I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.
Light continues tobe the theme, as it is the thing that uplifts me the most at the moment. I posted yesterday shots of advancing sping yesterday. Today it is raining, slush and snow. Well they do say, new snow is the death of old snow this time of the year. Today I converted few into monochrome images.
“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.” ~ Gregory Maguire
Reflections on water
“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Shadow play on ice
“There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.”
Ice and water
Compare to edit, color versus black and white version. But I also with the shadows…
I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.
Clouds work well in B&W as do distinct shapes. I took these when visiting Queensland few years back
Bearded Dragon sign – Bearded Dragon Hotel Tamborine in QLD
Wind wheel sign in Queensland
The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson
I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.
Sunset in B&W is it’s own thing to capture once again it comes to the light, lowlight in this case. How it enhances the shapes and creates shadows.
Sunset in Naples Pier. Unfortunately it was destroyed in Hurricane Ian, but I have a memory.
Naples Pier, Florida
Sunset in Miami
The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson
I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.
“Available light is any damn light that is available!” ~ W. Eugene Smith
Above is so importat during these gray November days.
Older trees have so much character
Mist in the forest in autumn
The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson
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.
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 settingLooks so pretty!
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.
warmth of the golden hour
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.
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.
warmth of the golden hour
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.
The summer weather can be unpredictable, we are now under low pressure and have had sunshine and rain showers. We have spent this week at the country side. So my photos are this time naturally from here.
Field new our summer house Clouds over the fields View from the sauna patio 104 year old log sauna
As I pointed out in my previous post, it is time to pick up my camera and take it out. I did. Here are some of the captures from the first outing, still need to get in the the groove. I will try to find new ways to capture same wonders that I have photographed every spring, because the same things delight me every time.
Maple tree bud
We found the nest of common blackbird in our woodpile. I did take few photos, but we left it all alone. Hope the squirrels dot get to it before the hatch.
Nature shots aren’t restricted to wildlife out in the middle of nowhere. How about a starry night shot with a long shutter? Or the waves of the ocean with a high shutter speed to freeze motion? Not possible for me, we have snow, rain an slush… still!!!
Nature Photography is here to make us feel connected with our home, this pale blue dot 🌍 we call earth. Go out and capture the beauty that surrounds us all. I took these of the hill that is just behind our backyard. Capturing weather, snow.. and the the trees on the fill.
Snowing sideways…
the wind has slightly let up…but still snowing pretty heavily
Nature in detail was my option, the ball hydrangea has weathered the winter well, and I love how the structure and texture begin to show. I know I have taken similar shots before, but honestly near home is not much that inspires me at the moment. So any opinions as what to post as my entry for week 14 ?
We had beautiful days here the past week and I was not able to go out and capture the beauty, too sick and too tired. I have been in the house from January 3rd, first in quarantine for 3 days, then sick. The instructions what and when to do change constantly, it is confusing, but you figure it out on the way.
Well I did go outside to my backyard to capture so of the winter beauty, I am so happy that we have private and pretty view to rest our eyes on. That pine tree looks so lovely on the hill covered with snow.
Busy day. We had a nice pink sky when I came home from work at just before 4pm. It is now 4.10 and dark, November 😦 The snow has turned to ice and all the smaller walking paths and roads are so slippery.
Cucumber, tomatoes, ham, time to make a sandwich
Our favorite month, November! This year we’ll get rid of gray by painting the month in green. Lepis from Parallel lineshas hosted this challenge for years, I have been part of it for several years too, feel free to join us 🙂
Pink sky
Open your world to a green November and enjoy your creativity. How you do it is free as long as it’s green!
Yesterday the lawn was green, so here is a photo today to prove it. Today it is white as the first snow fell here in southern Finland. Surprisingly is the snow is still on the ground, I thought it would melt away as soon it came.
Let’s start with something different, a ICM photograph of some office buildings.
Our favorite month, November! This year we’ll get rid of gray by painting the month in green. Lepis from Parallel lineshas hosted this challenge for years, I have been part of it for several years too, feel free to join us 🙂
Open your world to a green November and enjoy your creativity. How you do it is free as long as it’s green!
I am running out of ideas at the moment – or should say I am taking the easy way out. Nature and frost are my partners today after a cold night. Frost maybe playing the bigger part, but if you look closely you can see green
Our favorite month, November! This year we’ll get rid of gray by painting the month in green. Lepis from Parallel lineshas hosted this challenge for years, I have been part of it for several years too, feel free to join us 🙂
Open your world to a green November and enjoy your creativity. How you do it is free as long as it’s green!
Well, I am happy to present a touch of green to you. This morning as I was on my way to the car, the frost had made beautiful white lines to the brown leaves. To my joy I also spotted green. Mission for the day accomplished
Our favorite month, November! This year we’ll get rid of gray by painting the month in green. Lepis from Parallel lineshas hosted this challenge for years, I have been part of it for several years too, feel free to join us 🙂
Open your world to a green November and enjoy your creativity. How you do it is free as long as it’s green!
I took my husband to the doctor and during his visit I took some autumn color shots from the city. The flu season has started after being almost nonexistent during Covid, my husband had it and now I am sick first time in three years. I had forgotten how it feels. Not nice.
Well anyway, I am giving you an overload of fall photos, bear with me, soon it will be dark and gloomy.
We had a fence here before and if you have been following my posts for some time you have seen several shots showing it.
We had to take it down as the foundation was not the best and it started to lean towards and backwards. We did not have anything there for couple summers, but now it is there again with a slightly different twist in the design that I came up with as we were building it. Well, mainly my husband, I won’t be able to take credit for that 😁
Enjoying his handy work The fence Happy This is the new frame for many photos
Good morning 😃, I woke early to start my work so I can finish up early too. Sitting on my patio working at same time watching this light play on the lawn.
What magic light can do is amazing, you just have to catch the moment
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography 