Points of View Photo Project #28
Happy Friday everyone! You know what that means, it’s time for the 28th installment of the Points of View Photo Project!
As I mentioned last week, this week’s source image comes all the way from Antarctica courtesy of my brother, Chris.
For those of you who might be new to this photo project of ours, each week I post a source image (either my own or user-submitted) that is straight out of the camera without any post-processing whatsoever. Anyone is free to download it, edit it however they like, and return it to me with an explanation of their processing so I can post it with the other submissions.
But why keeping trying to explain it when you can see how it all works for yourself with this week’s source image. Enjoy!
Points of View Photo Project #27
Welcome to the 27th week of the Points of View Photo Project!
This week we are fortunate to have a source image from Friend-of-the-Blog Marc Benton of the Columbus Skyline. Thank you Marc!
We have 6 versions for your enjoyment this week! I am excited for the continued growth of the project and I encourage you all to give it a shot for next week. We have a special image at the end of the post that comes from my brother, Chris, from his recent trip to Antarctica.
So have a look at what we all did to process this initial photo and, who knows, you might learn a little something too!
Points of View Photo Project #26
Welcome to the 26th edition of the Points of View Photo Project here at Jason D. Moore Photography!
This week’s source image came from regular contributor, Henrik Demey from Belgium. About the photo, he writes:
“This picture was taken during a city trip to Prague, Czechia. It shows the central interior of the Saint Nicholas Church, on the Old Town Square. This baroque church dates from 1735.”
Thanks for sharing your shot with us, Hendrik! If any of you would like to share one of your shots with us to use as our source image in an upcoming week, please send it to me at pov@jasondmoore.com and you may see it in the next few weeks.
And now, onto this week’s contributions!
Points of View Photo Project #25
Hey Everyone! Welcome to the 25th installment of the Points of View Photo Project!
Today’s source image was taken on my honeymoon back in the fall of 2007. We went back to the park where the ceremony was held and we noticed all along the riverbed, someone had gone and stacked rocks into hundreds and hundreds of these things. Very strange, but very cool!
Click “more” to see how Hendrick Demey and I processed this photo. Then, scroll to the bottom of this post to grab the source image for next week (generously provided by Hendrik).
New Points of View Photo Project Image
Ok, since I haven’t gotten any submissions for this week’s Points of View Photo Project as of yet, and I’ve heard that it wasn’t the best source image to use, I’ve decided to offer up an alternate.
Using Textures with Photos
Awhile back I used a photo texture to add a little extra dimension of interest to a series of photos I had been working on and one of my readers asked for a little insight into how to use textures. So, here we go!
Reminders and Such
As the week and month progresses I figured it would be a good time to pass on a few reminders for how you can take part in the goings on here at Jason D. Moore Photography.
Lorne Resnick Photo Workshops
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER LORNE RESNICK ANNOUNCES 2010 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Join Lorne as he guides you in creating compelling and unique travel and fine art images. This limited selection of intimate workshops will provide you with an exceptional learning experience in some of the most beautiful places on earth, including exotic locations such as Kenya, Tanzania, Antarctica and Cuba and also iconic US National Parks such as Yosemite, Arches and Death Valley.
Points of View Photo Project #24
Welcome to the 24th edition of the Points of View Photo Project here at Jason D. Moore Photography!
UPDATE: New deadline for submitting your version of the image for week #25!
Each week readers from all over the world tackle a common source image and display it to show the many interpretations, perspectives, and approaches that can be taken from the same starting point. I always fins it interesting how a single image can be manipulated and processed to express such different feelings and emotions.
If you are new to the project, or if you’ve been following along regularly and would like to participate, be sure to scroll to click on “More…” and scroll down to the bottom to download the source image for next week and learn how to submit.
But now, on with this week’s images!
Points of View Photo Project: #23
Welcome to our 23rd edition of the Points of View Photo Project here at Jason D. Moore Photography!
We saw a really good showing this week with 5 participants in the project! Thank you all so much! I think we have a great mixture of interpretations this time around that I’m sure you will enjoy. I particularly appreciate it when someone really makes it their own and does something special with it – be it a nice processing treatment or an outside-the-box edit job.
Before we get too much farther I’d like to, once again, extend an invitation to you to share your out-of-the-camera original images to serve as our starting point in an upcoming week. Read on down to the bottom of the post for more info and where to send it.
And now, on to the images!
Guest Post: Stop! You are NOT a Photographer! – by Kevin Halliburton
Let's Blog!
First off, I want to thank Jason for investing the years it has taken to build this invaluable blog and for risking it all on me for a day. It feels like someone just handed me the keys to their priceless sports car and told me to have fun, so thanks Jason, buckle up!
You are not a photographer. You are a story teller. When that sinks in it will transform your work.
