I'm going to try and link up with Project Alicia each week for Wordless/Wordful Wednesday. If you haven't been to Alicia's blog yet then please check it out - her photos are gorgeous. I am also incredibly jealous of the new lens she got for Christmas.
Back to my non-resolutions... This year I want to take my photography further, do it better and do it more (the motto will be LCA or 'Less Crap Photos'), and to share what I learn as I go along. I have two pet photo shoots lined up which I am very excited about - and if they go well then who knows? To make me get my camera out every day (it's not a chore!) I am also taking part in a photo a day challenge on Flickr.
Enough words - on with the photos...
Enough words - on with the photos...
Macro of forks...
Finally found the knack of using a much smaller aperture for macros to get more in focus - doh! This was taken in black and white with the camera on manual using a macro filter (x10) on the lens. I've got lazy and relied a lot of Aperture Priority mode to shoot so am trying to shoot more in manual.
Olives...
It's become a bit of a tradition for David and myself to go for an Italian meal over the New Year holiday. Taken in b&w again - wide aperture to throw the background out and create bokeh. Am loving the way the light from the window shines on the oil. I might try cropping this differently to make it conform to the rule of thirds - (but sometimes breaking the rules can be fun...).
Yet more of the olives in b&w...
David makes an assault on the olives. I like the sense of movement in this and the angle. What I don't like is that distracting large rectangle of light at the top and the bottles to the left. It's amazing how many times you compose a shot but then forget to look around the whole frame to see what you don't want there, just focussing on what you do want. Again I might try cropping this.
Dusk...
The colour and the lights were what struck me about this scene, so to emphasis these aspects I dropped on one knee, de-focussed the lens and waited for some obliging pedestrians to walk by. I also used exposure compensation and underexposed it to stop the camera trying to make it much lighter than it really was! I think the blurred figures help make this shot - they add scale and movement.
Tree with lights...
I love the lights in this tree - and the way it's silhouetted against that beautiful sky. What I might do is clone out that lamp on the right and the cable on the tree.
And finally...
And finally...
Detective Dave on the case...
This was a fun shot we tried. We've been watching the Danish police series The Killing over Christmas (which is brilliant! More twisty-turny than a twisty-turny thing!) and I loved its dark and atmospheric camera work. As an homage to it I got David to kneel down in front of our car with the headlights on so he was backlit. Am loving those shadows.
12 comments:
I'm thinking my brother is very long-suffering! Great set of photos.
Bro here sis. I don't mind. Bee's miles better than me with the technical stuff!
Love the last photo and also the one with tree and lights. I need to keep the back-lit one in my mind when doing more self-portraits this year. It's a cool idea with a wonderful effect.
I particularly like the traffic photo with the pedestrians. Glad you weren't run down! :) And I like the forks and David the detective. You are just so good at this, I'm in awe.
Great shots! They all show your artistic side. Isn't D a good sport?
Great shots! They all show your artistic side. Isn't D a good sport?
I think David is a frustrated thespian - he enjoys being ordered, sorry I meant asked, to participate in my little photo shoots ;O)) Anyway - he employs me as a gopher on his sometimes so fair's fair!
Honestly, I can't see that your photography has any room for improvement. But it was interesting to read your insights about what you didn't like or want to change about some of them, and what especially pleased you. It'll be fun to learn and develop a deeper appreciation of your photography and photography in general as you take yours to the next level.
As for these photos, the forks shot is great! I didn't recognize it as forks at first, but really liked the look. And I want one of those olives NOW! I think what you need to do to improve the olive shots is to make them interactive, so your blog readers can reach in and nab one by the toothpick! :-) One of my favorite experiences on our first trip to England was visiting the Olive & Paté shop in Farnham. Not for the paté, of course (gak!) but for the huge variety of olives (I thought there were only two kinds: green and black!) and for the amusing idea of there being a shop devoted almost exclusively to olives!
I can't imagine the pedestrians shot without the pedestrians in it, and LOVE the beautiful tree festooned with faerie lights. As for Sherlock Holmes (or is that Inspector Clouseau? lol), great photo! The headlights lit it perfectly, and he acted his part exceptionally well. Very convincing and very dramatic!
Laloofah: You are too kind. Interactive photos of food - now there's technology that I would applaud. And of course then I could taste your birthday cake :O) Sherlock Jackson and his sniffer cat Charlie - LOL!
LOL, that's us too! Love this pic.
Barbara, what lovely creative photos and what an obliging husband you have:-)
Jabblog - thank you! David wasn't obliging yesterday when I asked him to put on a furry hat with ear flaps so I could take his photo - I don't know what his problem was :O)
Post a Comment