126. Rough - November 8-14, 2015
Byron-
I thought I'd use this theme to be whimsical. It could be an aerial view of Olive Hill after the battle. It could be a wax piece of art decorated with "Salt & Pepper" threads. It's hard to know exactly what it is.
ISO 200, f8, 1/160 sec, I used a flash with the tungsten filter on the background, The other flash with a Byro-Snoot lit the main subject.
I thought I'd use this theme to be whimsical. It could be an aerial view of Olive Hill after the battle. It could be a wax piece of art decorated with "Salt & Pepper" threads. It's hard to know exactly what it is.
ISO 200, f8, 1/160 sec, I used a flash with the tungsten filter on the background, The other flash with a Byro-Snoot lit the main subject.
Deron-
Rough waters make for great surf. Great surf makes for cool photos.
Here we see a goofy-footed skimboarder snapping one off the lip at the world-famous Wedge in Newport Beach, CA.
The waves I witnessed were very tame compared to the 30 footers The Wedge can produce. Nonetheless, a six to 10 foot wave, on a shorebreak, at The Wedge is still very dangerous and dramatic.
Rough waters make for great surf. Great surf makes for cool photos.
Here we see a goofy-footed skimboarder snapping one off the lip at the world-famous Wedge in Newport Beach, CA.
The waves I witnessed were very tame compared to the 30 footers The Wedge can produce. Nonetheless, a six to 10 foot wave, on a shorebreak, at The Wedge is still very dangerous and dramatic.
Kevin-
When Rough was announced as the WPOTM theme all sorts of ideas flowed through my brain, most of which were pretty boring. Rough rocks, rough terrain, blah.
Then I hit on the idea of something that should be soft, but in this circumstance was instead very rough. Eureka!
Imagine you have invited a bunch of friends over to view a day of NFL action. Of course you have created food items for them to enjoy. Some of which are no problem, but others that, shall we say, tend to pass rather quickly though the system. Then you wait to see which friend will need the restroom first. Hopefully the person doesn’t notice right away that you have replaced your usual squeezably soft Charmin with a beautiful roll of 60 grit sandpaper! And there are no towels, no tissues, no alternatives available.
That person is in for a very rough experience!
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 32mm, one Nikon SB-910 flash unit in TTL fill-flash mode, ISO 100, f/8, 2.5 seconds.
When Rough was announced as the WPOTM theme all sorts of ideas flowed through my brain, most of which were pretty boring. Rough rocks, rough terrain, blah.
Then I hit on the idea of something that should be soft, but in this circumstance was instead very rough. Eureka!
Imagine you have invited a bunch of friends over to view a day of NFL action. Of course you have created food items for them to enjoy. Some of which are no problem, but others that, shall we say, tend to pass rather quickly though the system. Then you wait to see which friend will need the restroom first. Hopefully the person doesn’t notice right away that you have replaced your usual squeezably soft Charmin with a beautiful roll of 60 grit sandpaper! And there are no towels, no tissues, no alternatives available.
That person is in for a very rough experience!
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 32mm, one Nikon SB-910 flash unit in TTL fill-flash mode, ISO 100, f/8, 2.5 seconds.
Paul-
Tonight, I ran into that kid, who's been upgrading all your stuff.
You're right, he really knows his shit, a real diamond in the rough.
–Lyrics to song “New Breed” by Donald Fagen (Sunken Condos)
I almost always try to have a Plan “A” and a Plan “B” when the WPOTM theme is announced to the free world. Plan “A” is the “Oh man, this would be so cool to do. I bet no one else thinks of this and it would be something new for me to try.” Plan: “B” often involves a lot of sour grapes because Plan “A” turned out to be too difficult, time-consuming, too hardware-intensive, or involved some degree of nudity on my part. Still, some of my Plan “Bs” turn out to be something I really like and hope the group will as well.
My Plan “A” for this week—which I couldn’t do—involved laying down flat directly under the base of climbing wall at the local YMCA. Little kids love to try and climb to the top (about 20-25’ up), but it is always rough going for them. It takes time and a lot of effort. As you might imagine, the hoops to jump through to walk into the YMCA and get permission to do this, much less convincing a wary mother that taking a picture of their precious child from below them was not a commercial (or voyeuristic) endeavor…well, I took a pass on this one. (But I still loved the idea.)
So here’s Plan “B.” I’m throwing out a safe assumption that I am the least skilled with general workbench tools among the six of us, yes? Right. (When I pick up my circular saw to do a little woodwork my wife preemptively calls 911.) That said, I have some nifty tools I inherited from my father, who I think inherited some of them from his father who—initially scrapping pennies together as a junk peddler and tailor in St. Paul—knew his way around tools. What you see in this picture are some woodworking files and rasps. They are propped up by a length of honing stone. (I have no idea how I came by the latter, but since it is 10” x 1.5” I think it is suitable for sharpening Bowie knives, machetes, or that whooping huge Claymore Mel Gibson’s character wields in Braveheart.
