Photo 101: Day Nine: Warmth & the Quality of Light

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Photo 101: Day Nine: Warmth & the Quality of Light

Photography means “drawing with light,” and when you snap a picture with your camera, you use and record light to create an image. When we’re out and about, we use the sun — our most abundant light source — to capture our scenes.

Today, capture an image of warmth, using the sun as your source. And if the sun is nowhere to be found, don’t worry! You can interpret warmth in a different way.

Today’s Tip: If you’d like to experiment more, consider the direction and quality of light. First, let’s talk about front light and side light.

Today I decided to stay indoors for my photo shoot. Why you ask? Simply because the sun was hiding behind thick and heavy rain clouds and the overall mood was damp and dreary So, the only option was to stay safe and sound indoors. During today’s Midsummer festivities in our company’s office, I had the opportunity to mix business with pleasure. I used artificial light in capturing the reflections of the liquid of the sparkly wine and glasses. Served also were ice cream and strawberries, which I used as props. Adding some Photoshop to the mix, this is the result I came up with. Enjoy!
 
 
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Psychedelic

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Regular Joe

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Two of a Kind

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What’s your poison?

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Threesome

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Twosome

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Army of wine lovers17b

Getting lighter?

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The famous nine

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End of the party

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Red and sweet

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Photo 101: Day Eight: Natural World & Leading Lines

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Photo 101: Day Eight: Natural World & Leading Lines

A good photographer is a constant observer: always watching and studying a scene, from patterns in city traffic to movements in nature.

Capture the natural world with your camera: document a moment outside, big or small. From a panorama snapped during your morning hike to a close-up of a leaf in your yard, we invite you to document this wondrous world around us.

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Curvy, straight, natural and man made lines:

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Photo 101: Day Seven : Big & Point of View

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Photo 101: Day Seven : Big & Point of View

Today, let’s go big. Whether inside or outside, photograph something of massive size. Feel free to interpret big in your own way, and get creative with your shot. Capture all or just part of the subject. Place it in the foreground so it takes up the entire frame. Or shoot it from afar so it appears smaller — yet still prominent.

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Big building vs small object, such as small cottage, flag, sign:

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Photo 101: Day Six: Connect & Tags

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“Connecting people” The artist formerly known as Nokia

Photo 101: Day Six: Connect & Tags

CONNECT:

I have chosen to use the social media options for promoting my blog. I.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Tumblr. Not that I really enjoy spending my time on any of those sites (honestly, well I try not to ;P), but I have found it very useful to get more visibility than relying solely on WordPress.

Judging from the feedback and additional followers, I have managed to get over 3000 hits on my Google+ account and I have over 100 followers on LinkedIn in addition to email followers who do not have WP accounts.

I know the figures may not seem much to established bloggers, but for me, who started from zero four months ago, this is huge!

Summa sumarum: It really pays off to connect!

TAGS:

I used the following tags to describe my today’s objet d’art;

Photography, photo101, footwear, a pair of boots, rain gear, Wellingtons, Nokia, red, colourful, still life, portrait, object, photo shoot, flash, zoom lens, natural light and humour.

A pair of ordinary rain boots, in the colour of red. I experimented a little with the exposure and flash to drag some interest out of the subject matter

Fun fact: The brand name for these boots is actually “Nokia” and used way before the GSM phone was invented.

Click on the images for higher resolution and enjoy!

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Bonus funny shot:

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Photography 101: Weekend One: Experimenting in sunshine, rain and with colours

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Weekend One: Experiment with Composition

It’s time to take a break from our daily themes, so enjoy your days off. Use the weekend to catch up, tackle themes for which you didn’t have photos, or practice techniques you’ve learned. Here are a few ideas:

  • Capture establishing wide-angle shots. They don’t have to be street scenes — take pictures of anything you want! Remember to consider your background and foreground.
  • Compare horizontal and vertical versions of the same scene.
  • Use the “Rule of Thirds” grid — in your viewfinder, on your screen, or in your mind — to place your subject(s) within your frame. Does your shot look better as a landscape with your subject at the top left? A vertical shot with the subject at the bottom right?

Some shots taken over this weekend in Espoo Finland, or rather the suburbia of Mäkkylä. The weather went from a sunny kind of “warm” 24 degrees Celsius to a cold 12 degrees rainy and damp type situation. But at least the nature is enjoying the pouring rain and of course it’s good for those of us with allergies as well! I even managed to catch the sunrise at 3 am on Saturday, staying up most of the night, writing, which is always time well spent, even though sleepless 😉

Enjoy!

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Photography 101: Day Five Part 2: The “Rule of Thirds”

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Day Five Part 2: The “Rule of Thirds”

I was experimenting with still life shots and things of “that nature” (pun intended) in the near surroundings of my house for part two: Rule of Thirds.

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Photography 101: Day Five Part 1: Solitude

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“Solitude is the place of purification” Martin Buber

Day Five Part 1: Solitude

We’re excited about today’s theme, solitude. In addition to thinking about what it means to you, also consider the placement of the subject in your shot.

Solitude comes in many forms: Here are a few examples from my back yard:  The last in bloom, one of a kind, trapped, guardian angel, solitary cloud and tall standing building.

Click on the images for higher resolution

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Coffee, a Bliss and a Blessing

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“There is no such thing as too much coffee!” Gun Roswell

Day Four: Coffee, a Bliss and a Blessing

Premise:

What is your idea of bliss? Is it an image of your family, laughing at the dinner table? A state of total relaxation, while lying on the beach? Your latest painting, drying on the canvas?

Bliss: complete happiness, great joy, paradise, or heaven.

Quotes:

“There is coffee in that nebula!” Captain Janeway, Star Trek Voyager

“There is no life before the first cup of coffee in the morning”

“Coffee, it’s gotten me through the best of times and the worst of times”

My thoughts:

So many passions to choose from, but in the end I guess my top choice is, surprise, surprise: COFFEE!

If I had been on the Titanic, I would probably have chosen to save the coffee before anyone or anything else. And trust me, you would not want to be stranded with me on a deserted island if there was no coffee!

Another day with Coffee:

Need more coffee before work

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Talk to the hand if you did not bring me coffee before you entered my office!

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Aaah!

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Coffee break

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My two passions, flavoured coffee and my mac

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Favourite flavours

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Coffee goes great with a few treats ;P

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Cooling off with some ice coffee

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End of another day, with coffee of course!

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“Riding to the sunset, just me and my pot of coffee… singing along, side by side…”

Related Rantings:
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee and some more Coffee
Four Options For Coffee

Photography 101: Day Three: Water & Orientation

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“We have different relationships to and stories about water: how it has saved or defeated us. How it reminds us of family vacations, outdoor adventures, or the hot summers of our childhood. How it might symbolize a place we’ve left behind, or a location we dream to go.”

Todays locale, the beautiful bay area of Haukilahti, Espoo in Finland. The marina with it’s many boats and the quaint restaurant named simply as the Haukilahti Pavilion is an excellent place for visitors and local people to spend time in. Whether you are a jogger or enjoying a peaceful moment, or setting to sea, the views are magnificent and sea breeze will cool you down even in the hottest of weather. The Pavilion serves also as a restaurant and is known for it’s tasty salmon soup; a good choice for a meal in any type of weather!

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Photography 101: Street & Establishing Shots

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Not quite the streets of San Francisco, rather the back roads of Mäkkylä, Espoo.

A tractor would be a more prudent method of transportation than a small car. Watch out for nails or other sharp objects while driving!

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