D 139 - Rememberance

There has been a controversial initiative proposed for this year, to honor Soviet soldiers fallen in 1945 during the march for Berlin of the Red Army.

As the Polish Prime Minister said although they released us from Nazi occupation they didn't bring us freedom because they didn't have any themselves.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.
Usual Lightroom edit from RAW.

What I learned

With a small viefinder of Olympus Evolt line and manual lens I had problems with focusing on the first tombs and gradually going soft towards the end of the line.

D 138 - Boring Photo

A little surprising detail in a neglected mansion just few hundred meters from my home.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30mm.
Usual edit in Lightroom.

What I learned

I'm a voyeur in denial. I love to enter dark yards of neglected (but not necessarily abandoned) mansions at night or to capture little insights into other peoples' homes while walking down a street and wonder how their homes are like.

Sometimes it translates into really good photographic opportunities. Of course I don't feel tempted to photograph naked people through the windows. It is more about exploring possibilities of other lives, getting beyond my personal circumstances of life, as seen through the places people live in.

D 137 - Leaning out

Another forced perspective from my balcony.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
In Lightroom: levels, blue filter, sharpness, noise, little crop to remove some distractions at the bottom and left edges of the frame.

What I learned

Photos don't have to be straight to be O.K.

D 136 - Soul Trap

A disfigured tree in the park.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
In Lightroom: levels, clarity, noise, contrast.

What I learned

I walked around this tree which struck me to have a growth which looked like a face from a distance. I shot at least 8 photos to capture it and it still doesn't look as suggestive as it did in reality. I probably missed a tele lens for this one.

D 135 - Bottoms up

And there I have it at last. Satisfying photo using a pattern. It's shot through a large wine glass pointed at window blinds.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30.
In Lightroom: graduated filter (desaturate), levels, clarity, noise, sharpness and certain crop which moved the focal point closer to the golden section.

What I learned

Experimenting does not contradict thinking twice before pressing the shutter. Less is more.

D 134 - Generation Again

My son loves to climb on the desk under this window and watch the cars, clouds or planes. I'll be anti-climatic to inform that he usually laughs and shouts to me about whatever he sees down there. He was not even sad when I took this photo.

Equipment

w810i
In Lightroom corrected: levels (strengthening blacks), decreased saturation, split toning, sharpness and noise.

What I learned

Again the same conclusion: it isn't the lens or matrix that makes good photos.

D 133 - Trek

I don't like the background. But I like the cute and the way light works on the chick in this photo.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

ZD1442 kit lens is not fast enough for candid indoor photos. It is f/4.7 at standard focal length (50mm after crop) and auto-focus takes a long time to snap in low light. I should look for a way to obtain something prime around 50-70mm and f/2.8 or better.

D 132 - By the fire

First campfire of this season.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file edited in Lightroom: levels, split toning, crop from 4:3 to 3:2 format, noise and sharpness adjustments.

What I learned

I played around with different automatic presets and programs in my camera. This time I wanted to check out the 'By the Candles' scene mode. It used smaller ISO and aperture than I would. It surprised me with using simply 'Daylight' white balance but it gave a nice result.