Jun 6, 2014
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This is the last photo I’m going to share from my 6-week trip to Guatemala. It’s sad – like I’m leaving all over again.
A flower bud bursting into life in a sea of rotting petals. That’s what this trip was to me, a breath of fresh air (if you don’t count the chicken bus exhaust I probably inhaled haha) in a life of boring monotony.
Coming home to obligations after having so much freedom was painful the way I hear withdrawal is. No more waking up to infinite possibilities. Back to spending the best hours of the day running out all of my energy until I’m a sleepy pile of mush.
Sorry to get all dark and dreary on you, but it’s how I felt. I’m ok now, but I’m still not accepting my life for what it is. Now I’m working even harder to get back to that place… permanently. I crave freedom and there’s no 12-steppin’ program that’ll get rid of my addiction.
P.S. You may think I’m being over dramatic… but I call that having passion. What are you passionate about? Leave a comment and let me know below.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
May 2, 2014
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Two weeks ago I showed you a before and after of my calla lily photo. Today I want to show you the simple lighting change I made that took my photo from blah to wow.
First, though, I want to let you in on a little secret: Contrary to what my website might lead you to believe, most of my photography hours are not spent on pets or flowers or abstract art. Most weekdays I’m holed up in a dark room taking pictures of boring things you use everyday like cell phones, and tablets, and coffee makers.
Why have I never told you this? Well the shortest answer is because it’s boooorrrrrriiiing. I spend all day making sure that everyday products look like everyday products.
Don’t get me wrong, I owe so much of my knowledge to my boring job, but even the freshest piece of bread eventually goes stale…
It’s so hard to stray from my methodic approach to showing things the way they are supposed to be shown (clean, neat, and on white). This is most likely the reason that everything I light starts off the same… one light on the left and another on the right.
Then, it’s time to play! Who wants to see what everyone else sees anyway?
I popped a light right into the back of the leaf and the crazy glow tickled my retinas. This is my setup below and a glimpse of my modest home away from home in Guatemala.
May 30, 2013 |
I’ve been playing with close up photography and off-camera lighting for 3 whole years now… where does time go exactly?
There have been many times I’ve gotten an awesome photograph and thought that I could share my set up for anyone interested, and every one of those times I broke down my set and put everything away, realized I’d forgotten to take a photo of the whole picture, and slapped myself firmly on the forehead while reciting Homer Simpson’s mantra.
Well this time I remembered to snap a few quick shots of my set up and I’d love to show you how I came up with this latest batch of fine art photography! These photos are basically the result of a Michael’s shopping spree. What can I say? – inspiration struck!
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These stones are super shiny meaning they are super reflective. I crumbled up two pieces of aluminum foil, uncrumbled them, and formed a dome over the top of my stones. I cut a hole in the front piece that was just big enough to squeeze my lens through. There was just a bit of space in between the foil on each side to allow the light into the dome. The lens of my camera did show up in the reflections so I did a few minutes of photoshop work to retouch them out.
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I’ve always had a fascination with water droplets and reflections, but water is far harder to manipulate than these clear bath beads I found at the craft store. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to photograph something that looked like a perfect droplet and came with none of the issues I’ve faced with water. I was able to play around with the reflections until I got the perfect combination of blurry flower backdrop and sharp, full reflections. My set up ended up looking like this.
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I did something similar here, only I filled up the tray with pink bath beads and went for a different angle. I also changed the lighting so that the light was bouncing off the ceiling instead of being directed at the flower. I call this one Black Swan Eggs and it is my favorite of this batch.
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Then, I just went crazy! I’d have to say this is the first abstract I’ve come out with that I’m really proud of. But is it still abstract if I tell you what it is? Eh, who cares it’s so kewl! I took dozens of shots moving the tray of beads up and down above the shimmery stones, not one of them came out the same. It was so much fun to just play around again… I’ll have to make time for another play date with light real soon!
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