52 weeks: Week 9 wrapup

© 2010 Simon Hucko

9 weeks already! Looks like some of you are here for the long haul, and for that I thank you. It's not easy finding time to shoot every week, especially when the weather is uninspiring and you've used up the easy shots. Even if you miss a week here and there, I applaud all of you for continuing to post and comment in the group. There has been some great sharing and feedback going around, which I hope you all are enjoying as much as I am. Hopefully with the spring weather approaching inspiration will come a little bit easier. To any of you who have wandered away from the group, you're always welcome to come back and start posting and commenting again. If you missed the first few weeks but still want to join, you're welcome to start any time. The more, the merrier.

My photo this week is somewhat of a departure from my normal style. I was inspired recently by some out of focus photos that I saw while browsing through Flickr, so I decided I would give it a try - you could say I'm going through my impressionist phase ;) Part of the challenge of taking an out of focus photo is for it to still have some meaning to the viewer. It's hard for me to say what people will see in this photo, since when I look at it I can picture the scene in my memory (and in focus, obviously). For me, it captures the feeling of walking down the commons (a pedestrian mall in Ithaca, NY) at dusk - the buildings, the trees, the people, the neon and the streetlights. I stopped down my 50mm f1.8 a little bit to get the polygonal bokeh, since I actually like that effect. Not everyone agrees, and most modern lenses are made with rounded aperture blades so they will produce circles no matter what f-stop you're shooting at. In this case, the contrast of regular shapes against the blur is a nice added detail and really makes the lights pop in this photo. This style is still pretty new for me, and is something I'll continue exploring.

This week's winning photo is "Irish whiskey tasting" by :


© chofler

Nice shallow depth of field and black and white tones in this shot. I like the composition, it tells a nice story and still leaves some details to the imagination. I also happen to be rather partial to Irish whiskey, so that didn't hurt either ;)

Good work everyone, keep on shooting!

~S

[title of blog] on flickr