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Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
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Normally I like to post more technical challenges. With many people cooped up I think we could all use a little celebration.

Feel free to interpret the challenge how you see fit. A photo of that rare 2020 event - a party, a celebration of life, or perhaps the celebration of a cup of tea on a warm summer morning. Most importantly have some fun with it.


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Standard rules apply.

Follow all relevant local laws regarding stay-at-home orders. If you can't go outside, try and take a photo at home or grab one from the archives.
  • Do not comment, vote, react or click “like” on images prior to the winners being announced.
  • The photographs must be your own work.
  • You may only submit one photo per contest.
  • This contest runs for one week. If in doubt, check the dates in the title.
  • At the end of the week, The Judge will choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as possible.
  • If the Judge is unable to complete the selection within 48 hours of the deadline, then last week's 2nd place has to step in. 3rd place takes over should 2nd place be similarly unable to officiate.
  • The 1st place Winner will start a new thread with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the Judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create a new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).
  • Be sure to update the Contest Master List as soon as you post a new theme.
 
Feel free to interpret the challenge how you see fit. A photo of that rare 2020 event - a party, a celebration of life, or perhaps the celebration of a cup of tea on a warm summer morning. Most importantly have some fun with it.

Will you please clarify if having been taken in 2020 is one of the requirements.
 
The summer before my son turned 7 we took a beach vacation and chartered an inshore fishing trip for the first time. We didn't really catch much, but I think we did catch enough for a small dinner (that might have been the next year; we don't have a great track record 😂). However, my son was the first on the boat to catch a fish, and much to his delight the captain gave him a dollar to celebrate the first catch of the day. This was taken with my old GoPro Hero 3+.

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That's what I thought but was confused when you said "That rare 2020 event."
I understand the confusion.

The picture of our micro burn in the original post is the first time I've been out and about since the middle of March. I needed that. ;)
 
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Well yesterday didn't happen. So here's the rundown. I'm trying a different method (for me), hopefully the quotes work OK.

The Independence Day fireworks we did not have this year.

Fireworks are fun, and the sense of cheer, celebration, community, and excitement were sorely missed this year. Hopefully next year.

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Instead of the big shells you got the little sparklies. It is a nice abstract capture. I would stamp out a few of the random spots and smudges at the bottom around the smoke trail.

The angle of the trails makes it look like a dandelion caught in a breeze and lit by golden hour sunlight.

The summer before my son turned 7 we took a beach vacation and chartered an inshore fishing trip for the first time. We didn't really catch much, but I think we did catch enough for a small dinner (that might have been the next year; we don't have a great track record 😂). However, my son was the first on the boat to catch a fish, and much to his delight the captain gave him a dollar to celebrate the first catch of the day. This was taken with my old GoPro Hero 3+.

View attachment 957027
The image really tells a story. I would like to see it cropped a bit tighter to remove most of the hand and cushion in along the bottom. Maybe drop the highlights a touch and bring up the brightness and blacks to give it a bit more punch.

It is a great capture that shows pure joy.

I'm gonna go more out of left-field, maybe, depends on who sees it and their response I guess. For me this is one of the highest celebrations of the human form and life from that perspective, movement. I'd also include dance, music, the arts in general in this category of 'Celebration'.

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Really nice capture, it forces the viewer to take a second look. The subject is nice and crisp, you have good focus and a fast enough shutter to freeze the action.

It is a bit busy for me. His hair tends to merge with the rock in color and texture but still has separation.

Okay okay. 2 things to celebrate: my daughter‘s 9th birthday, and the birth of another photographer. :)
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A nice concept image. The B&W conversion is well done although I might reduce the levels on her right hand a bit (and/or adjust the contrast). If you reduce the hand you might be able to bring up the blacks and whites for a bit more depth.

The hat keeps drawing my eye away but a tighter crop would lose the story. Overall it is a pleasing image.

PhD dissertation defense oral presentation successfully completed! She can breath now!
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What an accomplishment! It is a nice candid moment but the hand on the right border makes it feel like a snapshot. You can't crop it out without cropping too tightly into the gentleman's head. A half step to the left would give a cleaner angle and you would still be able to catch the writing on the chalkboard.

It is a photo she can look back on years from now and smile.

My little girl turned 5 in February. Little did we know what lay ahead for the year back then...

View attachment 959801

A wonderful moment captured. The warm glow of the candle is a nice contrast to the natural light. I'm not a fan of the artificial bokeh as it isn't right. For example, the man's head gets more in focus further away from the focal plain. I get what you were trying to do but to do it right you would need to mask out the hair and blur the entire background. I would probably remove the blur from the hands unless you continue it across the entire foreground.

---

Well done everybody. I truly enjoyed this week's round of images. I'm a bit torn on placement but in the end the confetti fell as follows.

Third goes to deep diver with the excellently abstract dandelion.

Second has been awarded to mollyc for the lovely expression of joy.

Standing tall upon the podium this week is Apple_Glen_UK with the wonderful candlelit entry.

Thank you all for participating and may the remainder of 2020 find you in good health and good spirits.


EDIT: Well the quotes didn't work quite as expected. While editing everything there was a nice thumbnail of each image. Next time I'll have to remember how I have done this before. (If there is a next time. ;) )
 
Thanks for the mention! This was shot with a jpeg only GoPro and it is edited about as much as it could be without being over-processed. 🙂 but honestly I’ve never noticed that errant hand there be! 😂
 
Thanks for the podium. It is a great topic ans sadly timely. Apple_Glen_UK had this one from the second he posted. I love the emotion of the image.

Laird Knox -- there will be a next time, especially now that you said something. ;)
 
Thanks Jeff @Laird Knox for an interesting themed round and the observations. Congratulations to @Apple_Glen_UK for a lovely celebratory image. Well done to all that threw an entry into the ring.

Really nice capture, it forces the viewer to take a second look. The subject is nice and crisp, you have good focus and a fast enough shutter to freeze the action.

It is a bit busy for me. His hair tends to merge with the rock in color and texture but still has separation.

This was at a community fun day celebrating the launch of the Parkour Park a couple of blocks away from home. It was the result of public grants given out by the state government and the tireless efforts of some vocal and enthusiastic locals. I was asked to document this with photo's on the day, so for that purpose it's quite appropriate to show the neighbours places and the murals there as it sets context, but I agree with you that for this themes purpose, a bit more clarity/simplicity and separation would have been more effective. What you can't see is the rows of young kids immediately in front of me and the hordes of adults to the left and right!

I remember being surprised at the old Canon 6D Mk I's performance with tracking and achieving good focus for this sort of thing! I had only ever used it for architecture, landscapes, macro and the very odd spot of birding prior to this.

As a result of this particular image I changed tact for the movement module assessment piece for the Diploma of photography I was studying and arranged to have time documenting people doing parkour in the city. That was much more interesting than simply panning as a car, bike or scooter went past! I've been fascinated by the human form in movement since my late teens when I worked as a technician and stage/production manager in the theatre and do see this as a celebration of life.
 
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For my above entry, the B&W conversion was made by Olympus—I shot in monochrome. :) It’s her first camera, a DMC-S1 that didn’t cost me much. Good thing, as she’s ”misplaced” it a few times already, and it’s been cracked into a few rocks on our recent trip.
 
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