October close-up – fallen leaves of lilac

October colors on lilac leaves. Looks like nature placed hearts on the grass to get my attention.

the leaves of lilac

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. 

Edited version of the same photo of fallen lilac leaves

52 Frames: Week 41:  Shoot Through Something!

Shooting Through Something – basically have something between your lens and your subject that “interferes” with the viewer’s view of your subject. It could be something as simple as leaves in front of your lens. Or if you wanted a more dramatic effect, you could use a piece of glass like a lens ball, a prism, a magnifying glass, etc.

I went out to to capture nature, carrying two camera’s, nearly broke the other by dropping it on the ground, if I’d succeeded it would have been my third camera I dropped and broke. I went out with the intention of trying to shoot behind the trees and leaves, I also did that. I brought some plastic wrap with me to use as a prop. I took this shot placing it on the lens, shooting towards the sun so the flare came nicely on the shot and also gave the shot a misty quality. The autumn colors play a big part in this image of an inlet in Kirkkonummi.

Through cling film

A thin plastic bag or kitchen plastic film (cling film / Saran wrap) over your lens can produce some very creative looking effects too, but you really don’t NEED any special props this week. The idea is that if something is very close to your lens, and your focus is further away, you will create a dreamy, shoot-through effect. This is of course more exaggerated with a shallow depth of fields (wide aperture, smaller f/ number). Go ahead and experiment and have fun! 

You could do portraits or street photography by shooting through a window with some reflections showing up, or go the creative route and use vaseline on an old lens filter

The idea is that your foreground, even if it’s blurry, becomes part of your story. So, let’s get creative in a new way.

autumn colors through cling film

Grandchild through beer glass

TIPS:

  • Refraction: There are tons of ways to use glass to bend and shape light – a wineglass, a magnifying glass, a prism, a lens ball, shooting through a colored pane of glass etc.
  • Use Nets: A net or thin grid can add some creative effects. If you’re too close, of course, you might not see the effect, so distance yourself appropriately.
  • Use Plastic: Kitchen film wrap can be used creatively – you can draw on the film to make creative colors and interference patterns without ever harming your lens. How about that empty plastic bottle of water you were about to toss away? That can work too.
Through cling film
fallen leaves under water
wet misty window and sunrise

52 Frames: Week 40:  Rule Of Odds!

 Rule Of Odds. Simply put, there’s a school of thought that multiple subjects in a shot are more pleasing if there are an odd number of them, as opposed to even. Think 3, 5, 7, etc.. The number “one” is technically odd, but I don’t think that’s what this “rule” is referring to.

Often an odd number of subjects creates symmetry in your shot – use an odd number of things for the viewer to focus on without making it too cluttered. If you have people subjects, go for 3 or 5; maybe food photography is your thing and you want us to check out some tacos you’ve just made. Or if you’re out and about – maybe you spot 3 birds sitting on a wire. Oh look, it’s five canoes moored together at the lake – all it takes is for you be to a touch more aware of what you see and try and train your mind to compose in odds.

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Remember not to over-crowd the image with too many elements. The average human brain has a better chance of feeling attracted to arrangements of 3 or 5 elements, but as you increase that number, this rule will be less relevant.

Still life

TIPS:

  • Movement: Add dynamism and a feeling of movement by composing shots with good space on the correct side, usually more space in the direction of the movement.
  • Cropping: Consider using cropping in your editing software to improve the composition. When done correctly, it can improve things immensely.
  • Positioning: Try to align vertical elements such as buildings, people walking on the street or a solitary tree along a gridline to generate more visual interest.
  • Less Is More: 3 to 5 objects of interest in a scene usually work best. Avoid making your image cluttered.
  • DoF: Use an appropriate Depth Of Field to ensure good sharpness across all your subjects.

Three generations

Beautiful in Black and White 7

Trees I’ve also linked this to CBWC, I had to do this again as I somehow deleted it and totally made a mess.

Bahia Honda Bridge and a tree trunk
Clouds and tree trunks

Inlet in Porkkala

Autumn tones at the Inlet in Porkkala
The colors continue to amaze me- autumn
zoomin in into the inlet

View from the rocks 2

Fall, Autumn, ruska, all words that are presented in this shot in my humble opinion. Porkkala, views there are so delightful.

Porkkala- Kirkkonummi -Finland

October close-up – Pink rose

Once again, Rose, in its glory.

Whilte blossoms

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. 

View from the rocks

Yesterday was a lovely and sunny day between gray days. I took myself out to take some photos. I drove to Porkkala, and park area near us. The nature an scenery there is so delightful that I go there several times yearly.

Porkkalanniemi

October close-up – Delicate flowers

A unknown flower to me, but it is, a beautiful and delicate. I’ve so many flower photos, that I have not shared. These are taken from my trop to Sri Lanka.

Whilte blossoms

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. 

Three ways to look at this path

Since I do post editing on my art, and my photos, I also do several variations of them, so this is great challenge for me to participate in LAPC #220 One Subject Three Ways. These are very similar, but slightly different –by zooming in on the details or stepping back for a wider view. Sorry, there is four images and a header. 🙂

End of the path

Summer season ended, we closed our summer house for winter on this beautiful October day. The autumn colors are so lovely.

Lower view of the path
and lower you go still keep the focus in the front
Place the focus to the end of the path, and you get a different mood.

Magic mushroom

Magic mushroom

I have no idea as what magic mashroom this is, but it looks like Psilocybe mexicana a psychedelic mushroom. Its first known usage was by the natives of North and Central America over 2,000 years ago.

We did not pick them up, they ended up being cut down by the lawnmower.

I just took photos necaused they looked great, like from a story book.

More Magic mushrooms
Magic mushroom growing in my yard

October close-up – Pink flowers

Rose, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. As is hydrangea, both in pink tones

Pink Rose

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.  This time I am just posting shots of roses.

I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some roses this time.

Pink pastels
from the side
fuchsia

Three versions of three onions

Since I do post editing on my art, and my photos, I also do several variations of them, so this is great challenge for me to participate in One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge-October. I used a photo of onions to play the edit game with. #tsc_1to3

Three onions in a color edit done in Lightroom
Onion in black and white – in old BNW style.
Colorful artistic style oil and structure added in Photoshop

October close-up – Carnations

I always ,first pick out a photo when I start write a blog post , I decide what I want to share, and then maybe write few words to accompany it and come up with a title. I keep repeating the title as I am bad as coming up with them.

I mean, flower is a flower and beautiful in its own right. And I want to believe, that so are most of my photos that I choose to share. They should speak for themselves. Not that they always do, but I can make believe ☺

Pink Carnation

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.  This time I don’t have violets, but some of the carnations have violet color.

carnations looks lovely even as black and white image

I love to have fresh flowers at home, I picked some small carnations this time, because they stay looking good for a long time. I take photos of them to pass time and in the process get few nice shots. Edit them see what I can create from them.

white and violet
from the side

October close-up – Tulip

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the T letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Tulips. The stylish and graceful Tulip is always elegant. it Is a delight.

Yellow tulip
Pink Yulip
ulip bud

52 Frames: Week 39: Letters!

It’s all about your creativity and what you come across. You could shoot some cool looking signs in your neighborhood or capture the emotion of someone reading a heartfelt greeting card.

This week’s challenge is more about getting the feel of the story than anything else – like the sheer happiness of reading a college admission acceptance letter or contemplating wabi-sabi in an abandoned carnival sign.

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Capturing emotion in an old-school task of penning one’s thoughts to paper is about patience and composure – your own as well as that of your subject.  So, just breathe and take a think about what it is you want your viewer to see through not just your eyes but also your subject’s.

Getting typography shots isn’t something you might have thought of shooting earlier , but here’s your chance to try something new. Look out for cool and funky letters and fonts that are worth a dekko – you never know what you’ll find unless you start looking.

Visiting the circus In Helsinki
  • DoF: Depth of field can play a role here to show just a single line or word while blurring out the rest. Or to ensure that you’re in focus, front to back.
  • Contrast: Consider playing around with local contrast to give that extra boost to individual letters.
  • Cropping: If you want to showcase shapes that look like letters, cropping down is essential to eliminate other clutter.
  • White Balance: Modifying white balance can alter the tone of your shot. Use warmth, cooling and tints to give mood and depth to your image.

Here are some letter I’ve picked either this week, some from further back. My Signature is letters?? so I added it here. This weeks fresh letters are from the circus and I decided to go with the one with the first shot. I would have loved to use some of the older ones, but that would be cheating. So

October’s colors

October colors

Autumn iis about letting go of summer and preparing for winter. Greens give way to dead stems and yellow drooping leaves. Darkness slowly takes over the time of light, but how beautiful it can be at the beginning of autumn🍂

yellows ang orange, in a misty setting
Looks so pretty!

on the road

What clouds, I loved the contrast of the dark clouds against the autumn color by the road as we drove in to the rain and finally to the otherside of it towards the raindow.

Autumn as seen from the highway

Beautiful in Black and White 7

The circus in black and white photos has it’s own kind of mood.

Horses at the circus
Globe of Death
Aerial Hoop
Outside the kids looked at this Martine van from Holland

Sirkus Finlandia

We went to see a traditional circus and I tried to take pictures of the acts, but they did not come out so well, here are some. I am amazed of the skills these circus people have. There were lots of kids in the audience obviously, their joy was so delightful.

The show started with the horses, then the MARIONETTE’S DREAM had some great Skipping Rope act,there was also a MYSTERY OF GENTLEMEN, Acrobatics group, so skilled and ended with DIORIOS, five motorbikes riding in the round metal cage, Globe of Death. These performances impressed me the most.

Roud and round they go

September close-up – Blue Poppy 

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the P letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Poppy. The enchanting Blue Poppy  blooms late spring and early summer. Such a rich true blue flower is a rare garden treasure.

Blue poppy
Blue poppy 2
Blue poppy 3

September close-up – Orchid

Orchid with droplets

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the O letter is also is attached to it 🙂 Orchid

the colors are bright and elegant

September close-up – Nymphea -water lilies

white water lily

Since I am sharing close-ups , I’ve decided also to participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge. This time the N letter is also is attached to it 🙂 nymphea

water lillie
the colors are bright and warm

52 Frames: Week 38:  One Light Source!

This week it’s One Light Source. I’m talking directional light – your subject ought to be lit by light coming from a single source – think speedlight or a shaft of sunlight coming through half drawn curtains. It’s the light source and direction that you need to think of first, before you set up your subject and decide on a composition.

This challenge is all about reminding ourselves of what it takes to paint with light – directional light need not be a harsh burst to produce sharp shadows. You can arrange for soft light to come through for a more pleasing look as well.

Look to place light at angles you’d normally not think of – a full side profile or light streaming down from a bare bulb on the ceiling, maybe a night shot illuminated by a neon sign or the perennial favourite of Silhouette Photography – it’s time to be creative and play with the light.

This was my entry

Well, this is what happens every night. My husband reads the latest news before going to sleep. Once again, I had lots of ideas, but ended up taking the easy way out. I was thinking of what to shoot and there it was laying next to me, mobile phone as a light source, so I took my phone and took a shot of a situation I see daily. How more real can you get, a documentary shot. Thanks babe, once again for being a good sport.

I also took a shot with my grandson holding a candle, and match being scratched

  • Set-up: Plan your lighting and concept before thinking about the actual composition.
  • Time Of Day: If you’re planning on shooting using daylight/sunlight as your source, experiment with how the light and shadows will play out at different times.
  • Modifiers: Reflectors, blockers and light modifiers are going to be key here to help shape the light.
  • Exposure Compensation: Consider using Exposure Compensation to expose the image as you think fit and not as your camera’s AI / sensor does.
warmth of a match

Beautiful in Black and White 6

Beautiful seaside views from Inkoo. I’ve also linked this to CBWC

Seen from behind the tree
On a hill