if we're going to rank them at the end of each contest period, that means 1 photo submitted per month, no more. It might also mean that the contest is very slow until the end, since nobody will submit anything in case they get a better idea or better shot later. It really depends on what your aim is.
And with regards to what is submitted, I don't think it has to be "technically excellent, which was one of your criteria. It just has to be creative, which was your other criteria. That doesn't mean it has to be taken at a weird angle that nobody else would have thought of. However, it does mean coming up with something that fits the assignment that nobody thought to take. That's sort of why I took the photo with the shoes hanging from the power lines. You're the one person who kind of missed the point, but it was kind of a funny pic for "Insanity of Humanity."
@Clix Pix: You asked about your 2 submissions. If it was solely up to me to decide whether both photos are different enough to count, I'd say "No". They're of the exact same thing, regardless of angle. I think if you're going to take a photo of the same thing, you need to pick which one is best. There are lots of angles and possible ways to photograph that rack, but you can't submit them all, or arguably, you can't even submit 2.
And with regards to what is submitted, I don't think it has to be "technically excellent, which was one of your criteria. It just has to be creative, which was your other criteria. That doesn't mean it has to be taken at a weird angle that nobody else would have thought of. However, it does mean coming up with something that fits the assignment that nobody thought to take. That's sort of why I took the photo with the shoes hanging from the power lines. You're the one person who kind of missed the point, but it was kind of a funny pic for "Insanity of Humanity."
@Clix Pix: You asked about your 2 submissions. If it was solely up to me to decide whether both photos are different enough to count, I'd say "No". They're of the exact same thing, regardless of angle. I think if you're going to take a photo of the same thing, you need to pick which one is best. There are lots of angles and possible ways to photograph that rack, but you can't submit them all, or arguably, you can't even submit 2.
neut
macrumors 68000
andiwm2003 said:
That's a cool image. 🙂
Is it just me or is the focus right in front of the subject? May i ask how you setup your subject?
Clix - i like your fence image. The abstracted higlight is cool and the subltle spider webbing is a nice touch. 🙂
*****
Aren't we taking this MR pic assign. a bit too serous? 😛
peace | neut
andiwm2003
macrumors 601
neut said:
the picture was taken through a microscope. unfortunately the lenses of microscopes have a very low depth of field and not way to set the aperture.
the focus is actually right at the ball. you can see the other microscope objectives as reflection on the balls surface.
unfortunately the pic lost some sharpness and quality after conversion to jpeg.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then can we stop talking about what to submit and see more pictures posted? 😀
sjl
macrumors 6502
Bing. That's exactly what I was thinking of when I made the suggestion. Some of the things I thought could fit into that category were:Abstract said:
- open cut coal mines
- landfills
- long queues of rush hour traffic
- litter in drains or rivers
There's plenty of scope within that particular topic for shots to display photographic skill, and also to point out the problems in today's society. I hoped it would make people think as well. Ok, I'm something of a greenie -- so sue me. 😀
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