Project 52 by Letrow

[Letrow]

I think my goal should be (and I am not totally sure I can keep up with this discipline during the year) to produce a numer of photos that are outside my usual comfort zone (or rather what I like photographing best).
My photographs are usually done by using natural light and the amount of PP in Gimp is limited to basic things like levels and sharpening. For this project I will try to use my flashlight more often to find out more on the possibilities it offers. Furthermore Gimp has a lot of options that I should explore as well.


Week 1:



Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 18-200mm; f/11 and 1/250 sec; indirect flash from Nikon SB-700

[RockNGoalStar]

I like it Peter! It's a nice guitar too! Good luck with the project! :-)

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I've had a couple of views of this photo trying to decided a view point. I think composition wise - fantastic. The blue and black patterns spin me out a little bit though - and it's not from drinking too much last night

I'm not sure why that is - could be just my eyes because I do like the photo overall. I'm just finding the dark areas of the photo - mainly the black elements, distract my attention from the detail of the guitar itself.

[Letrow]

Thanks for the comments. I had to laugh when I saw Malcolm's comment. My sentiments as well partly.
Still, I liked the end result of this photo and I liked the experimentation that came with it, which is why this one got posted.

The original photo is slightly different (slightly is an understatement) and although it did what it was supposed to do (flash usage etc.), I found it a bit dull. As I said in my objectives I want to get out of my comfort zone a bit and this project might be a good way to do it.
My aim here was to transform the original photo and guitar colours into a photo that would still represent a credible guitar, but totally different and if possible slightly weird. Jimi Hendrix might have liked these colours, although he wouldn't have played a PRS of course (even if they had been around back then).

I am wondering now about whether I should show you the original as well

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[ScoutR]

You really are out of your comfort zone. I've never seen you post anything like this. I like it. I like the way the background and some of the guitar parts are the same tones and I like the composition, BUT the dark edges on the blue tones in the guitar are a problem for me. Are they that way in actuality or was this introduced in PP. I'm thinking I would like this better if the blue blended in and I could see the grain all the way through.

Wendy

[Letrow]

You really are out of your comfort zone. I've never seen you post anything like this. I like it. I like the way the background and some of the guitar parts are the same tones and I like the composition, BUT the dark edges on the blue tones in the guitar are a problem for me. Are they that way in actuality or was this introduced in PP. I'm thinking I would like this better if the blue blended in and I could see the grain all the way through.

Wendy

That is PP Wendy. And I agree with what you say, but...
...well, the aim was to go experimental and find out what Gimp could do for me. This guitar is originally brown (and it still is), but a very different kind of brown. And e.g. the pickguard is black in real life.
One of the things I did during during PP was invert the colours and then brought some of the colours back. And while I was at it I introduced the darker spots. The end result is still a feasible guitar (colour wise), but way different from the original.
This is probably something I have to get out of my system and Project 52 seems perfect for that

[Letrow]

Ok, now for week 2. I had difficulty finding a suitable subject, but in the end I photographed a few subjects I liked. One of them, a Tic Tac Toe game is still work in progress. The other two were doggie pictures (didn't make it ) and the beer can camera. The beer can camera was photographed with flash head on, at F/11 and 1/180sec. Because of the reflection of the glass the original is quite dark and very nice to look at. The beer can is standing on a polished dark granite kitchen sink. I decided to attack this photo and make it work in progress. After the original sizing, levels etc. (boring...) I went into layers and experimented with some overlays and inversions of colour. The goal should be to bring back a credible beer can camera and glass, but 'different'. Just inverting the colours would give you a pink beer can (very nice luminous colour, but not the Heineken green I was looking for unfortunately), so a bit of extra work was needed. I think there is now a bit too much highlight at the bottom of the beer can (too dark really in the original), but live and learn I guess.

[FrankMi]

Hi Peter. This is a fantastic concept and great eye candy! I would have thought that if the glass and beer can were to be high contrast that it seems a bit odd that the camera is as flat as it is. Was that intentional to give separation between the two?

By the way, your guitar image has given me an idea for a similar but different image. Thanks for sharing!

[Goldcoastgolfer]

That's great work Peter. I agree with you about the highlight at the bottom but the rest of your image is so interesting that the highlight doesn't bother me too much.

[Letrow]

Hi Peter. This is a fantastic concept and great eye candy! I would have thought that if the glass and beer can were to be high contrast that it seems a bit odd that the camera is as flat as it is. Was that intentional to give separation between the two?

By the way, your guitar image has given me an idea for a similar but different image. Thanks for sharing!

Yes on your camera question. That area was very highlighted (actually dark in the original), due to the flash aimed at it from above. I had to clone this part of the photo in the upper half, because my aim was to get the camera part of this photo as recognizable as possible.
In the meantime I have experimented further and found that Gimp has a option in the Color menu (Map - Rotate Colors) that allows me the sort of changes that I needed for this part.
Unfortunately , although I produced great looking photos I couldn't get back the green colour that I had in this photo.

This proves my point/goal that this project is great for the development of my PP skills. Being able to reproduce a result is basic really, but I can't do it yet. Gimp (and Powerpoint) have so many options that a beginner like me feels like a child in a candy shop...too many choices.

And one other thing I noticed is that I should be more careful when selecting the edges, I can see a faulty bit on top of the can.
My son has taught me now that when I select an area like this that I should also use 'Feather' to make sure that this doesn't happen.

[Letrow]

and my Tic Tac Toe



The Tic Tac Toe game has been altered, as well as the inlays in the wood. The wood itself looked good as it was I thought.

[ScoutR]

Hmmm, I like the first Heiniken better than the altered version. Good on you for staying out of your comfort zone. You are off to a great start for someone that doen's usually do this kind of thing.

Wendy

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Peter,

I also have a preference for the first Heiniken rather than the second, I also think it would stand alone without the glass.
Great start.

[Geoff F]

I keep wondering how it would look with some beer in the glass. Not quite sure how much though, but probably not totally full.

[Letrow]

Thanks for the comments. It is Heineken ladies by the way, not Heiniken and it is supposed to refresh those parts that aother beers can't reach.
I'll think about that glass half full Geoff. The subject is attractive enough to come back to in a little while.

[Letrow]

I call it the psychedelic cow

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I was gonna say that he doesn't seem to be standing straight but given the title of the photo, it's probably appropriate for your cow to feel like he's on a bit of a tilt

Really interesting work Peter. After my initial "whoa" I found the cow really dragging me in to look at all the writing on it.

[Ryogenetic]

It looks like its ready to jump into an animation, I like it. I am with Malcolm my eyes kept comming back to the writing. I will stab a guess that its a Good luck cow placed on a black Marble floor tile?

Ryo

[Letrow]

Thanks guys. It is all a phase I am going through of course, usually I don't really like this sort of stuff. So far though, I am having fun and like the new possibilities that I am finding in Gimp.
The current aim is to transform a normal dull object into something more exciting. And I have to like the end result visually. The latter actually makes it more difficult then it sounds.

As an extra it enables me to explore the options of flash used off camera. That really makes a big difference in how the photo looks. I am starting to consider using see through umbrellas now. At the moment I am still playing around, but if I could apply some of this to e.g. portraits (without the psychedelic effects) it would really be great.