Congratulations Schema Thing! April Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the April Photo Contest…


Grey Sky Blue Dress Free Heart – Schema Thing


second place goes to

passing storm – teamster633


and third to

The spirits are restless on a blustery day - Blue_in_AK


Host’s Choice

Alfredo's Ice 11 for the glistening wetness and the way the sun reflects on the ice.


1. Grey Sky Blue Dress Free Heart – Schema Thing
2. passing storm – teamster633
3. The spirits are restless on a blustery day – Blue_in_AK
4. Puddle At Sunset - Mira
5. Ice 11 - alfredo
6. Something Wicked Comes This Way - CC
7. Pier Closed – Mz Pip
8. Come Rain Or Come Shine - babylonsister
9. Into The Unknown - MattSh
10. Storm Break – California Peggy

Congratulations everyone and thanks for all the beautiful entries. Over to you Schema Thing… whew!

Cross post in GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8243634

A well deserved win. And congrats to all the other finalists. Fabulous photos all around.

And all who entered..........fun contest!

Would love some background, was it spontaneous, planned... ???

I worked for a photographer who had me chase down that blue dress (very vintage) for a shot of an older, "vaguely hispanic looking grandmotherly" type, of all things (it was for a cooking oil product).

After the shoot, I kept the dress and decided to use it with a model. In fact, I had the idea to do a series of images with the same dress and different models, but so far haven't done so.

The actual shoot just happened to be on a stormy day, and thankfully the model was willing to "go with it" when it began raining. When I get a chance, I'll show the forum the other shot that I thought about using for the contest - which was in some ways more appropriate for the "storms" theme, but wouldn't have done as well in voting. lol, I definitely should have used it. ;)

And would love to see whatever other photos you took at the time. Funny that the dress was for a grandmotherly type because I wouldn't have thought that at all.

also, this was shot on fast, grainy film: Scotch 3200 transparency film.

I think film adds depth to a photo that you don't get from digital. I thought I noticed it in a B&W that someone scanned in the other day. Could be my imagination.

How does 3200 speed change a photo from oh, regular old fast 400; and I've got no clue what transparency film even is.

actually I was looking for this image:


When I came across my Blue Dress images:



As far as film "adds depth" vs digital, what you might have seen is not the imaging device/medium (film vs chip) - but rather the SIZE of the imaging device/medium. A 35 mm film camera is much bigger (1.6X) than most digital SLR's. So what you *could* see is different (less) depth-of-field in otherwise same images coming from a 35 mm film camera vs your average digital camera.

Of course, as in my picture, fast film has a lot of grain. The faster the film the larger the grain. Digital "noise" also increases as you increase your ASA/ISO. Noise looks similar to grain, but not exactly the same. I haven't researched it lately, but I'm sure there are photoshop plug-ins that mimic film grain very effectively.

"Transparency" film is just another word for "Slide" film, also known as "Chrome" or "Positive" film. "Slide" really means transparency film in the 35mm size (for projection in a slide projector).

The best color films have almost always been Transparency films (as opposed to negatives). However, transparency film is much more difficult to shoot than neg film, as there is very little latitude - you have to get your exposure just right.

But in reality...what an amazing group of photos. I am in awe!

and my apologies, for not putting up stiffer competition this time.

But I'm learning so much from you!

and well done everyone else. Good entries all round this contest.

and to everyone else who gave us such wonderful images of storms!

I love the top three. Each one is so different but still captures the theme perfectly. Gtreat contest.