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52 Frames: Week 18: Flat Lay !

Time for a genre that’s rather popular on social media in recent times – Flat Lay photography has simple rules – take a shot of items or objects laid out on a flat surface from immediately above. Basically, a bird’s-eye view of a set of objects that make up a cohesive whole.

I thought that I would share a little bit about myself for those who are new to my blog. I have painted with different mediums since I was a teenager, and still continue with various art hobbies. Acrylic- and oil painting, pastels drawings, oil inks, aquarelles etc. I also do sculpture. As I am not a great cook, or my art is not setting the table beautiful. I took out some of my brushes and color tubes. I even tried do a self portrait, but I did it with an old photo of me.

Think of it like setting up a mood board or if you’re into food photography, setting up a dinner table with dishes, accessories and food. You could show off things that speak to you in your hobby – like a set of gardening tools or knitting yarn and needles. How about a top-down view of your desk – are you a neat freak or a proponent of organized chaos? Go for understated minimalism or bold maximalism – the choice is yours.

Perhaps you could include a bit of portraiture by putting yourself in the shot along with some outfits and hats that you adore and take a self-portrait. Take things a step further with knolling – laying everything out at perpendicular, straight angles to each other. Don’t be restricted to indoor shots either. You can grab some cool shots with organic, natural ground as your flat-lay background.

52 Frames: Week 17: Leading Lines!

Still life

Time for a compositional challenge, this week – it’s Leading Lines.

I was walking in a flea market and came across this old calculator covered with dust, but as I was not able to clean it, it shows old dust, dirt, but he lines leading to the name are clearly to be seen. I took it as a black and white as an a period piece I thought it would be appropriate and well the dirt is less visible this way.

The other choice was an old typewriter, but as you can guess I chose to post the calculator, did I make a right choice?

Leading lines are lines that guide the viewer from the edge of your frame towards your subject, usually coming from a corner (s).

Look for things in your scene that effortlessly takes your viewer’s eye straight to your intended subject. We’re trying to direct the viewer to a part of our image that is most important in the composition. Think staircase railings, paths and roads in a landscape, bridges and jetties leading off into the distance all make for excellent ways to incorporate leading lines in your shot.

Feel free to think out of the box… Remember leading lines don’t need to be straight. Curving streams, rice paddies and long-exposure car taillight streaks can all look very cool in a shot. Patterns and textures can also form leading lines to take your viewer straight to the action. Just be alive to your surroundings and you’re sure to see leading lines for your next epic shot!

52 Frames: Week 16: Lamp!

Still life

While we like to focus on the lighting used in photos, we want to include a lamp this week! That means including a lamp IN your photo, not just the suggestion through lighting.

This simple little device has so many forms – Perhaps you could share a story of your own little reading nook where you enjoy some solitude or showcase a scene where the lamp is the hero of the image.

I had an idea, but in the end I was too lazy to do it. I have done nothing this week, well related to photography that is, I did manage to do this.

I took an easy route, I took a photo of one of the lamps in my entrance, did not even dust of the lamp before the shot, well it does a tell a story of the owner for one. To be honest, I think it has a story in it, a story of a girl sitting and reading under a lamp. That is why my art statue, is placed there and I am rather happy with this one.

Some of the suggestions to guide me were: Maybe you could do your own take on some classic art with chiaroscuro lighting. You could even try to use wabi-sabi concepts to bring out the beauty of a much used object, go for a low-key style with lots of shadow in the shot, or take an HDR shot with multiple exposures to illuminate your composition thoroughly. Don’t just take a snapshot, take a photograph that tells a story.

Was mine just a snapshot?

52 Frames: Week 15: Extreme Closeup!

Flowers, Nature

this week I have been taking close-up shots. Time to get up close and personal with an Extreme Closeup. If you are thinking this is the MACRO challenge, it is NOT. If you go to the dictionary, you’ll find a closeup is 1. a photograph, movie, or video taken at close range and showing the subject on a large scale. “a closeup of her face” or 2. an intimate and detailed description or study.

I did the winter worn hydrangea again, as the date on the picture has to be same as the weeks challenge. I took shots of the dry flower I had in in bouquet I had couple weeks back. I also have shots of my cat Tinka, but I have to look them thought and edit.

What can you tell your viewer by pushing in close?
What do you want to bring attention to?
Try to find an interesting detail or feature – heck, the most mundane of objects can have something striking if you look closely enough. That’s what this challenge is all about – take a moment to look closer and see those details that are often overlooked.

so simply put, move in and fill your frame with your subject. The idea is to get right into a subject, and have that subject fill the entire frame. You can zoom in with any lens you have, and your feet also make an excellent zoom feature, just walk close to your subject!

PS. This week like last has been hoping and praying that the snow would melt, but it is happening so SLOW!!!! The southern facing slops are free of snow, but our backyard, come on this has 0-40 cm snow. So not much to spot of the spring wonders that delights me every year…