***round 5 - Due: 04.22.07***

[Jeremy Ordan]

Well Round Three was lackluster, Round Four was amazing, and I think this could be the round that really changes some things

Hence, Round Five in the ongoing photography challenge...

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Round Four
Shooting Dates: 04.12.07 - 04.22.07
Submission Deadline: 04.22.07 @ 11:59.59 EST
Voting / Comment Period: 04.23.07 - 04.25.07 @ 11:59.59 EST
Topic: Shallow Depth of Field
Topic Details: Take a picture with demonstrates shallow depth of field FOR EFFECT
NOTES: Those of us who hang out in this section see it every single time someone new comes and starts posting images... you know, the pictures of hangars or light posts or mailboxes that only exist to show shallow depth of field. As filmmakers working with video (or solid state recording) shallow depth of field exists as some promised land of creating more 'film' like images. For this contest the use of shallow depth of field is for effect, not to simply show you can acheive it. Time to get those thinking hats on and compose.

Details:
I. You may submit a max. of two images
II. All images must be shot during the contest period
III. You may post process in any manner you see fit
IV. All images must be 3MB or smaller

Upload Instructions:
1. Save file as USERNAME_DOF_FILENAME (if you are uploading multiple images please then use USERNAME_DOF_FILENAME1, USERNAME_DOF_FILENAME2, ect.)
2. Type up any txt document describing your image, process, or any information you want
3. Register for the contest at http://www.stffilms.com/dvxuser_photo_contest
4. Upload image and .txt file to http://www.stffilms.com/upload
5. Be patient, I hear it is a virtue...

[HorseFilms]

Interesting topic! Time to start working.:beer:

[Brandon Rice]

mm... me likes this round... :)

[Dangitskang]

nice timing. just got my camera today so i'm ready to tackle this.

might take a while to get DOF down correctly though...:huh:

oh btw...does scanners affect the resolution or the quality of the picture? my camera is a film and not a DSLR

[kyle.presley]

Where do we upload?

[HorseFilms]

4. Upload image and .txt file to http://www.stffilms.com/upload


Right there :smiley_up

[HorseFilms]

oh btw...does scanners affect the resolution or the quality of the picture? my camera is a film and not a DSLR

That depends on how good your scanner is.

[kyle.presley]

Oh, sry. thx.

[MattinSTL]

Since LCDs have really come down in price this spring I got a 22" Samsung... a lot of things that were big now look small... photos are a prime example. I'm sorry if I missed this at some point... but what would you consider to be the ideal size?

I'm asking this of everyone... Now I don't mean a locked perspective... but perhaps a max width or height in pixels?

I realize that some pics won't look as good at 1500 pixels wide... but please excuse this question and post me your opinions. My old 17" crt monitor pair were set for something like 1024x768 each... and I often had to scroll around to see a large picture... so what's everybody viewing now? What size would you like the pics to be? Does the upload site control the max size of images?

I seem to remember us talking about this at some time in the past... but with a 3mb size limit... that leaves it wide open for actual pixel size.

[Brandon Rice]

My monitor is 1440x900, so I don't usually have trouble with any of the pics.

On a note about this round, I went and took some shots today... turned out pretty good.

[HorseFilms]

I have my monitor set at 1280x1024. I can go bigger, but prefer not to.

[Tom Marshall]

I should have my camera for this one!!! Going to be picking up a D200 real soon. :beer:

EDIT: I'm now the happy owner of a D200! :) I bought the camera from a photographer here in Los Angeles and also picked up a lens from him. The lens is a Nikon AFS-D 17-55mm 2.8.

[MattinSTL]

Damn dude... the 17-55 2.8?

Holy Schmokes! That's TOL there (top of the line).

