The Power Of Both Perspectives And Perspective In Photography

he date for this post is set in the future as blogger puts the most recent post to the top of the page and I want this post to remain at the top so I've had to jiggle the date to circumvent this problem.

I believe that photography, like life, is subjective. It is our life perspective which impacts upon our decisions, our relationships, and our actions. This perspective has been moulded from our life experience, and to a great extent the perspective has become ingrained, either knowingly or unknowingly. This life perspective affects our interpretations of both images and words. This life perspective impacts on the photographic perspectives we choose when composing shots. Or is it all really just about creativity and intuition ?

image source:http://forsegle.tumblr.com/archive

Are these labels fair, or is it simply a dog versus cat perspective?

The following video is a testimony to the transformative power of both images and words.

Silhouette Photography

I always have difficulty answering the questions:
"What is your favourite subject to photograph ?" or " What is your favourite type of photography ?"
It can be mood dependent and as I gain more experience options open up to me which I would not have previously considered. One thing that has always fascinated me and continues to do so is silhouettes. Photography is all about light - either its abscence or presence and silhouettes play with reality. I've always loved the night and therefore the oft times ethereal images created using silhouettes are magical.
I resorted to playing with the silhouette idea when I found myself stuck at a night shoot with no tripod and the floodlight at the Goulburn War Memorial were perfect for creating some warm rim lighting effects on a co-operative subject

Some breathtaking silhouettes are depicted at smashingapps

I'd also love to try some effects based on Jasper James' work

Location-Location-Location

Have been interested in learning more about seascape photography, particularly misty slow water effects. I've joined a group on Flickr who requently meet up regularly for seascape shoots and I'm endeavouring to turn up at one in the near future. They sound like a fun bunch and they're super organised.
Brent Pearson's video illustrates perfectly the lurking dangers therein:

Drenched from Brent Pearson on Vimeo.


I also discovered a magnificent resource generously offered by Brent which lists photo guides to locations in N.S.W and hints and tips. There is also one which lists some  in other States accessible from the same link.

A great site - '12 Best Photography Spots for Classical Sydney Skyline'

Illusions

Photography can frequently be about illusion, which alters perspectives.

Some interesting links I've discovered have armed me with a myriad of techniques I'd like to try:
A collection of trick composition photographs

Photo Extremist   - Lots of tutorials

Light Painting

5 Trick Photography Techniques

Most Popular Photography Tips, Tricks, and Hacks of 2010

a work in progress.......................

My Photographic Bucket List

There are lots of effects I'd like to try or subjects I'd like to have the opportunity to photograph
1. A butterfly 'up close' (done)
2. A 'large' blue dragonfly
3. Capturing a subject in a bottle or bubble (effect)
4. A pelican flying (done)
5. Landscapes using my crystal ball
6. Long exposure of a beach scene during the day
7. Cyclists or skate boarders
8. Textured backgrounds (done)
9. Image stacking

 ............................. to be continued

The Photographer's Ephemeris

 Peter Miles from Facebook put me onto this fancy little aid. I looked it up on The Digital Photography School website and discovered that

....an ephemeris is a table of numbers giving the position of astronomical objects in the sky over time. The Photographer’s Ephemeris gives the raw data, but goes on to display it visually, overlaid on Google Maps, allowing the user to see the angle of the sun and moon for any time and date and any location on earth. While originally conceived for landscape shooters, all outdoor photographers can use TPE to plan the best locations and times for a given shot......

The Top 10 Tips provided by Stephen Trainor are:
1) Scout your location ahead of time
Choose the best map mode for your subject: Map for cities, Satellite/Hybrid for details of particular buildings, Terrain for landscapes.
 
2) Look for starred dates
An asterisk is next to dates when a full or new moon will be low on the horizon near the time of sunrise or sunset: these are often the best days for images including the moon.
 
3) Pre-plan your shooting position
Use the time of day slider in Details mode to check the angle of sun. Ensure you have the optimal shooting position for the critical moment.
 
4) Find a starry, starry night
Look for times after or before astronomical twilight and compare with the times of moonrise/set to find a truly dark time for astro-photography.

5) Double check the angle of view
Use the secondary map pin (gray) to check the elevation angle from your shooting location to your chosen landmark. This can indicate what focal length lens you will need to accommodate the subject in the frame.
 
6) Don’t be kept in the dark
Use the time of day slider and the secondary map pin in combination to check whether the sun will be hidden by a nearby hill or ridgeline. Scrub back and forth to see the track of the sun (or moon), choose your moment, but then double check by aligning the secondary map pin and comparing the angles.
 
7) Adjust your horizons
Use the secondary pin to set the elevation at the horizon. TPE will tell you how far you can see on a clear day, plus it will fine tune rise and set times – this can be important for mountain photography. It’s easy for sunrise to occur 10 minutes earlier due to the height above the horizon – don’t miss the magic moment.

8)Use TPE to find the dates when sunset aligns with your favourite city street. Be sure to fine tune the sun position using the details slider so that it’s just above the horizon where you can still shoot it, then check the optimal date for the alignment with your chosen city street.
 
9) Save your locations
Build a list of your favourite places. TPE doesn’t limit you to a preset list of towns and cities. Once you’ve found your shooting location, you can save the exact spot for future reference.
 
10) Carry it with you

TPE for Desktop is a free download for Windows/Mac/Linux, available at http://photoephemeris.com

TPE for iPhone and iPad is available for purchase in the App Store.

Additional tutorials are available at http://photoephemeris.com/support

Life Through A Marble

A very talented youth (Caleb) has created a wonderful set of images, each shot through a glass marble. Calebe let Alice in on his secret

"....To get the landscapes in the marble, I use a Canon XS DSLR camera with a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a 13mm Opteka extension tube. Equipped with the extension tube, the lens enables me to get extremely close to the marble, and to focus on just what is inside the marble. With the focus so close, I am able to get a sharp scene in the marble and the background just becomes a blur of colors...."

 I experimented with my own version and would suggest anyone who wants to give it a try locate some good quality glass marbles or otherwise the image when cropped will show up the impurities. I've decided to purchase a crystal ball for my next effort which should allow for more detail to be evident.

Bokeh Mania - Can it be stopped ?

One of my Flickr contacts drew my attention to the term ' nervous bokeh' evident in the above image, so I researched it and found an informative if not subjective article at Photo.Net. The author, Les Berkley offers -

"..... At first, it was just a harmless bit of silliness, like giclée. Now the Bokian Heresy threatens all of photography as we know it. Clearly, it is time to take a stand.
What is 'bokeh' anyway? No one seems to be quite sure, but it refers to the quality of blurred areas in a photograph. Smooth blur is considered desirable, and is referred to as 'creamy bokeh' (new from Kellog's®). Jagged blur with angular shapes is undesirable to the Bokians, and is called 'bad bokeh' or 'nervous bokeh' or 'nissan bokeh'. No one had heard of 'bokeh' before the mid-90s, although I have seen unsubstantiated accounts of Japanese photographers using the term in the 60s. (Boké is a Japanese work meaning 'blur'.)
What harm is there in this? Well, due to the awesome power of the Internet to instantaneously spread garble to every corner of the world, 'bokeh' is taking over. (2.5 megahits on Google.) It is discussed everywhere, including by me. I will tell you precisely why it is Evil after this......"

To read more, drop by Photo.Net

The Sunny 16 'rule'

When researching sites to discover the best methods for shooting in overcast conditions I came across the 'Sunny 16 rule'. To summarise, it suggests keeping your shutter speed as near as possible to the ISO and adjust the aperture to the amount of sun available. Wikipedia explained it the best for my newbie brain and has a table for analysing conditions.


A photo cheat sheet for analysing light conditions

Apps

1. SLR Photography Guide

So many apps I've downloaded have proven to be less than worthwhile, however the SLR Photography Guide by Tanya Puntti was helpful, interesting, easy to use and is configured to receive updates. Not one for the advanced user, but one to move the beginner beyond the basics

2. Photosmith For iPad - organise, rate, tag and label your photos while you are out on location, then when you are back with your main computer, sync back to Lightroom