The best camera is the one you have with you (extra)

    I took this quote from Chase Jarvis, and it really represented my situation that day. I was in Piatra Neamt to time an Enduro Contest, and didn't think I would get the ocasion to shoot some pictures, so I didn't bring my DSLR or something like that. But, once I got there, I tried to get the most out of a 5 megapixel Nokia Lumia 710 camera.

All theese pictures were taken using an in camera contrast compensation of +1 and saturation bumped up to +1. Also, I used prefocusing for the bike shots.

Here's the proof that, with a little panning techhnique, you can get tac sharp images even of fast moving objects through a mobile phone.

I tried to incorporate some leading lines from the roof in this shot...

This is one of my best landscapes. Even when shooting with a phone, I payed attention to the position of the orange cabin for example and composition. In the end, it's not the low ISO or aperture that makes a good image great, it's the moment captures.

Same landscape, higher angle. It's allways worth experimenting.

I tried to catch some silhouetted kind of picture, and I think it turned out great!

And finally, the metering. I kept changing between frame average and center spot for getting the best results.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind showing theese pictures to someone, even though they were taken with a phone. In the end, it's the photographer that takes the picture, not the camera. It will never take a picture by itself, it needs the human eye to frame and compose a shot. Sometimes, the limitations of a camera can actually bring the best out of a photographer...

One more thing, I have not post-processed theese shots in Lightroom, they are straight from the camera.

Don't forget to chack out my website and tell me what do you think about my portfolio... tudorsphotos.weebly.com. See you next time!

Black backgroung pictures

    Yes, I know the title sonds quite dull, but it describes best what I did the last weekend. Basicaly, I raed on the internet several times about how to make your background black during daylight, but never tried it before. I had the oportunity to take some portraits with this technique, but having only one flash, I didn't want to screw things up, especially cause those pictures were for my MTB's team website.
edit: I just realized, a couple weeks later, that this post was kept as a draft, I forgot to press the xPUBLISH buton... never the less, I will soon put up another post, going back to the "origins".

The way I did it is this: I underexposed the background until it was nearly black, then put a flash to iluminate the subject. Then, in post, I put some background and, with a brush, I cleared the remaining spots of light from the backgrounds.

This method works best with portraits, because you won't get the floor iluminated by the flash. Still, this is a good way to get rid of a nasty background.

This was just an experiment, I wouldn't necessairly do this to a serious shooting, but it feels good to know you can allways come back to this technique when you need it.

One thing I learned from sports photographers is that behind the scenes images worth just as much as the action ones, if not more. Actually, funny thing, there was a contest at a tennis tournament. One of my pictures was a non-action shot, otherwise 99% of all shots entered in the contest were action pictures. And, surprize, I won that contest with that static image.

Also, sometimes black and white works really good with sports...

I've got a surprize coming up, some shots from my phone, and I'll explain how I took them. Trust me, you won't believe those were taken with a cell phone...

Thanks again, and don't forget to check out my portfolio at tudorsphotos.weebly.com, untill that surprize :)

How a little change can challenge your creativity

    Maybe it's a long title, but it describes exactly my mood the last weekend. So, I just recently got myself a Canon 40D to replace my 20D, and wanted to try it out. I went to the mountains to take some shots, and that was a big challenge. I mean, from the usual sports or street photography, I went to nature shots, which was not bad, though I still enjoy the other 2 domains a little better. also, if anyone from Romania is interested in a really nice Canon 20D, mine's for sale here:http://mercador.ro/oferta/canon-20d-body-card-2gb-neck-strap-baterie-incarcator-IDUeYb.html.

Ok, here's the first one. Mainly I like the colors in it, though not the most creative composition, I have to admit.

This one, though looks heavily post-processed, it's actually not. I had the flash ot top of my camera, so I underexposed the whole scene and flashed the tree at half power. This way, I created this effect which I find quite interesting.

Again, this is another product of my imagination. Again, underexposed and flashed, this one I kept in color. I shot a branch from the top of it, and here's theeffect I got.

I regretted not having a way of taking macro shots, but this was the best I could get. Still, I don't think it's bad...

Thank you for the patience and don't hesitate to check out the rest of my blog.

Also, I finalized my portfolio, and you can find it here: http://tudorsphotos.weebly.com/