Go With the Flow
Limitations can be a good thing. In this case the conditions were extremely challenging, i.e. outdoors at night, a very brightly lit stage after sunset.
The kids in front of the stage were having a great time and I wanted to capture that energy but only had a point and shoot with me.
The trick was to not even attempt to get a well exposed sharp normal type photograph. I could have been the most technically accomplished photographer and I still wouldn’t have been able to get that shot with the equipment to hand so what was the point in trying? At best I’d end up with a photograph that I’d delete as soon as I saw it on the computer.
Defeating the ingrained desire to produce an accurate photograph completely changed the way that I viewed this scene. Now I could see it in more abstract terms. I knew that I would have very few tones to play with and massive contrast between those that I did have. That automatically meant that the shapes would define this image.
Knowing that capturing strong shapes that would ideally reflect movement (the energy part of the equation) would make or break this photo before the shutter was pressed made all the difference and increased the chances of getting a worthwhile shot by an order of magnitude.
Sometimes it is better to go with the flow than to attempt to conquer conditions and equipment limitations.
Goodbye
Goodbye
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This image was taken from the passenger seat of our car. The stretch of road is almost as wide as it is long. It is probably only half a mile from beginning to end but has six or more lanes, great S bends dips and rises and is also a bridge.
This is just one of many images that I’ve snapped while traveling this stretch. This one came out very blurry but I like it more than many of the sharp detailed ones that I’ve taken. The minimalist, slightly impressionistic feel seem to suit.
Just in case anyone is interested the road itself is the last section of 149 going north in Porter County Indiana. It connects highways 20 and 12.
Dinosaurs became extinct because …
#5 – Rockboarding
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Video Reviews Without Content
A very short rant:
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about doing some podcast type videos and looking into a new walking around camera, the Lumix ZS8 (Some notes here). As part of both projects I’ve watched a countless number of supposedly professional review type videos for point and shoot cameras. One thing has become painfully obvious and that is that the people writing/presenting these video presentations have probably never even heard of let alone used the cameras that they are describing. The information that they give tends to be a combination of spec sheet and statements of the blindingly obvious with little or no insight into the actual model being discussed.
Lumix ZS8 16X Zoom
This is one of the many images that I am currently shooting with my new toy, the Lumix ZS8. What follows is not intended to be a full review by any stretch of the imagination but rather a few early impressions. The image was shot with the ZS8 and edited in Adobe Lightroom 3.0. The two play well together despite the fact that this camera only shoots jpegs.
The 16X optical zoom is excellent with very little distortion anywhere along its range as far as I can tell. The range of the zoom is from 24mm to 384mm (35mm equivalent). If resolution is sacrificed the zoom goes even further. This same effect can be achieved by using full resolution then cropping when editing. I like using the in camera version though as I like framing in real time so I tend to set the resolution at around 5 megapixels which gives a zoom of around 30X if needed. I would guess that this would take the efl up to around 600mm. That is serious sports or bird spotting territory! The zooming is very smooth and there are a lot of steps so no having to make do with close enough. Read more »
More fun with Pixlr-o-matic
Shiny
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The piano keyboard was my own image while the night sky was one of Pixlr’s own.
Pixlr-o-matic is free and fun – more info here: Pixlr web site
A bit of info for those already using this app – Pixlr have recently added loads of new layers/effects. Well worth checking out.
Floor Fan
This photograph was edited using one of the free Filter Forge plugins – Photo effects if I recall. Filter Forge make about 6 different plugins, some textures and some for photographs. They are really good and cover a lot of ground. Just Google Filter Forge free download.
I know that they work with PS CS4 and at the other end of the market Irfanview (also free).
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iPhone Photography Without an iPhone
From the iPhone Photography Without an iPhone Amazon page:
Arm of a wicker rocker
This is a chair that I’ve photographed a lot but this is probably the most ….ummm decorative treatment to date.
Blame a fast lens and Pixlr-o-matic. (great fun if you haven’t tried it).
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No Photography Today
Haven’t been around as much as I’d have liked over the past couple of days or so due to work piling up. Unfortunately neither of my current projects has much to do with photography. One involves setting up a message board and the other producing some 3D computer graphics.
I figured that an image of an online forum would be about as interesting as watching paint dry so here is one of the test renders for the digital project. This is one of a series of crude renders just to get a feel for things. It looks rough because the anti aliasing was turned off so that a series of renders could be completed in about a tenth of the time.
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The MP101 Kindle Ebook
- The Minimalist Woman
My wife's excellent blog.