Reverse lighting engineers aside, (you know who you are) most people are drawn to an image by its story line, not the perfectly executed technique.
That’s an easy thing to forget, and the more gear you add the harder it is to remember. The photographer’s job is rarely to create a technically perfect reproduction of a scene but rather to illustrate a compelling story as clearly as possible.
Points of View Photo Project #22
Welcome to the 22nd edition of the Points of View Photo Project! This week we have been lucky enough to have a chance to work with not one, but three source images from reader and blog contributor Steve Kalman who challenged us to produce an HDR image, if we were so bold to try it.
Read on to see what some of our regulars have done with these photos and to learn how you can grab next week’s source image and participate in this excellent project that gets your creative juices flowing, invites you to experiment and try new things, and opens you up to the different perspectives that can come from a common image.
Also, be sure to scroll down to the bottom to find out how you can share your photos and a source image for one of our upcoming editions of the project!
Points of View Photo Project: #21
Welcome to the 21st week of the Points of View Photo Project here at Jason D. Moore Photography!
For those of you new to the project, each week I post a source image that is straight out of the camera that readers are free to download and manipulate however they please (as long has it is used for the sole purpose of this project) and then send it back to me for posting here. The goal is to share the many different interpretations – or points of view – that can be applied to a common source image.
This week, we have 3 different takes on the original coming from myself and a couple of our regulars, Andy and Hendrik. If you would like to participate, click on the “more” link below and find out how you can take part in our special, reader-submitted HDR Points of View Project.
Points of View Photo Project Source Image #21
As promised, we are starting the Points of View Photo Project back up with the new year!
I’m adding in a couple of elements though that will hopefully make this project more interactive, not only for our participants, but for the readers as well. Read more, after the jump.
Points of View Photo Project: #20
Welcome to week #20 of the Points of View Photo Project!
This will be the final edition of the project for 2009 and it will begin again with a new source image after the new year.
It has been such a treat for me over the course of this project to see all of the different interpretations there have been of my originals. Some have been dramatic, some whimsical, some similar, some surreal, all unique. Thank you to everyone who has participated so far, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the coming weeks.
Correction: Due to an error between the chair and the keyboard, the URL for contributor Hendrik Demey was grabbed incorrectly and is wrong in the gallery. His correct web address is http://hdemey.zenfolio.com/. My apologies.
Photo Reviews
Today I have 3 shots shared by a budding young photographer, Tori, who is all of 14 years old, almost 15. She came to me a few weeks ago wondering if I would give her some tips about what worked and what didn’t with her shots so far.
The three shots I selected from her gallery are, in my opinion, her best. They each stood out for me because they not only had artistic merit to them, they conveyed a message, a story, or an emotion, which is a long-sought-after goal of any artist, regardless of experience.
Following my comments below, I’d like to invite you to share some of your thoughts and ideas so we might help encourage a young person who is pursuing a growing passion.
(more…)
Taking it to the Next Level
I have recently begun talks with a popular web design site to be one of their contributing writers – on an article by article basis. I am very excited about this new opportunity and the challenges it brings.
I am already formulating my first article based on taking something ordinary and transforming it into something unique. I will be doing a start-to-finish workflow, from concept to final image, using my mini-planet tutorial as the basis.
There are many instances when you have a photo and you’re just unimpressed. Not because it isn’t a well-composed, evenly exposed, sharp image, but because it looks like everything else you’ve shot. That’s exactly when you need to do something drastic and jump into the surreal.
Also, coming down the pike with this new venture, I will be writing an article on search engine optimization (SEO) that all you bloggers and website owners out there will want to read so you can make your sites more search-engine-friendly and get more of the traffic you desperately want, and need to keep new customers coming in.
In my final article of my initial series with them, I’ll present an in-depth review of a piece of digital asset management (DAM) software that helps keep all of your files and file associations in order for speedier searching and a more efficient workflow.
When I’m done writing the first article and it is ready to go live, I will certainly share some excerpts here and link you to the entire article for you to enjoy.
Special Weekend Edition
So much has been going on this week that I just haven’t had time to fit everything into my posts over the last few days. So, to carry you through the weekend – as though you didn’t have enough to do with the holiday season in full swing – I thought I’d throw up a bonus post with few things that have either come up or have fallen through the cracks.
After the jump, you’ll learn more about a fun new item from Scott Kelby, the next source image for the Points of View Photo Project, and more! (more…)
Points of View Photo Project: #19
Welcome to the 19th edition of the weekly Points of View Photo Project!
Each week I post a source image that is the out-of-the-camera original and offer it up for anyone who would like to take a shot at processing it. This isn’t a contest, this isn’t about who is better, it’s simply a chance to experiment and have fun.
