<<< o >>>bar 137 11 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

I had hoped to find some time to take some new shots today, but we have builders in at the moment and dealing with their presence took up most of the day. All they're doing (for the time being at least) is putting in some French doors to our dining room and an access hatch to our loft space, but the entire house is wrecked. There's a fine film of brick dust over everything, cement encrusted footprints across most of our floors, and huge piles of rubbish here, there and everywhere. Oh, and I had to plumb in our washing machine which involved soldering pipes, nearly setting fire to the curtains, and then forgetting to open the window when I used the PVC solvent to glue the waste pipe together – I don't think that I'm cut out for glue-sniffing.

Anyway, that's my excuse for what I think is a less than ideal shot ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I do think this one has some merit, at least in terms of its semi-abstract composition and the colours, but it's not one of my best efforts.

capture date
camera
lens
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
8.35pm on 19/12/04
Canon 20D
EF 50mm f/1.8 II
f/1.8
1/200
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
400
no
RAW
DPP
no
 
3x2
comment by peterv at 09:08 PM (GMT) on 20 December, 2004

I really don't know how you manage to spare the time to do this at the best of times but just before Christmas with children and the builders in? - Im sure I'd just say forget it - My hat's off to you, Dave

This shot needs to be more abstact? Lose the letters? or gain the word bar entirely? I like the out of focus lights,and the blue cloth/leaves/feathers but I'm not sure about the hard in-focus lettering

comment by Adriana at 09:38 PM (GMT) on 20 December, 2004

I like the compositiom of this shot and considering all the things you have to manage with this building stuff ( And God knows I Know how hard could that be) it it pretty respectable the effort of posting daily.

It's good to know that in addition of being a good photographer you also try to be good with the house maintenance. jus try to stay away from the courtains (lol)

Nice pic David

comment by picturegrl at 10:01 PM (GMT) on 20 December, 2004

Your worst is better than most people's best, and your best is stunning to say the least. There is a reason your site received its 1,000th favorite. You inspire us all to try to go just a little farther each day. I'll take your dregs any day :-)

comment by djn1 at 12:36 AM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

peterv: photography is a passion, chromasia is a compulsion ;-) Seriously, the idea of not posting, of actually missing a day, seems totally weird. And it's partly because I know there's an audience, but it's also a ritual, or maybe a creative mantra (for want of a better way of putting it) that I have to do each day. But that probably says more about my personality than it does about my photography ;-)

Adriana: the curtains were close to being something of a disaster. The blow-torch I was using suddenly switched from a nice blue, focussed flame, to a four foot orange cloud of flame. I wish I'd been able to photograph it, it was quite spectacular ;-)

picturegrl: thanks :-)

comment by Sharla at 12:48 AM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

I'm just so pleasantly surprised everyday.

I really think this is an excellent pic. I like the sharp letters that set the foreground, while not overstating themselves. The angle you chose is perfect and the bright colors are saturated and well arranged. The wreath gives it just the right depth to establish the multiple planes.

If this is "less than ideal," I'm looking forward to your improved version.

comment by P at 04:47 AM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

actually, i like this one. something about the cool deep colors and the two rows of out-of-focus dots. very nice!

comment by crex at 09:07 AM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

Show this to a (not too young) swede and I think he will probably associate it with U-137 ... which really has nothing to do with your Christmas-colored Bar window photo, but associations are interesting. It was a dramatic incident when U-137, a russian submarine, stranded in Karlskrona archipelago (southern Sweden) in the autumn 1981.

Hope you get your home fixed before Christmas. Looking forward seeing more great shots.

comment by potatoe at 12:06 PM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

hi dave, noticed that you are using canon 20D now. do remember to get the 580 ex =)

ah, can't wait to see your photos that being taken with a L series lens too.

just a question, at f1.8 1/200, why did you bump the ISO up to 400 ? shot handheld and to minimise hand shake?

comment by Jorge at 12:38 PM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

Dave thanks for going into to the trouble of taking this picture. It is very cool.

comment by m at 07:42 PM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

The bar looks to be in xmas mode. Enjoy the glue Dave ;-)

comment by djn1 at 09:27 PM (GMT) on 21 December, 2004

Thanks everyone.

crex: the building work won't be finished until the end of January, but they've stopped for a couple of weeks now. We just have time to clean up all the dust before they start again ;-)

potatoe: I did get the 580EX - it's excellent :-) As for your question: I forgot to reset it, but the noise is so low at ISO 400 that it isn't really a problem.