Photo Assignment #22..Hands (ENTRY HERE)

Photo Assignment #22 Hands (ENTRY HERE)




Post your single entry for Photo Assignment #22..Hands - in this thread.

Your photograph has to have been taken between 0001, Wednesday, 6 January and 2400, Monday, 18 January, 2010.

Please refrain from commenting on photographs (yours and others) in this thread until after the winner has been selected. Any comments posted prior to the announcement of a winner will be deleted. Photographs should stand on their own for your interpretation of 'Hands.'

You may post only one entry, but you may change it any time until 2400, Monday, 18 January 2010.

Technically not a hand,,,,,,but anyway,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Hands Up

Great photos everybody, thanks for your entry.
Ya know, when you win its like "Woo-hoo, I won", followed shortly thereafter by "Uh-oh, I won".
This is where it gets hard, picking a winner, and stepping on everybody else's toes
I'm a camera Luddite, so I hope you agree with my assessment of each submission and no hard feelings, ok?

Alright Voni, youre first; I fell in love with this pic as soon as I saw it.
It shows numerous hands that have seen years of hard work, but it also conveys shared labors, and hands that are as gentle as they are strong.
I wish the shadow in the lower left wasnt there.

Self; an interesting take on the subject. If I need a submission about silhouettes from the "Wrench Revolution", I'll get back to me.


Steve; My first impression was a feeling of bleakness or maybe being cold, maybe from a lack of more different colors. Im seeing it being a tad out of focus also, but Im less concerned with that versus the subject.


Andy; I like the subject, whereabouts is this? I would be interested in more info.
I believe you said in the other thread associated with this assignment that this is a picture of a picture, so that sorta knocks your pic out of the running


Jred; I can almost hear the music from the guitar, but I feel that almost the bottom 2/3rds of the shot could be cropped, leaving the right hand as the focal point while still maintaining the message; the blur in the foreground dominates the shot.


Scott; uh oh, gonna have to give yours a cropping too.
For my less experienced eye, I would wanna crop the shot just to the very right of the Lite bottle; at first glance, the Lite bottle was where I initially looked, so its a distraction.


Duke; I'm liking your shot, including the bokeh. (ask me where I learned that.)


Jason; a great shot of yours and Colts hands, but....
I liked the other shots that you had posted; in this one for some reason your index finger appears to be under proportioned and thats what my attention is drawn to.


Seanmohr; '...technically not a hand...' That is correct


Sharkey; A good interpretation, my initial thought was the Bates Hotel, so Im kinda scared.



Rusty; This is great, you doing what you have a passion for.
Nothing askance, no odd shadows, good coloring, etc. Nice.


And our down to the wire entry....
Txbanditrydr; I like the shot, the eyes definitely focus on the beer in hand, followed by the water droplets; if this makes sense its almost too good, like the beer in hand is over-focused, maybe if there was some background to mute things down a bit.


Well folks, I really agonized over this (no, really) for some bit of time, but I'm going to have to go with Voni again, her shot just fascinates me, despite the shadow glitch.

Thank you all for your participation, I hope nobody took any offense, a few of you have way more camera savvy than I.
(If you have real strong feelings, I'll be at the Hico Pie Run ...)

I think Voni gets extra credit for the PIAA lights in the lower right corner

Congrats Voni! I have to agree with Bob, you take good pics!

Sharkey... you did tell your wife that you posted that shot right...? That is YOUR wife right...??

Bob and others. I took the original pic of the hands tied in barb wire at the Viet Chapel Welcome center at Angelfire, New Mexico.
http://www.angelfirememorial.com/
is a little on it. I never pass by without stopping.

Tourmeister said:

Sharkey... you did tell your wife that you posted that shot right...? That is YOUR wife right...??

Click to expand...

Wife? Are you kidding? That is my girlfriend! As I answered in a PM, no surprises were made in the taking of this photograph. One of many reasons I love my wife!

Voni, congratulations.

Poser, good shot.

I like the Shiner beer photo and it would make a good product image but I don't get the "hands" theme from it.

I like the wrench photo too but I keep thinking of communism when I see it.