Hey everybody else... thanks for commenting about the pic sizes. I guess I'll stick with 1200 or lower... I'm wondering if anybody still has a monitor resolution of 1024 or less? About the monitor issue... You can get this Samsung 22" lcd with 1680x1050 res... 300 brightness (PLENTY... TOO MUCH in fact... I turned it down)... a 1000:1 contrast with 3000:1 dynamic (I've never heard of higher contrast in a computer lcd)... and 2ms response time! Again... I've never heard of another lcd with 2ms response... this monitor acts just like a CRT... no lag on text scrolling... and honestly... everybody's images are just stunning.

Best part is that it's only about $320 from Newegg... and probably dropping in price all the time. Trust me... this is your year for a big lcd.

Thanks again everybody... obviously I'm in for this round also. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with... especially YOU... tommyinla.

[Brandon Rice]

EDIT: I'm now the happy owner of a D200! :) I bought the camera from a photographer here in Los Angeles and also picked up a lens from him. The lens is a Nikon AFS-D 17-55mm 2.8.

:eek: That is one SICK setup dude!!!! Great glass and great camera!!! WOW! :thumbsup:

[pixelated]

I'm now the happy owner of a D200! :) I bought the camera from a photographer here in Los Angeles and also picked up a lens from him. The lens is a Nikon AFS-D 17-55mm 2.8.

I am now officially jealous. congratulations.

[Tom Marshall]

Damn dude... the 17-55 2.8?

Holy Schmokes! That's TOL there (top of the line).

Hey everybody else... thanks for commenting about the pic sizes. I guess I'll stick with 1200 or low
er... I'm wondering if anybody still has a monitor resolution of 1024 or less? About the monitor iss
ue... You can get this Samsung 22" lcd with 1680x1050 res... 300 brightness (PLENTY... TOO MUCH in f
act... I turned it down)... a 1000:1 contrast with 3000:1 dynamic (I've never heard of higher contra
st in a computer lcd)... and 2ms response time! Again... I've never heard of another lcd with 2ms re
sponse... this monitor acts just like a CRT... no lag on text scrolling... and honestly... everybody
's images are just stunning.

Best part is that it's only about $320 from Newegg... and probably dropping in price all the time. T
rust me... this is your year for a big lcd.

Thanks again everybody... obviously I'm in for this round also. I'm looking forward to seeing what y
ou all come up with... especially YOU... tommyinla.

I figured I might as well get something I'd be happy with for a while... and as far as the next contest, I'll definitely participate, but don't expect anything spectacular from me. I'm just getting into photography and I've got a lot to learn... :)

And thanks Brandon and pixelated! :beer:

[Brandon Rice]

Just shot my entry.

[Brandon Rice]

And uploaded :)

[Tom Marshall]

I hope to shoot something within the next couple of days. I wanted to today, but I got stuck at work.

[Steve_Arm]

Let's see those pictures coming in!

[Tom Marshall]

Just uploaded my photo... :beer:

[2 in the can]

I as well...I think. Steve, could you please let me know if it didn't go through?

Thanks,
Allen

[Steve_Arm]

It's up.

[HorseFilms]

I'm in. Shot it last night.

[MattinSTL]

It was the very last minute for me... LITTERALLY... but I'm in... I think.

I kept taking pics that illustrated shallow DOF, but I kept asking myself if I was simply replacing the coke can, mailbox, or hanger... with something else... like a turtle. I took a shot of a turtle that was camoflaged in his surroundings... and then put the shallow DOF on him... as if to say "here I am, hiding in all this"... but then I started seeing him as the coke can... so I didn't submit that. Another shot that I wanted to do... but didn't was to have the arm of a "rich person" extending some cash to the open, dirty hand of a poor person... like a nice suit on the one guy... and then torn up bum as the other guy... and have an out of focus car emblem on the rich guy's side... and a tin cup on the ground on the poor guy's side...

I thought something like that would have been appropriate also... but nope. Didn't do that either. I'm hoping somebody took advantage of the special effects aspects of shallow DOF... even in your filmmaking... you can put the effects that you can't afford in the blurry background and people will see more then is really there... it will be interesting to see what everybody came up with.

