October 2009 Winner - Plastic Fork

[mark.carline]

8 Cross Polarized Plastic Forks

NOTE: Click on the above image to see a larger version of this image on FlickR.

Camera: Canon EOS 450D
Exposure: 1/3 sec
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 34 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Only PP work was to cloan out some dust and adjust the saturation and black levels.

p.s. if I win i'll tell you all how I did it !

EDIT: Changed the FlickR link from large (587 KB) to medium (209 KB) file size.

 

[pixelpidgeon]

this is great and the detail is there. thanks

 

[Trollslayer]

Woah!

 

[Catwomanglass]

Wow! That is quite stunning...love it!
Would look really cool on canvas for a kitchen wall...well done!

 

[shotokan101]

Very Cool and Impressive

...just tore up my list of ideas

JIm

 

[Butch499]

Really cool image. Just shows how a simple theme can throw up great photos!

 

[mark800]

I really like this image.

Against the black background, and with the colours, it is very striking. Well done

I also like where you have overlapped the ends of the forks.

I would love to see variations on this to see what they look like. For example, does reducing the number of forks make the image even more dramatic? Also, would noise reduction on the green elements help to improve it? I don't know the answers to these questions but they came to mind.

 

[mark.carline]

I would love to see variations on this to see what they look like. For example, does reducing the number of forks make the image even more dramatic? Also, would noise reduction on the green elements help to improve it? I don't know the answers to these questions but they came to mind.

I did take four and the other 3 that didnt make it are on the "its not valid thred" :

http://www.avforums.com/forums/photo-competition/1092737-its-not-valid-thread.html#post10533112

 

[Bob]

That's excellent, love the colours

 

[nikonuser11]

Now THATS set the bar
Love it and the fact you use a 450d makes me love it more, what lens did you use as its very sharp?
So far I see this as a way out front runner, good job!

 

[mark.carline]

Now THATS set the bar
Love it and the fact you use a 450d makes me love it more, what lens did you use as its very sharp?

used my Tamron 17-50 :

AF17-50mm F/2.8 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF); Tamron USA, Inc.

The 450 is an amazing camera! One tip I just discovered when taking these shots was to use "live view" mode and then choose an area of the image thats about 1/2 way depth of feild and then zoom in on it using the + button as close as you can get. I then used manual focus to get that area as sharp as possible. Then I used a high value F setting to give a decent depth of feild and manually on ISO 100 to try and get everything as sharp as possible (all used on a tripod as it then needed a 1/3 second exposure).

Anyone guessed how its done yet and hows its been backlit ?

 

[shotokan101]

Stop smirking Mark - it doesn't suit you

Jim

 

[iandrews]

Cool. Just seen several more photos like it on Flickr (in fact if you search on Plastic Fork a few of this months photos appear on the front page). Found an article here on how it can be done: Polarimeter

Ian.

 

[mark.carline]

Cool. Just seen several more photos like it on Flickr (in fact if you search on Plastic Fork a few of this months photos appear on the front page). Found an article here on how it can be done: Polarimeter

Ian.

Yep you got it ! - In fact I used my Kodak W1020 10 inch Photo Frame loaded with a single white image laid flat on the floor and then I simply placed the clear plastic forks on the top and then I used my cokin circular polarizer (P164) fitted to the tamron and turned such that I then saw a black background.

/GEEK MODE ON

Another name for this is "Photoelasticity" as per this wiki:

Photoelasticity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

/GEEK MODE OFF

 

[benji2909]

or can be referred to birefringence, i did my final year project in chemistry on it, but i was using a biological protein solution, rather than plastic forks however, very very nice effect, personally I prefer the single fork in the "not valid" thread, this seems crowded, but does not dampen the effect which is both clever and creative.

top marks

 

[Zone]

Lovely striking effect Mark

Mod Comment Just keep an eye on file sizes though will you please, 300KB is fine for embedding, 500KB is just a little too much

 

[mark.carline]

Lovely striking effect Mark

Mod Comment Just keep an eye on file sizes though will you please, 300KB is fine for embedding, 500KB is just a little too much

ok thanks - not that i want to start a debate on this thred but as the original image was on FlickR and not hosted on AvForums I think its a little crazy for AvForums to be worried about it (all the other forums dont have this limit, infact I have had comments on other forums that i should be posting larger images so people can see my images better).

I did post it using the "Large (1024 x 683)" size which I thought the size would be ok at 587 KB. I'll redit the original post and use the FlickR size "Medium (500 x 333)" which comes in at 209 KB.

 

[Zone]

Whether the image is hosted here or not the file size is too large and people viewing your thread have to download the image file regardless of where it is hosted!

As we are obviously image heavy in this forum a little common sense has to be employed to make threads easily accessible to all!

Even on BB an image heavy thread can take a lot of time to open and as people get easily bored nowadays they'll decide they can't wait and so move on without ever viewing the pictures, not what any of us want I'm sure

Hence a cap on single image file sizes!

 

[shotokan101]

Zone - I know this is probably a daft question but I'm daft

Does this image size limit apply to all images posted or just the Compo. entries ?

Jim

EDIT: Just reread the FAQ - "of course it Does !"

P.S. I say disqualify the blaggard and give the rest of us a chance ! <kidding> LOL

P.P.S. - Mark - if you'd only used 5 forks you'd have been O.K.

 

[Zone]

To all pictures within the Photography forums as we're so image heavy!

There has to be a limit to individual image file sizes else a free for all is in place and we'll have folk linking and embedding huge file sizes making the viewing of threads nigh on impossible

I don't think asking people to not embed images larger than 500KB unreasonable and TBH 300KB is fine for the forums..

 

[shotokan101]

To all pictures within the Photography forums as we're so image heavy!

There has to be a limit to individual image file sizes else a free for all is in place and we'll have folk linking and embedding huge file sizes making the viewing of threads nigh on impossible

I don't think asking people to not embed images larger than 500KB unreasonable and TBH 300KB is fine for the forums..

I agree and as in my edited post above I did spot it when I got around to reading the FAQ

JIm

 

[OrbitalPete]

Great photo.

We use cross polarised light a lot in geology for study of rock thin sections (e.g. Thin sections minerals & volcanic microtextures). Get some very pretty results.

Never thought of using it like this.

 

[mark.carline]

Great photo.

We use cross polarised light a lot in geology for study of rock thin sections (e.g. Thin sections minerals & volcanic microtextures). Get some very pretty results.

Never thought of using it like this.

thanks for all the comments - i thought i would mention that there is a group on FlickR that this technique is discussed :

Photoelasticity
Flickr: Photoelasticity