Ticking watch By Tom Pizzey

-- TomPizzey - 15 Nov 2008

15 Nov 2008 08:07:59 JackRuss:

I thought this picture was really good and deserved more than awarded on the night, (my view) I would love to produce something like this Tom I will have to keep trying harder. The only thing I would have done is to straighten the Oyster writing bit by rotating the watch slightly clock wise but then thats me

P.s. I hope you don't mind me sorting the post links out ?

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15 Nov 2008 11:21:28 BenStephenson:

I thought this picture was very interesting, and actually made a note to go home and try something similar. I was also of the opinion that it deserved a higher score, especially after the comments about "this is the sort of thing we should be doing more often".

My comments would be that it needs straightening a little, and maybe a slightly shorter exposure as the luminous circles at the bottom are a little too bright. Maybe a couple of pictures at different exposures combined to get the best of each of them might have worked (says the complete amateur :))

I think the crop that was submitted was a little tighter round the face, which was better than this version.

Ben

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15 Nov 2008 12:29:50 RodBird:

I like this a lot, and I don't feel that it needs any more treatment (though go ahead and try as long as you're learning something new).

Don't be too worried what a judge says. Unlike the ones in the Old Bailey they're just people who want to keep club photography going, and few have any real training. The one thing that they (or we, because I judge myself) will do anything to avoid is silence, so if they're confronted by an image that's truly innovative they often resort to picking on minor technicalities, mainly because they/we don't have the vocabulary or education to explore the emotional or cultural significance of the image.

The art is to listen to what the judge says, to be pleased when you get high marks, and to put any low marks down the the judge's personal taste. You'll know it when you lose marks due to technical shortcomings. As far as I'm concerned this picture doesn't have any.

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15 Nov 2008 12:54:08 PaulFranklin:

Like Rod, I like this one - strong graphic composition and good use of colour contrast between the orange and the green. Also the areas which are clearly sharp and the blurred parts of the image show the viewer that this is deliberate and not an image which "just happened". I would rotate the Oyster to straighten but it doesn't bother me a lot. What I also like for such a "simple" object is that there is lots happening in this image and you don't get tired of looking at it

Well done

Paul

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15 Nov 2008 17:02:10 TomPizzey:

Guys, many thanks for the comments. This picture is made from 2 images (the watch face on a 61 sec exposure to get the complete 'swing' of the second hand) and a much shorter (1/250 sec exposure on the bezel and background). But I certainly take the point on the over-exposed parts and the face rotation and now I take step back, agree with those comments. I'll give it another crack and post back up the result! Be great to see anyone elses attempt - and besides, makes for easier photography when the weather outside is bad

Ps - George, many thanks for sorting out the posting as I had certainly done something wrong listing it.

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19 Nov 2008 18:30:02 ChrisYeatman:

I also like this photo but agree with the other comments about the brightness. It makes me want to get an interesting watch just to try a similar photo!

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23 Nov 2008 19:40:28 MikeKiely:

I also liked this shot. Enjoyed the various posts above and particularly your own invitation to submit an alternative attempt. I used a white envelope as my base at first. Black card turned out to be better. I used on camera flash at first. No flash worked better, though I did have some success creating a curved backdrop with the envelope to bounce more light from the flash to even up the exposure. The shot here is black card, dark corner of room under energy saving bulb light, 15 seconds at f11. RAW converter has been used to remove the horrible colour cast and then I liked the effect of total desaturation (also in camera raw). It has become more of a product shot and is less intriguing to look at. The beady eyed will spot that it is not the correct time! - Michael

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