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#Skye is 100% behind the camera here
skinandscales-if · 1 year
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Noodles Night
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omegawhiskers · 11 months
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Dynamite 8/11/23
The Devil Attacks
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Dynamite opens with Adam Cole telling MJF that Samoa Joe is the partner he needs at Full Gear. But that means Joe gets a shot at the AEW World title, so this is clearly not a good option. Daniel Garcia interrupts and MJF asks are we getting the sports entertainer or wrestler tonight? Garcia says we will get the wrestler. Roderick Strong gets wheeled into the segment and Cole shuts down the call. Roddy looks at the camera and says “It’s time to remind everyone exactly who the hell I am!”
Garcia and MJF had a good showing, and the idea here was for MJF to persuade Garcia to be his own man. The problem with this story is, 2.0 holding Garcia back has been limbo for months. When Garcia does break from 2.0, it was won't get quite the pop.
Darby Allin/Sting vs. The Outrunners was short but effective. Sting got the victory with the scorpion deathlock, establishing, despite his retirement, he can still pick up the win.
Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm have a sit-down interview. This was a fun segment with Storm, but I’m not sure if she is meant to be a heel or babyface.
It’s quite disgusting how talented Swerve Strickland and Penta El Zero Miedo are in the ring. They delivered a PPV quality match. To make this segment even better, Adam Page turned up with a steel chair. He cracked it over the body of Swerve a few times before giving him the deadeye off the stage through some tables. Page kept yelling ‘’You’re a dead man’’. This is the side of Page we needed to see.
The Young Bucks are still not happy about The Golden Jets as a tag team. Matt and Nick issue a challenge at Full Gear. Kenny Omega finally intervenes and accepts the challenge, although he doesn’t want to wrestle them, but feels the Bucks are being a bunch of ‘’Sissy, whiny, bitchy children.’’ There's stipulation with this match also. The Young Bucks number one contender’s match for the AEW Tag Team Titles are on the line, but to up the ante, if Jericho/Omega lose, then The Golden Jets are no more. This is a much better scene for The Young Bucks as I felt like the ROH trios belts really derailed them.
The ROH TV title was on the line as Samoa Joe defended his title against Keith Lee. Lot’s of meat chants throughout this match as punches, chops rained down. Joe won via rear naked choke. In a shocking post-match moment, Joe vacated the ROH TV Championship. He’s reasoning is that he is now focused 100% on the AEW World Championship. I’m not sure if you can legally vacant a belt, but I think moving the ROH titles off of AEW is a good move.
Red Velvet returned to action after being out with an injury for 9 months. Velvet was super impressive in this match against Julia Hart. These two women put on a good match. Velvet needs to be featured more if these are the kind of matches she can work. Hart starts the post match beat down, but Skye Blue comes to the ring to have a stare down with Julia. Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander come to aid Velvet and Blue. There is still friction between Blue and Kris. Like the Garcia story, this one is lingering for too long. Just have these two fight already because it will get to the point of no one caring.
Mariah May made her AEW debut. She was interview by RJ City where she marks out Toni Storm. I don’t know anything about May, but it’s good to see the woman’s division growing.
Our main event was Jay White vs. Mark Briscoe. The Full Gear title shot was on the line, so there was not way Briscoe was winning. This was a decent match, but what transpired afterwards was the main angle.
MJF made his way from behind and attacked Bullet Club Gold. Max was unsuccessful at getting his belt back again. The lights went out as cameras backstage showed masked men attacking The Acclaimed. Antony Bowens was sent through a glass window. The Man in the Devil Mask appeared on screen. MJF rushed to the back to where The Acclaimed lay half dead. MJF didn't ask were they OK or called for some medical assistance. At the start of the show Roderick Strong did say he was going to remind everyone who he is, but that could be a red herring. I'm still leaning on Jack Perry.
I'm glad to see the person behind the devil mask finally did something that really affected MJF. And this needs to continue until Full Gear. The matches were also a step up from last week. Overall a much better episode compared to last week.
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ayankun · 4 years
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The Asset
so I’m making my mom watch Agents of SHIELD (obviously) and today we watched eps 1x03 - 1x06.  That’s The Asset, Eye Spy, Girl in the Flower Dress, and FZZT.
THEN I ACCIDENTALLY SPENT LIKE FIVE HOURS DISSECTING MY LEAST FAVORITE EPISODE YOU’RE WELCOME
First off, full spoilers ahead, of course.
1x03 is, hands down, the worst episode of the series.  PERIOD.  I didn’t give it my full attention when I did my rewatch, because I remembered it well enough for some reason and the guy that plays Quinn looks too much but not enough like Tahmoh Penikett to seriously irritate me.  DODGED A BULLET THERE.
Giving it your full attention does not do it any favors.  I was physically discomfited, squirming in my seat and dropping snide remarks every 12 seconds.  It’s bad, you guys. 
First off, we have this guy, who is, for now in S1, the one and only “Agent Mack.”
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THE SIMILARITIES ARE UNCANNY.
Then this big rig gets dropped like 50 feet and I’m supposed to believe that this guy strapped in the back only had his glasses knocked askew?
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Ok then we go see what the team is up to, and lord, three episodes has not been enough time for Chloe or Brett to Figure Their Shit Out.  They’re so awkward and dumb looking.
After a passable briefing scene, where we learn that Baldy McGlasses is a valuable asset (and beloved advisor to FitzSimmons) who was being transported with maximum security before being kidnapped, we get this wildly wild “we have to put something on the screen while exposition happens” shot:
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Which cuts contemporaneously to
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Thanks I hate it
Where did the atmospheric smoke go?  Was that highway always there?  What time of day is this supposed to be where the ambient light changes so drastically over a matter of seconds?  They couldn’t have kept the camera on the left side of the lane marker?
But it gets worse because Simmons has a line and the coverage for this is basically just a matched jump cut over to the other half of the line up and back again.
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I can’t stand it.
So Agent Mack survived the fall and is still on the scene of the accident.  My mom was pretty incredulous that he was alive, and I was thinking it was too bad that he had to sit there for hours waiting to be debriefed instead of being taken to a hospital.
THEN there’s some FitzSimmons pratfall-adjacent sci-fi nonsense that my mom really got a kick out of.  But I was too distracted by Iain’s decision to play Fitz as a douchebag so far this season so I wasn’t in the right mood to be impressed.
Ok then we go back to the lab to do some science on the MacGuffin, and I will admit my favorite part so far is Skye challenging Coulson on the existence of the truth serum, and Coulson plays it so Coulson-y it’s truly chef’s kiss.
BUT THEN May comes along and drops 100 pounds of print media for Skye to review (oh yeah, there’s a key subplot about there potentially being a mole inside SHIELD, which is how McGlasses got got) and MY MOM who REGULARLY prints out things like Facebook posts to keep for posterity rightly pointed out that they have high-tech on this plane like holograms and stuff, so printing out all this correspondence in order to go through it page by page makes 0% sense.
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Also we never see it again.
OKAY THEN COULSON AND WARD ACCOST A COWBOY RIDING A HORSE THROUGH THE WOODS.  Said cowboy also just happens to have the incriminating bag of gold on his person, which Coulson and Ward straight up steal.  That’s it.  That’s the whole concept for the scene.  Coulson’s just parked his car along a narrow woodland path, just waiting for a cowboy to come riding along so he can accost him/steal his gold. 
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Check out how whack this scene-setting shot is, too.  We have Coulson on the left, facing the Cowboy on the right.  At this trajectory, you can see that Lola and the horse are basically pointed perpendicular to one another.
Yet cowboy pulls to a stop without banking and addresses something dead ahead of him.
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Surprise!  Coulson’s over there now and Lola and the horse are facing dead on.
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To really drive this home, cowboy spends the rest of the scene on the left, addressing Coulson who remains on the right.
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Anyway so yeah, this scene is about roughing up an innocent civilian for intel and then stealing his legally acquired wealth.
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At least they can’t take the sky from him.
The purpose of the cowboy gold is that it’s directly traceable back to Quinn Worldwide, which is hilarious considering that one assumes the under-the-table transaction used this method of currency in order to not be easily traced.
Coulson name drops Quinn like he’s some off-brand Tony Stark that we should be impressed with, and we are immediately shown that Ian Quinn’s defining characteristic is that he has an assistant to hang up his cell phone calls for him.  We are not impressed with Ian Quinn.
OKAY AND THEN WE GET THIS COMPLETE MIS-READ OF SCRIPT INTENT IN THIS SHOT
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why why why why why why would you ignore a character’s line like that.  Why are you choosing to TELL me that a man is tied up when it would be SO EASY to SHOW me. 
