[Rainer.]

Challenge #10 VOTING

The challenge is to pick a color, and create a series of photographs that showcase your chosen color.


In order to complete this challenge, you must have at least three photographs in your series. You can do more, but probably not more than, say, 15 or so. You can either have your photographs shown separately side by side, or you can combine them into one photograph, like a collage or a tiled composite. If you're going to do a large batch of photos, probably between 6 and 15, you'd be better off doing a collage of some sort. (see example at bottom of post)


This challenge will be judged on how well you meet the challenge, and on how creative and vibrant you can get with your colors and your subjects. Getting really close to something will be ideal. Your subjects can be related to each other, or they can be completely unrelated, that is up to you.


You can also get creative with your colors. Your objects do not have to be solid blue or solid yellow, or whatever color you choose. There can be other colors in your subjects, but as long as the overall presentation screams of your chosen color, you have met the challenge.


I think this challenge will help with learning how to take more than one photo, and to create some sort of continuity between them. When you post your entries, you will want to present them in the best aesthetic order. I gave this challenge a little more time because it will require a lot more work than just taking one photo and uploading it. It will also help you work with your camera settings and surroundings, or with photo editing post-session, to get the best, vibrant colors and lighting.


Have fun with this challenge and really exercise your creativity here. : )



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Rules:

1) Photo must be taken in this time frame. No digging up old photos.

2) Please post entries either as a jpeg attachment or as a thumbnail no bigger than 500px wide with a link to the larger version if you want.

3) We will not exclude images based on conforming to the rules, but keep in mind that one of the things the image will be judged on is how well it shows this week's challenge subject.

4) To keep this thread simple and clean, if you don't want to enter and just want critique before an official entry, post it in the designated photography critique thread, not here. You can however discuss the subject or any entries here if you want.

5) You are encouraged to share your camera settings, shutter speeds, aperture, etc., but EXIF is not strictly required.
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Here are the entries (in no particular order). Voting should be based on technique, creativity, and how interesting the photo is while within the challenge's criteria. Voting will be open for one week after this posting, and the winner will be able to choose the next challenge. Voting for yourself is discouraged.


ApparentlyNothing
"Red"




Jump5fan
"Orange"




airsoft sniper
"Green"




Rainer.
"Brown Loves Green"

[Nate]

This is really tough.

ApparentlyNothing's collage is the only one that is consistently clean and crisp, but I can't tell whether that's an artifact of the photography itself or just the result of more refined photoshop skills in piecing the images together. Given the fact that some of Jump5fan's and airsoftsniper's shots seem stretched or otherwise distorted, I'm going to assume that the original shots are relatively clear and that the photoshopping process of piecing them all together accounts for the blurriness.

Then, I'm finding it difficult to decide which set best exemplifies the "creative and vibrant" guidelines. AN's has some very vibrant colors, but they're almost all exactly the same hue (which, I suppose, could be either a good or a bad thing), and some are kind of dead giveaways (stop signs, red [tail]lights, etc). Rainer's brown-green shots aren't vibrant at all, but the concept is very creative. J5's shots and colors vary in quality and vibrancy, but every single subject is unique and unexpected. Airsoft's shots vary from extraordinarily clever (using the stop sign against the tree and under the road signs to represent "green") to repetitive (three shots of road signs!). Very tough.

In the end, I'm going to go with Jump5fan. All of the oranges are of unique hues and found in entirely unexpected items (there's not an orange, a caution sign, a sunset, a tiger, a carrot, a monarch butterfly, a pumpkin, or any number of other stereotypically orange things to be found), and the various subjects are so boring on their own that the only thing I can find to focus on is, in fact, the color that unifies them.

[Ordinary Sarah]

I chose Rainer's because I felt he took the challenge a step further. I also like the way his photos work well together, while the others seem to be a bit patched together.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Interesting. This is kinda hard.

Jump5Fan, 3 of the panels are probably the 3 best photos of yours I've seen on here. The speedometer, the goggles, and the hose are all really well composed. It makes me want to vote for yours, but I just think the others are just too weak compared to those.

