Some atmosphere photos from Chania old town lanes and the harbor area from an other perspective
Traveling Crete #10
Category: Traveling Crete
52 Frames: Week 28: Silhouette!!
Photography is drawing with light and this week’s Silhouette challenge firmly shows us that. A silhouette is about bringing together contrasts of a well-lit background against a dark subject, making the subject’s shape and outline as the main point of focus. A silhouette balances what the viewer sees alongside the darker toned facets of the subject that are intentionally kept hidden from the light.
Silhouettes are a great way to tell a story while leaving it up to the imagination of the viewer – there aren’t visible features to express emotion, so your viewer will fill in details depending on the context of the image – use this to direct your viewer’s line of thinking.
This is a lesson in exposure, composition and creativity all coming together. While silhouettes are commonly shot in the day and at golden / blue hours, you can absolutely shoot silhouettes at night too. This will work best when the object being shot is recognizable through their well-defined shape and outline.. Portraits, Still Life, Architecture and Nature typically make for good silhouette genres.
Silhouettes can often convey some kind of mystic story. By leaving the details in the dark, the story becomes compelling and the viewer is more engaged with the picture.
I would have loved to use these shots I took at Crete as they would have suited this challenge perfectly, but no, still I think they are great examples of silhouette! But I will have to come up with something new for the challenge or I could cheat… no, I won’t do that.
TIPS:
- Background Choice: Very often, we blur out the background and pay less attention to it. Here, pay a little extra attention to your choice of background. Make it contrast with the shape of your main subject.
- Narrow Aperture: Shoot with a relatively narrow aperture of f/8 or higher to reduce the amount of light falling on your sensor, getting great Depth Of Field and also reducing chromatic aberrations especially if you’re shooting into the light.
- Metering: We want to “trick” our camera into intentionally under-exposing the subject. So use spot metering or expose for the background.
- Post-processing: Use software wisely – in post processing, it’s generally helpful to boost the contrast in your image, add more saturation, and increase the blacks slightly to improve a silhouette shot.
Traveling Crete #9
Some atmosphere photos from Chania and buildings at the Venetian harbor. The first set I took with my mobile and the other with my camera where I was able to adjust the settings and zoom better and was able to get more moody shots.
Traveling Crete #8
This post is all about the first sunset we saw in Chania at the Venetian harbour, it was so lovely that we later in the week came back for an other one. Well we came for dinner too and shopping, walking in the small alleys in old town. The first set I took with my mobile and the other with my camera where I was able to adjust the settings and zoom better and was able to get more moody shots.
Traveling Crete #7
Our first visit to Chania it is a breathtaking city on the north-west coast of the island of Crete. The city is historically significant In the town of Chania, ancient Greek, Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman buildings coexist in the landscape of the city. We visited the Virgin Mary Metropolitan Church, on our way to the Venetian Harbour, “It is worth walking and watching, and at sunset you can get some really nice shot. Those I will share in the next post.
Traveling Crete #6
Papadiana is a lovely small village located 60 km south of Chania and close to the village of Sougia. With few inhabitants (population 14 as I found out as I googled the area) that deal mostly with agriculture, Papadiana has traditional architecture with stone houses and narrow streets.
It is surrounded by lush greenery and wild mountainsides. Most vegetation comprises of olive groves that give pure virgin oil, for which Crete is famous.
We drove through this small village and noticed a sign on the side of the road, Old mill, we took the turn and found this idyllic place at the end of this gravel road. When we saw the mill it it had a 1860 A.C. sign on it.,
Traveling Crete #5
Although Crete isn’t the homeland of oranges and lemons, citrus fruits play a huge role in the Cretan diet. If I saw many olive trees I did see some orange and lemon trees as well. Ancient Greeks used to believe that the Earth goddess, Gaia, gave citrus fruits as a gift to Zeus and Hera on their wedding.
The special microclimate in the area of Chania, as well as the abundant water available from the Cretan White Mountains, contribute to the growth of juicy oranges. I heard said that…
“In fact, these oranges are among the most delicious in the world.”
Traveling Crete #4
The small village of Sougia in the south-west of Crete has managed to remain unaffected by the growth of tourism in Crete. It is still a peaceful haven, with a long beach, we stopped there for a while and had lunch at a one of the beach side taverns.