Especially since the narrative so far is that McGlasses has been skillfully kidnapped by a very determined adversary, and this moment, this interaction, is where that assumption is proven erroneous.  Quinn’s line is a very specific cue that we are meant to SEE that he’s restrained, per our expectations following a kidnapping, specifically to introduce the twist that Quinn is just that budget Tony Stark who actually has no malicious intentions towards his former colleague.
A super close close up of McGlasses fails to achieve that moment the script was hunting for.  I’m feeling that the intent was to keep the focus on this dude because of the upcoming secondary twist where he is revealed to be the SHIELD mole who masterminded his own kidnapping, but this guy is So Bad at acting I don’t think keeping him front and center is ever going to pay off.
(ok I just checked and it turns out Ian Hart is a prolific English actor.  this makes me feel like I ought to chalk it up to “difficulty emoting while doing a fake American accent” but guys this performance is so bad I’m really not willing to believe there’s a good excuse)
anyway it turns out Quinn’s good guy!
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.....but then he’s on the wrong side of the shot all of a sudden for no good reason and HEY maybe this set up with the wide angle on the lab and a clear look at McGlasses’ physical situation within that environment would have been an alternative for, you know, maybe some sort of establishing shot?  Maybe?  No?
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Also here let’s take a moment to let the “plot” really sink in.  These two chuckleheads are former classmates and colleagues, even though one of them looks about 20 years older than the other, and Quinn discovered that “an asset” was being moved, “deduced” that the asset was McGlasses, and wanted to bring McGlasses in on his semi-nefarious science plan.  So to avoid SHIELD interference in his schemey scheme, Quinn
kidnaps McGlasses directly from SHIELD custody,
in the showiest manner, not only using but LEAVING BEHIND the exact product at the core of his scheme,
and pays a local cowboy with easily traceable gold in exchange for just some regular backhoe to bust open the big rig transporting McGlasses, instead of, I don’t know, using his massive wealth and influence and in-house R&D products to not massively incriminate himself
He couldn’t have just invited McGlasses over without calling attention to himself? 
There is the way that “the asset” was being “moved” makes it sound like McGlasses was on top secret lock down with no civilian rights or means of making/receiving contact with people like old colleagues.  But this is never clarified, like, the only other thing we know about him is that he evidently advises classes at the Sci-Ops branch of the SHIELD academy. 
ALSO we have yet to learn that McGlasses personally staged “being moved” and leaked the hints regarding the identity of “the asset” to Quinn just so that Quinn would do all these nonsense things he done.  He couldn’t have just invited himself over???
Also the conversation they have at this point is real rough, with non-sequiturs, shambling exposition, and garbage jokes that wouldn’t float even if you didn’t have a log and a ham struggling to mimic human behavior.
Also Quinn bought the PRIME MINISTER OF MALTA’S old manor specifically because it has a huge underground lab????  What about Malta do I need to know about before this makes sense?
Let’s move on.  FitzSkimmons have an only-mostly painful scene of exposition in which Iain is still having a hard time with the lines/characterization the Powers That Be are forcing Fitz to be at the moment.  I’m going to say it.  Season 1 Fitz is Utterly Unlikable.
However, this rant has given me the opportunity to 1) stand corrected and 2) appreciate this understated joke:
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She’s still on page 1 of 1 billion LOLOLOLOL
The other nice thing to come out of this scene is the casual validation that the public school system may not be right for everyone, and that being a high school drop out does not mean you can’t also be an intelligent self-starter who finds value and satisfaction in picking up a trade skill on your own.  *coughs in Robbie Reyes*
UGH but then we go back to McWooden and Bargain Ham.  Their story is UNINTERESTING and their performances are HARD TO STOMACH.  Also it ends on a mirror of the shot we started with (so there is some evidence of intelligent design at play here after all)
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But this framing makes me so uncomfortable like, I’ve shipped for less don’t put weird ideas in my head that no one wants least of all me--
Ok.  We’re a third of the way through.  It doesn’t stop getting worse.
So here’s the correct way to reposition your characters if you want to change up the eye lines without making it super jarring!  The start of this scene is actually really textbook-nice, just look:
The pre-mission planning is already in full swing, but we follow Skye, the outsider on the outside, approaching the scene with some amount of hesitation.
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She starts on the right, facing left, and crosses across the path of the camera as it follows her towards the meeting, ending up on its left while the folks currently giving lines are framed over her right shoulder.  Your eye line and sense of positioning has fluidly followed hers, and this makes sense.
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From this establishing shot, we do a real nice punch in on Coulson as he’s speaking, using a really action smooth cut as he does a bit of business with his hand.
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We’re still coming into this scene from Skye’s POV, and this shot reflects that -- close enough to focus on the important action, but distant enough to show Skye’s current position (literally and figuratively) relative to the rest of the team.
The reverse shot is ... fine.  It’s fine.  I don’t like that she’s framed on the right hand side of the screen (exactly where Coulson was a split second ago), but the eye lines still match up and it does give the impression that the camera is the avatar of the audience and we just turned on the spot to look at her as she quietly invites herself to this scene and starts putting that big beautiful brain of hers to work.
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Then we leave her to it!  Feel the difference this cut has, emotionally, from the last time we looked over at Coulson:
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We’ve left Skye’s aloof POV and now we’re all up in his biz.  This framing tells us he’s no longer the subject of Skye’s contemplation and has gone back to being a character of the TV screen doing TV character things.
The remainder of this scene holds onto that “normal” shot-reverse-shot framing of the team as they give their opinions and work through the plan.
This laudable result of thoughtful camera work is almost instantly ruined by Fitz yammering on about using a brave little monkey to do their serious spy business and HOLY COW Iain does his best with the dreck he’s been given but there is no universe in which I will find this type of dialogue acceptable.
The valuable plot point here is that Skye is finding her footing on the team, doing hacky stuff on her phone and putting herself out there as -- wait for it -- an asset to Coulson.  Ward responds to this with bafflement, being generally supportive of her known abilities while also being doubtful that she’s a complete package, and turning to Coulson for advice on how to round her training out.
This results in yet another JARRING AF transition (read: there’s no transition) from Ward and Coulson’s heart to heart to Ward pointing a gun at Skye at some indeterminate amount of time later.
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Look we haven’t even had time to ingest Coulson’s line yet and BAM we’re here.
This scene’s fine.  It’s doing double duty and that’s admirable.  Triple duty, even.  Many duties are being performed in this scene.  We have
fledgling Skyeward
the introduction to the gun-manipulation maneuver Skye will use later on
Skye’s irreverence butting heads with Ward’s need for brass-tacks
at least one solid joke at Ward’s expense
Ward valuing Skye’s er, assets -- I’M TALKING COMPUTER SCIENCE YA PERVS
a very competent conversational segue into Ward’s Whole Deal, wherein we are introduced to the concept of his childhood trauma (lolol and man does Brett just fail to deliver these lines in any sort of a way that inspires human empathy wowowo he’s so bad in this one)
a callback to an earlier conversation as well as a set up for a future joke
SKYE STEALING WARD’S GUN FROM OUT OF HIS PANTS A++++
Now we go into pre-heist plan-walkthrough mode, and it’s so boring and lifeless that Skye’s actual summary line is “Plan, green, drop, walk ... pie.”  To be honest, she got more out of the discussion than I did.
May has an interesting character moment where she’s complaining about going into the field and then immediately regrets it because she was never going to be sent in, but that means Coulson’s going in instead and that worries her.  I keep thinking back on this season as being unfocused, but that’s because I forget that the sales pitch for this entire shebang is “we killed Coulson in Avengers but now here’s a show where he’s the lead because everyone loves him so much” and the subsequent focus of the inaugural season is everyone’s burning curiosity to find out how they undid his murder. 
Aside from the sci-fi/Marvel/generic spy show gimmick of the week, these early episodes never fail to prioritize the interpersonal dynamic of their team while simultaneously teasing out the Coulson mystery with these nice little regular hits.
I let it keep playing while I was typing, and we flew over some whatever business where Skye goes to Quinn’s party, and Coulson and Ward land their little raft on the beach, and the other kids are watching from the Bus and FITZ IS AGAIN TERRIBLE
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I feel you, Jemma.
(Also, am I wrong in hearing him give in and say “boobs?”  The Netflix subtitles have it as “oops” but that can’t be it.)
Anyway so Skye’s busy using her Assets to win Quinn over, and Chloe’s shining moment in this scene is the delivery of the drivers test joke.
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Back to stuff that’s gratingly awful, we’re supposedly on Malta, right?  And you know how Hollywood generally and the spy show/movie genre specifically tries to stretch their location budgets by putting on color filters to “evoke” distant lands?
We go from the above, washed out and unfiltered, to this sepia-toned nonsense:
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This is supposed to be taking place basically right outside.  Why not just keep the filter on for the interior scenes, too?  There’s plenty of searing Maltese light coming in through that wall of windows.
