Color – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

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.

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.

52 Frames: Week 37: Portrait Of A Stranger!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland

Portrait Of A Stranger.

Well, there’s more to it than meets the eye, of course – your location, time of day, and the willingness of a stranger to be kind enough to take some time out of their life to help you (a stranger yourself to them). But there’s magic in a camera – some people just open up when they know they’re the focus of a well-crafted photograph.

There’s creative and technical hurdles here too – one of the more important ones being time – you’ll have far less time to compose and take your photo(s) than you would if you had pre-arranged a shoot. You could grab a candid shot or something more glamorous; go low-key to get a moody and intense look. It’s portraiture after all and the images you can get are as varied as there are humans on the planet.

You’re about to experience a shared moment with someone you’ve never met before.

Please don’t shoot from the hip. Talk to a person. If your palms get sweaty just thinking about it, like me, then go with an easier subject, like your local coffee barista, mailperson, or waiter.

Don’t over think this one, other people are just you in a different rental.

Visiting a nice Italian restaurant in Lahti, I asked our pretty waiter if I could take her photo. She kindly agreed. Haven’t been out much this week as it’sbeen rather rainy, so the chances of taking photos once again happened nearly at the last day. I thought of cropping it to a more portrait, but as it was an at during her work time ,capturing a moment photo, in her busy shift, I wanted it to show the place and to highlight what her job was ,to give context to the shot. Iussed thhe last photo in this post.

TIPS:

Be Friendly: A warm welcoming smile can work wonders
Be Patient: People might be busy or not trusting a stranger. That’s ok. Respect their space and choice and look for someone else.
Be Prepared: Keep your camera ready with appropriate settings. Scour out cool backgrounds or locations near by.
Be Mindful: Do not shoot someone without appropriate permission especially children. Be respectful of people, places and occasions where it might be considered impolite or discourteous to be shooting – like funerals or religious places.

52 Frames: Week 36: Golden Hour!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland

Warmth, Tranquility, Contentment… just a few things I tend to feel when I’m watching a low Sun 🌅. I hope you do too, this week during Golden Hour – soft, golden light that happens twice each day. Golden Hour, or “Magic Hour”, is usually considered to be the first “hour” after sunrise and the last “hour” before sunset.

Golden Hour is when light is diffused and soft and the shadows are long and less harsh than during the day.. Golden Hour offers pretty directional light, so your composition needs to account for the angle and direction of the sun. You could use light flares as a creative choice and shoot into the light or use the shadows to add more depth and dimension to your scene.

Remember, the length of golden hour will vary with where you are on the planet and the time of year.

I seem to leave this always to the last moment. Golden hour, Saturday evening I had an epiphany, I have not taken this shot. Sunset. where I live , was at 8PM, I left the house at 7:30 seaching for a place where I could capture the golden hour. I did not head west, as I was not trying to capture sunset. East that is the direction I drove to. I had half an hour to get the shot. These are some that I considered for the challenge.

TIPS:

Stability: Use a tripod for longer exposures – you would need a stable platform for the camera to avoid shake
Get creative: Consider using the lighting in a variety of ways – as fill light or as rim lighting to highlight a subject. (the sun BEHIND the subject)
Plan ahead: Be mindful of the time – good light can disappear just as quickly as it can reveal a new facet of the scene.
Color Tone: White balance is quite important – whether you’re shooting RAW and then post-processing or editing JPGs straight from your camera.

52 Frames: Week 35: Edited By Someone Else!

52 Frames, People

This week we want you to release your artistic expression by having your image Edited By Someone Else. The point of this challenge is to gain insight into the creative process of another person and see how their interpretation would perhaps differ from your own.

Seeing different creative strokes can not only help to broaden our own understanding of other styles, but also help us to grow on our photo journey. I want to thank Pirjo Tuominen as she kindly edited my photo for this weeks challenge.

