49. Spring - May 18-24, 2014
Byron-
I had another photo in mind. I can picture it in my mind but I didn't follow through in time for this weeks submission. I will shoot that photo sometime in the future. However, I decided to take a very traditional approach to this topic. Spring is the time of year when plants (at least up here in the frozen tundra) come to life. My photo is simply an example of that process.
The specifics are ISO 400, f/10, 1/250 sec. I noticed the image was a bit too light at the original setting so I tamed it a bit by dialing in .7 EV.
I had another photo in mind. I can picture it in my mind but I didn't follow through in time for this weeks submission. I will shoot that photo sometime in the future. However, I decided to take a very traditional approach to this topic. Spring is the time of year when plants (at least up here in the frozen tundra) come to life. My photo is simply an example of that process.
The specifics are ISO 400, f/10, 1/250 sec. I noticed the image was a bit too light at the original setting so I tamed it a bit by dialing in .7 EV.
Deron-
'April showers spring May flowers'.
To me, nothing says SPRING like a colorful bouquet of flowers, a late afternoon in sunny Newport Beach, CA and big, heavy coil spring!
Knowing what I wanted to do, on Thursday morning I went to a spring manufacturer and asked to borrow/buy a spring... They were more than happy to help me out and let me take whatever I wanted. Later on, as luck would have it, I ended up in Newport Beach late in the work day and thought, what a great setting for my photo. I went to Pavillions Grocery Store, bought the bouquet and headed for the sand. I had 102 shots to choose from. Some may have been better than this, but the horizon wasn't horizontal or one I would've liked included a surfer walking his board out through the waves, but the flowers looked jacked up. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the result... It looks springy to me.
A special thank you to Axcess Spring Co. of Riverside, CA for letting me borrow a couple pieces of their handiwork for this assignment. For all your spring needs, go see Axcess!
'April showers spring May flowers'.
To me, nothing says SPRING like a colorful bouquet of flowers, a late afternoon in sunny Newport Beach, CA and big, heavy coil spring!
Knowing what I wanted to do, on Thursday morning I went to a spring manufacturer and asked to borrow/buy a spring... They were more than happy to help me out and let me take whatever I wanted. Later on, as luck would have it, I ended up in Newport Beach late in the work day and thought, what a great setting for my photo. I went to Pavillions Grocery Store, bought the bouquet and headed for the sand. I had 102 shots to choose from. Some may have been better than this, but the horizon wasn't horizontal or one I would've liked included a surfer walking his board out through the waves, but the flowers looked jacked up. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the result... It looks springy to me.
A special thank you to Axcess Spring Co. of Riverside, CA for letting me borrow a couple pieces of their handiwork for this assignment. For all your spring needs, go see Axcess!
Paul-
I appreciate WPOTM themes where there is a fairly broad interpretation available. So, thanks Byron! (Thank goodness you didn’t select “dark matter” or “braunschweiger.”)
Originally—well okay…even now—I wanted to do something fun with large metal springs and coils. But I’m trying to avoid potential “predictability” in taking to many studio shots in front of black cloth with weird apparatuses and fluids involved. So I opted for a “spring” in one’s step. I had first thought about doing some kind of burlesque-like footwork going down the sidewalk and having the camera set on timer to catch it. But several of my neighbors already look askance at my outside activities, so I figured a little hiatus from public embarrassment was in order.
What you see here are the feet—scrapes and all—of my grand-niece-in-law. She’s a few weeks shy of three and is in possession of the kind of frenetic, unpredictable, and potentially deadly energy you might observe if you trapped a bunch of hornets in a mason jar, forced them to listen to the soundtrack of Disney’s “Frozen” a few dozen times, and then suddenly let them go.
Frankly, she doesn’t so much have a spring in her step as a fusion reactor. Oh, how youth is wasted on the young.
Anyhoo…
Our Story So Far… With a dozen arboreal primitives close on his heels—shrieking their death cries and clutching deadly atlatls in small, pigment –covered hands—Sir Reginald Pithwell Bryce knew his days of exploration in the remote corners of the Amazon were coming to an abrupt and unforeseen end. Armed with nothing but a field knife (a gift from the lads back at the anthropology department at Oxford), and gritting his teeth against the throbbing agony from a vicious leg wound, Bryce rested momentary against the trunk of a large capirona as the capuchins in its canopy high above hooted down in derision. Only a few ragged breaths later, the first of the obsidian-tipped spears struck the tree with a meaty thunk. In the precious moments before other deadly missiles found their mark, Sir Reginald drew his knife and carved into the living wood what he prayed would be a warning for anyone bravely (and foolishly) hoping to rescue him…to wit: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 39mm focal length; 1/200 sec. at f8; ISO 400.”