When everyone is complete, they send me their versions and I post a gallery to share the many perspectives with which a single image might be seen. Take a look at the Points of View Photo Gallery for this week!
If you would like to share a photo you took for us to use as our source image, please send it along to pov@asondmoore.com and we’ll use it in an upcoming week!
The Points of View Photo Project is sponsored by Towner Jones Photography, LLC. Please take a few moments and head over to see some of the great things Rob is doing! If you would like to sponsor this or any other project here at Jason D. Moore Photography, or would like to support the site as a whole, please visit our “Become a Sponsor” page today to learn how!
Last Chance for This Week’s Points of View!
Now that I’m back to my regular daily blogging, tomorrow will be our next installment in the Points of View Photo Project.
If you’re new to the Points of View Project, the main purpose is to serve as a creative exercise where multiple people take a common photo they’ve never seen before and experiment with it to something unique. (more…)
Points of View Photo Project: #18
Welcome to the 18th edition of the weekly Points of View Photo Project!
Each week I post a source image that is the out-of-the-camera original and offer it up for anyone who would like to take a shot at processing it. This isn’t a contest, this isn’t about who is better, it’s simply a chance to experiment and have fun.
When everyone is complete, they send me their versions and I post a gallery to share the many perspectives with which a single image might be seen. Take a look at the Points of View Photo Gallery for this week!
Get the source image for next week, after the jump… (more…)
Photo Review: Jonathan Goforth’s Chain Whip
Today’s photo review image comes from Friend-of-the-Blog Jonathan Goforth. Regulars here will know Jonathan from his showing in my BIG Photo Contest over the summer and his regular contributions to the Points of View Photo Project (which will be posted tomorrow and there’s still time to send in your shots by 10pm (Eastern) tonight!).
Jonathan has graciously offered up a few shots to be reviewed and I thought I’d start off with this one titled “Chain Whip”.
The first thing that strikes me with this image is the texture and the depth of field (DOF). I’m a huge fan of contrasting textures whether they exist as part of the actual subjects or whether they are created through creative choices, as is the case here. I love how the roughness of the cracked wood and the worn chain play off of the softness of the focus in the fore and background f the shot. With so much texture in the subject it could be rather overwhelming if shot from a different angle or higher aperture.
I also appreciate how the main focal point along the chain isn’t the closest point. Instead of being hit with the largest portion of the chain down towards the bottom, you are drawn farther in and then invited to explore even more. The curved positioning of the chain contrasts the linear nature of the wood quite nicely and creates some added visual interest to the piece. The angle of the sun creates some great directional light and long shadows adding even more dynamic patterns to the scene. Anytime you have either lines that are off-vertical or horizontal or you introduce triangles and perspective lines you will have a more interesting image.
Speaking of the light, and my love of contrasts, I enjoy the play between the warm colors on the left, created by the sun, and the cool colors on the right, found in the shadows. This contrast provides an excellent balance in the photo that would be lost were the lighting more even throughout. And while we’re on color, it’s no secret from some of my own work that I like to play with a somewhat desaturated color palette. Though it doesn’t work in every situation, I think it really captures the spirit of the subject here, and helps tell the story.
If I were shooting this subject, I’m not sure I would’ve done anything different. I think if the chain or the focal point were more on one of the rule of thirds lines it would’ve seemed to formulaic and less organic. And while some might think to clone over the upper left corner to extend the wood, I think it makes it all the more true-to-life and, in some ways, holds you in the image.
I don’t see any vignetting, which is a popular effect for fine art work nowadays (and can, admittedly, be overdone sometimes), and I think it could help keep the viewer’s eyes within the frame more. Certainly, our eyes are drawn first to the sharpest point and then we are taken deeper in as we follow the chain and the lines in the wood. Our eyes are also drawn to brighter portions of the image before the darker ones, and since the upper area is just about as bright as the focal point our eyes want to keep going up when, I think, you would want to keep directing your viewer back to the main point in the image.
With all that said, however, I think the shadows do a great job of guiding you back down and to the right so you will meet back up with the base of the chain and then work your way up the image again.
All-in-all, I think this a fantastic image and I’d like to thank Jonathan for sharing it with us!
*If you would like to have one of your images reviewed here (even anonymously), please send it along to reviews@jasondmoore.com.
Points of View Photo Project: #17
Welcome to the 17th edition of the “Points of View Project“!
Every Friday I will post a new, out-of-the-camera image for you to download. You may process, manipulate, composite, experiment, or otherwise alter the photo in any way you wish. The hope is that we will get to see a number of different takes on the same image and/or see it used in unique ways as a part of a new image.
This is not a contest or competition. It’s simply a way of stretching our creative muscles and to get those juices flowing through experimentation and seeing how many different interpretations can be applied to the same starting photo. (more…)
