Shadows 01

This weeks exercise is about shadows. You can get up early in the morning on a sunny day and find all kinds of shadows outside your home. You can also do this exercise inside your home where you need a little bit of preparation.

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To create this image I used a projector as my light source. The background is a simple white sheet. I used a portrait stool on which I put a black card board on which I put the red candle. In order to get the smoke I had to blow the candle a little bit shortly before the exposure.

Enjoy and as always have fun with this exercise!

Flower 10

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I love the yellow -green contrast in this image. Without the “green” the image would have been pretty boring. The art of photography is to see and “ordinary” subject like this tulip and create a great image. This is the challenge and this is the reason why I practice over and over again to improve the way I see and photograph. And yes, photography is hard work if you want to go beyond the usual.

Happy photographing!

Flower 09

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I photographed this orchid in a studio setting using a white background. I felt that the white background did not work well. the image looked kind of dull. I looked through my files and found these clouds that made a much better background for my subject.

Enjoy and happy photographing!

Flower 08

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I photographed these Spring flowers outside right before sunset yesterday. I put the camera on a tripod, used the timer and handheld a black reflector right behind the flowers. In addition I put a frame around the image using blue as an additional colors. You decide which one you like best!

Happy photographing!

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Flowers 06

Sometimes it feels that a week is not enough to photograph on a certain subject. If one wants to get good at almost anything in life one has constantly improve and practice, practice, practice. Therefor I would like to shoot flowers for a second week. If nothing is blooming in your neighborhood go out and purchase a few flowers and again practice, practice practice.

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I photographed this group of flowers in Carmel, CA yesterday. I loved the red brick side-walk and used it as a background. In order to blur the background I opened the lens up to f2.8. I also underexposed the image purposely. In post production I refined my digital image using a relatively high contrast in the high key colors (white) and a softer color rendition in the low key colors. Take a close look at the white tones how the higher contrast brings out the detail in the flower.

Enjoy and keep on photographing! 

Flower 05

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I saw this flower yesterday on my morning exercise walk. It was a cloudy day meaning the skies acted like a giant soft-box. I almost overlooked this flower in one of my neighbors front yard. I had perfect light, leading lines and a single subject. Great conditions for a shot.

Happy Friday and keep on photographing!

Flower 03

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This image has a great dynamic. The center of the rose is on the upper right side and still my eyes normally go to the brightest spot which is on the lower left side. My eyes wander then along the circular lines to the upper right. The large dark shadow right below the center of the rose and the water drops add to the dramatic of this image.

Enjoy and happy photographing