... just grab a camera.
It went like this. Today's Smile on Saturday theme is the rather nice one of camera.
So what to do? Ideally, it had to be either a good photo or something different. Well, good photos aren't really me... What then?
Eeek. I had a Bright Idea... never a good thing; it really needs a health warning :) What about doing one of my axial rotation ICMs of the camera in the mirror?
The theory was that the camera would take itself and, if done well, the hapless photographer's image would spin around, suitably obfuscating (lovely word! :) ) their selfie imagey thingy...
As ever, the shortest word in that last sentence proved the most problematic.
If anyone tells you ICMs are hit and miss they lie. They are all miss unless both the wind, the stars, magic and serendipity are all going your way, and about as likely as an azurine moon in a month of Sundays.
So 90 shots later this is what we have. Thank goodness I was wearing a check shirt. I'm actually standing upright with the camera held out in front.
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy Smile on Saturday :)
[(Two) hand held in mixed lighting.
Developed in Photolab trying to rescue the camera from the blacks and the check shirt too while keeping smooth blurriness. Also colour work to get rid of the tungsten + daylight issue.
In Affinity sharpened with USM; white vignette.]
Tags: dsc-rx100m5 8.8-25.7 mm f/1.8-2.8 People Blur one Person Adult art sight Man technology image indoors Closeup human motion camera hands ICM intentional camera movement Photography Sony rotation Smile on Saturday wobbly camera
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This is a set of three variations based on a single image. The original is an in-camera multiple exposure of two ICMs of the same tree branches, taken early this year. The camera blend mode was Lighten which erases parts of the dark branches giving it a glitchy feel.
The three versions are progressions. The monochrome one is a straight edit using Nik Silver Efex to convert to B&W. I rather liked the intermittent patterns this produced.
The second is the same but this time tinkering in Silver Efex with toning and inverting the Curves graph (in the film attributes) to give it a blue negative look. The effect was quite different to the plain edit, like a moonlit scene.
The third version was an over-mangle for Sliders Sunday today. Version 2 was processed in Nik Color Efex using a bit of solarisation and a Bicolor filter to reintroduce some colours. Then I decided to try mangling some more, so I duplicated the layer, flipped the copy horizontally and then blended the two layers with Pin Light. (I’ve rarely used Pin Light before so it was a novelty for me, though the best of the blend modes in this instance). Finally, a bit of tinkering with the colour and brightness, and a run-through with Topaz Denoise AI to get rid of some of the noise overprocessing introduced.
The end result strikes me as being a bit sinister though that was not my intention.
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the images. Happy Sliders Sunday :)
Tags: construction desktop expression insubstantial no person Abstract Background Black And White Dark Design Fractal Graphic Landscape Motion Pattern Snow Texture art artistic cold color element fence flame frost ice illustration line monochrome nature space tree wallpaper wave winter wood Multiple Exposure intentional camera movement ICM wobbly camera Lighten Blend (in camera) Sliders Sunday HSS Nik Silver Efex Nik Color Efex
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Foggy tree.
This is a spin ICM taken on a foggy afternoon in January, on one of my local walks.
I was aiming for a kind of abstracty look, or the tree which ever you prefer :)
Andrew Haysom's excellent spreadsheet tells me that I am currenly 13.29 images behind on my 100x Monochrome & Toned image challenge, so I had better get my skates on (incidentally that's also good for ICMs).
I've just been away for a couple of weeks visiting my daughter, during which the world did a somersault. So I am now hoping to catch up a bit.
Hope you are keeping well and avoiding the news broadcasts (good for our mental health I think). Take good care of yourself my friend!
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image! Happy Thursday Monochrome :)
[Handheld in murk which may have been daylight but didn't look like it. ICM spinning around the camera's lens axis
Developed from the raw file in Photolab 3.
Processed in Silver Efex going for a dark and moody look. Added a control point to the centre to increase contrast and brightness.
Dark vignette.
Toned in a Selenium look. Added film grain based on Kodak 400Max film type preset.]
Tags: dsc-rx100m5 100 x: The 2020 Edition 100x:2020 B&W black and white branches Donnerstagsmonochrom fog ICM Image 11/100 intentional camera movement Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 rotation spin Thursday Monochrome tree
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So there was I, hunkered down, braced in terror against the front bulkhead, eyes screwed tight shut, as we hurtled up the A14 from Cambridge last month. Every now and again I’d squeeze one eye open and take a wobbly camera shot of anything passing by. This was one such, an attempt at a panning shot at that.
Needless to say (Ed: then why say it?) I wasn’t driving. Nor, for the avoidance of doubt, was I sitting in the driving seat.
I nearly binned this one. It looked awful. The colour was awful. The turbine was more or less overcome with a dark patch behind.
But something in it appealed - the striations in the image caused by the roadside trees flashing by in front perhaps, the theme of renewable energy perhaps, or the placing of the fan blades maybe…
So to get rid of the colour problem we have a monochrome for Thursday today, toasted withNik Silver Efex and lightly sepia toned. (As an aside, when I toast bread, which I often do, it always seems to come out black - for all the technical ingenuity of mankind, it seems we have yet to produce a toaster that actually works… but I’m rambling off again sry).
All the marks and textures come from the photograph - no textures were added or brushed, which is part of the fun of these things :) I rather like the movement captured in the mid-distance trees.
As the wind passes through the turbine it gives up energy to the blades, and so cools. You can see this effect clearly in the picture with the darker area behind the windmill on the right…
…or it could be the blur of an especially large roadside tree, of course. I shall leave you to decide :)
Thanks for your time. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy Donnerstagsmonocrom and 100x :)
Tags: Dusk Landscape Silhouette Sky countryside dawn electricity energy evening fog mist nature no person outdoors power sun sunset water wind windmill turbine renewable 100 x: The 2021 Edition Movement Image /100 Motion 100 x: The 2022 Edition 100x:2022 ICM Intentional Camera Movement Wobbly Camera Donnerstagsmonochrom Thursday Monochrome
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This is a spin ICM from my recent galavant around Cambridge.
It’s a timber-framed building so could well be tudor, as King Henry was a great benefactor of the University. Or it could be mock-tudor which was very popular in Victorian times. I didn’t look too closely but the building certainly was in good condition.
For Thursday Monochrome, and also for my 100x Motion project...
I thought the grid pattern was an interesting subject for this ICM technique...
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image. Happy Donnerstagsmonocrom and 100x :)
[Hand spun around the lens axis in daylight.
Developed in Capture One.
Processed in Affinity.
Converted in Nik Silver Efex. Medium contrast and structure. Light rectangular vignette.
Sharpened with High Pass/Linear light.]
Tags: monochrome Abstract no person Design modern art illustration Black And White Blur curve clean Reflection desktop empty line style Graphic fashion Pattern Texture building intentional camera movement ICM Aerial View Donnerstagsmonochrom Thursday Monochrome 100 x: The 2021 Edition 100x:2021 Motion Cambridge tudor timber frame Image 42/100
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