On mine the ones I like the best were under exposed and looked grainy, especially when converting to B&W and playing with contrast and other levels, the grainy-ness [is that a word] really came out.
I'm still learning the camera when trying to do shots with manual settings

I was actually trying to convey coldness & bleakness in my photo. It was a chilly day working on a friend's Jeep in the garage.

Next time around I'm going to have to step outside & get some good light & color into my shot. The competition around here is pretty fierce & I've been trying just to shoot in my free time at night. Time to step it up.

My reactions to a few of the photos...

jredford - I really like the lighting, color & contrast in the shot, but the fret hand really takes away from it in my opinion. Nice technical use of d.o.f. though. Maybe try it again capturing from the headstock down w/out the fret hand?

txbanditrydr - Excellent color.

sharkey - I doubt I'm the only one wondering if there was shot called "Hands Down".

M38A1 - Very rustic, I dig.

Woodbutcher - Not really sure I like this one. It seems more like a snapshot, yet very staged. Hopefully creative criticism is okay.

Yep, staged. However that is the way I work with hand tools. I probably should have worked up a larger pile of shavings. I wasn't particularly happy with the lighting and color feel. Because the garage door was open I had to go with a flash for fill light and that probably contributed to the snapshot feel. The garage door is covered with light blue foam and really messes up the color. This morning I realized I should have shot from the other side and held the plane left handed. The background would have been much more in theme (what showed, that is). Plus I would have had all natural light. Oh well, that's what I'm enjoying about these contests. I'm putting more thought into all aspects of a shot. Eventually I'll get more of it together.

I like all the other entries. M38A1's had the warm feel I wanted. I agree on the crop. It would have been perfect to me if the Lite beer bottle was gone/cropped out and the Shiner was where the ash tray is and rotated so the label is a little more visible. Not necessarily like an ad for Shiner though.

The other Shiner pic made we want to go get a beer. So yes, it caught my eye.

NUTT said:

I was actually trying to convey coldness & bleakness in my photo. It was a chilly day working on a friend's Jeep in the garage.

Next time around I'm going to have to step outside & get some good light & color into my shot. The competition around here is pretty fierce & I've been trying just to shoot in my free time at night. Time to step it up.

Click to expand...

I really like your shot. It has almost a depression era look to it. It reminds me of the coal mine and industrial photos from that time period.

J.

WoodButcher said:

Yep, staged. However that is the way I work with hand tools. I probably should have worked up a larger pile of shavings. I wasn't particularly happy with the lighting and color feel. Because the garage door was open I had to go with a flash for fill light and that probably contributed to the snapshot feel. The garage door is covered with light blue foam and really messes up the color. This morning I realized I should have shot from the other side and held the plane left handed. The background would have been much more in theme (what showed, that is). Plus I would have had all natural light. Oh well, that's what I'm enjoying about these contests. I'm putting more thought into all aspects of a shot. Eventually I'll get more of it together.

I like all the other entries. M38A1's had the warm feel I wanted. I agree on the crop. It would have been perfect to me if the Lite beer bottle was gone/cropped out and the Shiner was where the ash tray is and rotated so the label is a little more visible. Not necessarily like an ad for Shiner though.

The other Shiner pic made we want to go get a beer. So yes, it caught my eye.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I think that picture begs for a very warm lighting effect.

NUTT said:

I was actually trying to convey coldness & bleakness in my photo. It was a chilly day working on a friend's Jeep in the garage.

Next time around I'm going to have to step outside & get some good light & color into my shot. The competition around here is pretty fierce & I've been trying just to shoot in my free time at night. Time to step it up.

Click to expand...

I'd suggest trying it in B&W with a blue tint to it, something like this...

sharkey said:

I like the Shiner beer photo and it would make a good product image but I don't get the "hands" theme from it.

Click to expand...

It's got a HAND in the shot. How do you pick up your beer?

Maybe it was a one-armed beer drinker.

WoodButcher said:

Oh well, that's what I'm enjoying about these contests. I'm putting more thought into all aspects of a shot.

Click to expand...

And that's what it is all about. Definitely makes you "see" more.

New Zealand ? Thats wonderful Voni, hope you're having a great time.