January 2011 - Photography Tales

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Photography Tales - January 2011

Weekly Photo Challenge, Week 4

January 26th 2011 15:12

Hey Everyone! This is the 4th week of Shutterboo's 52 week photography challenge, and the theme was COLORFUL.

For my posts on the previous weeks, check them out:

Week 1 - ELECTRICITY
Week 2 - JOY
Week 3 - CONTROL

And if you want to join or look at the other amazing photos taken this week, check out the Flickr group here.

This week was the first time since starting the challenge that I was really inspired to take photos. Not that the first 3 weeks weren't great themes, but I think COLORFUL fits in my wheel-house much more. I think it's because I'm a sucker for color... I'm not into beige/tan/browns. I'm mean, my house is painted in yellows, greens and blues... my favorite colors to wear are teal and purple... I even had pink hair for awhile back in college... So I guess you can say, color is more up my alley.

I also think as an hobbyist-photographer, taken pictures of "pretty" things is more-so my comfort zone; plus it's a topic that's less abstract and more tangible in my opinion. So the first things I thought about were colorful foods like fruits, veggies, candy... you know, the 3 basic food groups.

This is the photo I submitted to the group: It may not have the most colors, but I think the colors are bright and bold; I really dig the DOF, the way the apples are in a line that draw your attention, plus the reflection on the table surface I was able to capture. It's my favorite photo I've taken thus far this year.

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

I did A LOT of fruit still-life photos, here are some other favorites of mine:

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

I also did a shot with one of my favorite colorful candies, SKITTLES! But, I realized I was not the only one to think of candy as the subject for this week's theme...

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

I also brought out my colorful christmas lights, and thought I could do some sort of portrait with them as the only means of light. I was thinking of using myself as the subject, however, I couldn't figure out how to set myself and the camera up (I don't have a remote or a tripod!), so I enlisted the help of my reluctant husband. I couldn't stop giggling as I wrapped the lights around him and made him pose, but I did get one decent shot.

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

I like how the red and orange lights have washed over his face, but then you still have the blue and green bulbs still capture attention.

I also thought of flowers, because they bring so much color into the world, and I'm definitely ready for winter to be over and for them all to bloom. I bought a mix bouquet and started shooting. Although very colorful (Purples, pinks and yellows), they just didn't grab my attention as much as some of the others.

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

With the one above, I really tried to focus in on the yellow flower in the center. And with the one below, I was trying to get a unique DOF (to include the vase), but I ended up really liking the light and shadows on the petals.

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

And lastly, I tried a technique of capturing food coloring in a water glass, an idea I first say done by applelim1122... which I just thought looked really cool. I took dozens upon dozens of shots, but I only ended up really liking two...

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

I like the one above because of the close framing, and because I was able to capture the blue food coloring making some interesting patterns. I like the one below because I liked the blue gradient of color in the glass.

Photo Credit - Kristi.V.Photo

Okay, but that's enough about me. Let's talk about my favorites from the Flickr group this week...

Hasselbach Photography - Perfume and Promises - It's a picture of a Marc Jacobs 'Lola' perfume bottle, with a colorful back-drop and processed in HDR. I'm basically in love with the back-drop which I only think enhances the perfectly pretty pinks and purples of the bottle. To me, this looks like an ad for the perfume, it's beautiful.

Alicia Wright - Lego Colour - She headed off to LegoLand; her husband built the word "blue" out of yellow legos, they placed it on a shiny red table top (that provided a great reflection) and there's tons of colorful legos and obliviously happy kids playing in the background. Love it.

tlj97526 - Fire and Light - She set up some color dishware and some tealights and purposeful shook the camera and came up with a really colorful abstract photo. I just think it was unique and the colors were great!

Honorable Mentions - gporter1967's Silly Bands, flip_jones' Colorful Bracelets and Ukele, Whitnickle's Colorful Fingernail Polish and photosdejr's Lil One Can't Resist... There are seriously some great photos I haven't mentioned, so check them out...

Next week's theme is SIGN... catch ya then. Comments/Critiques are always welcome!

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Posted By: Kristi - Category: Personal Progress

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Weekly Photo Challenge, Week 3

January 19th 2011 14:51

Hey Everyone! This is the 3rd week of Shutterboo's 52 week photography challenge, and the theme was CONTROL.

If you want to check out my post from last week (JOY), check it out here. For the first week (ELECTRICITY), here it is. You can check out what it's all about at Shutterboo's blog, or join the Flickr group to see other photos.

Okay, so the topic for the week was CONTROL, and within a few hours there were already posts on Flickr with my initial ideas for the subject, remote controls and computer keyboard controls. Darn. I either need to be quicker OR I need to be more creative. Quicker is probably not going to happen. I can be quite a procrastinator, plus the whole point of joining a challenge like this is to pick up my camera multiple times a week and just shoot... something.

Here's my less than unique remote control shot. I tried to have the depth of field to be a bit interesting. Trying to focus on the remote control buttons more so than the television in the background. I liked how blurred the background is and the fact that I have it on the guide, kind of in control of what I will be watching... But it just wasn't unique enough to post to the group.

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

After I got my best remote control shot, I turned my attention to the Jets vs. Patriots game, and took some shots... I wish I brought it back out towards the end of the game, when it was more clear that the Jets defense "controlled" the Patriots and led to their fun-tastic play-off victory, but this one will have to do.

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

After the game, I was still pretty gun-ho to try and find subjects for this week's theme and I tried to think of things that need my control or have control over me and so I can up with the concept of time. Time control basically every aspect of my life; when to wake up, how long I have to stay at work, when I eat, what I watch on television, etc. etc. etc. So I decided to take a picture of a watch... then I realized it was a good, but boring shot.

