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Author Topic: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color  (Read 3524 times)

amolitor

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Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« on: June 11, 2012, 09:22:57 am »

I don't normally shoot color, at least not for "serious" stuff, but I this seemed to turn out ok. Whatcha think?

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Rob C

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2012, 09:59:01 am »

I don't normally shoot color, at least not for "serious" stuff, but I this seemed to turn out ok. Whatcha think?






What do I think? I think you just missed Jackie Sparrow, that's what I think! Gotta sharpen those anticipatory reflexes!

;-)

Rob C

amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2012, 10:45:15 am »

One thing at a time, Rob, one thing at a time. First, Color. THEN wildlife photography!

On a more serious note, and I don't mean to suggest that you haven't got the right to post whatever you like, but I want to toss this out there. When you post one of your patented witty rejoinders, it's possible that you are in a way setting the tone. It's possible that, it seems to me, that people looking in here will see 'tee hee, it's an amusing thread' and perhaps join in, or move on (even I did!). It's possible, it seems to me, that this tends to cut off more serious critique.

I would count it a favor if you mulled it over a little, even if only to conclude that I am wrong.
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RSL

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2012, 11:08:07 am »

Come on, Andrew, Rob did his best to let you down easy, and instead of being grateful for his polite way of saying the picture should have been culled, you get on his case. Let's face it, this isn't a picture that calls for a "serious" response.
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amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2012, 11:18:51 am »

Wow, that's kind of a dick response there, RSL.

And also, completely wrong. Rob almost never makes serious responses, so his lack of serious response cannot reasonably taken to mean anything, AND I was extremely careful to not get on his case.

Are you being funny? If so, your humor flew right past me.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 11:20:36 am by amolitor »
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RSL

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2012, 11:55:08 am »

Flap, flap, flap... There goes Jackie Sparrow.
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Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2012, 01:29:12 pm »

I don't normally shoot color, at least not for "serious" stuff...

The beginning of the sentence sets the tone, don't you think? In other words, if you yourself do not "normally" take color shots seriously, why should we?

As for "more serious critique"... you seem quite good at it, why don't you tell us what is your own view of the image?

John R Smith

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2012, 01:48:52 pm »

Well, it's not a "jib", it's a bowsprit - or at least the very end of one. You have fallen into the trap which Rob C concisely detailed on a different thread (Red Waves). The only way in which we can approach this picture is as an abstract image, since the frame is so tight as to remove all the context of the rest of the ship. However, we cannot appreciate it as an abstract pattern or design, because the subject matter is still evident and obvious. And it fails as a satisfying image.

IMHO, of course  ;)

John
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 01:53:45 pm by John R Smith »
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amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2012, 02:03:20 pm »

Slobodon: Good catch, I should have been clearer. What I intended was to suggest that this WAS a serious attempt here. Normally the color I shoot is family and friends, but this time I was trying to do good work in color. No disrespect to those who work in color was intended -- only that I have difficulty with it myself.

John: The sail is a jib, the stick is a sprit. I think of this as a photograph of the sail. Yours is an interesting commentary. To me, it's an abstract (and quite a strong one, I think( that resolves into an known object, which is a process I find quite satisfying. As a sailor myself I probably find the object more interesting than others. Also, this is probably very sensitive to monitor calibration - on *my* screen it's clearly a a pair of sails stowed out on the end, but dimly seen. On another screen it might well be a muddy mess, I suppose, or rather more visible.

My intended viewing has the bundled sails at about.. hmm.. 25% of the area being indecipherably black, but the rest resolving into folds of canvas.
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amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2012, 02:11:35 pm »

As for my own review of the image, Slobodon, I think it's a graphically strong abstract with a lot of pleasing lines and textures on a visually pleasant background, that resolves after a moment into a clearly nautical theme, evoking the sea at sunset. I have actually learned to only post images here that I think are quite strong, and this is an image that I think is quite strong, with very little in the way of weaknesses.

The lines could perhaps have been more fortuitously arranged, but I wasn't about to climb aboard and start re-rigging the thing. The Spaniards would no doubt have gotten testy. I also wish it were a trifle more evocative.

In short, I like it, I think it's a strong image, and I think it's a step above a mere seaside-town postcard, albeit perhaps not a LARGE step (see: evocative, wishing it was moreso)
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2012, 02:12:27 pm »

It strikes me as neither one thing nor the other. It's not "abstract", since the subject-matter is too readily identifiable; yet it contains insufficient context to view it as an image of a boat. So it's a sail, partly stowed (or furled, or whatever it is that one does with sails).

For me, it doesn't work. The sky is pretty, though.

Jeremy
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Rob C

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2012, 02:18:11 pm »

Okay, let's be serious for a moment or two, not that I had imagined that I wasn't ever so; let's be photographic in our responses, then.

These are from a lethally serious Nikon F or F2 Photomic armed with a 4/200 Nikkor and loaded with deadly Kodachrome. The tripod holes (not) are on a ninety-something foot ketch bought to take the owner to South America but it never happened for him... cancer.

Lovely sharp bokeh on the close-out-of-focus highlights (where there are highlights).

Rob C
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 02:25:11 pm by Rob C »
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amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2012, 02:30:25 pm »

I really like the third one, Rob, but I think flipping it end for end, and a *slightly* tighter crop would really help this one out:

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Rob C

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2012, 02:33:24 pm »

Well, you certainly make a sharper point than the stick!

;-)

Rob C

P.S. But doesn't Kodachrome have a lovely lack of granularity!
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 02:35:18 pm by Rob C »
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2012, 02:43:02 pm »

Ok... since we are already hijacking the thread (after all this is about Captain Jack Sparrow, isn't it?), here we go (taken around Boston harbor):


Boston Harbor by Slobodan Blagojevic, on Flickr

Rob C

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #15 on: June 11, 2012, 03:16:21 pm »

Of course it's about Cap'n Jack!

To tell you the truth, I've modified my red bandana by adding two tiny lines of pendant beads to the knot at the rear. The blue one (bandana, not line of beads) is too new and keeps sliding up over my forehead, and that's not cool at all, so I'll have to train it at home before it goes public. I had thought of adding a pencil to hang down the right side, just like the Captain, but I'd really need more hair to make that credible.

It obviously works, though: shooting the musos on Saturday, sporting the modified red bandana for the first time since the modification, a person to whom I was introduced thought I was from California. And that was without having seen my wheels with the rear plate and dealer logo. For a moment it crossed my mind to play dumb, but I realised just as quickly that that wouldn't work for long. Anyway, we exchanged cards and something may come of it, but probably not: this is Mallorca, where people are what they seem to be as much as I'm a genuine Californian... Anyway, the other guy's card was pretty soiled, so perhaps it wasn't even his. It said something about Lifestyle etc, so that's not a good omen right from the start!

So yes, the good mariner has a lot for which to answer. I'm happy with that.

Rob C

Jim Pascoe

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2012, 04:43:02 am »

It doesn't work for me as a silhouette, but might have been a lovely picture of the folded sail if the light was grazing across, it so showing the folds and texture.
It is too untidy as a graphic image.  I can see why you might like it though - it is a good idea, just needed exploring a bit more.

Jim
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amolitor

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Re: Tall Ships in Norfolk, Color
« Reply #17 on: June 12, 2012, 09:12:02 am »

My thanks, as always, to all who took a few moments to tell me your reactions. Your opinions are appreciated and respected!
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