A wheely good view and a confession

electrolyte · 28-09-2008, 9:35 PM

Confession first. I have been unfaithful. There, I said it.

I have been entering other photo competitions as well as the monthly photo competition on here. Bet some of you may have thought I meant something else...

Anyway, it's true, I have started to enter another photo comp. The photography competition in question is on the Sheffield forum. And so far I have a one and oh - as the yanks put it - record. I entered last month's theme of "happiness" and won with this ancient shot:

The good thing about this competition is that archive shots are allowed - hence I could enter a 4 year old photo!

Well, this month the theme is "wheels" and I didn't have a suitable shot in the >1000 photos I have on my flickrstream. So I went out tonight to take a suitable shot and here it is:

Wheely good view

Let me know what you think of it...

[shameless plug] BTW you can read more about this shot in my blog here[/shameless plug]

tontoshorse · 28-09-2008, 10:29 PM

It's excellent, but would have been a ton better with all the wheels in frame.

onefivenine · 28-09-2008, 11:16 PM

I think it has a lot more impact and looks much better viewed at the smaller size on your blog than large on here. Until I clicked on tht link I wasn't too impressed but when I did it transformed it.
Great capture, nicely executed!
Go for it, and good luck.

RobDickinson · 28-09-2008, 11:22 PM

Oh man, no disk brakes??? :D

meansizzler · 29-09-2008, 2:10 AM

It's a good shot but something about the guy posing makes it look wrong, also the water bottle needs to be removed or put as black, the transparent plastic does not go with the rest of the picture

kBm · 29-09-2008, 7:17 AM

Excellent silhouette - lovely sky.

Theres two images here though, the bike or the man. There is no connection with the bike.

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 29-09-2008, 7:51 AM

I see what KBm means about the two images. I like the one of the bike the best....but I am a silhouette fan. Nice!

electrolyte · 29-09-2008, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tontoshorse

It's excellent, but would have been a ton better with all the wheels in frame.

Thanks Tonto. Unfortunately it was impossible to have the whole of the wheels in frame. The hill in the distance was higher up than the hill I was on and even though I put the bike on a mound of grass I couldn't eliminate the distant hill. So the bottom of the wheels are obscured by that hill. I think if I was going to repeat the shot I'd have bought with me a couple of planks of wood to stand the bike on which would have allowed the bike wheels to be completely obscured.

Quote:

Originally Posted by onefivenine

I think it has a lot more impact and looks much better viewed at the smaller size on your blog than large on here. Until I clicked on tht link I wasn't too impressed but when I did it transformed it.
Great capture, nicely executed!
Go for it, and good luck.

Thanks - yes it looks much better on the black background on my blog. It's a shame that the competition website has a white background so it won't be displayed at it's best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobDickinson

Oh man, no disk brakes??? :D

I know - it's only a cheap bike. Does me fine and the brakes have been able to stop me perfectly well so far!

Quote:

Originally Posted by meansizzler

It's a good shot but something about the guy posing makes it look wrong, also the water bottle needs to be removed or put as black, the transparent plastic does not go with the rest of the picture

Thanks meansizzler. That guy posing was me! I thought a photo of the bike on it's own wouldn't work so I decided to stand next to the bike. I was trying to show a cyclist who had cycled up a steep hill stopping to admire the view. I guess I should have sat back on my bike but I thought this would have interfered with the bike silhouette too much. Plus, my bike was standing right on the edge of the mound at the highest bit and I was worried that if I ran up to it while the 10 sec timer was going I might accidentally knock it over down the hill in my rush to get on before the shutter opened!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kBm

Excellent silhouette - lovely sky.

Theres two images here though, the bike or the man. There is no connection with the bike.

Thanks kBm. I agree with you; I will post the version with just the bike in a mo so you can see what that looks like. BTW, the man is me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

I see what KBm means about the two images. I like the one of the bike the best....but I am a silhouette fan. Nice!

Thanks Gordon. Let me know what you think of the bike on it's own. I'll post that now.

electrolyte · 29-09-2008, 11:23 AM

Here is the bike on it's own:

And you can see it on a black background on my blog here.

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 29-09-2008, 11:31 AM

I was thinking more of a crop of the first image. It doesn't work as well by itself in this one for me.

mucca_D · 29-09-2008, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

I was thinking more of a crop of the first image. It doesn't work as well by itself in this one for me.

I can't agree there, this one works ( well for me anyhow) much better.

I think the crop would be too tight and not leven the bike any room. just my two pennies any how..

Oh and as for being unfaithfull,, how dare you

denno75uk · 29-09-2008, 8:16 PM

I guess it's just a taste thing then, cause I much prefer the first one and I think it works just fine as is. I like that you're next to the bike. It tells the story. I think just the bike would be a bit obvious for the comp, but then I've no idea how they'll judge 'relevance'.
Excellent photo Simon.

Liquid101 · 29-09-2008, 8:18 PM

Great shots. I definitely prefer the shot with the figure. Really nice.

T0MAT01 · 29-09-2008, 9:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Great shots. I definitely prefer the shot with the figure. Really nice.

Me too. It's much more thought provoking.

BTW. congrats on winning the comp on your first attempt!

Boldonion · 29-09-2008, 9:18 PM

The shot with the mountain bike is superb.

electrolyte · 29-09-2008, 9:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

I was thinking more of a crop of the first image. It doesn't work as well by itself in this one for me.

Ah, I see. Thanks anyway. I agree with mucca, i think a tighter crop around the bike would be too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mucca_D

I can't agree there, this one works ( well for me anyhow) much better.

I think the crop would be too tight and not leven the bike any room. just my two pennies any how..

Oh and as for being unfaithfull,, how dare you

Thanks mucca. On the unfaithfulness - hope you will you forgive me one day...

Quote:

Originally Posted by denno75uk

I guess it's just a taste thing then, cause I much prefer the first one and I think it works just fine as is. I like that you're next to the bike. It tells the story. I think just the bike would be a bit obvious for the comp, but then I've no idea how they'll judge 'relevance'.
Excellent photo Simon.

Thanks James. Glad you got it. I also thought a photo of a bike on it's own would be too obvious too.

The Sheffield comp is similar to ours in that members vote for their favourite in a poll but both the votes and, this is the important bit, the entries are secret. You have no idea who has submitted each photo except for your one. There is also a rule that no one is allowed to comment on any of the photos until the vote has finished. A good idea but then no one comments on any of them as by the time the vote has finished everyone is on to the next month. Think I prefer ours to be honest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Great shots. I definitely prefer the shot with the figure. Really nice.

Thanks Scott - glad you like them and prefer the one I entered!

Quote:

Originally Posted by T0MAT01

Me too. It's much more thought provoking.

BTW. congrats on winning the comp on your first attempt!

Thanks mate, glad you like and get the 1st one too.

Although I was pleased to win the comp I felt a bit of a fraud as that photo of my son was taken when he was 3; he is 8 now! So although archive entries are allowed I felt like I was taking the pee a bit hence I decided to get out and shoot a photo especially for this month's comp.

Thanks again for all the comments lads - greatly appreciated.

electrolyte · 29-09-2008, 9:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boldonion

The shot with the mountain bike is superb.

Thanks mate. I assume you mean the one with the bike on it's own?

Tobers · 30-09-2008, 7:24 AM

I like the shot of the boy in the fountain. Good work on that - lovely mood to it.

For the bike shot, I'd crop in closer and maybe cut off a bit of the back wheel to the viewer doesn't mind so much about the bottom of the wheels cut off. I like the figure in it, and the background colours are great. Overall its a very good stand-out shot that should get good marks.