Frustrations and Getting out of a funk - 1

This is how I feel nowadays.

ASSIGNMENT 02 :: SHAPES

This is not easy. Somehow, I cannot seem to generate eye pleasing photos that compares to others and "pops". I want to submit something clever - I can only seem to get average looking photos....A tiny bit frustrating.

All negativity aside, I have an interesting story for one of my submissions.

I was walking around my city with the specific goal of finding photos, my girlfriend now fiancé decided to come with me. I found an abandoned building and saw this. While I was correcting my camera setting to take the best photo possible, a homeless man came around and start asking questions about the desecrated state of the building. My girlfriend, a usually really good natured person got really nervous. A few minutes into the conversation - the homeless man and myself ended up figuring out that we both did not have a clue what happened, only that I could determine that this building caught on fire a few months ago. I left the scene and I had a bug, I wanted to get away from the assignment and by take a portrait of him. Ask him his story and maybe post something à la HONY. But I did not. It's not my style and I am still looking for it. Regardless, somebody else is doing it way better than I ever could so I'll leave him the space.

First submission to the second assignment. Shapes are the bricks and their positions, rhythm is the light and the "high notes" of the bricks (I like to think).

This photographic journey is sometimes long and frustrating but is filled with emotions and self realizations. Got to keep on shooting!

Second submission - I think I will delete it - maybe not - maybe...

Lines Assignment - Last Update and After Thoughts

The first assignment is now over. From the small amount of time I had to shoot, I took out 5 photos and submitted 4 (rest of my photos from the assignment below).

Unfortunately, my photos were not reviewed by Zack as he had more than 4000 submissions. But I'm glad that I participated. I am now a little better at seeing those lines in my photos and understand how they visually impact. What I learned ;

- Simple is sometimes better

Credit Kurt Gledhill

Great composition is key ;

Credit Robert Earle

And within a not so good photo, there is a great photo - you just have to work it.

No example here.....just a thought.

I will be be moving on to the 2nd assignment which I will post about a bit later this week - much tougher challenge this time - hoping to get something right!

Decided not to submit this picture, I did not feel it was strong enough to be presented.

Dedpxl Assignement - Lines Update 2

Dedpxl Assignement - Lines Update

Dedpxl Assignement- Lines

assignment (əˈsaɪnmənt) n
1. something that has been assigned, such as a mission or task

In my journey, I will pursue opportunities that allows me to grow as a photographer. This is why I joined Dedpxl - an initiative by Zack Arias (a really cool photographer). He has set up his first assignment titled "Lines". Zack is a commercial photographer, and a really cool dude. Never met him but by watching this video, you can understand that even dropped in a foreign country - he can get people to participate, pose and interact.

Will you participate in this journey? I will. I am taking some time this week-end to start to "see".

Go here for the written assignment or sit back and enjoy the video below of the assignment.

Zack Arias links : 

http://beam.zackarias.com/

http://500px.com/zarias

RPTiks

Flickr

Your Camera - in Manual

Scary thoughts when starting out - it took me a while to understand how everything is connected but when you will understand this, you will be wondering why the hell it looked so complicated. Luckily, I did not have to see a guru on a remote and hidden mountain to understand this - Internet is FILLED with resources (most of them free) explaining how stuff works, if you scroll until the end, there is a neat video for you. The photography community is quite strong on youtube and I strongly suggest subscribing to some of the people out there.

In short :

Shutter : Controls Ambient Exposure (available light) - or How long does light comes in
Aperture :  Controls Flash Exposure and depth of field ("created"/flash light and out of focus image)
Iso : Light Sensitivity (Higher is usually worse)

Problems that all those 3 might give you (well some of the problems I ran into) with examples;

Shutter : Blurry image

In this case, shutter was not fast enough for the amount of ambient light (dark wedding room) so you cannot only see blurs.

Aperture : Overly dark or overly bright image

Aperture (3.5) was way too high for the flash so once again, you cannot see anything.

ISO : When too high, grains appear in dark places (cell phones are fantastic at this)

See the mutty/grainy blacks in the photo? That is what we are trying to avoid.

All of the 3 items mentioned before are in relation and will help you understand how your camera's manual setting work. The all work in a triangle. Lower your aperture and you will need to increase your ISO. Increase your shutter and you will need to decrease your aperture to compensate. 

The video below is what unlocked in my little brain how my camera really functioned. Take out your photo note pad and start learning...now!