Airsoft, I agree with Nate's assessment that it is a bit too repetitive. I disagree with him on the creativity of the stop sign and green in the background. With this theme of colors, I'd really prefer to see the subject to display the color, not the background or some random element in the photo.

JonRainer, I like the photos. And I'm actually really impressed with how you were able to use 2 colors like that. It is somewhat of a stretch of the challenge theme, but I think if picking 2 colors was easier than picking 1, I might care more. So, I think I'm going to go with yours.

As for my own, I don't really know why, but I'm not very satisfied with it. I think if I spent more time with it, I might get it looking more like I'd like, but this was just for fun doing something I've never done before. So I didn't feel like spending a ton of time on it.

[Art]

For me this is no contest in favor of ApparentlyJon. The focus in his pictures is constantly red. The pictures all look good individually, but the focus is so extremely clear.

For JonRainer, I feel like the colors were a bit muted in a few of the pictures. The red in the guitar strikes me as the dominant color of that picture.

Jump5, I liked it a lot. Orange was definitely a good pick.

Airsoft, I liked what you were trying, but the red stop sign really takes away the green around it. Also, the most green part of the dollar is on the side and cut off. The rest looks more grayish.

I wish I had been able to participate.

[ApparentlyNothing]

This is creating an interesting dilemma. Not to declare victory already or anything, but if I do win, when this poll ends, I'll be out of the country and unsure how much internet access I'll have. Soooooo.... yeah.

[natedawg5280]

Great entries. I'm going to go with ApparentlyJons. The rest are close but I love how crisp his is. I wish I'd have noticed this. It looks fun.

[Rainer.]

I, like most others I guess, am also going with Jon's, based an the variety of red things there. Only thing I'd say about the pic, Jon, is that nothing there really surprises me about "red". Every thing there is clearly red, but nothing that I wouldn't have already thought about as being red. But, yes, the images were consistently decent.

Jump5fan, your images do also contain a variety in orange objects. Some images are great, others not so much. The speedometer, orange hose, and goggles all have very nice angular composition that leads the eye. The others are just not quite there yet with lighting and composition yet, but you would have been my second choice.

airsoft sniper, I thought this played to green well, as every image was clearly green. Some things I would say about it is that you used three images of street signs, which I feel was a bit repetitive. Also the images you used, none of them seemed really properly lit.


And as for mine, I, like the other Jon, wish I had spent more time on it, too. Oh well, .

[ApparentlyNothing]

So, I have a couple ideas for the next theme, and I'm not sure which I should pick.

1) Numbers. This would be a very open theme. Capture numbers in a creative way. It can be a photo of a number or numbers written somewhere, it can be taking a photo of multiple objects that illustrate a number or amount, it can be a photo that shows just something singular. As long as the photo shows intent of the subject having something to do with a number or multiple numbers, it can be submitted.

2) Abstract. This one is a little more obvious, but even more open. Essentially, take a photo that makes the subject abstract. Shapes, lines, amorphous blurs, anything as long as it creates an abstract composition.

Thoughts? Preferences? I'm kinda leaning towards abstract, simply because I know I'll be taking some abstract photos in the near future.

[Ordinary Sarah]

Oooh. Abstract = <3


That is all.

[Rainer.]

Abstract is a great idea, but it's a little too open ended, I think. IMO, if we did abstract, it should be a little more specific than just "shoot an abstract composition".

Numbers would be a little less creatively taxing, but just as much fun methinks.

[Ordinary Sarah]

It could be "shoot something that would otherwise be recognizable, but do it in an abstract way".

[ApparentlyNothing]

I kinda like it being open ended. We've had a lot of challenges that are more closed that challenge you to fit within the rules.... I was kinda wanting a challenge that challenged people's creativity more than their ability to fit the rules... at least for this challenge.

[Rainer.]

Do whatever you want, I say. But there is a fine line between open-ended, and insanity.