In front of the village lies a lovely quiet long beach with coarse sand and crystal clear deep water. The beach starts from the small harbor of Sougia (west) at exit of Lissos Gorge and stretches to the east for 1.5km. This part of the long beach is not organized. Instead, the beach in front of the village offers umbrellas, showers, sports and a lifeguard tower. Along the beach there are plenty of tamarisk trees where you can find shade.
Moussaka was the dish I tasted here, and it was very good. I tasted it in an other place later and I have to say this was so much tastier.
Recipe for Moussaka: Components 3-4 aubergines 3 potatoes (optional) 0.7 kg of ground lamb or beef 1-2 onions around a glass of red wine 400 g tomatoes from cans or 5 larger grated fresh tomatoes olive oil Spices: ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of oregano ½ teaspoon of ground cloves, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar (or mix for moussaka) Bechamel sauce: 600 milk 85 g flour 85 g butter salt pepper, 25 g of grated hard cheese (eg Greek kefalotiri or Italian equivalent) 1 egg
This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.
52 Frames: Week 24: Shoot From Above!
Time to look at things from a new perspective – this week, we’re going to Shoot From Above. Most images are taken at eye level or with the camera parallel to the horizon. With a high angle shot, we’re trying to get photos from an unusual angle, taken from above the subject and looking down towards what you’re shooting. Why ? Well, the short and sweet answer is – you get some cool shots this way.
I submitted the one of the table, but I wanted to post some of the droplets I captured this morning, yes, I shot them from above, but you cannot tell that from the photos. So I did not use them. I am going to do an other post just with them, but here are some of my choices of including some flowers also, naturally 🙂 My entry was not the most unusual, or original, but due to not being able to venture outside my yard due to summer flu my choices are rather limited.
You can shoot some cool portraiture by getting up higher than your subject. Food and product shots are also well-suited to being shot from above (just pay attention to your lighting and shadows). Oh, and let’s not forget flat-lays – you can go minimalistic or mega creative with your ideas here.
And of course, the evergreen favorite: landscape shots – whether natural or urban. Just position yourself somewhere high (and safe) and shoot scenes of what’s happening below -. Go a bit abstract and look down the mirrored facade of an office building.
- Depth Of Field: Your DoF will help a lot here – do yo want to isolate your subject?; Go for a wider aperture like f/1.8 +. Want lots of detail in focus for that cityscape? Maybe f/8 or f/16 would be more suitable.
- Composition: Look for lines and objects around that help create a strong composition, especially if your subject is isolated and at a distance.
- Go High: If you can’t get to a height, try and make your camera do so – hold it up higher above your head and if you’re lucky to have a flip-out screen, that’s exactly the scenario that it’s there for! You could also mount your camera on a monopod, set a timer and hoist it up high to get a cool shot.
- Selfie Stick: It was all the rage a few years ago, and the humble selfie stick can easily help out in this challenge.
Traveling Crete #3
Common trees in Crete are the tamarisk , oak-, chestnut-, pine-, cypress– and the evergreen plane tree (Platanus ). It is quite often found in the village squares, offering its shade to people. A huge plane tree, or platanos in Greek, can be seen at Topolia village in west Crete “Monument of Nature” after a day on the road we did not go to see it but we did stop in the village. I will post some photos of it later.
It is believed that 55 to 65 percent of the cultivated land on Crete is given over to olive groves, which contain approximately 30 million trees, so that the groves cover one-fifth to one-quarter of the island. And I felt it, I am surprisingly allergic to the bloom of Olive trees and at the end of May early June there was still some in bloom.
This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.
Traveling Crete #2
On the mountain roads we on more than one occasion ran into these goats with bells on their necks letting us know they were there. So this post is dedicated to the goats we saw 🙂
Shepherding is one of the oldest proffesion in Crete. Bells for sheep and goats were used all over Greece and Crete of course.
The bells were the pride of the shepherd and they were used to monitor the sheeps and goats. The quality of each bell as well as their combination was very important so that the flock will sound harmonious.
The Cretan bells are hammered bells with thin sheet metal and consequently have a low weight. In addition, they are plated with bronze and bronze which protects them from seawater.
The sounds of sheep-bells allow sheperds to know whether an animal is grazing, drinking water, or trying to get away from something or even to locate animals that have been lost.
All traditional hand-made sheep bells sound different. These goats below we saw at Anatolikos Selinos.
This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.
Traveling Crete #1
After our trip as well as having back up issues, which are now solved, I got a summer flu. Not happy about it, it certainly has me tired.
I still am now aiming to get some pictures published. I will try to cover as much as I can, in the end I did not take all that many photos as I would usually take, but still I was able to capture some beautiful places and things. The flowers bloomed as it was early summer, the hills and trees were still green. I had not many expectations beforehand so I was nicely surprised of what this island had to offer.
The first picture above is from Mousoura area, at least that is what came as the location in my mobile photos, I took shot with my camera and also with the mobile so I would have the locations to remember. The village in these photos, if I remember correctly, is mountain village Lakkoi surrounded by the beautiful mountains of that area
This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.
52 Frames: Week 23: Triangular!
Three’s company or a crowd… 🤷🏻♀️ – but in photography, we can use 3 “lines” to make a Triangular Composition – three lines in an image to create either an “actual” triangle shape, like a harsh shadow on the street, or hands raised above ones head, or a “perceived” triangle shape like posing a group of people in your frame, or cutting your frame in half with some diagonal shape (your subject’s limbs placed diagonally in your frame can make great perceived triangles in your frame’s composition). Other ways perceived triangles can be utilized in your composition could include the way a lamp casts light onto your subject, or a leading line taking you into the frame.
This challenge is NOT a request to find a triangle toy, or a triangular OBJECT and take a photo of it. This is a compositional challenge, as its name implies: Triangular COMPOSITION. Just like for the Rule of Thirds challenge, for example, wasn’t a request to go out and find tic-tac-toe boards!
Triangular composition is one of those “guidelines” in photography composition, that can enhance interest in your frame, if or when you can incorporate it. The purpose of this challenge is to first train yourself to SEE it. Once you understand where triangles take form in composition, you can then craft your own frame utilizing one of these techniques.
you can achieve triangular composition in many ways: by placing your subject’s hand on their ear, by catching the harsh mid-day shadow on a street, by capturing a long, straight road, that disappears in the distance.
This challenge is not (necessarily) referring to the “golden triangle”, the focus is more on these scenarios where you can identify regular ol’ triangles in your composition.
Be creative : let’s not be obtuse 
in looking for the right 📐angle. We’re all equilaterally🔺capable of acutely 🚩 good photos.
Traveling Crete
I am back from my short vacation in Crete. I have some issues with ma back-up storage. So I have not been able save or even go through all my photos. I was rather good, I only pressed the shutter 701 times during the trip on my camera and some on my mobile 🙂
The week went by fast, we rented a car for three days so we got to see more than the beaches and tourist areas. I am going to post here one shot that I really like. It was on top of a hill in corner of the road leading up to the mountains.
This is going to be the first of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.
52 Frames: Week 22: Everything In Focus!
We’ve all seen wonderful images where a particular subject is in focus and the rest of the image is soft, so our eyes are drawn to the main element. This week, we want to see Everything In Focus. This is where your choices of subject, composition, lens selection and depth of field all come together to give us sharp images front to back.
Took this in Crete, it is from the entry to the Samariá Gorge. The gorge is situated in the National park of Samaria, in the White Mountains in West Crete. This majestuous gorge is considered one of the great attractions of Crete. It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains (Lefká Óri) and Mt. Volakias.
I took some with f/22, but as I did not have a tripod, the are a bit shaky. I think this is a sweet spot for these shot f/14
- Stability: Use a tripod or some sort of support to eliminate any chance of camera shake.
- Shutter Speed: A high enough shutter speed to freeze any motion in your shot will get rid of blurs caused by movement.
- Depth Of Field: Focusing to infinity at the highest aperture (f/22) isn’t always the best choice. Picks an aperture that’s at the sweet spot of your lens – usually a few stops below the max.
- Focus Point: Try focusing at different points – one third of the way in or half the way in and see which gives better results.
- Focus Mode: Single will usually be a better choice than continuous. Also, consider using manual focus to get sharp images.
- Live View: Use live view and zoom in to your focus point to see if it’s sharp enough and lock in your focus.
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography 