Boot Camp 2, Assignment 4: Results
Greetings from the final assignment of Boot Camp 2, in which you were asked to examine a transportation theme in the assignment, "What Moves You."
Some really nice stuff came in on this one, and I left notes on about two dozen pictures among the entries. Now comes the hard part -- getting them down to the finalists -- and one winner.
__________
But First, a Brief Commercial Message
No, not one of those pre-roll video things Vanity Fair forces you to sit through before you watch an Annie BTS. No, this commercial was shot by our own Ken Brown, for the Blackhawk (Car) Museum near San Francisco. Ken's the guy that did that amazing gull wing pic a ways back:
Pretty neat concept -- and shot on a 5D Mk II.
And Now, the Finalists
Add an extra "n" to lighting and things start to get even more interesting. Reader Carl Williams not only had the nerve to risk getting fried, but knew when to say when on the lighting.
Dark car, dark sky -- it's a low key pic, left that way. I might have popped a little light on the ground behind the car (a ways back) to separate the tires and sides a little.
But when the weather gets like this, I am probably at home hiding in the basement anyway. So what do I know.
This one, by M. W. Scott, is just delicious. It's an antique Polish scooter, with both paint and lighting to die for. Really nice composition, and the light details the bike's shape and texture beautifully.
One SB-80, through a shower curtain, proving that a modicum of creativity will let you do a lot with a little.
Saw a few of these, and BookGuy's was my favorite. It's understated, he let the car lights handle the road, nice sharp face -- a lot going on in a graphically arresting photo.
There are actually two light sources hitting the face. Two Sto-Fen'd SB-600's -- one on the far left dash and another in the passenger's seat. And those dual light sources give it a nice, 3-D shape.
Alex Pounds left significant areas of this photo unlit -- which to me makes the photo from a lighting perspective. Little snoot above the hands to augment the ambient window light coming from camera right, and even a flash under the sheets to paint a little detail from there.
I might have kissed a little more up into the face, but that could also have killed the draw of her overall body attitude, too. Wouldn't know till I saw it.
But in the end, this photo was not about lighting technique. It let the interpretation of the theme shine instead. Very nice, Alex.
(As an aside, you sure as heck won't catch me necked under a sheet with a Yongnuo YN460. After seeing this video, I would not put my nuggies anywhere near one of those demon-possessed things.)
This one is subtle, and I like it.
R.J. Bledsoe used a ground-mounted Vivitar 285 behind the biker to ape a little low, late light. This was essentially a dynamic landscape, but it fit the theme in its own way and stove out in the bunch.
I like that R. J. left the tones low and did not let the light call attention to itself. It is so easy to keep going and make the photo about the light, but adding more lighting pizzazz is not always the path to a better photo.
A little less subtle is this surfer photo by Haristobald, whom you may remember from this very cool swimming pool video.
The flash is actually on the board, in several layers of plastic bags. It made for a beautiful image when that light mixed with the sunset and waves. Please take a moment to check out his set from the shoot, in which he includes a setup shot.
Even less subtle is this shot by Darren Chang, who details cars in Malaysia. He shot two photos -- one with the hood down and one hood up -- and erased the former to the latter using layers in Photoshop.
I tried the same thing with my Scion XA and it's power source, but the two chipmunks under the hood did not photograph so well. (They are pretty dark and greased up by now.)
Seriously, how much money could you make shooting cars for hot rodders and tuners this way?
My 8-year-old described it in one word: Want.
And the Winner Is . . .
I loved every single one of these finalists -- beautiful photos, all. But only one walks home with the starving student light kit, a Speedlight Prokit 6 Reflector kit, the Strobist Gel/LumiQuest FXtra combo kit, a set of Strobist DVDs, the Trade Secret cards.
There was one photo that I kept going back to: This one.
Some really nice stuff came in on this one, and I left notes on about two dozen pictures among the entries. Now comes the hard part -- getting them down to the finalists -- and one winner.
__________
But First, a Brief Commercial Message
No, not one of those pre-roll video things Vanity Fair forces you to sit through before you watch an Annie BTS. No, this commercial was shot by our own Ken Brown, for the Blackhawk (Car) Museum near San Francisco. Ken's the guy that did that amazing gull wing pic a ways back:
Pretty neat concept -- and shot on a 5D Mk II.
And Now, the Finalists
Add an extra "n" to lighting and things start to get even more interesting. Reader Carl Williams not only had the nerve to risk getting fried, but knew when to say when on the lighting.Dark car, dark sky -- it's a low key pic, left that way. I might have popped a little light on the ground behind the car (a ways back) to separate the tires and sides a little.
But when the weather gets like this, I am probably at home hiding in the basement anyway. So what do I know.
This one, by M. W. Scott, is just delicious. It's an antique Polish scooter, with both paint and lighting to die for. Really nice composition, and the light details the bike's shape and texture beautifully. One SB-80, through a shower curtain, proving that a modicum of creativity will let you do a lot with a little.
Saw a few of these, and BookGuy's was my favorite. It's understated, he let the car lights handle the road, nice sharp face -- a lot going on in a graphically arresting photo.There are actually two light sources hitting the face. Two Sto-Fen'd SB-600's -- one on the far left dash and another in the passenger's seat. And those dual light sources give it a nice, 3-D shape.