(They must have had a hard time on location for the manor shoots, though, it’s just as washed out in the earlier scene set outdoors that I didn’t show you because it was boring but I’m showing you know because it’s not even the same color filter as the Coulson/Ward shots
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)
((Also, yeah, I get it.  You can’t fly to Malta for a day for a television shoot.  But how many people are you fooling when you put the Santa Monica mountains in the backdrop of every exterior shot?))
So we go back and forth between these high-grain-low-saturation beachfront stuff to these holy angelic light of judgement shots and I hate it.
Like, why choose to shoot against this nuclear-blast light?  It’s not doing your actors any favors.
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Especially when you’re ALSO choosing to depict that same “natural” light with a whole different palette and then continue to give us the opportunity to compare and contrast.
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Also I hate the Ward/Coulson business because it’s just generic spy stuff where some guards come out of nowhere and I guess maybe it’s implied that their cute boat was found but it could just as easily be that it was explicitly stated that there were guard patrols and I forgot. 
But then they fight and defeat the guards in literally under 8 seconds and that’s that.  End of stakes.
The character moment that validates this trivial obstacle is that Coulson tries to do something with a gun and finds that May’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.  He’s a little rusty. 
Also Ward’s response to this is to chuck the gun into the laser wall and I don’t know why.  In any case, the energy from both of them in this screenshot really resonates with me.
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So then Skye Does The Thing with her Assets and if you’ll let me be picky again about plot holes, why does the wireless access MacGuffin need to have an interface for Skye to check that the connection is possible, and THEN have that connection activated by LITERALLY dropping it on the table.  They couldn’t have set it to auto-scan and then tell her through her earpiece to stay still when the connection activated itself?
Whatever.  Success!  Immediately followed by ... INEXPLICABLE OBSTACLE
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WHO, praytell, is on the other end of that walkie talkie?  Because the downed man is the man you see.  Typically, it would be like a survivor of the scuffle who radios for backup, but here we see the scene of the scuffle and some unknown unseen ADDITIONAL MAN who I guess is just spying on them from somewhere and radioing still more unseen men?
Instantly hearing this news, the Unseen begin a sniper assault on Coulson and Ward, and we get to see their bullets getting evaporated by the laser wall.  Remember those guards walking along the sea cliff towards the sign?  There’s no place for the snipers to be sniping from, unless they have some kind of invisible floating island.
This scenario is made even more hilarious once Fitz brings down the laser wall and Coulson and Ward dive through like they think they some kind of James Bonds and then the wall goes back up and the snipers keep sniping.
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Why aren’t the guards on the inside of the perimeter of the compound which they guard?  This laser fence is now protecting the intruders.  Minor design flaw.
Anywho, Quinn is still talking about how he doesn’t trust SHIELD and SHIELD doesn’t trust him, so it’s like, what are we supposed to believe about this guy anyway?  Why did Coulson introduce him as bargain bin Tony Stark if he was known to be bargain bin Justin Hammer all along?
So now that snipers have failed to snipe the intruders, some Seen Guards come to alert Quinn so he breaks the wireless MacGuffin and turns a gun on Skye.  (Just sayin, if it had been some secret device that was still in her bag, she’d have plausible deniability) 
I think, at this point, I have two conclusions
Team Coulson has no extraction plan for getting McGlasses out of the compound since they don’t have a Plan B to get back through the laser wall, no firepower to use on the Seen Guards, and no available land-or-sea getaway vehicles.
There was never any sort of extraction plan for Skye even if the laser wall and the Seen Guards were not an obstacle.
Here’s where it gets the messiest.
Coulson busts in on McGlasses but is told no rescue is required.
AT THAT SAME TIME
May has just popped open a tablet over in some room by herself, evidently disinterested in whatever FitzSimmons is probably doing right now in light of this drastic turn of events, and she’s randomly googling up on the SHIELD leak mentioned earlier, only to discover that it was MCGLASSES ALL ALONG.
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Keeps a cool head, our May.
Yeah, we know, we .. he ... he just said ... you know what?  We didn’t actually care, though?  Who the mole was or that it was McGlasses.  We certainly didn’t spend the last half hour watching May diligently tracking down some breadcrumb trail of clues to get to this dramatic reveal, only to find out a second too late.  We didn’t even see her checking up that Skye had/didn’t have this angle covered.
Did she print out the contents of the four-foot binder as some sort of eco-terrorist cruel joke since she was just planning on spending three seconds on the computer to complete the same task?
Ok so Coulson misinterprets McGlasses’ decline of his rescue operation as collaboration with Quinn until May clues him in.  We then go to commercials and come back and have to go over all this info again just in case we didn’t follow that super exciting double-cross the first two times.
At which point we figure out where all the pre-production time was sunk -- somebody had to spend a lot of effort envisioning how they were going to do the wacky-gravity scenes.  My feeling is that fun challenges like that are what stand out to people who are working on a thing, and sometimes the prestige of “pulling that off” can overshadow the need to pay attention to other, less exciting aspects of filmmaking, like making sure your eye lines stay coherent in a scene or that your color gradings aren’t super distracting.
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Anyway I do really like the load-bearing scene where Quinn threatens Skye at gunpoint because it is one of those many examples this season has of laying ground work for and paying off character moments.
Skye’s flip and smart and completely not ready for this level of field action, but she remembers her training, remembers how earnestly Ward wanted her to be ready for this defining moment, and gets the gun!
That “nOPE” when she can’t shoot the man is also Classic Skye and we Love Her For It.
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Anyway oh yeah, McGlasses reveals his master plan to get kidnapped, so that he could get on site and ruin Quinn’s everything because he’s a Bad Justin Hammer.  His performance is SO PAINFUL and his reasoning has yet to make sense.  Coulson doesn’t ask “why did you have to be kidnapped to get in, though” but he does ask “why didn’t you try reasoning with him” as if that were the question we needed an answer to.
Also it turns out FitzSimmons has been pretty chill this whole time since their agents lost their extraction plan (well, they’re smart, they probably knew all along that there wasn’t one) and are just puttering around the lab working on what looks like their regular day-to-day science, talking excitedly about gravitonium rather than panicking that the whole plan’s gone to shit.
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Unflappable.
COME ON PEOPLE the mission wasn’t “throw McGlasses into the gravitonium and do high-fives” it was “rescue McGlasses from Quinn’s grasp.”  From the way that this plays out, there is 0% indication that their initial plan was ever expected to succeed.
WE DON’T EVEN SEE HOW THEY GET OUT OF THERE, WE JUST LOOK AT SOME MCGRAVITONIUM AND THEN SEE COULSON ON THE BUS INSTRUCTING THE CONTAINMENT FACILITY ON HOW IT SHOULD BE HANDLED.
Oh well, the gratuitous plot is disposed with after this point.
In the denouement, we get to see May and Coulson interact over his experience in the field and her experience being stuck watching him in the field.  She’s finally ready for combat, but strictly for his sake.  And he’s at the point where he’s ready and willing to take her up on her offer instead of trying to prove that he’s everything he was before he died.
Following that, we get some Skyeward with some really gross romantic comedy type music.  Bear, you’re better than this!!  But the scene is nice, Chloe really brings it (almost brings too much) and Brett is there to support her.
It’s a really on-the-nose admission from Skye that her allegiances lie with SHIELD, but its an organic continuation of that bit from earlier where she wandered all up on their meeting, the outsider, and pushed her way into the heart of it.  She wants this.  She wants to feel like she belongs here.  And now she’s been trusted with some opportunities and tools to prove it!
This early in the season, we’re still doubtful that she’s on the up and up, what with that Rising Tide plot thread hanging so loose and tantalizing over our heads.  Due to the potential of a storyline revolving around her betrayal, there are a lot of fun little moments in the next few episodes where Ward gets to say some betrayal-related stuff that is absolutely excellent in retrospect.
I was watching some old interviews and while it is very clear Brett did not know the fate of his character in advance, it’s also distinctly implied that no one knew and the arc of the season may have developed episode by episode.  That’s so nutty to me, considering how strong the structure of the season is, how there are so many satisfying call backs and payoffs later on.
I think I’m more likely to applaud a well-plotted narrative, in which foreshadowing and a deliberate order of events slowly unravel to great effect.  But I can definitely appreciate the ability to force the illusion of the same by being crafty and attentive and not letting any usable threads go to waste.
Ultimately, whether by design or by providence, Season 1 is successful in pulling it all together.  It’s just that episodes like this one don’t really inspire you to believe that that outcome is likely, or even possible.  Episodes like this one cause a person to give up watching halfway through the season and walk away for years until cajoled into giving it another shot because “it got good somehow.”
But what this season has, every episode, especially ones like this one, is a pronounced, chaotic, relentless prioritization of Character over Plot.  What is this show about?  Who cares.  That’s the wrong question.  This show could have been about anything, and these early episodes are all too aware of it.  What kind of story can you tell when every option is on the table and no one knows what to expect from you?
You find that story, step by step, episode by episode, through the eyes of your characters.  The forward motion of the story isn’t “how did Coulson come back to life” but “what is life going to be like for him now?”  It’s not “will Skye betray the team” it’s “what does she want and what is she willing to do to get it?”
Posing and answering these character questions generates the Story of Agents of SHIELD.  Plots be damned.  Remember how at one point in this episode, our heroes robbed a cowboy at gunpoint?  Yeah.  Me either.
And I can’t agree more with this approach.  In my experience, PWP works best when its about the characters.
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intricately-silly · 6 years
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Get to Know Me Tag
I was tagged by @thesimparrot
Ok. So this was sitting in my drafts waiting for the picture for about three years, and I didn’t want to NOT post it. So here it is, very very very late. It did give me a reason to update my simself though. 
Thank you for tagging me friend! <3 <3 <3 Also, omg that’s so many questions... Who is really going to want to know all this about me?
Rules: Post a pic of your simself with your traits and answer the questions!
Traits:  goofball + perfectionist + loner
Honestly, how am I supposed to only pick three traits? I’m a complicated individual. I’m intricately silly. Anyway... 
1. What is your full name? Skye. That’s all you get. 
2. What is your nickname? Well actually, Skye is technically my nickname...
3. When is your birthday? August 8th.
4. What is your favorite book series? Hmm... I don’t know. I tend to like individual books rather than series. Although I read the Hunger Games series a while back and I liked that one. 
5. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? I mean, there’s nothing to disprove it. But I wouldn’t say I fully believe in them either. 
6. Who is your favorite author? I don’t really have one. 
7. What is your favorite radio station? I really like a station on Pandora called Summer Hits of the 90′s.
8. What is your favorite flavor of anything? It depends on what it is. 
9. What word do you often use to describe something great or wonderful? Amazing. I think it’s the only word I use. I should expand my “something great” vocabulary. 
10. What is your favorite song currently? Love Somebody by Maroon 5. It’s been my favorite since it came out and it still is.  
11. What is your favorite word? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
12. What is the last song you listened to? Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers. 
13. What TV show would you recommend everyone to watch? White Collar I guess. 
14. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? I tend to listen to music when I’m feeling down. But Rush Hour. Or Shrek. 
15. Do you play video games? Nope, not at all... Such a silly question.
16. What is your biggest fear? I have a lot of fears. I have anxiety, so it comes with the territory. But I guess it would be being shut out from everyone and being alone. 
17. What is your best quality in your opinion? I’m a very accepting person. 
18. What is your worst quality in your opinion? Oof. Well...
19. Do you like cats or dogs better? Dogs. I’ve always loved dogs. Cats are great too though.
20. What is your favorite season? Autumn. The colors, the cute clothes, the ability to hide under three blankets. 
21. Are you in a relationship? Yep. For a year and a half now. 
22. What is something you miss from your childhood? Insouciance.
23. Who is your best friend? Rori, my six month old puppy. 
24. What is your eye color? Blue.
25. What is your hair color? Dark, dark brown. 
26. Who is someone you love? Family, friends, animals. So many.
27. Who is someone you trust? Trust is a hard thing for me. So only those very close to me. 
28. Who is someone you think about often? My boyfriend.
29. Are you currently excited about something? I dunno. Am I?
30. What is your biggest obsession? Anything made by Apple. It’s such a beautiful company.
31. What was your favorite TV show as a child? When I was two, Dora. I would sit and watch it, purposely giving the wrong answers to her questions. When I got asked why, my answer was “she’s just going to do the right thing anyway.”
32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to? My boyfriend. 
33. Are you superstitious? Kinda sometimes. 
34. Do you have an unusual phobias? I have a fear of ladders. Not heights, ladders. 
35. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? Definitely behind.
36. What is your favorite hobby? Video games is the only constant one, all my other hobbies constantly change. 
37. What is the last book you read? It was online and I can’t remember the name to be honest. 
38. What was the last movie you watched? Aquaman.
39. What musical instruments do you play? I played the clarinet when I was younger. Then I played the guitar. Now I’m trying to teach myself to play piano. I’ve always loved the piano. 
40. What is your favorite animal? All of them. But lions and tigers are gorgeous animals. 
41. What are your top five favorite Tumblr blogs? You think I can narrow it down to five?
42. What super power do you wish you had? Teleportation. 
43. When and where do you feel most at peace? When my dog is cuddling with me.
44. What makes you smile? When my puppy is playing.
45. What sports do you play? I played softball when I was younger. 
46. What is your favorite drink? I don’t know. Shirley Temples. Ginger Ale with Lemonade is really good too. 
47. When was the last time you wrote a handwritten letter or note to someone? I can’t remember. So a while ago.
48. Are you afraid of heights? No.
49. What is your biggest pet peeve? I have a lot. But my biggest I think would be people who walk in front of you so slowly that you trip over your own feet. 
50. Have you ever been to a concert? Yep. Maroon 5 was the last one. I hope to go to more too.
51. Are you vegetarian or vegan? No.
52. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up? A veterinarian.
53. What fictional world would you like to live in? The world from Avatar. That’d be cool. 
54. What is something you worry about? Anything and everything. 
55. Are you scared of the dark? Depends on my mood.
56. Do you like to sing? Yes, I just wish I could say I was good at it.
57. Have you ever skipped school? No. 
58. What is your favorite place on the planet? My bed.
59. Where would you like to live? Not where I’m living now. I’m so over this town. It’s pretty clean and safe though, so I appreciate that aspect of it. 
60. Do you have any pets? Two cats and a puppy. Oh, and five chickens. 
61. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Night owl. I want to be an early bird, but I’m naturally more awake at night.
62. Do you like sunrise or sunsets better? Sunsets because you can see the stars after! <3
63. Do you know how to drive? I do.
64. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? Earbuds. Although headphones sound better. 
65. Have you ever had braces? Yes.
66. What is your favorite genre of music? I tend to like specific songs instead of genres. But I really like 90′s music. 
67. Who is your hero? I have no idea.
68. Do you read comic books? No.
69. What makes you the most angry? So many things. I’m a little hotheaded. But mainly when people are illogical. 
70. Do you prefer to read real books or on an electric device? Real books!
71. What is your favorite subject in school? It was always math.
72. Do you have any siblings? Two. A brother and a sister. 
73. What was the last thing you bought? Coffee...
74. How tall are you? 5′ 5″
75. Can you cook? Psh. Not really. But I’m trying to learn.
76. What are three things that you love? Playing games, watching movies with my boyfriend, and training my dog. 
77. What are three things that you hate? It changes daily.
78. Do you have more female friends or more male friends? Female.
79. What is your sexual orientation? Bisexual.
80. Where do you currently live? Neverland. 
81. Who was the last person you texted? My boyfriend. 
82. When was the last time you cried? I think it was a week ago.
83. Who is your favorite youtuber? I haven’t had the time to watch YouTube lately. So I don’t know. 
84. Do you like to take selfies? Not in the slightest. The closest thing I’ll do to taking a selfie is make an edit of my simself. 
85. What is your favorite app? Netflix.
86. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? I’ve always been close with my parents. I’ve always been really close with my siblings too.
87. What is your favorite foreign accent? British.
88. What is a place that you’ve never been to but want to visit? All of Europe. But specifically Paris.
89. What is your favorite number? Five. Always has been.
90. Can you juggle? For three seconds. 
91. Are you religious? I am.
92. Do you find outer space or the deep ocean to be more interesting? They’re both so interesting though! Outer space is so pretty and very interesting. But we know absolutely nothing about our oceans. It does peak my curiosity. 
93. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? Every once in a while.
94. Are you allergic to anything? Pollen. Grass. Dust. Spring is like death. 
95. Can you curl your tongue? No, and everyone else I know can and they all tease me about it. Meanies. 
96. Can you wiggle your ears? No... I can’t do anything cool OK? 
97. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? When it’s clear that I’m wrong, then I’ll admit it. 
98. Do you prefer the forest or the beach? I love them both. Oooh! A forest near the beach so I can be by the trees but still hear the ocean.
99. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? "Breathe.”
100. Are you a good liar? I am an awful liar. Like awful awful. I don’t lie, but sometimes I’ll do white lies playfully with my boyfriend and he’ll just laugh because I’m so bad at it.  
101. What is your Hogwarts house? Hufflepuff.
102. Do you talk to yourself? I used to. Now I just talk to my dog.
103. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? An introvert who loves talking and meeting new people. But at the end of the day, I have to be alone to refill my energy.  
104. Do you keep a journal or a diary? Nope. 
105. Do you believe in second chances? I guess it technically depends. But we’re all human and we all make mistakes. It’s unfair to not give more than one chance. Unless it’s PURPOSELY harming someone else. That’s not ok. No second chances with that. 
106. If you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? I would take it to the nearest business. Hopefully the person comes looking. 
107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? With most things. If they really wanted to. 
108. Are you ticklish? Yeah...
109. Have you ever been on a plane? I have.
110. Do you have any piercings? I have my standard lobe piercings. Then on my right ear I have a forward helix and upper lobe piercing. On my left I have a helix piercing. And my nose is pierced. 
111. What fictional character do you wish was real? Donkey from Shrek.
112. Do you have any tattoos? Yes, just one.
113. What is the best decision that you have made so far? Rescuing my dog, she means the world to me.
114. Do you believe in karma? Yeah, I think so.
115. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I wore glasses when I was younger, but I don’t need to wear them anymore. My eyes magically improved, I don’t know.
116. Do you want children? I’ve always wanted two.
117. Who is the smartest person you know? I know a lot of smart people.
118. What is your most embarrassing memory? This one time...
119. Have you ever pulled an all nighter? Probably too often. Then I got my puppy, and I haven’t since. Puppies are exhausting. 
120. What color are most of your clothes? Maroon. Or blue. I have a lot of grey I think too.
121. Do you like adventures? Yes! “ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!”
122. Have you ever been on TV? Nope.
123. How old are you? 19.
124. What is your favorite quote? I have so many favorites, but... "You’re only given a little spark of madness, you mustn’t lose it.” - Robin Williams.
125. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? Savory. But sweet is sometimes welcome too. 
I tag: anyone who wants to... since this is forever late
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photographicbloguk · 6 years
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For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers
No matter how good a DSLR camera a photographer has, if he or she doesn’t find something artistic in the view, all efforts will be for naught. A powerful image is created through the creativity of a photographer; the kick-ass gear is just a bonus. After all, a good photographer can capture a great shot anytime, regardless of the camera he or she is holding. Speaking of great shots, here are 10 of the best photos that will get any photographer’s creative juices going.
1
The weather may be dry and the skies may be leaden but this doesn’t mean a creative shot can’t be taken. Although the winter season rarely burst of colors, the shades it comes with shades that are ideal for a largely monochromatic picture. The key—aside from having an eye for a great shot—is perfect timing.
This stunning photo was taken by Finnish photographer Mikko Lagerstedt from a high location where the vantage point allows a considerable view of the city. He was able to capture the beauty of the sun starting to shine through grey clouds. The snow-covered rooftops and sparsely-filled parking lots were also utilized as a good contrasting backdrop to the orange city lights.
2
Since shooting the movement of lights became a hit, many versions of it made it to the lists of best photos taken. Taken by English photographer Andrew Tobin, this striking image of streaks of light suspended in midair was taken in London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
Tobin shared that the inspiration behind this photo is to capture a plane taking off the runway with the twilight as its background.  Using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, he set the shutter to 15 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 50. After taking a handful of shots, he manipulated them by extracting the trails of light and placing them on top of each other until he was satisfied with the final product.
3
The existence of this photo proves that a brilliant shot can be captured despite a nasty weather.
This beautiful shot was of German photographer Tobias Richter who also happens to be a professional at landscape photography. Depicted in this piece is Scotland’s Cullin Hills. These landforms are located in the peninsula Isle of Skye near the village of Elgol. According to Richter, the challenge of taking this picture is the narrow timeframe of the sun rays dramatically illuminating the scenery.
4
With the idea being derived from the popular Mario Bros. video game, photographer Vincent Bourilhon produced this conceptual photo with a lot of creativity and a little fuss.
To achieve this fun work of art, Bourilhon used a Canon EOS 450D and set his focus to 23mm to make room for a wide angle. In order to portray Mario’s signature move, his camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/400 sec while the aperture was set to f/3.5.
5
Featured in this colorful number is Ashley, owner of Ashley’s Flowers in Detroit. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) intended to promote good relationships between the city’s purchasing business community and its suppliers, so they commissioned photographers like Noah Stephens (photographer of image above) to take photos of entrepreneurs who benefited from their project D2D (DEGC’s Business-to-Business Program)—from the corporate executives to the owners of small businesses.
6
Torrents of snow can do a lot to diminish whatever color is left to the environment. The good news is, it makes for great black-and-white photos.
In this particular shot, landscape photographer Adam Burton took advantage of the splendor brought by the snowstorm, set his camera to black and white mode, and took photos of these deer. He shared that he likes finding dramatic settings in the midst of a perceived unpleasant weather. The challenge though is finding adequate light. This shot alone made him wait for 30 minutes until he was satisfied with the lighting. And the final shot is obviously worth the wait.
7
Another favorite photography trick is the utilization of depth of field. This trick allows photographers to focus on the nearest object as much as the lens would permit, so that they can come up with a clear close-up shot with a blurred background.
Liam Frankland, the photographer who took this image, used lenses that have the capacity to do this trick—the 50mm and 20mm. When either of these lenses is attached to his camera, he often sets the aperture to f1/8 so that the subject will be sharp and the background smooth albeit blurry.
8
This captivating black and white photograph is a part of Victoria Ivanova’s project where she humanized pears to represent people’s behavior.
The equipment she used to bring her ideas to life is her Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens which she set to f1/4. She also made use of six LED flashlights and made them to what she calls “light brush”. She coated the glass with hand cream to soften the light emitted by the LED.
9
Before the pervasiveness of its own branch of photography, food was simply a concoction of something palatable people wolf down when they’re hungry. Now, food has become the much loved subject of many photographers including Giles Angel.
In this photo, Angel used the simplest of objects—a melamine cup and saucer, milk, and water—and made their dimensions become more visible you can almost touch them. He also utilized a brand of acrylic glass called Perspex as base.
Since there is a lot of liquid involved in this shoot, Angel made sure his gear won’t get wet by using his 24-120mm zoom lens and set it at 90mm. And believe it or not, this shot was taken in the dark—the trick is to keeping the shutter open and hitting it after the liquid has been poured and the liquid dropped.
10
Another version of a picture inspired by shooting light trails, this piece highlights a much closer and brighter view to the intangible subject.
Taken by Dutch photographer Frank van Tol, he said that the difficulty he encountered when shooting was either the shots were overexposed or there were too many blurs. He also had to pass 40 times in the street until he captured a shot he was contented with. He used his Canon EOS 400D and set the exposure to 10 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 100. He also benefited from his Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens to make this picture possible.
Photographers who are looking for a bunch of ideas for their next project can definitely make use of these stills as inspiration and whip their own versions to perfection.
The post For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers appeared first on Photographic Blog.
from Photographic Blog http://photographicblog.com/10-captivating-and-creative-images/
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robinthephoenixs · 7 years
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Agents of Shield: Why you should watch/spoiler free review
So seeing as the 100th episode is coming up very shortly I decided to re-watch seasons 1-4 (no I didn’t have the time yet here I am) and then thought well why not review it! I’m sure there are some people who are mildly interested especially with the buzz around the landmark ep, so if your thinking bout it or wondering why it has such dedicated fans read on! As the title suggests this is gonna be as spoiler free as possible so I’ll be calling characters certain names and not mentioning others, so if you’ve seen the show and are a bit confused, that’s why. Ill be laying it out with headings in bold so if you’re just interested in a particular thing, just jump to it.Ill also not b reviewing season 5 as its not done yet. With that lets dive in with a small intro on how to watch!
To binge or not to binge?
I’m sure 100 episodes feels daunting and it certainly is with episodes averaging 43 mins and about 22 eps a season its not something to take lightly if your a busy person. Genuinely not trying to sound elitist but I have been watching from its inception so I have experienced both kinds of viewing and as far as which is better I feel it depends on the season. I barley remember watching it back when it first aired, but what I do remember is being excited for every episode and as far as the latest seasons go Id say an episode a day is better. I found I easily binged the first 2 seasons but slowed down at 3 so I think its up to you and how much free time you have but both ways are definitely viable. With the tedious stuff out of the way its on to the good stuff, what makes Agents of Shield so good! 