Below you can se the original and the three different edits, I am sure you are able to pick the original easily that has no edits at all 🙂 I did not take time taking this mobile phone shot, I had my phone in the position that I have while i read something on it and I took the picture. I didn’t have other makeup than I had done my eyes 🙂 Now that I look at it, a foundation would have made a difference to the skin.

52 Frames: Week 34: Peace!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland, Landscapes

Through the hustle and bustle or the humdrum everyday lives we lead and see around us, we come across small moments in time that make us stop, take a deep breath and slow down. We’d like to see you capture a moment of Peace ☮ this week.

Have a little think about any places or scenes that calm you down or center you – a tranquil lake setting, a walk through a wooded path with a close one or something close to home like your grandpa taking his afternoon siesta. It’s all about the image evoking a feeling of serenity, calm and tranquility.

August Sunset at the countryside, this was my choice this week

The idea doesn’t necessarily need to be minimalistic , all that matters is whether the viewer understands the point of view and story your photo ought to be showing. The lighting and overall color tone of the scene will be important too, so please spare a thought for those aspects too.

There are tons of places, people and scenes that can convey this purest of emotions; so as we usually say, take a few deep breaths, center yourself and take your shot.

I have been at my summer house. One word, that can be said about the place is that it is peaceful. Hardly any neighbors, no traffic sounds. Silence, if you do not take to account the natures sounds. I took shot of this tail of the sunset ( aiming the camera towards northwest) the colors towards west were so vibrant, even if the moment was peaceful the colors would not convey that. So I turned towards the more muted tones. I had several ideas for this week, but did not get anything done towards making them become reality, planning is not enough. I hope this shot still shows peace.

The shots below show the vibrancy of the sunset and even if it was peaceful the colors do somehow tell the story, or what so you think? The blues in the last shot say it better, no ?

52 Frames: Week 33: Water!

52 Frames, Landscapes, Still life

Water – just like us humans, comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and even colors. It’s universal and something that is absolutely essential to life on this planet. We hope you’re inspired enough to make the most of the topic.

If you have follwes me for a long time, you should know I love the sea, lakes and all water views, I take lots of photos of photos of them. I have also come into a habit of taking shots of water bottles in restaurants and cafes

You could, of course, go with a classic landscape / seascape bringing a sense of majesty to your image or perhaps go with a more down-to-earth shot of kids having a pool party

Maybe a shot showing off your technical chops with water droplet macro photography is more your style. Why not showcase the immense power of water crashing against a shoreline or go entirely the other way and take a serene shot of tranquil and still waters in a long-exposure image?

Don’t feel restricted by needing an external location either – you can get epic water shots inside your home too. Try getting a creative still life shot by using water as a prism. Or use it to enhance a portrait or with food photography.

The possibilities are boundless. 💦

ISO: There’s a lack of light – so remember to adjust your ISO settings appropriately, the higher you go, the more digital noise you will encounter.

Long Exposure: To compensate for the lack of light, long exposures work well for getting sharp images of static subjects like cityscapes and smoothening water ripples. Anything under 1/125 you want to rest your camera on a hard surface or tripod.

Light Shaping: Use lights to shape the exposure – you can isolate your subjects more easily since the background will most likely be darker due to the absence of ambient daylight.

Shoot Manual Mode: Consider shooting in Manual mode to correctly adjust parameters to get your desired exposures.

White Balance: Artificial light in urban areas can add different color casts to your image. See if adjusting the white balance can add more depth to your image.

52 Frames: Week 32: Night Photography!

52 Frames, Landscapes

it’s Night Photography this week.

This was last weeks challenge, but here I am posting about it now. I have several night shots that I like, but not being able to use them. And as I was visiting relatives at this time I was not able to go and take photos during night time. On our drive home I took this shot of the moon, think about it from a moving car, not too bad, slightly painternly look it has, but all and all, I am rather happy with it.

Somewhere in Southern Finland on the road home, this moon lit the way for us

The thing about not having that sun around, is that everything is darker! In order to get more light to your sensor, you’ll want to slap that camera onto a tripod. or rest it on a flat surface, and set your shutter speeds to lower settings, like multiple seconds, and the night scenes in front of you will come alive!