Alex Pounds left significant areas of this photo unlit -- which to me makes the photo from a lighting perspective. Little snoot above the hands to augment the ambient window light coming from camera right, and even a flash under the sheets to paint a little detail from there. I might have kissed a little more up into the face, but that could also have killed the draw of her overall body attitude, too. Wouldn't know till I saw it.
But in the end, this photo was not about lighting technique. It let the interpretation of the theme shine instead. Very nice, Alex.
(As an aside, you sure as heck won't catch me necked under a sheet with a Yongnuo YN460. After seeing this video, I would not put my nuggies anywhere near one of those demon-possessed things.)
This one is subtle, and I like it. R.J. Bledsoe used a ground-mounted Vivitar 285 behind the biker to ape a little low, late light. This was essentially a dynamic landscape, but it fit the theme in its own way and stove out in the bunch.
I like that R. J. left the tones low and did not let the light call attention to itself. It is so easy to keep going and make the photo about the light, but adding more lighting pizzazz is not always the path to a better photo.
A little less subtle is this surfer photo by Haristobald, whom you may remember from this very cool swimming pool video.The flash is actually on the board, in several layers of plastic bags. It made for a beautiful image when that light mixed with the sunset and waves. Please take a moment to check out his set from the shoot, in which he includes a setup shot.
Even less subtle is this shot by Darren Chang, who details cars in Malaysia. He shot two photos -- one with the hood down and one hood up -- and erased the former to the latter using layers in Photoshop.I tried the same thing with my Scion XA and it's power source, but the two chipmunks under the hood did not photograph so well. (They are pretty dark and greased up by now.)
Seriously, how much money could you make shooting cars for hot rodders and tuners this way?
My 8-year-old described it in one word: Want.
And the Winner Is . . .
I loved every single one of these finalists -- beautiful photos, all. But only one walks home with the starving student light kit, a Speedlight Prokit 6 Reflector kit, the Strobist Gel/LumiQuest FXtra combo kit, a set of Strobist DVDs, the Trade Secret cards.
There was one photo that I kept going back to: This one.
__________
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Posted at 2:18 AM.
15 Comments:
Congrats to the winner! Subtle interpretation :-)
congrats to everyone.
this was my first strobist boot camp, i can now appreciate how hard you guys work.
cheers for the effort too david, this is a huge learning curve for me, its good to have so much support
Well done to everyone involved across all 4 assignments.
Thanks to David for running such a great boot camp once again.
Hey thats 4-Nil to us shifty foreigners. :-)
Wow! Those are all awesome!
although i had nothing to submit, thanks again for such a quality site!!
thanks!
Before the thinly veiled self-promoting begins I want to say congrats to all the finalists and to the winner! This was indeed a very cool theme that brought out some interesting submissions. More than any other assignment so far, I think this one stresses the importance of Dave's point that you can't let the lighting get in the way of the shot. The images on this page are all excellent examples of that. Well done everyone!
I loved that shot as well. Nice choice.
Many, many thanks to you, David, for running this set of assignments. I feel like I got even more out of it than I expected. Each project pushed me to try something new, and challenged me to work hard at improving my skills. I also benefitted tremendously from seeing the way other people approached the same assignment, and was inspired by their amazing work to try even harder.
I also enjoyed the sense of community that was engendered, and the encouraging comments that people left on one another's photos. It didn't hurt that the underpinning philosophy of the project as a whole was to find ways to help others in the process of honing your own skills.
But what shall I do with myself now that the assignments are over?! Well, look forward to the next Boot Camp, of course. And seek out other challenges that sharpen my abilities and force me to look at light more critically.
You are probably wiping your brow with relief at no longer having to look carefully through hundreds and hundreds of submissions, but please know that all your generosity of time and money in running this Boot Camp was far from wasted. You are a gifted teacher.
p.s. I'm sure you know of it already, but others may be interested in an upcoming project that dovetails nicely with your philosophy of giving back to the community. On December 12th, the Help Portrait movement will be taking portraits all over the world for anyone who might be in need.
Man, right up at the top. Thanks for the inclusion, David!
And congrats to all the finalists and winners!
Very cool work all around. Thanks again for the motivation to try something new and for the time you put into reviewing all the photos. It would be impossible for me to pick one favorite or even to get down to a top ten list.
Congratulations to the winner and to all the finalists.
Grats to the winner, but I think the image is a little underexposed.
Is there a way we can get page or set of links up to all the bootcamp assignments and winners...
I'm new to Strobist, and L*O*V*E* it and it's philosphy, bought the DVDs and have read the 101 an 102 links...
but I'd like to complete the bootcamp assignments even as "creative homework" if nothing else.
As to the last post from Leigh is it appropriate or customary to post to Flickr and add to Strobist group even after the assignment "deadline"?
Myron-
If BC2 is like BC1, lots of people will continue to do the assignments at their own pace, for years.
-D
David-
This Bootcamp has been a real challenge, a lot of fun and a great idea. My wife, who isn't interested the technical aspects of photography at all, really got into it. So the BC was not just a way to get people to exercise their neurons and maybe help someone else. For me it was also a good way to get my wife interested in photography. Thanks for that, and for spending all the time and energy to make this happen.
And congrats to the winner!
cheers
kevin
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