The Characters
To say the characters are the life and soul of the show is an understatement. One of the joys of re watching the series was seeing just how far each character has come. It is also one of the only shows were I can confidently say I liked pretty much every single character that has come through the roster. From my favourite Skye, to May, Jemma, Fitz, Coulson, Mack, Yo-Yo, Bobbi, Hunter, Trip, the Koenigs, General Talbot, Radcliffe and so many others. Even villains, which some are particularly good in a “Can I kill them myself?” sort of way. With a lot of these shows the characters tend to go in a loop or just become stagnant, Arrow comes to mind (I’ve actually not really seen many other made for T.V hero shows so Arrows gonna be my main point of reference, sorry if your a fan of that show) Yet here its a natural progression. They react and change depending on the situations and events they’ve gone through and they all change in different ways. They’re are all unique, with their own personalities and goals. 
Villains
So where would the characters be without some good villains and for the most part they’re a lot better then your regular MCU villains. There are some pretty complex well thought out villains who last for more than one season, they’re always there lurking in the back. The villains also effect the characters in some pretty huge ways, there not just there for the lols and then gone again, well some are. You can also sympathize with a good few of them as they are pretty well developed.They have motives and history and their own character development. They can be pretty imposing when they want to be as well. There are, of course, your throw away baddies and your cliched ones but there are as I’ve said ones with real dept to them.
The Actors
Now the characters wouldn’t be very good if the actors were shit now would they? Luckily the quality is very high with everyone in the main cast being superb. Saying that we have to talk about that elephant in the room, a certain character that may have put you off watching the show, Phil Coulson played by Clark Greg. To me I see his style of acting as unique, quirky yet it can be seen as stilted and just plain bad acting which is understandable. The first season is not his best but if you give it time he can put on some amazing performances and he has become much more natural to it. Still I feel like he is the Marmite of the show. As for the other actors there are some truly amazing performances. The chemistry between the actors is insane and its what gives them so much life. In particular Elizabeth Henstridge who plays Jemma and Iain De Caestecker who plays Fitz. Their scenes together are just fantastic from season 1 they blow you out of the park with heart wrenching scenes and in season 4 both have gut wrenching performances and both play off very well with Skye played by Chloe Bennet. Particularly the mid season episode in season 2 (I think) with Fitz and Skye and episode 15 in season 4 with Jemma and Skye, but there are so many more little moments between all the characters (a point I’ll get to in another paragraph). Some other performances I want to point out for the shear range of their skills are Brett Dalton - Ward and  Mallory Jansen - Aide. I’m not kidding when I say their performances should have gotten rewards, I thought they were excellent. And finally one guy who never fails to make me laugh or cry with the amount of emotion he’s able to display, Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie. A true joy to watch, no one brings more emotion than him, he is the sweetest and deserves more recognition for his performance.
Writing
Just as a precursor I’m studying law/classics so I’m not an expert when it comes to the next few points but I’ll be damned if I don’t try my best! Overall I think the writings pretty decent, it has its ups and downs, as I’ll try to explain. With the first season the first half is pretty episodic but it does have those big pay off moments and I think that’s more what Shield tries to make itself about, even if that doesn’t happen. They have a lot of these mystery's that they build up to and getting there its pretty tense but the payoff doesn’t seem to last. Its a bit hard to explain. This only really happens with the one mystery element they insist on having. Season 2 is the biggest culprit but that doesn't take away from other moments that build up into something bigger. They usually sneak up on you. The example episodes I mentioned in the previous paragraph are some of the best and if I could go back and watch S4Ep15 fresh Id do it in a heart beat. The writers are very good at creating tension, its there specialty. I often find myself on the edge of my seat, even re watching the old episodes it brought back the same tension I felt the first time and when they want to bring the emotion the writers sure do deliver. Now for all the good stuff there is of course the pacing issues and odd dud arc. I didn’t notice it two much for seasons 1 + 2 cause it was like I was watching it brand new cause I have the memory of a gold fish but when I hit season 3 that was a struggle. The pacing just ground to a halt after the first half even though that season has one of the most unique episodes in the whole series it also has the worst. The first third of season 4 also suffers from the same pacing issues but it picks up soon so its not too bad. Apart from a few dud lines, the writing overall is pretty decent and the stories can be a fun watch but as I've said, it’s the characters that bring the heart to the show.
The Fight Scenes
Whats a good hero show without some action, right? Well Shield brings it in spades with seasons 2 + 3 being the highlights, particularly season 2. There’s an amazing one take fight with Skye that’s so fluid and the choreography is just perfect (little fact Chloe Bennet fractured her arm during this scene didn’t know and kept going doing other scenes!) There’s another fight with May, you’ll know the one, which just shows how technical they’re willing to get and still make it look great. They aren’t obsessed with 500 cuts a second although they aren’t immune to some dodgy cuts, they just know when to do it and make it seem so real and clear as to whats going on. I was genuinely stunned when i went to watch Arrow S4 and the fights were just so bad. It has something to do with the camera. In Arrow the fps seems higher or something making it look really bad while in Shield the cameras smooth. I don’t actually know what the difference is but if you watch em side by side you’ll know what I mean. Unfortunately the fight quality dips in season 4 I found. The punches don’t look like the connect and they started to rely on jump cuts more which is a pity. I’m not talking about S5 here but it seems to be mildly better than 4. Either way it is still always fun to see the fight scenes and they were very enjoyably to re-watch.
Special Effects/Practical Effects/Make-up/Sets
For a TV show Shield has some damn good effects going on. The first season is obviously going to be a bit rough and it is but they really step up their game in season 2. The way they show powers and the CGI behind them are pretty high quality for a lot of the times its used. This extend into S3 + 4 thankfully and especially with a certain someone in S4. It is a pity though that the team hasn’t really got a grasp on landscape green screen. Its fine if its just a quinjet, which I think are very well done and as I’ve said when powers are in play they can be very realistic but as soon as you slap someone in front of a green screen it turns to shit. The biggest culprit is the S2 finale where the bad CGI effectively ruins the big climactic scene, its really bad, I’m not exaggerating. Its not like it was even a complicated background, it actually looks really dull, I have no idea what went wrong but bad backgrounds are a running theme. If there’s no people in the shot they tend to look good, so that’s something! As for the practical effects they have that down to a tee. Explosions look good, props are realistic and the guns feel they have weight to them with the sparks and holes they make. The stunts are also quality and the makeup is superb. The bruises and cuts all look very realistic and if a character needs to look like shit, they look like shit. The production design is well above that of other hero shows on TV, its a credit to the team. Every location (when there’s not bad green screen) looks real and used. They really do a good job of making every individual set come alive!
Diversity
Diversity is a key issue when it comes to any TV show, hero or not and luckily Shield somewhat provides. In terms of people of colour and where people are from in the world it has a lot to offer. Its lead actress, Chloe Bennet, is Chinese-American and she did a great piece on how Asian American actors/actresses are treated, I highly recommend you look it up. With Chloe we have, of course, the amazing Ming-Na Wen who is reason enough to watch the show tbh. There’s Henry Simmons and B.J Briit who are both African American, Natalia Cordova-Buckley who’s Mexican and Gabriel Luna who’s Mexican American. There is also a couple characters from Britain which livens up the accents a bit so they’re not all just American. There is of course more poc but those are the main characters, so Shield doesn’t disappoint in that department, something which can’t be said for LGBT+ representation. I originally thought there were no LGBT+ characters but while watching the second time it turns out there is a singular gay character in the show as far as I can tell, which is something I will always be disappointed in. Whats worse is the character just kinda disappears, so I wouldn't get attached. It is such a pity they never had more LGBT+ characters and it is a stain on the show as a whole. (Just an aside I am Irish so if anything I said above is offensive just let me know, I know how important diversity is so I wanted to include this as a point cause it could be a deal breaker for some, myself included, especially when it comes to LGBT+ characters, so just say if anything sounds bad to you and if it is I’ll change it immediately)
The Little Moments
So here’s what I’ve been alluding to through out the review. It’s one of my favourite things about Shield is how they have these little moments, these scenes that just come out of no where and hit you in the gut. It shows how dedicated the actors are, they’re at 100% all the time. I find it really noticeable in the earlier seasons as with the later ones its just emotion all the time, but there’ll still be those nuggets of just two characters talking and having amazing chemistry. These moments have the ability to turn a mediocre episode into a great one such as S3Ep13 which was a fairly average episode that had the most tear jerking scens and even thinking about it is making me tear up. (I swear Mack in that scene ack I can’t) So if you do decide to watch the show look out for the little moments, they are just so amazing and sweet and when combined with the great acting and characters they really bring the show together.
For the final bit I’m gonna rank the seasons worst to best and try and explain why, still no spoilers obviously and it is going to be a bit biased but here we go!
Season 3
Probably get hate for this but I did not like season 3. The first half is pretty good but my god the second half is so slow and tedious. It should have been great, I really liked where they were going but it took so long to get there I nearly feel asleep. It also has my least favourite character (introduced in season 2 for reference) in the spot light to much and he just really badly effected my favourite character so much so that it carries over to the 4th season and causes them to be very whiny for too long (it’ll make more sense or less if you watch it).
