#41 - Lo-Fi (Congrats Bob Williams)

[Sheiky]

On behalf of Dr Croubie, this is assignment number 41: Lo-Fi

Description: I don't like using the term 'Lomo', because the Lomo factory did actually produce some nice sharp lenses in its time, but that tends to be the best-known term for this style. Whatever you call it, it loosely encompasses a range of different styles. From Highly saturated, cross-processed, almost 'false' colours, to faded/desaturated 'vintage'-looking photos, sepia or B+W. Some have vignetting, some have purposeful motion-blur. Some are grainy, some noisy, some blurry from diffraction.

But no matter the method or the 'style', it's all about going back to basics, to simplicity in photography (I almost feel like Jamie Oliver, but if I called it 'The Naked Photographer' some people might mis-interpret and get Bryan in trouble).
You don't need the sharpest lens with the widest aperture. You don't need the best sensor, with the lowest noise. You don't need the best shadow-detail (or any at all). You don't need the fastest framerate. You don't need the best lights and reflectors.

What you do need is a good eye for a subject, at the right moment, for the colours, and the lighting.

By stripping out all the distractions, the sharp edges, the contrast, we get back to a single subject or scene, which tells us a story, and makes us want to know more about the people involved (behind or in front of the lens). Actually, just thinking to myself, it's also a form of 'Street' photography, that makes the viewer think.

For this assignment, I know not all of you will have access to 10-year-old films sitting next to the heater (like yours truly seems to do).
So (just as in the High-Key assignment), Post-Processing to get the desired effect is ok (and probably what most of you will use). As long as it's not just a one-click instagram-esque filter; you have to put thought into it, the processing should add to the the final result, it should be beautiful in its simplicity.
So break out your pinholes, your lensbabies, or your Gaussian Blurs, and start messing with those colour curves and saturation sliders.

The finalists:

Name: ddt0725
Motivation: I'm not sure if this is Lensbaby, low-dof, motion-blur, or what. Either way, my eyes can't stay around the edges, they just keep getting drawn into the centre. The saturated 3-colour parts and the contrast between them just make the image.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/7967470832_8580fa7a4a_z.jpg


Name: Bob Williams
Motivation: This one certainly fits my description of 'the photo tells a story'. The natural vignetting from the shadows of the trees keep focussing my eyes between the girl and the mountain, I keep wondering where she is and what she's doing. You could write a whole book from this scene.
http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s4/v66/p1113511352-4.jpg


Name: conropl
Motivation: I don't even know what it is about this one that I like, it just does it for me. The almost single-colour, the wisps of white from the moving branches in the foreground, you could stare at it for hours as an abstract art piece before even realising there's a deer in it.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/7981264062_757a6487ac_c.jpg


Name: Lars
Motivation: This also fits very well with the 'story' aspect. He's right in the description, there's probably at least a horror novella in this shot, if not an entire hardback. It's the way the arms are sticking up in the air, as if it's desperate to get picked back up, the path in the background provides some clues, but more questions, as to what happened to the owner.
http://community.the-digital-picture.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1395&d=1347824137


Name: cls
Motivation: What can I say? It's just a beautiful, single-colour (almost) landscape. The moon, the clouds, and the orange buoy break it up just the right amount.
http://community.the-digital-picture.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1414&d=1348351314

[Dr Croubie]

And so I (finally) get around to posting some samples of mine, all it took was for me to take a day home from work sick to do it...
I've purposefully tried to take my own advice, and process the crap out of them rather than shoot with film and/or dodgy lenses.

Anyway, here's some i've done so far:
http://croubie.smugmug.com/photos/i-6B8jrMq/0/L/i-6B8jrMq-L.jpg (http://croubie.smugmug.com/TDP/TDPAssignments/20910085_PRtm3T#!i=2079625765&k=6B8jrMq&lb=1&s=A)
This was 7D with 100mm f/2.0 in a book shop for a poetry reading one night, they were staring at me all night. I've done a lot of colour curves, saturation and desaturation, blurring and sharpening, (gimp doesn't even have an instant 'add vignette' filter, i had to mess around with layers and such, but learned a lot), but i'm still not 100% happy with the outcome. I never realised how hard it was to do this kind of stuff until last night. Anyway, the point of this one is the colours and the ways the shadows fall on those two buddies, the orange of the eyes is highlighted to bring attention to them, you wonder what they get up to at night.

http://croubie.smugmug.com/photos/i-sPtkhdX/0/L/i-sPtkhdX-L.jpg (http://croubie.smugmug.com/TDP/TDPAssignments/20910085_PRtm3T#!i=2079625396&k=sPtkhdX&lb=1&s=A)
And this one i'm not so sure where I was going, it was one of the first shots with the ShortyForty. The red on his chest almost looks like it's 'glowing' out of him, in a sort of 'mexican wrestler superhero' way. The overall darkness of the shot makes it look like he's been photographed on the adds a bit to the mystery of who he is and where he's going.