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

So then... I fell in a major slump in terms of ideas and will, until last night when I realized it was the last day and I didn't have anything I wanted to submit. So I raced frantically around my house. I took a picture of my husband's beer taps he installed in our bonus room. I actually really like the picture, I antiqued it a bit post-editing and it was a contender to post...

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

I took a picture of "Queen Spatula", the most "controlling" character of my newest/most favorite game Quelf (you should totally buy it and play it at your next party!)... but I didn't like the lightining so much.

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

Then I took a picture of my ipod, because I get to control what songs I listen to on it...

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

But the picture I decided to post is this one. It's blurry, in black and white and is pretty basic. However, I like that I followed the rule of 3rds (which I tend not too) and the blurriness gives it a sense of movement and a sense of urgency of the concept "Taking Control"...

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

Now, let's take a look at my favorites from Flickr this week for CONTROL:

LittleLightBox, 'Control' - captured her son making Mr. Potato Head as crazy as he could... It's in black and white and the focus is on Mr. Potato Head himself with the little boy in the peeking in the background. I thought it was a really unique twist on the theme, and I enjoyed the photo very much.

PagX, 'Control' - she captured a barbed wire fence for the theme, and again, it was something I just didn't think of, but makes total sense. I like this one in particular because of the narrow focus on the single barb.

slapshots, 'Control' - he captured his electric blue guitar and his amplifier (sound controls). For me, a guitar is just cool, and I really like how he had the blue color repeated in the shot (guitar and the knobs), it just seemed really put together well.

Honorable Mentions also go to... photodejr, mafaldafcpb and shutterboo502

Next week's theme is COLORFUL. I'm excited. Leave comments if you want!

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Posted By: Kristi - Category: Personal Progress

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Weekly Photo Challenge, Week 2

January 12th 2011 15:01

Hey Everyone! This is the 2nd week of Shutterboo's 52 week photography challenge, and the theme was JOY.

If you want to check out my post from the first week (ELECTRICITY), here it is. You can check out what it's all about at Shutterboo's blog, or join the Flickr group to see other photos.

I actually submitted 2 photos to the group, but before I show them here, I want to talk about how the week was for me.

JOY. What a great topic. Perhaps too great, because I found myself grasping for creative ideas for it. The first thing I did was think of all the things that bring JOY to my life.

1. My hubby
2. My family and friends
3. My dog
4. Field Hockey (and Coaching)
5. Pretty much any beach
6. Reality shows
7. Music
8. Margaritas

Just to name a few, but how was I going to capture my JOY creatively? The first thing I shot was a margarita, because honestly it was the easiest and required no travel or pleading for subject volunteers. I bought a new backdrop (just a white textured table cloth) and a new light fixture to do more still-life/object shots this year. I think it will take me a while before I get the hang of lighting and posing, but I gave it my best shot. For one of my submitted shots to the Flickr group. 'JoyinaGlass'

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

I shot this with the extra light source to the right of the camera, as I shot eye level with the glass. I liked how the light glistened off the lime and gave a shadow in the back. I wish the color was a bit more vibrant, but I couldn't quite get it. Overall, I like the shot, and it sure did taste great!

Now, the most JOY-ful day of my life thus far has been the day I married my hubby and I wanted to capture that somehow. Now I couldn't really recapture the day, but I came up with an idea of setting up a shot of me looking at the scrapbook of the day. 'MostJoyfulDayRemembered'

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

Now this one took awhile to set up. I only have a monopod, so I had to prop the camera up to get this angle (which took quite a few tries!). I wanted to capture my favorite moment of my wedding day, the part where we exchanged rings, read our vows and of course the kiss. And I wanted to capture my rings in the picture. I think I was able to accomplish all those things, but I wish I was able to have a better background and less of my bulky sweater in the picture.

Photo Credit - KristiVPhoto

Now the last idea I had, that I actually had the ability to shoot was with my dog, Toby. This took lots of treats, since he's unbelievably camera shy. He sees that red light focusing and hears the click of the camera and wants to run away (No, really! He does!) But I got him to chill out by the fire and got a couple of good shots. 'MyPrideandJoy'

(Please see above link for photo - Photo to be added here later today)

I did some editing, doing a focal black and white, so that the fire in the background would have some color. This was one of the few where Toby was actually looking at the camera which is so rare for him.

Now, onto my 3 favorites from the Flickr Group:

Michael Sullivan Photography - 'Joy is a Salad with Ranch' - it's a series of photos of a little girl named Fiona eating, you guessed it, a salad with ranch dressing. She's absolutely adorable, the POVs captured, the pure fun and joy on the little girl's face throughout, and the editing is just amazing.

Two and Lu - 'Joy' - it's an awesome and joyful jumping shot on the beach with the ocean and some mountains in the background. The lighting on the jumper is perfect, and the background is so monochormatic which I find really interesting. Bravo!

thee.mercenary - 'The Joy of Colored Straws' - When I first looked at this I absolutely loved the colors and the light of it, that I almost didn't even notice they spelled out "JOY", it's such a creative idea that was done really, really well.

Next week's theme is CONTROL.

So what did you think?

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Posted By: Kristi - Category: Personal Progress

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Photography Blur - Challenge, Week 1

January 4th 2011 23:16

Quick recap. I got a fancy new camera last year and a bunch of family and friends saying I should explore this whole photography thing more... So I decided to find something to help push myself into taking more photos and ones that were more eclectic and out-of-the-box for me. And I found Shutterboo and then I joined Flickr. Now, I'm pretty much obsessed.

This was the first week of the 52 week challenge, and the theme was ELECTRICITY.
[ Click here to read more ]

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