Season 4
Another controversial pick but I just didn’t really like the first third of this season. It had pacing issues and I wasn’t very invested in the story. After that though its a banger of a season and the latter half really lets the actors show off their skills and by god they do. Its great the first time round, not so much the second but still good. A great season overall.
Season 1
This was tough for me, I really enjoyed the first season. I think its more the fact on second viewing I know where all the characters are going to end up and seeing them all so innocent, so pure is just heart breakingly good. I remember watching the mid season finale back when it first aired and just being riveted to the screen. I was as worried as the characters on the show! Also gotta give it props for having one of my first crushes, Skye, still love her to this day <3
Season 2
Ah season 2 how much I love yet feel bad loving you. If you don’t know I’m not the biggest fan of a certain group of characters and they make their appearance in a big way. So you’re probably wondering why I like it then. Well instead of following the comics (kinda) with these characters they make them more like the X-Men so even though their name sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it I think they’re done very well so I can put my hatred behind me as long as there’s no royals in the future I’ll be good. This season also has my favourite series of episodes 11-15. These episodes are just so, so good. The tension in the first few, my God and there’s a specific scene with Fitz and Skye that is just so heartbreaking and good argh I love it. This season also introduces Bobbi and Hunter two great character and I also discovered that i have a terryfying fear of having shit being stabbed under my nails or having them pulled off so that’s great! (Its actually a horrifyingly good scene, the most gruesome in the series and once again great tension)
Conclusion
There’s so much more id like to say but I’m just so bad at putting it into words and also its long enough as is, don’t you think? If by some miracle you read all that, thank you and if I have convinced you to try the show or re visit it please tell me what you think, Id love to know! If you have watched the show and read this for some reason please add on anything I missed. As long as its spoiler free go ahead, positive or negative! (As long as its no like ugh this show sucks, at least give some points) So I guess that’s it! Thanks for reading and here’s to the 100th episode!!
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photographicbloguk · 7 years
Text
For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers
No matter how good a DSLR camera a photographer has, if he or she doesn’t find something artistic in the view, all efforts will be for naught. A powerful image is created through the creativity of a photographer; the kick-ass gear is just a bonus. After all, a good photographer can capture a great shot anytime, regardless of the camera he or she is holding. Speaking of great shots, here are 10 of the best photos that will get any photographer’s creative juices going.
1
The weather may be dry and the skies may be leaden but this doesn’t mean a creative shot can’t be taken. Although the winter season rarely burst of colors, the shades it comes with shades that are ideal for a largely monochromatic picture. The key—aside from having an eye for a great shot—is perfect timing.
This stunning photo was taken by Finnish photographer Mikko Lagerstedt from a high location where the vantage point allows a considerable view of the city. He was able to capture the beauty of the sun starting to shine through grey clouds. The snow-covered rooftops and sparsely-filled parking lots were also utilized as a good contrasting backdrop to the orange city lights.
2
Since shooting the movement of lights became a hit, many versions of it made it to the lists of best photos taken. Taken by English photographer Andrew Tobin, this striking image of streaks of light suspended in midair was taken in London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
Tobin shared that the inspiration behind this photo is to capture a plane taking off the runway with the twilight as its background.  Using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, he set the shutter to 15 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 50. After taking a handful of shots, he manipulated them by extracting the trails of light and placing them on top of each other until he was satisfied with the final product.
3
The existence of this photo proves that a brilliant shot can be captured despite a nasty weather.
This beautiful shot was of German photographer Tobias Richter who also happens to be a professional at landscape photography. Depicted in this piece is Scotland’s Cullin Hills. These landforms are located in the peninsula Isle of Skye near the village of Elgol. According to Richter, the challenge of taking this picture is the narrow timeframe of the sun rays dramatically illuminating the scenery.
4
With the idea being derived from the popular Mario Bros. video game, photographer Vincent Bourilhon produced this conceptual photo with a lot of creativity and a little fuss.
To achieve this fun work of art, Bourilhon used a Canon EOS 450D and set his focus to 23mm to make room for a wide angle. In order to portray Mario’s signature move, his camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/400 sec while the aperture was set to f/3.5.
5
Featured in this colorful number is Ashley, owner of Ashley’s Flowers in Detroit. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) intended to promote good relationships between the city’s purchasing business community and its suppliers, so they commissioned photographers like Noah Stephens (photographer of image above) to take photos of entrepreneurs who benefited from their project D2D (DEGC’s Business-to-Business Program)—from the corporate executives to the owners of small businesses.
6
Torrents of snow can do a lot to diminish whatever color is left to the environment. The good news is, it makes for great black-and-white photos.
In this particular shot, landscape photographer Adam Burton took advantage of the splendor brought by the snowstorm, set his camera to black and white mode, and took photos of these deer. He shared that he likes finding dramatic settings in the midst of a perceived unpleasant weather. The challenge though is finding adequate light. This shot alone made him wait for 30 minutes until he was satisfied with the lighting. And the final shot is obviously worth the wait.
7
Another favorite photography trick is the utilization of depth of field. This trick allows photographers to focus on the nearest object as much as the lens would permit, so that they can come up with a clear close-up shot with a blurred background.
Liam Frankland, the photographer who took this image, used lenses that have the capacity to do this trick—the 50mm and 20mm. When either of these lenses is attached to his camera, he often sets the aperture to f1/8 so that the subject will be sharp and the background smooth albeit blurry.
8
This captivating black and white photograph is a part of Victoria Ivanova’s project where she humanized pears to represent people’s behavior.
The equipment she used to bring her ideas to life is her Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens which she set to f1/4. She also made use of six LED flashlights and made them to what she calls “light brush”. She coated the glass with hand cream to soften the light emitted by the LED.
9
Before the pervasiveness of its own branch of photography, food was simply a concoction of something palatable people wolf down when they’re hungry. Now, food has become the much loved subject of many photographers including Giles Angel.
In this photo, Angel used the simplest of objects—a melamine cup and saucer, milk, and water—and made their dimensions become more visible you can almost touch them. He also utilized a brand of acrylic glass called Perspex as base.
Since there is a lot of liquid involved in this shoot, Angel made sure his gear won’t get wet by using his 24-120mm zoom lens and set it at 90mm. And believe it or not, this shot was taken in the dark—the trick is to keeping the shutter open and hitting it after the liquid has been poured and the liquid dropped.
10
Another version of a picture inspired by shooting light trails, this piece highlights a much closer and brighter view to the intangible subject.
Taken by Dutch photographer Frank van Tol, he said that the difficulty he encountered when shooting was either the shots were overexposed or there were too many blurs. He also had to pass 40 times in the street until he captured a shot he was contented with. He used his Canon EOS 400D and set the exposure to 10 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 100. He also benefited from his Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens to make this picture possible.
Photographers who are looking for a bunch of ideas for their next project can definitely make use of these stills as inspiration and whip their own versions to perfection.
The post For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers appeared first on Photographic Blog.
from Photographic Blog http://photographicblog.com/10-captivating-and-creative-images/
0 notes
photographicbloguk · 7 years
Text
For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers
No matter how good a DSLR camera a photographer has, if he or she doesn’t find something artistic in the view, all efforts will be for naught. A powerful image is created through the creativity of a photographer; the kick-ass gear is just a bonus. After all, a good photographer can capture a great shot anytime, regardless of the camera he or she is holding. Speaking of great shots, here are 10 of the best photos that will get any photographer’s creative juices going.
1
The weather may be dry and the skies may be leaden but this doesn’t mean a creative shot can’t be taken. Although the winter season rarely burst of colors, the shades it comes with shades that are ideal for a largely monochromatic picture. The key—aside from having an eye for a great shot—is perfect timing.
This stunning photo was taken by Finnish photographer Mikko Lagerstedt from a high location where the vantage point allows a considerable view of the city. He was able to capture the beauty of the sun starting to shine through grey clouds. The snow-covered rooftops and sparsely-filled parking lots were also utilized as a good contrasting backdrop to the orange city lights.
2
Since shooting the movement of lights became a hit, many versions of it made it to the lists of best photos taken. Taken by English photographer Andrew Tobin, this striking image of streaks of light suspended in midair was taken in London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
Tobin shared that the inspiration behind this photo is to capture a plane taking off the runway with the twilight as its background.  Using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, he set the shutter to 15 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 50. After taking a handful of shots, he manipulated them by extracting the trails of light and placing them on top of each other until he was satisfied with the final product.
3
The existence of this photo proves that a brilliant shot can be captured despite a nasty weather.