[Sean Setters]

Sneaky.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[M_Six]

Not sure if this qualifies or not. If so, it'll be my entry.

Icy Fog

http://bimmermail.com/harvest/fog01-sm.jpg

[HDNitehawk]

I call this one "The Show" as this was the finale.

Also I am not sure it applies to the definition of the assignment, but here goes.


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/7964042194_ef7228e054_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55888666@N08/7964042194/)
The Show (1 of 1) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55888666@N08/7964042194/) by hdnitehawk01 (http://www.flickr.com/people/55888666@N08/), on Flickr

[btaylor]

Really interesting assignment. I'll try to put my creative hat on this week and shoot something new for this assignment. Already two great entries!

[ddt0725]

This will be my entry, unless something better comes up before the assignment ends ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/7967470832_8580fa7a4a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtrociophotography/7967470832/)
Monarch (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtrociophotography/7967470832/) by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com) (http://www.flickr.com/people/dtrociophotography/), on Flickr

[Steve U]

I call this one "The Show" as this was the finale.

Also I am not sure it applies to the definition of the assignment, but here goes.


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/7964042194_ef7228e054_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55888666@N08/7964042194/)
The Show (1 of 1) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55888666@N08/7964042194/) by hdnitehawk01 (http://www.flickr.com/people/55888666@N08/), on Flickr

Has he been drummed out of the heard?

[DavidEccleston]

I went digging in our old photos, from when we'd had our T1i for just 2 months. I chose 5 photos to convert. It turns out they were all taken with the 50mm f/1.8. Anyway, it was a ton of fun taking old photos, trying new things with them, and seeing how to get various looks and feels. Descriptions of what I did are on flickr. The first is my entry, the rest were just fun.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8303/7968494780_f7b8723e8c_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494780/)
LO_6588 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494780/) by namethatnobodyelsetook (http://www.flickr.com/people/15493374@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8309/7968494374_014246540c_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494374/)
LO_4987 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494374/) by namethatnobodyelsetook (http://www.flickr.com/people/15493374@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/7968495238_1f145844bf_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968495238/)
LO_4992 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968495238/) by namethatnobodyelsetook (http://www.flickr.com/people/15493374@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7968494620_773154a186_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494620/)
LO_4912 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493374@N03/7968494620/) by namethatnobodyelsetook (http://www.flickr.com/people/15493374@N03/), on Flickr

[bouwy]

has he been drummed out of the heard?blol :)

[HDNitehawk]

Has he been drummed out of the heard?

:) That would explain why he was a solo act.

[ham]

Just to double check what's covered here. Does the image have to have been processed for this effect? I mean I have some high ISO, noisy, images with flare and low contrast that certainly look Lo-Fi, would they be the right sorta thing?

[ahab1372]

Just to double check what's covered here. Does the image have to have been processed for this effect? I mean I have some high ISO, noisy, images with flare and low contrast that certainly look Lo-Fi, would they be the right sorta thing?
As far as I understand, that is fine. The processing is so that we don't have to buy old or low quality gear if we don't happen to have some.

[Sheiky]

Correct. This assignment covers a wide arrange of photos. With and without post-processing. If you think yours fits, just upload it. If you have doubts about an entry, you can always ask Dr Croubie if your photo fits the description.

Here is one example of a new photo that I edited to look older(and fits the description). I'm pretty sure he isn't, but he did remind me a little to John Cleese.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7235/7194266574_20bf4a60d2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaalman/7194266574/)
Old School Racer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaalman/7194266574/) by Jan Paalman (http://www.flickr.com/people/janpaalman/), on Flickr

[ahab1372]

Here is my entry:
1386

And I couldn't resist this one posing:

1385

Edit:
The landing
1387

[bob williams]

I hope this meets the intent of the assignment. This is actually a 35 year old color film shot that I scanned and processed. This is actually the shot that got me interested in photography.

Reading on the beach:

http://rwilliamsimaging.com/img/s4/v66/p1113511352-4.jpg

[ahab1372]

Bob, that one says "Print me!"

[Dr Croubie]

Wow, a lot of good entries so far (a lot are better than I can manage, I suppose I need more PP practise, normally I let the film decide how the colous are going to look).

And Ham, they can look however you want i suppose, it's a very open-ended topic. The main thing is that there's not too much pixel-peeping detail, just keep it to a 'simple' subject or scene, as it were. (the easy way is, if it looks good at 1200px wide/long, it shouldn't look any 'better' by zooming in)

[bouwy]

My entry of a reflecting shot of my wife and I. Please note the incredible detail in this shot

1389

[bob williams]

Bob, that one says "Print me!"

Thanks Ahab, glad you liked it. But I printed it 35 years ago----and still have it. Although there is a little more color in the original

[Kombi]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UGy89xMbOtM/UFFZ6FezrwI/AAAAAAAADVo/Nc53D60V3_0/s800/IMG_6874-002.JPG
my submision- took a few steps to turn my 550 into a polaroid

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pimQtESGVCA/UFF3wSkBa3I/AAAAAAAADWA/OYAPJrMV5Qc/s800/lofi-pooches.jpg
from the other day- F/20 1600 ISO, then processed

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZPkGWpMQHOM/UE_B8aquZiI/AAAAAAAADV4/opJ5mLv64qc/s800/IMG_1139-001.jpg
This one I took a couple weeks back had already done some mild processing added some drabness blurred it and added slight vignette to go with the 60's vw and ladies fashion

[Steve U]

Some great entries so far.
Processed a different version of this one for a competition. I think this fits the bill for here though.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8459/7978838497_ff2ef682e4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/steves_life/7978838497/)
The secret... he knows it... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/steves_life/7978838497/) by Steve's Life (http://www.flickr.com/people/steves_life/), on Flickr

Thanks for viewing.

[conropl]

I will submit the first one below. It has not been processed other that converting to JPEG. The deer was looking through a pine tree on a windy day.
The others were processed for the effect... Dr., I hope this is what you were talking about (difficult for a pixel peeper like me).

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/7981264062_757a6487ac_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981264062/)
Deer in the Trees (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981264062/) by westmichigan (http://www.flickr.com/people/60479608@N05/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8459/7981282196_c24e2462c4_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981282196/)
Steam Engine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981282196/) by westmichigan (http://www.flickr.com/people/60479608@N05/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7981291828_f19b6ee4b6_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981291828/)
Soft Rose (http://www.flickr.com/photos/60479608@N05/7981291828/) by westmichigan (http://www.flickr.com/people/60479608@N05/), on Flickr

[Andy Stringer]

Interesting assignment and great entries so far. I've played with quite a few sliders and tools to create this image, including grain, vignette, grad filter, split toning and cloning. I never realised Lightroom had so much potential.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/7983466957_f13d03c3da_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/apstringer/7983466957/)
Dunottar Castle (http://www.flickr.com/photos/apstringer/7983466957/) by Andrew Stringer (http://www.flickr.com/people/apstringer/), on Flickr

Created from this original:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/7983439746_137e460e54_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/apstringer/7983439746/)

[Steve U]

Who stole that fence Andy?

[Andy Stringer]

Who stole that fence Andy?

It suffered the same fate as a couple of the herring gulls, victims of the cloning tool.

I made sure to put them back when I had finished.:p

[Lars]

Here is my entry. Perhaps a bit macabre, but I found this doll on a forest path next to a kindergarten, and it reminded me of a horror movie of some kind. Since I was alone, I could take some pictures without appearing like a total lunatic. The doll was returned to the kindergarten, though.

Lars
1395

[NFLD Stephen]

Here is probably one of the first pictures I ever took, many years ago with my father's film slr (a canon ftb) that I later scanned. Unfortunately, this look was not from processing (other than cropping), but actually came out of the camera that way!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7998047902_0e99660203_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nfld_stephen/7998047902/)
Duck_001 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nfld_stephen/7998047902/) by NFLD Stephen (http://www.flickr.com/people/nfld_stephen/), on Flickr

Stephen

[TheRoff]

Here is my entry. It is actually a canon at Gettysburg, but let's say it honors those who died at Antietam 150 years ago today.

http://www.pbase.com/roffee/image/146112452/original.jpg

Larry

[Kayaker72]

Some really nice shots. Love the canon Larry. So, I had hoped to do something specific for this assignment, but, I am out of time. Instead, I'll just have some fun....

I am no Sean Setters, but here is a self portrait taken with an iPhone 3G awhile back.....

1399

Maybe not my average "style".....it was a '70's party.....but I think I make it look dy-no-mite. ;)

[Steve U]

Hip happening dude.:cool:
Owning those aviators.

[MrGreenBug]

Cool photos!!! Been away for such along time from TDP. Missed lots of assignments and hoping I can participate on the next assignments. :)

[Dr Croubie]

Well there's still time ... :)

seriously, please, no more entries, they're all too good and i'm already going to have a bitch of a time choosing (Jan, can I have 10 finalists? Please??)

[ham]

Will this do for my entry?

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-tPZI4MLJZrs/UFtqF9uciJI/AAAAAAAAOUU/NBnp9gYaqtw/s1108/2012-Sep-07_1546_0020untitled.jpg

[cls]

This assignment was an interesting and challenging one - quite different from what I usually do. I currently don't own any "lo-fi gear", so I made an attempt to add a lo-fi touch to a recent photo.

