I'd love to know what this would have scored in the Flight challenge. I didn't get the right one for the challenge, so I re-shot it (after around 80 attempts) yesterday and - voila!...
Tough shot Jon...I must have set-up over 100 "flights" of these seeds to try to capture the motion, but still keep the seeds in sharp focus. Finally gave up in desparation. I still prefer your original entry and thought it should have scored much higher...
I do like the new version. Kudos for sticking with the idea after the challenge had closed.
The clear blue sky helps of course, but the motion itself is better, and it's easier to tell that the shot is properly focused. I also prefer the composition with one 'copter' taking center stage and the other one in the background.
I like the new one - the blue sky makes it more vivid, and the motion is not quite as intense, making it easier to look at the picture but still very clear that they're moving. I also like the fact that one of them is more in the background than the other; I wouldn't have thought of it until seeing it, but it works well.
I really like the new one. The blue sky and the different composition give more depth to the picture. You can also see some texture on the head of the closer seed - nice!
I did the same thing....shot about 50 shots and gave up. Got some that came out really clear, but they didn't look like they were spinning, just floating. I also did it indoors and my ceiling was that white blobs of texture paint....boring
Thanks for the comments. I was very frustrated by my challenge entry (also by the harshness of voting) so I wanted to nail it. In particular I wanted the low, Autumn sunlight and depth between the seeds. Eventually, it all just came together.
That comment has opened my eyes to this shot in a whole new way! Fantastic. :D
Would you have rated flying chicken legs very highly?
The subjects in my shots were (quite boringly in light of Heida's comment) Sycamore seeds from a Maple tree (as Olympian says). They are dry, brown, and extremely aerodynamic - but they tend to have a mind of their own which is why they are tough to shoot.
Olympian - I found that focusing quite close helped - about 700mm - which allowed some detail to come through.
I tried close....and at ceiling level, just as they started spinning.
I tried my automatic settings for "sports", with flash and without...
Capturing the sparks in my flying pic turned out to be easier.
Not sure I would consider a chicken leg as flying LOL
But then again...someone didn't consider my sparks as flying either...Oh well...give it a go!
This is cool stuff I´ve never seen this before.
Actually I thought that the chicken leg photo was very creative in the challenge That and the flying shirt and tie photo