This beautiful shot was of German photographer Tobias Richter who also happens to be a professional at landscape photography. Depicted in this piece is Scotland’s Cullin Hills. These landforms are located in the peninsula Isle of Skye near the village of Elgol. According to Richter, the challenge of taking this picture is the narrow timeframe of the sun rays dramatically illuminating the scenery.
4
With the idea being derived from the popular Mario Bros. video game, photographer Vincent Bourilhon produced this conceptual photo with a lot of creativity and a little fuss.
To achieve this fun work of art, Bourilhon used a Canon EOS 450D and set his focus to 23mm to make room for a wide angle. In order to portray Mario’s signature move, his camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/400 sec while the aperture was set to f/3.5.
5
Featured in this colorful number is Ashley, owner of Ashley’s Flowers in Detroit. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) intended to promote good relationships between the city’s purchasing business community and its suppliers, so they commissioned photographers like Noah Stephens (photographer of image above) to take photos of entrepreneurs who benefited from their project D2D (DEGC’s Business-to-Business Program)—from the corporate executives to the owners of small businesses.
6
Torrents of snow can do a lot to diminish whatever color is left to the environment. The good news is, it makes for great black-and-white photos.
In this particular shot, landscape photographer Adam Burton took advantage of the splendor brought by the snowstorm, set his camera to black and white mode, and took photos of these deer. He shared that he likes finding dramatic settings in the midst of a perceived unpleasant weather. The challenge though is finding adequate light. This shot alone made him wait for 30 minutes until he was satisfied with the lighting. And the final shot is obviously worth the wait.
7
Another favorite photography trick is the utilization of depth of field. This trick allows photographers to focus on the nearest object as much as the lens would permit, so that they can come up with a clear close-up shot with a blurred background.
Liam Frankland, the photographer who took this image, used lenses that have the capacity to do this trick—the 50mm and 20mm. When either of these lenses is attached to his camera, he often sets the aperture to f1/8 so that the subject will be sharp and the background smooth albeit blurry.
8
This captivating black and white photograph is a part of Victoria Ivanova’s project where she humanized pears to represent people’s behavior.
The equipment she used to bring her ideas to life is her Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens which she set to f1/4. She also made use of six LED flashlights and made them to what she calls “light brush”. She coated the glass with hand cream to soften the light emitted by the LED.
9
Before the pervasiveness of its own branch of photography, food was simply a concoction of something palatable people wolf down when they’re hungry. Now, food has become the much loved subject of many photographers including Giles Angel.
In this photo, Angel used the simplest of objects—a melamine cup and saucer, milk, and water—and made their dimensions become more visible you can almost touch them. He also utilized a brand of acrylic glass called Perspex as base.
Since there is a lot of liquid involved in this shoot, Angel made sure his gear won’t get wet by using his 24-120mm zoom lens and set it at 90mm. And believe it or not, this shot was taken in the dark—the trick is to keeping the shutter open and hitting it after the liquid has been poured and the liquid dropped.
10
Another version of a picture inspired by shooting light trails, this piece highlights a much closer and brighter view to the intangible subject.
Taken by Dutch photographer Frank van Tol, he said that the difficulty he encountered when shooting was either the shots were overexposed or there were too many blurs. He also had to pass 40 times in the street until he captured a shot he was contented with. He used his Canon EOS 400D and set the exposure to 10 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 100. He also benefited from his Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens to make this picture possible.
Photographers who are looking for a bunch of ideas for their next project can definitely make use of these stills as inspiration and whip their own versions to perfection.
The post For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers appeared first on Photographic Blog.
from Photographic Blog http://photographicblog.com/10-captivating-and-creative-images/
0 notes
photographicbloguk · 8 years
Text
For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers
No matter how good a DSLR camera a photographer has, if he or she doesn’t find something artistic in the view, all efforts will be for naught. A powerful image is created through the creativity of a photographer; the kick-ass gear is just a bonus. After all, a good photographer can capture a great shot anytime, regardless of the camera he or she is holding. Speaking of great shots, here are 10 of the best photos that will get any photographer’s creative juices going.
1
The weather may be dry and the skies may be leaden but this doesn’t mean a creative shot can’t be taken. Although the winter season rarely burst of colors, the shades it comes with shades that are ideal for a largely monochromatic picture. The key—aside from having an eye for a great shot—is perfect timing.
This stunning photo was taken by Finnish photographer Mikko Lagerstedt from a high location where the vantage point allows a considerable view of the city. He was able to capture the beauty of the sun starting to shine through grey clouds. The snow-covered rooftops and sparsely-filled parking lots were also utilized as a good contrasting backdrop to the orange city lights.
2
Since shooting the movement of lights became a hit, many versions of it made it to the lists of best photos taken. Taken by English photographer Andrew Tobin, this striking image of streaks of light suspended in midair was taken in London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.
Tobin shared that the inspiration behind this photo is to capture a plane taking off the runway with the twilight as its background.  Using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, he set the shutter to 15 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 50. After taking a handful of shots, he manipulated them by extracting the trails of light and placing them on top of each other until he was satisfied with the final product.
3
The existence of this photo proves that a brilliant shot can be captured despite a nasty weather.
This beautiful shot was of German photographer Tobias Richter who also happens to be a professional at landscape photography. Depicted in this piece is Scotland’s Cullin Hills. These landforms are located in the peninsula Isle of Skye near the village of Elgol. According to Richter, the challenge of taking this picture is the narrow timeframe of the sun rays dramatically illuminating the scenery.
4
With the idea being derived from the popular Mario Bros. video game, photographer Vincent Bourilhon produced this conceptual photo with a lot of creativity and a little fuss.
To achieve this fun work of art, Bourilhon used a Canon EOS 450D and set his focus to 23mm to make room for a wide angle. In order to portray Mario’s signature move, his camera’s shutter speed was set to 1/400 sec while the aperture was set to f/3.5.
5
Featured in this colorful number is Ashley, owner of Ashley’s Flowers in Detroit. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) intended to promote good relationships between the city’s purchasing business community and its suppliers, so they commissioned photographers like Noah Stephens (photographer of image above) to take photos of entrepreneurs who benefited from their project D2D (DEGC’s Business-to-Business Program)—from the corporate executives to the owners of small businesses.
6
Torrents of snow can do a lot to diminish whatever color is left to the environment. The good news is, it makes for great black-and-white photos.
In this particular shot, landscape photographer Adam Burton took advantage of the splendor brought by the snowstorm, set his camera to black and white mode, and took photos of these deer. He shared that he likes finding dramatic settings in the midst of a perceived unpleasant weather. The challenge though is finding adequate light. This shot alone made him wait for 30 minutes until he was satisfied with the lighting. And the final shot is obviously worth the wait.
7
Another favorite photography trick is the utilization of depth of field. This trick allows photographers to focus on the nearest object as much as the lens would permit, so that they can come up with a clear close-up shot with a blurred background.
Liam Frankland, the photographer who took this image, used lenses that have the capacity to do this trick—the 50mm and 20mm. When either of these lenses is attached to his camera, he often sets the aperture to f1/8 so that the subject will be sharp and the background smooth albeit blurry.
8
This captivating black and white photograph is a part of Victoria Ivanova’s project where she humanized pears to represent people’s behavior.
The equipment she used to bring her ideas to life is her Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens which she set to f1/4. She also made use of six LED flashlights and made them to what she calls “light brush”. She coated the glass with hand cream to soften the light emitted by the LED.
9
Before the pervasiveness of its own branch of photography, food was simply a concoction of something palatable people wolf down when they’re hungry. Now, food has become the much loved subject of many photographers including Giles Angel.
In this photo, Angel used the simplest of objects—a melamine cup and saucer, milk, and water—and made their dimensions become more visible you can almost touch them. He also utilized a brand of acrylic glass called Perspex as base.
Since there is a lot of liquid involved in this shoot, Angel made sure his gear won’t get wet by using his 24-120mm zoom lens and set it at 90mm. And believe it or not, this shot was taken in the dark—the trick is to keeping the shutter open and hitting it after the liquid has been poured and the liquid dropped.
10
Another version of a picture inspired by shooting light trails, this piece highlights a much closer and brighter view to the intangible subject.
Taken by Dutch photographer Frank van Tol, he said that the difficulty he encountered when shooting was either the shots were overexposed or there were too many blurs. He also had to pass 40 times in the street until he captured a shot he was contented with. He used his Canon EOS 400D and set the exposure to 10 seconds, the aperture to f/8, and the ISO to 100. He also benefited from his Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens to make this picture possible.
Photographers who are looking for a bunch of ideas for their next project can definitely make use of these stills as inspiration and whip their own versions to perfection.
The post For Your Eyes Only: 10 Captivating and Creative Images to Inspire Photographers appeared first on Photographic Blog.
from Photographic Blog http://photographicblog.com/10-captivating-and-creative-images/
0 notes