1414

[Sheiky]

Today is the last day to upload your photos!

I don't have any old pictures or a roll of film so I went the digital way and post-processed a shot from last year. I don't even know what I did to the image. I started to do some manual cross-processing and then went crazy trying out every new thing in CS6 :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/8016754280_44a8edf541_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaalman/8016754280/)
Fouga Magister (http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaalman/8016754280/) by Jan Paalman (http://www.flickr.com/people/janpaalman/), on Flickr

For who's interested, this is the link to the original. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaalman/8016750226/)

[ahab1372]

Jan,
It certainly looks analog.
Nice one

[Sheiky]

And this is the official end to the entry-period. Thanks for all the input everyone. I will notify Dr Croubie to select his favorites. Good luck all!

[Dr Croubie]

Wow, too many good entries, this is going to take me a while...

[Steve U]

Give this a nudge, what's happening Jan?

[Dr Croubie]

I'm being slow here, sorry guys.
had to be one of those weeks where everything happened at once (eg last night, i drove from work, picked up a rainwater tank, drove to my mums, walked to the airport, got my gf's car, drove back to my mums, got in my car, drove to new house, dropped off rainwater tank, kept driving to other house, got home at 8pm and collapsed.).
And that wasn't even a busy day yesterday. I've downloaded them all and am deciding this morning (even though i was meant to leave for work 10 mins ago, i figured i'll just be late again, i owe you guys some finalists).

[Dr Croubie]

Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought.
The first 2-3 (for me), were no-brainer inclusions, the 4th one took a bit of thought, but the battle for 5th spot was intense. I was very tempted to cheat and just leave out a 5th choice, but that wouldn't have been nice either. As it was, another 6-8 are lying on the floor tied for 6th place.

There were ceratinly a lot of different takes on the theme, and that was kind of the point. At first the topic seems very narrow, but then when you get into it, you realise that almost any photo can fit the bill.
For me, the main thing I judged on was the 'single subject', the whole point of being 'lo-fi' is to cut out all the distractions around that single subject and just draw attention to that subject (although in some of them the 'story' of that 'single subject' was enhanced a little bit by the background, without being distracting). And in others, it was the balance of colours that told the story, the whole image was the main subject.

Anyway, I hope you all found it fun, again apologies for the lateness in picking finalists (it's not every week you do 2 tax-returns in 2 languages and express-post one across the globe, at least I should get some nice gear out of the refunds). I look forward to the vote counting, seeing if any of you agreed with my choices will be interesting to watch.

[Sheiky]

Give this a nudge, what's happening Jan?
Haha sorry I had to wait for a bit for the results and when I got them I was sleeping like a baby. Got up yesterday and had no time, busy night after work and so goes the story.
I'll edit the post as we speak. Congrats to all finalists and good luck!

[DavidEccleston]

Only a few hours left to cast your votes!

[Dr Croubie]

Good thing i managed to get the finalists sent when I did. I was away for friday and saturday night, when I got back home on Sunday the phone line was dead, problem with the exchange and no internet until Wednesday probably. (Everything happens at once sometimes).
I'm not sure if I should vote or not, was thinking I should reserve judgement in case a TieBreak is needed. But so far the voting looks fairly certain to have a winner (and i'll be happy no matter what wins, they all look good to me)

[DavidEccleston]

Congrats Bob

[bob williams]

Thanks Dave

[Joel Eade]

Congrats Bob!

[Sheiky]

Congrats Bob!

[cls]

And congrats from me too - great photo!

[conropl]

And another congrats Bob... nicely done.

[Lars]

Congratulations from me too. Since I was lucky enough to be a finalist, I did not vote, but would have voted for you if I had to.
Lars

[bob williams]

Thanks All, I appreciate it. It's funny though. I have $20K invested in dslr and associated equipment and I finally win my first contest with a shot I took 30 years ago with an old Canon AE1 film body and 50mm kit lens.

Thanks again guys, I hope you like the new assignment.

Bob

[ahab1372]

Yeah, gear does matter, but not always and not the most

[Dr Croubie]

Thanks All, I appreciate it. It's funny though. I have $20K invested in dslr and associated equipment and I finally win my first contest with a shot I took 30 years ago with an old Canon AE1 film body and 50mm kit lens.

Hey, the one before my shot was taken with a 40-year old East German lens that cost me $50 on ebay, on a $100 adapter.
And my first shot that got turned into a book cover was with a niftyfifty one night at a pub.

I think the lesson more is that *you* make the shot, not the equipment (that said, the equipment helps, but it's not going to stop me buying/lusting after more and better equipment...)

[bob williams]

(that said, the equipment helps, but it's not going to stop me buying/lusting after more and better equipment...)

I think all of us here can appreciate that statement.

[ahab1372]

there is always the next lens or accessory or body