valokuvaus – Page 13 – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

From my archives – Peony

November will be filled with photos from the archives .

The luxurious flowers of Peony ‘Double Pink’ are ruffled and petal packed, unfurling from round buds in early summer, revealing petal after petal until fully open. Large, flamboyant blooms coupled with a sweet, light fragrance.

Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is an exquisite herbaceous peony with ruffled, flamingo-pink, double blooms that open from large, and rounded buds. This RHS AGM variety has been popular since its introduction in 1905, and still beguiles gardeners with its sheer flower power. With a slightly taller habit than most, this beauty is one for planting towards the back of perennial borders, where its glamorous blooms will rise above a clump of deeply divided, dark green foliage.

I don’t know which one these are, I do know I love peonies, one of my favorite flowers. I some how was able to kill mine at my summer house, but then again I don’t remember planting it, it appeared and after several year it disappeared… but it was lovely addition to my very scantly garden

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

From my archives – Iris

Flowers

November will be filled with photos from the archives .

Iris germanica ‘Black Dragon’ , Black Iris was a delightful find as was Siperian Iris, and the last one is a Bearded Iris- I think 🙂

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

October close-up – oak tree leaf

Flowers

October surprises with frost and colorful leaves 🍃 afters a cold night. The splash of color got my attention, here are more shots of the frosty morning.

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

52 Frames: Week 43: Details!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland

Take a moment. Look at something, anything around you – what do you see? What do you notice? That’s right – our eyes take in the big picture, but then move in closer to see the Details. That’s just how we humans work – we instinctively want to look at things and then parts of those things.

I am often post details, one of my favorite ways to show you how I see the world around me. So much beauty can found near and far in small or sometimes big details.

I have taken macro shots of nature this week and it fits this topic ever so well. The others are from my archives.

The wrinkles, special features and texture of our faces in portrait. Capturing fine, rarely seen details in a macro shot – maybe abstract, or in Nature. Maybe it’s that detail on the building you pass every day, but rarely take a moment to notice.

Craft an image that shows off the details of your choice of subject. Focus, contrast and composition will play a key role , so it’s both a creative and technical challenge

By capturing an image and looking for the picture within a picture, you’ll be able to capture exquisite details that you’d probably normally overlook. When you start noticing the details, a world of new and possible images opens up to you.

I love taking photos of machinery, rust the photographic details there are to be found

October close-up – leaves of colors 🍃

Flowers

October surprises with frost and colorful leaves 🍃 afters a cold night growing in the embankment at my backyard. The splash of color got my attention, here are more shots of the frosty morning.

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

52 Frames: Week 42: Black and White Minimalism!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland

This week we’re combining two distinct genres to form Black and White Minimalism. Black and White photos, inherently feel a little minimalistic. Using a composition that’s minimalistic, like having negative space, really adds to this unique shooting style.

Simply doors, as interestingly as I could

Black and White minimalism usually yields a very clean and clutter-free aesthetic. A strong subject will draw the viewer’s eye, and a lot of negative space around your subject will support the main “star” of your frame.

You can create minimalism with negative space, and you can also use light and shadow by only lighting your main subject and leaving the rest of the frame in shadow (low key) or by lighting your background bright as well to create a high-key look.

But, in particular for this challenge, do remember that: Less Is More 🙂

Be Direct: Simple does not mean boring. try to tell a story and convey emotion with as little clutter as possible.
Negative Space: Take advantage of negative space. The “empty” space in your photo will draw the attention of the viewer towards the main subject, without being distracted by other items in the photo.
Leading Lines: Use concepts like leading lines to guide your viewer’s eye to the image.
Shoot in B/W: Many cameras have a black and white mode – use that to help make things simpler when previewing the shot you’ve just taken rather than having to post-process later.
Tones and Contrast: There are a multitude of shades and tonal ranges that can be adjusted to bring out depth and textures, especially in a Black And White shot. Consider adjusting those for different looks for your image.

October close-up – leaves of colors 🍃

Flowers

October surprises with frost and colorful leaves 🍃 afters a cold night growing in the embankment at my backyard. The splash of color got my attention.

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

Beautiful in Black and White 11

Black and White photos, Cities

Moving Up and down, I’ve also linked this to CBWC

using your feet to climb up the mountain

October close-up – leaves of green

Flowers

October surprises me with this green plant growing in the embankment at my backyard. The fresh green got my attention.

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

October close-up – Oriental bittersweet

Flowers

October berries of Oriental bittersweet.

Celastrus orbiculatus is a woody vine of the Celastraceae family. It is commonly called Oriental bittersweet, as well as Chinese bittersweet, Asian bittersweet, round-leaved bittersweet, climbing spindleberry and Asiatic bittersweet.

Oriental bittersweet growing on our fence, needs yearly cutting.

October close-up – fallen leaves of lilac

Flowers

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

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!

52 Frames, Captures from Finland

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.

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.

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.

52 Frames: Week 40: Rule Of Odds!

52 Frames

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.

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.

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.

Beautiful in Black and White 7

Black and White photos, Captures from Finland

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

Inlet in Porkkala

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

View from the rocks 2

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

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

October close-up – Pink rose

Flowers

Once again, Rose, in its glory.

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

October close-up – Delicate flowers

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.

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

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

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. 🙂

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

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

Photography

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.

Macro magic

Photography

October close-up – Pink flowers

Flowers

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

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.

October close-up – Carnations

Flowers

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 ☺

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.

52 Frames: Week 39: Letters!

52 Frames

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.

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.

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

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

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🍂

on the road

Captures from Finland

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.