Im going to London today! Not the best of times since the horrifying attack but the weather is supposed to be nice and even though I'm too lazy to carry mig big camera around, I will be walking around with my moms Canon G16, which is basically mine since I'm the only one who uses it. Its a compact camera, so its lightweight and easy to use, even if I miss the normal control i have with my own camera, specifically I miss manual focus. But this nifty little camera is great, especially when walking around in big crowds. Now I know last time I was in London I couldn't help myself, I took quite a number of touristy photos I never really did anything with, simply because omg the big ben! OHH LOOK AT THAT! This time Im going to try and limit myself to actual good quality, and I'll try to not shoot everything I see. Key word being try. See! London Eye, Big Ben, or the tower containing Big Ben, a bunch of flags and the weather was simply on point! Freaking tourist.
0 Comments
You don't always have to spend hours editing a picture to make it look good, sometimes its good right from the start. Aim and shoot. Done. Sometimes a little can do a lot, five minutes to play with the colors and add some contrast, and nothing more is needed. I like the original, but I love the just ever so slightly edited version. A little goes a long way. Another picture that didn't need a lot of editing is this one; Im not as much a fan of this one, but its a good example of a little going a long way. It doesn't have to take a lot of time or skills to take an image from meh to pretty decent.
Composition is key. The colors, the light, its possible to fix it. Sure you can crop a picture to make the subject look a bit better, but in my experience its always a good idea to take multiple shots of the same thing so that you can later check which one has the best angle, the best focus, the best composition. Sometimes the light is perfect, the golden hours during sunrise and sunset, but sometimes you have your camera out in the middle of the day and you see something you really want to capture but you know you wont simply come back during the right hours, so you take the picture anyway. You get the composition, but not the rest. I think it looks messy, the colors look gray and pale, theres almost no contrast and its really just not pleasant to look at. But I like the composition. I like the light at the end of the track, I like the angle. So I fix it. Add some color, add some contrast, play with which shades to enhance and which to let fade for a more smooth feeling. Try to stop before you overdo it, and yeah that can be the most difficult part. Edit until you are pleased, and if you don't really like it try to think of why that is, if its the colors just keep trying something new, but if you realize the focus isnt right or you just dont like the overall picture, leave it. Get a new one. Start over.
If you are anything like me, the world rarely looks the way you see it. I can't really explain it, it's just the way it is. My brain adds contrast, it adds colors, it makes me see in black and white. Im still aware of the way it actually looks, sure. But in my head i see how it could look, and sometimes thats something i want to share with people. I want other humans to see the world through my eyes, and therefor Im a photographer. Its not as easy as aim and shoot, but its a start. So lets go back to this winter day when i was out on a walk and saw this bench and a lamp, the pale world suddenly focused on that warm light and an image formed, or well, an idea for an image. Aim and shoot. One step done, i got the image the way my eyes first saw it, but not the way my mind changed it, so it looks pale, boring, cold. Thats where editing comes in, thats when you take an image and turn it into what your mind showed you the world could looked like. There we have it, the finished product, the way i viewed the world for a minute while freezing my ass of in the cold.
Did you know fir needles are called barr in swedish? Anyway here in Sweden it sure has been cold, but now that summer is so close i can taste it I feel like posting some pictures of the one tree that can make even winter look good, the fir, standing as green as always it puts the leafy trees to shame with its proud needles, and deserves to also get some attention now that its more attractive counterparts are showing their heads, getting into the pictures of every nature photographer out there. As the only thing still green it did capture my attention this winter and i now have a little trio of pictures with the proud looking tree, and i figured i might as well share it. But now its time to go back to pretty flowers and let the fir be until winter, or well thats probably what ill end up doing anyway.
I took a pretty picture of some pretty flowers. Sounds easy enough right? WROOONG! The light was being a pain in my ass, the rich purple flowers looked a pale, drab blue, and the focus wasn't great either. I tried, I really did. I tried every kind of setting i could, but the golden hour had passed and there was no going back, but the flowers were pretty and I wanted that macro shot. So I picked them. Brought them home. Created a mini studio for those blasted flowers. The heat from my bedside lamp quickly killed their will to live, but sure as hell that was exactly what i needed. The flowers went from looking like this; to this; And then with some editing in camera raw they ended up like this; Sure the light looks unnatural and harsh, but i think it creates some contrast to the soft background, and well i guess thats just my style for the moment. So what did i learn?
Theres always a way, and stumbling around in a tiny room making your own little studio is really fun, just remember to put it all back once you're done, or someone (you) could forget about the cords being everywhere and stumble, or break something. Macro. I love macro. To focus on those small details that surround us fills me with a strange happiness. They aren't screaming for attention, they aren't in your face with their beauty, in fact they are usually ignored. Take this picture of moss for example; Thats all it is, moss. The green ground of the forest, dirty, filled with bugs. Who wants to look that closely at something that is all around the woods? something that we just walk on. It's nothing special. Have you ever stood in the middle of the woods during the sunset? You don't get to see the beautiful sky filled with colors, but when the sun is low it lights up the woods in the most spectacular way. The moss catches the light, making it look as if its glowing, the trees gets a golden hue around them, and every little speck of dust, bugs, leaves, floating through the air, acts like dancing spots of light. Some feelings are hard to capture, but this picture of moss speaks a lot to me, but maybe thats because I was there. Now Im giving you a mission, pick a sunny day, and as the sun is about to set, spend some time in the woods to enjoy it.
Hi! I finally decided to start documenting my progress with photography, and to post before and after pictures to make myself remember a picture isn't doomed if is doesn't look like I want it too right from the start. Starting off now, with some pictures i took half a year ago and finally decided to try and work with, what seemed like a stupid idea actually turned out pretty ok, I especially like this first one; Pretty nice right? well at least i think so and i guess thats enough, even if i do wish photographers also got applause like those blasted spoiled music, dance and theatre people. I love them to pieces and ill be applauding and smiling more than anyone, especially after and during a musical, Im just greedy and want the same kind of approval. AAANNNYYWAY back to topic, this picture, now it looks like i saw it, the idea in my head, or well as close i can get, but theres a reason it took me half a year to get to the editing. This is the picture the way it came from the camera, no editing whatsoever Maybe not super bad, but not exactly good, the pink backpack and green Yoda in the background aren't exactly doing it any favors. Nonetheless i like the hair, it was the first thing I noticed before taking the picture, the gorgeous hair of this girl sitting alone in a crowd, her story a complete mystery to me. The picture didn't really intrigue me though, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as i saw it in my head, so it got ignored, until I got a strong urge to edit, and nature just wasn't cutting it. After this image i also decided to edit some more from the same weekend, and even though it was a short trip i can thank the large crowds for concealing me enough to get some decent shots. Here is two more, edited and all. This has really inspired me to take more photos of humans, so I guess ill be sneaking around with a camera the next time Im in a big crowd. Actually, i should go find one tomorrow...
|
Ida nordströmjust me, documenting my process. Don't be a stranger, comment! previous postscategories |