Tilted Crop - Deadline: March 9

How many times you have seen beautiful photographs that for some reason made you stop and say “wow”??

I don’t know about you , but me, I tend to look around and admire lots of different photographers and the more I look, the more I refine my own vision.

To throw some perspective or shake things up in your mind a little, I would like to talk about the angle you take photographs.

As a general rule, the camera is wider than taller and I’ve read somewhere that 90% of the photographs taken are horizontal. To make it worse, the majority of the images we see online are taken from the height level of whomever is taking the photograph. That makes sometimes nice images. Sometimes. Lots of times, however, makes them to be too obvious or too predictable.

What makes us wow an image are a little beyond a logical explanation.

It could be because it reminds you an amazing image you have seen before. OR maybe some image you always had in your mind and didn’t get the chance to create. OR just because you felt angry, disturbed, bored…you will try something different. Yes, that s more like it!!

Shaking the obvious out of your mind will most likely create some weird and not so perfect image, but in the end of this creative day , you will have an assignment that will get you somewhere where you have not been yet…create something you have not tried yet. For pure fun.

The art of using deliberately the tilted crop is strange at first. IT breaks the rule of “normal” and makes things more interesting because you are not expecting to see things from that perspective.

And quite honest, it is so cool to be able to just try things in another way. Had that been in the “film” age, and we all would be thinking of how much money and time this assignment or learning would cost us. Being digital though allows us to experiment more and try things more often. And if we don’t like it, we can always go and do it again. Just delete in the computer.

That‘s learning too.

So the assignment this month is to try a different perspective. Tilt your mind, will you?

I suggest to compose, frame your image as you would normally would. Then, tilt the camera to the left or to the right, step on a bench or lay on the floor and then recompose and take your picture!

Tilted crop is a very nice exercise to play with new angles and new way of seeing things. Just pretend for a day you are a 5 year old child and you don’t know exactly how you are supposed to hold the camera and take the picture. Cut things out, get close and experiment with a very different tilted crop.

If it makes you feel more inspired, go online and research tilted crop, different angles on photography, and anything that can get you motivated.

Then try a still life, a person, whatever you feel like, using tilted crop in your composition. Then, share!

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT

Ok, I am no Moni but I will post the next assignment. I am not good with words and direction so you are all on your own with this one.

Assignment: "Tilted Crop"

This can be an in camera crop or a photoshop crop. From what I have read, there is certainly a limit on how far to take your crop. You don't want your subject to look like they are falling out of the photo or to look un natural.

Have fun and we will see your posts by next Sunday. Remember to leave comments on the posters photos. This is all about learning and making us better photographers.

I apologize for my simple post, maybe Moni will come and save the day.

Good luck and have fun shooting

Kathleen

Macro

Okay so i really wanted to do this challenge and not pull from my archives, but alas it is almost the end of Feburary and I have not gotten around to taking any intresting Macros. I will try to replace this when i can take a decent macro!


So this is a water droplet caught in the end of my plant. ISO 400, ss 1/8, f5.6 taken with the cheap tripod i have (I need another ) and my remote.

Macro attempt

Ok, to start, I don't have a macro lens. I use my 85mm 1.8 lens with my 50mm 1.8 held in reverse in front of it inside the lens hood. This results in a dark outer circle but you can either crop out the center or leave it for effect. This also results in an extremely shallow dof, probally best to shoot very flat things this way. Anyway, I gave it a go and this is what I got.

Used light meter to get a reading of iso 100, f22, ss 15

light from behind coin through a window, and slightly to camera left.

Tripod and a shutter release were also used.

Same set up as above for this one.

It is a gear that winds the strings

on a guitar.

This was taken in front of the same window

on a diferent and not so bright day.

iso 100, f22, ss 1.3

tripod and shutter release cable used here too.

This doesn't really look macro but it is the sam magnification as the others. It is the dead center of a rose that is light from a celing fan light overhead. I hand held for this shot and the camera shake is responsible for the soft edges of the petals.

iso 400, f22, ss 30

Macro Photography Project

f/7.1
ISO 200
Manual
Focal Length:100.0mm
Lens: 100mm f2.8 Macro USM
Flash Fired (-2/3)
Time:12:03pm
Metering:Partial
Temp: 5300k
Tripod
Adobe Camera Raw/PhotoshopCS3

Sunlight coming through window behind camera. Black matte board underneath. Object one of a set of metal dice (measures 3/4" x 3/4").

I wanted to capture the dramatic sayings on the dice, but not put them just in a "middle space" of the photo, so I set the die off to the side of the framing. I also wanted to emphasize the message as much as possible, so I tried to get only that message to pop out (by getting the natural sunlilght to shine on that part of the dice).

The dice are given to participants at my work (Center for Creative Leadership), and you can role the dice to come up with different "thoughts" or "ideas" for the day. This saying caught my attention and is very powerful unto itself.

Water drops

I thought I would share this link for water drops Marco style. Hope you all enjoy!

http://ilovephotography.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=271326&hl=macro

Window light assignment

This was taken with her at a 45 degree angle to the window.

Settings were ISO 200, SS 200 AP 1.8. Taken with my 50 1.8 lense.

Hope you like them

Photo Assignment # 4 - Macro Photography - Deadline: February 24

Photographing the landscapes and looking for the most beautiful places has its merit for the photographer who wants more than the average picture. Beautiful images are definitely born from those who have discipline to wake up early, and be at the right place at the right time. Now, going the extra mile and looking for that something “else” to tell a story is for those who are really into photography.

When you watch a good movie, you will see a story well told. The planning, the light, the personages, the plot, the angles, the panoramic vision, the framing, the tight closes, the shadows, the spotlights. All ties up together to tell the end of the movie.

Well, when you go on a photo journey, it should be the same. But most of us forget the details, the change of perspective, the direction of light and the perfect timing.

A good image does not happen by chance. Specially in landscape and macro photography. Carefully planned, a macro shot requires a little bit extra patience than a regular panoramic or landscape photography.

It starts with the tripod, to assure you don’t blur the image, since macro shots are shot within a few inches from the subject.

Then the appropriate lens, a macro lens, specially designed to allow you to get close and magnify the reason of how close to real life size the subject is. A typical lens will have reasons like 1:2 (your subject will be half the size of its real size in the picture) or 1:1 (your subject will be the same size as it is in real life).

The most common lenses for macro are 50mm macro and 100 macro. However, setting them in your camera body is not a proof of getting a good picture. You need to decide on what kind of lighting will be used to capture the image. Will it be backlight? Will it be sidelight? Will it be flash? Natural light? Window light? All these could be used to photograph your small subject and cause impact.

Once you decide the light, position your tripod in the height you want to work in your composition, that is, are you going to show the whole object? Half? Are you going to position it to show it as tight crop? Lot of negative(empty) space around it?

What about depth of field? Do you want to have a lot or a little?

Remember that the aperture and the distance to your subject being very close will strongly reduce your depth of field to millimeters, being more appropriate to have a big depth of field if you plan to have your whole subject in focus.

With an aperture such as 2.8 , 4 or 5.6 you will be very limited to depth of field and lots of blurriness will show in your picture. F 11, 16 or even 22 will get your subject more depth of field.

It’s your vision though and you can approach it however you wish.

Select a subject like a flower, a bug, anything little that calls your attention, and set some time for this assignment. It does require patience. Produce 3 images and share your experience of how did you do it. Explain where was the light coming from, if it was natural light or any other kind of light, what you did to compose, what were you thinking.

Make comments about what was your vision compared with the result you got. Tell which aperture, shutter speed, ISO and any other post processing you did to get your final images.

Share!

Canon 5D

50mm 1.8@ 3.5

ss 80

iso 400

window light to camera right

late afternoon

Canon 5D

85mm 1.8 @ 9

ss 40

iso400

window light early afternoon

behind camera

More window light

A few extra window light pictures.

The light is coming from a window on the ceiling of a gorgeous bathroom :)

Window Light Kitty

This is Smoky, my adorable kitty.
He is not a "poser", but he is like me, he seeks the light. He begs to have the windows open so he can watch outside and get some sun.

ISO 1000
Shutter speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/3.5
Lens: Canon ef 50mm 1.4
Canon 40D



ISO 1000

Shutter speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/2.5
Lens: Canon ef 50mm 1.4
Canon 40D



See the catchlight in his eyes?? That's the reflection of the window :)