[HorseFilms]

There are some great pics in this round. I just wish there were more of them.


I kept taking pics that illustrated shallow DOF, but I kept asking myself if I was simply replacing the coke can, mailbox, or hanger... with something else

That's something I was trying to avoid, as well. I sat there for a few hours at work trying to come up with something. We'll see if it worked...

[MattinSTL]

Now I'm looking at my turtle shot and thinking he should have been on there.

The funny thing is... I think I know who shot what... but not for everybody... I'm really enjoying these things because you can see everybody's quality constantly going up... it's amazing really.

I also like when I think I know who took a particular shot... and then it's the last shot I would have guessed that's their picture.

... and I ALSO wish there were more shots this round. Did anybody else have other shots that they considered submitting, but didn't? Since we have so few pics I think we could post our personal "runner's up" on this thread... no? Is that a bad idea? Does that dilute the "contest"?

I want more pics!

After the last contest I thought the shooting period was too long... I didn't want to wait that long to see what everybody would do... and then I went and shot my keepers on the very last day! I DID attempt to get some shots that I thought would be good... several times over the past 2 weeks... I just never liked 'em. One of them was a ball on a golf green... with the flag a long ways away... but it was coke-canny... and only after the fact did I think of laying a putter down there... and maybe even my hands on either side of the ball... the other idea I had that day... but that we couldn't make look good... was to have a pencil breaking on a bad score card... and then have a blurry guy cheering at the flag on the green. I wish we could have pulled that one off.

[Jeremy Ordan]

I can personally offer my apologies for the fact that I wasn't able to enter this round. I have been crazy slammed with completing the final stages of a move into my girlfriend's house with my lease running up so there just wasn't any way.

I did notice that there were a lot fewer entries but I think the next topic will help change that. This one is going to be one for the masses (which will then be followed by one for the thinkers).

Great entries, I voted but haven't had time to comment.

[Brandon Rice]

I agree, some fantastic entries this round, all be it, very few... lets see more people participating! We had such a mass amount last round.

[Jeremy Ordan]

Last day to vote

[Steve_Arm]

Last day to vote

...which reminds me to go and vote.

[Jeremy Ordan]

As I have said in the past, Steve and I keep a close eye on the voting to make sure that everything is kosher and nothing is out of the normal. Well today out of personal curiousity I wanted to see the average vote that people were dishing out. Now, keep in mind, this is the average of the votes submitted by each voter (so essentially the sum of the 9 votes, or 8 if they are are participant, and then divided by 9)

Jeremy 5.55
HorseFilms 6.66
Blaine 6.11
Jeremy Tuttle 7.11
Virum 6.88
MattinSTL 6.44
MIG 6.11
2 in the can 5.44
CharlieG 5
Ming 6.33
KyleLewis1 5.66
Viperfour 7.33
EGProductions 3

[HorseFilms]

HorseFilms 6.66


Should I change my name to Damien? \m/:evil:\m/

[Brandon Rice]

Just finished voting. Good round!

[CR_OPSO]

I haven't had much spare time lately to participate, but I did manage to vote this time. There were some really nice photos this round!

Chad

[Mig]

Only 13 voters ? *scratches head*

And yeah, I'm a 6 guy :P

[Steve_Arm]

15, but it's the usual total.

[egproductions]

Thanks for the bronze, nice choice for the other two winners. Gonna go drink some wine...

[2 in the can]

Honestly, I was happy just to enter a submition I really liked (even once I got sober). Thanks for the gold!

[CharlieG]

And thanks for the SILVER from my side.... My 1st to enter, I hope not my last.....

[Brandon Rice]

Good job everyone!

[Tom Marshall]

Aagh! I thought the deadline to vote was today... I'll have to pay attention the vote closing date next time...

[Ming]

Don't dwell too heavily, the next dealine is 2 days away.