There was no question about this being a B&W photograph. I wanted something stark, utilitarian, and sharply conveying varying textures suggestive of the theme. I’m fairly pleased with the result, but had the most fun using one of my extension tubes.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/6 sec.; f/13; ISO 1250; 18-55mm lens (with a 22mm extension tube attached) set at 48mm; aperture priority; spot-metered; camera mounted on a copystand. The end of the lens was about 5-6’ above the tools. One light (handheld so I could check out the degree of shadow and hot spots) was moved up and down just to the front of and at different vertical angles parallel to the tools. For some shots I placed a piece of white foam core about the camera. I just wish I had thought to use a different background than the first thing I grabbed: some black fabric with too much pile.
Tonight, I ran into that kid, who's been upgrading all your stuff.
You're right, he really knows his shit, a real diamond in the rough.
–Lyrics to song “New Breed” by Donald Fagen (Sunken Condos)
I almost always try to have a Plan “A” and a Plan “B” when the WPOTM theme is announced to the free world. Plan “A” is the “Oh man, this would be so cool to do. I bet no one else thinks of this and it would be something new for me to try.” Plan: “B” often involves a lot of sour grapes because Plan “A” turned out to be too difficult, time-consuming, too hardware-intensive, or involved some degree of nudity on my part. Still, some of my Plan “Bs” turn out to be something I really like and hope the group will as well.
My Plan “A” for this week—which I couldn’t do—involved laying down flat directly under the base of climbing wall at the local YMCA. Little kids love to try and climb to the top (about 20-25’ up), but it is always rough going for them. It takes time and a lot of effort. As you might imagine, the hoops to jump through to walk into the YMCA and get permission to do this, much less convincing a wary mother that taking a picture of their precious child from below them was not a commercial (or voyeuristic) endeavor…well, I took a pass on this one. (But I still loved the idea.)
So here’s Plan “B.” I’m throwing out a safe assumption that I am the least skilled with general workbench tools among the six of us, yes? Right. (When I pick up my circular saw to do a little woodwork my wife preemptively calls 911.) That said, I have some nifty tools I inherited from my father, who I think inherited some of them from his father who—initially scrapping pennies together as a junk peddler and tailor in St. Paul—knew his way around tools. What you see in this picture are some woodworking files and rasps. They are propped up by a length of honing stone. (I have no idea how I came by the latter, but since it is 10” x 1.5” I think it is suitable for sharpening Bowie knives, machetes, or that whooping huge Claymore Mel Gibson’s character wields in Braveheart.
There was no question about this being a B&W photograph. I wanted something stark, utilitarian, and sharply conveying varying textures suggestive of the theme. I’m fairly pleased with the result, but had the most fun using one of my extension tubes.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/6 sec.; f/13; ISO 1250; 18-55mm lens (with a 22mm extension tube attached) set at 48mm; aperture priority; spot-metered; camera mounted on a copystand. The end of the lens was about 5-6’ above the tools. One light (handheld so I could check out the degree of shadow and hot spots) was moved up and down just to the front of and at different vertical angles parallel to the tools. For some shots I placed a piece of white foam core about the camera. I just wish I had thought to use a different background than the first thing I grabbed: some black fabric with too much pile.
Jerry-
I went on an expedition through the house looking for rough things. I started with a piece of steel that my son had cut with a torch, then progressed to a seashell that was lurking as bathroom decor. Then the search for rough turned into a clean up the basement a bit and I found this wire wheel which is my favorite. While taking photos of the wire wheel I was munching on a cookie, which I managed to take a photo of as well.
The camera was the D750 with an old 55mm Micro Nikkor set to f22, ISO 400. Lighting was from a softbox/photogenic monolight thingy that I use for portraits. In the file properties, it says f8. I think with the old lenses like the 55 that have no electronics, the properties show up goofy.
I went on an expedition through the house looking for rough things. I started with a piece of steel that my son had cut with a torch, then progressed to a seashell that was lurking as bathroom decor. Then the search for rough turned into a clean up the basement a bit and I found this wire wheel which is my favorite. While taking photos of the wire wheel I was munching on a cookie, which I managed to take a photo of as well.
The camera was the D750 with an old 55mm Micro Nikkor set to f22, ISO 400. Lighting was from a softbox/photogenic monolight thingy that I use for portraits. In the file properties, it says f8. I think with the old lenses like the 55 that have no electronics, the properties show up goofy.
Don-
The very first thing I think of is sandpaper, then road. Well, New Mexico has a fair share of rough roads. Maybe not as bad as 35W in the spring but very close. I shot a couple of second and third place as "Rough Country." My favorite is the "Rough Road." I thought of cropping the picture. I decided against it because I would lose the beginning of the road and I wished to keep that. I liked the way it went off in the distance as many things to do. I thought I might take this road (its a gas line inspection road) to the ridge but I wasn't feeling up to the bouncing.
So here we are, shot with my D810 with the 24 to 70mm lens set at 70mm. Speed was 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 and camera set to on aperture priority.
The very first thing I think of is sandpaper, then road. Well, New Mexico has a fair share of rough roads. Maybe not as bad as 35W in the spring but very close. I shot a couple of second and third place as "Rough Country." My favorite is the "Rough Road." I thought of cropping the picture. I decided against it because I would lose the beginning of the road and I wished to keep that. I liked the way it went off in the distance as many things to do. I thought I might take this road (its a gas line inspection road) to the ridge but I wasn't feeling up to the bouncing.
So here we are, shot with my D810 with the 24 to 70mm lens set at 70mm. Speed was 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 and camera set to on aperture priority.