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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk
