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Thanks for the comments so far on my first round competition entry: Giddying Spin...

Here's the story behind it...

As soon as the comp theme was announced I knew that I had to do this... I'd previously spotted the kids roundabout in a very good little playground behind Lavender Bay and had thought about this sort of shot already... It was inspired by an image that Netmagi published months ago in this thread

I picked a time in the late afternoon when the light would be coming through the trees in the park and also when I could get a reasonably long exposure.

I clamped my D70 and kit lens (very, very tightly) to the hand rail of the roundabout with my trusty G-clamp-pod...



The clamp is a little flimsy, and I was spinning the roundabout very fast, so I had to allow some time for it to get over the initial jarring effect when I let go - the self-timer was made for this situation

When a D70 is spinning around at a vast rate of knots I think that the metering system must get very confused - it took a few attempts to get the exposure right... I kept changing the EV, checking the clamp and respinning until I got some decent shots... Of course it was difficult to predict when the shutter was going to fire, but I wanted it to face the sun for the duration of the exposure... Trial and error was the only solution.


This one may have given the game away
This one was almost there, but I managed to appear in the shot again...

And then... BINGO!!!


The first person I showed it to said that it made him feel sick just looking at it... I took that as a compliment and entered it into the first round...

As I said in the voting comments, I think it would have worked much better with a 12-24 lens to get the whole roundabout in, but I didn't have one at the time...

John, I wish I had the guts to do what you did.
I don't know if you remember the method I used to vote in this comp (using a spreadsheet) but I ended up with 3 clear winners, this was one of them.

Great shot . Very imaginitive . This would look good with a kid on it as well but i think they'd be hurling by the time you got the shot right .

drifter wrote:Great shot . Very imaginitive . This would look good with a kid on it as well but i think they'd be hurling by the time you got the shot right .

They would never have stayed on it at the speed I was spinning it

Very well done John. I think if you had introduced the human element then you would have clinched a major prize.

I really liked this shot John. One of the best in the comp.

I'm not sure a human element would naturally make it better, it would have to be done well.

leek wrote:They would never have stayed on it at the speed I was spinning it

A slower spinning speed and a slower shutter speed say 15th or 25th, and maybe a polarizer filter if needed and say f16 or f22 would have given the result with the human element

a balance of exposure and movement to get a desired result....... to add a human element would give this a different perspective .......

big pix wrote:

leek wrote:They would never have stayed on it at the speed I was spinning it

A slower spinning speed and a slower shutter speed say 15th or 25th, and maybe a polarizer filter if needed and say f16 or f22 would have given the result with the human element

The aperture was set to f22 and (from memory) had a CPL fitted... the speed still turned out to be 0.8s - I could maybe have achieved something with an ND4, but then the background blur may not have looked as good...

Leek, I think it is an excellent shot and very well thought out. The colors, movement plus the rock steadiness are all elements which makes this sing.

Paul

the way this has been shot is excellent........ the only improvement would have been a human element........well done

John As i have stated in my "spin" on your image in the comp SELL IT TO AN AGENCY this is an incredible shot. It has a feel and a story which can be interpreted in many ways.
Jethro

Yes it really is a brilliant shot John!

I could see it being used in plenty of ways!

an amazing shot, I might have to get my hands on one of those clamps ...

I loved this shot even if it didnt have a little ankle biter clinging on for dear life

Well done again Jonh.

John, the result was well worth the effort though the nerves must have been going with camera swinging around on the lightweight G clamp

John a very cool concept, what would have been coler is if somone was on the round-a-bout holding on and looking right into the camera.
great work

What goes around comes around! I already feeling squeamish