Taking shots, illumination of neon signs or street lights lend a completely different look and feel to the very same location than if it were shot in daylight.

Ever taken portraits at night of a subject lit by a storefront window? Not all night shots need to be taken outside the house – some very creative shots can be taken inside too. Have a think on that!

Get creative with light painting or try and capture the moon- night time is just magical for photography.

If you live in a part of the world where the 🌞 is still up when most other places are much darker, that’s cool too.

TIPS:

ISO: There’s a lack of light – so remember to adjust your ISO settings appropriately, the higher you go, the more digital noise you will encounter.
Long Exposure: To compensate for the lack of light, long exposures work well for getting sharp images of static subjects like cityscapes and smoothening water ripples. Anything under 1/125 you want to rest your camera on a hard surface or tripod.
Light Shaping: Use lights to shape the exposure – you can isolate your subjects more easily since the background will most likely be darker due to the absence of ambient daylight.
Shoot Manual Mode: Consider shooting in Manual mode to correctly adjust parameters to get your desired exposures.
White Balance: Artificial light in urban areas can add different color casts to your image. See if adjusting the white balance can add more depth to your image.

52 Frames: Week 31: Choose Color!

52 Frames, Landscapes, Still life

Look around and we’ll see something we take for granted – color. Our wonderful world is filled with it, so this week we’re asking you to Choose A Color. Make that color the theme and inspiration behind your image. Colors evoke moods and feelings – how you choose to compose and use them is what will guide the viewer through the image.

Choosing to focus on a single color in particular is both creative and good use of light, contrast and saturation is what can make or break an image. Pick a color and make it the dominant and outstanding and leave no doubt about which color you wanted to make the main point of your shot.

I am having huge problems with my computer, so much that I need to buy a new one, so these are old shots that I have here already used in my previous posts over the years. I am not able to access my computer files, or additional hard drives to add photos or load new ones from the camera disk. I am able to access the internet for now, so I am using these here this week.

Think landscapes of rolling green hills, or food shots of red chilli peppers or the all encompassing golden color at sunset – there’s a noticeable dominant color there and that’s what we’re looking for.

Composition: Compose your shot so there’s no doubt as to which color you’re trying to use. Think about any emotions or moods your photo can evoke and bring that to the forefront. You could use a lot of negative space to direct interest to your subject or go in full-tilt and fill the frame
Lighting: Lighting and shadows add depth to an image and can change an image dramatically. An underlit and underexposed image brings to mind a different mood than a bright, well-lit one.
White Balance: . Using and adjusting white balance while taking your photos will be valuable
Contrast: If there are multiple colors and shades in your image, ensure that there’s one that’s visibly up front and recognizable – it contrasts and stands out from the other shades and tone of the image.
Post-processing: Feel free to go nuts with post-processing and editing to render some cool color effects. But remember, less is more.

Kollaasi 225 (13/2020)

Photo Collage

It’s time to change a theme and for now shades of colors will be found in spices. The first spice color is nutmeg.

Carnations in glasses

Black and White photos, Nature, Photography, Still life

Bartenders

Black and White photos, Cities, Interiors, People, Photography

Art Deco south Miami Beach. night-38

Which one works better…

Miami South Beach- neon lights-bar (1 of 1)

One Word Photo Challenge – Mahogany!

Photography

more Mahogany by pressing the logo

One Word Photo Challenge: Maroon

Flowers, Photography

Maroon, so hard to find even if an elegant color. Then I looked out my window – this plant has maroon leaves
All photos can be enlarged by a click 🙂

Puzzle

Flowers, Photo Collage, Photography

SYKSYN EXTRAHAASTE: PALAPELI

Ota 3-6 kuvaa yhdestä tai useammasta samojen värisävyjen kohteesta ja tee niistä lisäksi yhtenäinen kollaasi. jotka rakennat sitten kollaasissa “palapeliksi”(ei tarvitse olla palapelin muotoisia). Tyyli ja värit vapaat