I appreciate WPOTM themes where there is a fairly broad interpretation available. So, thanks Byron! (Thank goodness you didn’t select “dark matter” or “braunschweiger.”)
Originally—well okay…even now—I wanted to do something fun with large metal springs and coils. But I’m trying to avoid potential “predictability” in taking to many studio shots in front of black cloth with weird apparatuses and fluids involved. So I opted for a “spring” in one’s step. I had first thought about doing some kind of burlesque-like footwork going down the sidewalk and having the camera set on timer to catch it. But several of my neighbors already look askance at my outside activities, so I figured a little hiatus from public embarrassment was in order.
What you see here are the feet—scrapes and all—of my grand-niece-in-law. She’s a few weeks shy of three and is in possession of the kind of frenetic, unpredictable, and potentially deadly energy you might observe if you trapped a bunch of hornets in a mason jar, forced them to listen to the soundtrack of Disney’s “Frozen” a few dozen times, and then suddenly let them go.
Frankly, she doesn’t so much have a spring in her step as a fusion reactor. Oh, how youth is wasted on the young.
Anyhoo…
Our Story So Far… With a dozen arboreal primitives close on his heels—shrieking their death cries and clutching deadly atlatls in small, pigment –covered hands—Sir Reginald Pithwell Bryce knew his days of exploration in the remote corners of the Amazon were coming to an abrupt and unforeseen end. Armed with nothing but a field knife (a gift from the lads back at the anthropology department at Oxford), and gritting his teeth against the throbbing agony from a vicious leg wound, Bryce rested momentary against the trunk of a large capirona as the capuchins in its canopy high above hooted down in derision. Only a few ragged breaths later, the first of the obsidian-tipped spears struck the tree with a meaty thunk. In the precious moments before other deadly missiles found their mark, Sir Reginald drew his knife and carved into the living wood what he prayed would be a warning for anyone bravely (and foolishly) hoping to rescue him…to wit: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 39mm focal length; 1/200 sec. at f8; ISO 400.”
Kevin-
Big surprise, it was another challenging WPOTM. But unfortunately not for any actual photographic reason. I decided that I wanted to photograph a coil spring. I thought about jacking up my car, and taking off a wheel to make the spring visible, but I just didn't think it would be that interesting. Then I remembered that many years ago I had built several RC (radio control) cars that had some good looking coil springs on them. Great, no problem! Except that that all the battery packs were now corroded and useless. I really wanted this car running. So I made multiple trips to hobby stores trying to put together a working battery pack. But all the technology has changed in the past 10 years. Things are mostly plug-and-play now, and not really compatible with the older RC car I have. After many hours I finally gave up and realized it was going to have to be a static shot, rather than a moving action shot like I had intended. I deliberately shot this with my 85mm f1.4 Nikkor, wide open at f/1.4 so that the coil spring was practically the only part of the scene that was in sharp focus. ISO 100, 1/500th of a second. Handheld as I was just a few inches off the ground and my tripod doesn't go this low!
Big surprise, it was another challenging WPOTM. But unfortunately not for any actual photographic reason. I decided that I wanted to photograph a coil spring. I thought about jacking up my car, and taking off a wheel to make the spring visible, but I just didn't think it would be that interesting. Then I remembered that many years ago I had built several RC (radio control) cars that had some good looking coil springs on them. Great, no problem! Except that that all the battery packs were now corroded and useless. I really wanted this car running. So I made multiple trips to hobby stores trying to put together a working battery pack. But all the technology has changed in the past 10 years. Things are mostly plug-and-play now, and not really compatible with the older RC car I have. After many hours I finally gave up and realized it was going to have to be a static shot, rather than a moving action shot like I had intended. I deliberately shot this with my 85mm f1.4 Nikkor, wide open at f/1.4 so that the coil spring was practically the only part of the scene that was in sharp focus. ISO 100, 1/500th of a second. Handheld as I was just a few inches off the ground and my tripod doesn't go this low!