Playing with... aaahh... lights?

    So, today I wanted to change things a bit and to add a new challendge. I tried, with my kit lens, to to some home cheap studio photography.
   
    The equipment I used were the camera, a tripod, two flashlights (not in all shots), some paper, sticky tape, cardboard and the subject. Speaking about the subject, I went round the house looking for something proper to shoot. O finally found an old russian film camera and the film next to it, so I thought that might be a great subject.

    I put two white big toy boxes (cardboard) perpendicular to the white wall in the background, in order to let the light bounce off the edges. I didn't want a white background, so a glossy black rigid magazine did the trick. In order to create a more focused ligth out of the flashlight, I created a paper cone around it  and sticked it with sticky tape.  Then, to create the gradient in the background i used my phone's flash. The actual phone was hidden by the subject, and the light of the flash was more difused than the flashlight's ones, so it made a great radient in the background.

 

 

    A plus added to the photo, I think, is the framing. It's quite unconventional, isn't it?



 

 

    

 

    The latest picture, as you can see on google plus, it's more focused than it appears here, but that is because, again, I had to resize it from the HTML code of the post, and that afected the quality.

 

    Ending with a photographer's "quote", he said: "So I convinced a little chinese boy on his bike to come on a narrow dark street so I can flash him...". This is actually taken from a digitalrev TV episode which, by the way, I find quite interesting...

Snow, rain, snow, rain and again snow

   Today has been quite a depressing day. And not just because it alternated snow with rain all day, but because I saw the forecast, and didn't like it... For one week minimum we'll probably not see spring coming... But still, after school, I went out to try taking some photographs. 

    I try to choose different routes each day, so that I can constantly find new subjects. So, when I started, I tried not to let the light rain hold me back, so I went a bit through the city center and then went up near the botanical garden. As I started a climb to the garden, it was raining. As I arrived to the street end, it was snowing. As I started to go back home, it was raining again. I mean, my mind started to get a little confused :)

    Let's go to the pictures. The first one is done on an important boulevard in my city. I really like big contrasts in photography, so, by now, you probably figured out what made me take this picture ;).

    The later one is done on my so called "climb" to the botanical garden. What I found interesting were both the round geometry and the depht of field given by the array of pillars.

    

    

    As a closing remark, I will try to end by saying I'll be trying not to upload more than 2 photos onto the blog because, as I said, for some reason, Blogger won't let me resize only 2 pictures. Instead, to see the full collection of pictures I take, don't hesitate to visit my google plus account.

https://plus.google.com/117323268606776694097/posts

No "studio like" shots on the streets

    Theese days I've been taking some shots of two different subjects. One, a cycling competition in which I actually participated and two, well, it's a longer story. So, I found a contest in which the subject must be an old car. Since I don't quite have access to something like that, I didn't give it much attention. Untill 2 days ago, when, while winting for my father, I saw a really nice red Fiat 600. It was in a perfect condition, so, luckily, I had my tripod and my camera with with. I set the camera and wanted to try light painting, but I didn't have a flashlight. Then, I remembered I had my phone which has a flash, so the whole process began. After the last shot, an old lady from a window asked me what was I doing. I told her I was on a public space and all those things, but she couldn't understand. I mean I didn't quite care, because I had already taken my shots, so I went away.
    Now, the thing I actually learned is not to try studio photography on the street. I mean, on the street, don't take anything like a tripod or flash, because people won't quite like it... For me, at least, taking photographs on the streets will come down to instant shots, not any long exposure tripody flashy things...
    I will start with the picture I chose for the car. Unfortunately, my sensor needs a desperate clean, but, luckily I found  some software to remove the dust particles from the photos, so I will be able to use theese photos.

 

    After that, on Sunday, as I said, I took some shots at a local cycling contest. I thing I got some decent shots, but the one that I am actually more proud of is this.

 



    So, this is it for today... If you like my posts also check my google plus account for more pictures that I took...

First day...

    Curently I am sitting, at 10:30 pm writing this. It's strange that I don't mind it, despite the late hour. But hey, whatever! Right? After all, this is a photography blog...

    So, after leaving school and eating, I went straight onto the streets... The first time I attended street photography it was in the city center, so, being close to me, I decided to give it a go, while trying not to use some frames I used in myother photo "trip".

    Before ariving, I had to take a walk. Chancjes are that in my way was a beautiful Yamaha motorcycle. Unfortunately, it was tied to a big metal stick... So i decided to try give it a "tunnel effect" and focus on the name on the gas tank... I thing it came out quite well actually...

 

     I love the dynamics offered by such a photography.

    Sure enough, I arrived to the park. A big tree was sitting right in the middle of the way, so I decided to warm up and get a few shots. Then, at a traffic light, I saw an old man waiting. I waited so that he would have been on the crossing and snapped the picture!

 

 

  edit: It seems blogger has got a problem and I can't resize only the first two photos... Still, you can see them big at the link at the end of this post...

 

    What I love about this picture is that it has a lot of plains in the background, like a big depht of field. Also, this man's eyes look really deep and lost... I just love what the picture expresses...

   Theese were some kind of portrait photos I did later, but the man in the suit is quite a typical picture, don't you think?

    Theese are some wide images. While the latest is nice because of the two people in the background standind at different distances, the first one I love because of its expresivity. I don't know why, but there just is something that is giving this shot a kind of a "living" feel...

    Now theese two photographs are all about the contrast between the colourful persons and the simple background. They even look more in focus because of their obvious distinction...

    Theese latest pictures are all about textures. While in the first one I find those angles really interesting, the second one has a kind of an industrial feeling to it. Plus, being in an urban area, and having a bright colour, the subject really stands out.

    I was going to post pictures of yesterday, but, having the whole blogger problem, you will find those pictures in my album on google plus.
    See you tomorrow!

https://plus.google.com/photos/117323268606776694097/albums/5856726618524713089

   

 

   







 



 

   

Everything must begin in some way

    The first post on a blog can be either the best or the worst post. To cut things off, because I am going to tell my story as it happens, I'm going to jump right into the story. What do I intend with this Blog? Easy! I love photography and, since I discovered it some years ago (currently being 16), I just wanted to improve more and more... Since something like a month ago I bought my first DSLR, a second hand Canon 20D. Since then, I've been taking pictures with it in allmost all my free time.

    Since I know myself, I liked taking pictures of landscapes and action photos...

    But, two weeks ago I discovered another face of photography...Street photography. Since them, I went out every single day to take shots of people and not only.

    This blog is going to contain my story filled with pictures, good or bad, experiences and things I learn through the process. I even intend on taking a photography course from August 2013, and I shall tell all the things I learn plus shots I take.

    Hope this wasn't too booring, first real post is coming with pictures, with my first attempt to do street photography...