Colors

I'm about in a third of the way with my 365 days Project.

I wanted to concentrate on the simplicity and beauty of monochrome photographs. I still do. But I've noticed that most of my recent photos were color.

I hope this is just the thing that Spring does to me with the sudden flood of extra sunlight hours and intensity. In a way its a result of not working out photography ideas but documenting beautiful sights and details.

That's nice but that is not why I started this 4 months ago. I wanted to improve my photography, not share snapshots of my surroundings.

I need to refocus on the original aims and get back to compose photos. Black and white photos which are better for composition and form studies.

Like this one:

D 123 - Loader wanted

One of the favorite toys of my son.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 118 - Ivy

Nature shots at sunset. These were taken on a shaded side of a large tree trunk.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

When avoiding direct sunlight golden hour is also very good for black and white shots.

D 116 - In the Fountain

I liked the reflection of staircase, people and lights in the orb but wasn't sure how to show it. Besides it was a bit dark and my point-and-shoot limited my possibilities.

Equipment

S630.

What I learned

Always take a walk around the subject and check the frame edges before shooting.

D 112 - Spider curtains

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4.

What I learned

Apparently back-lit photos must be taken with some positive exposure bias. Without it this one came out to be about one EV stop too dark.

D 111 - Warm light

A lamp lit in the night.

Equipment
E-510 with ZD1442.

D 110 - Half-lit grapes

Night shooting of grapes on a dish.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

I tried some back lighting with a flashlight from underneath but the results weren't better than this photo.

D 109 - Dog couchant

Another snapshot made with mobile phone camera.

Equipment

Sony-Ericsson W810i.

D 107 - Metal box

I'm reaching a breaking point as far as Straight out of Camera photo posting is concerned. I will either move on to give more thought to every photo before I take it or return to shooting RAW and editing in Lightroom.

I'm dissatisfied with the quality of my photographs which haven't been optimized with editing software.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 106 - Self check

Easter can be quite straining for the organism.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 105 - Too close

Macro and lighting experiments.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442 on tripod, white-sheet reflector.

D 104 - And now we have... EGG!

Happy Easter! Hang on to the Spring power!

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned
I'll just skip this section for remaining overdue posts.

D 103 - Spring sprout

First signs of spring sprouting from under the grass.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

I must always keep some photos ready to upload for sake of contingency. Like this time when I had to devote all my time to my family and the Easter festivities. If I even had a few photos ready I could just prepare posts to publish in advance.

D 102 - Mustang

I know I promised no more photos made by my son, but this one I actually like. A matchbox car on a town street-like carpet.

Equipment

S630 on macro setting.

What I learned

I think that it is the pedestrian crossing stripes and fence that make this photo dynamic.

D 100 - Cute...

First of all I'd like to state that "I know" and "it won't happen again, I promise".

This is one of the first photos that I've taken together with my 2 year old son. We were pointing the camera together, than I held it steady and he pushed the shutter release button. And then we reviewed the photos together. There was much rejoice.

Equipment

S630 in Auto mode.

What I learned

As much as the aim of this Project was to make better photographs in the end, isn't it really just about the fun of photography? It well should be. This therefore makes it at great photo for day 100 of my Project.

D 99 - A grain of pine

Macro shot of a well dried log.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442 on a gorilla pod.

What I learned

Sidelight is a blessing for black and white photography. Enhanced textures won't hurt in color photos either but they are crucial for monochrome.

D 98 - Disturbing branch

Shooting against the light on an overcast day.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

When shooting for Straight out of Camera publishing, I have to learn how to adjust white balance. This time I had to choose between better colors and better crop. The good crop won, but the photo certainly suffers from brownish hue.

D 97 - Nightime sneaking

The moon was close to full, the sky was almost to clear. The night was bright and inviting without being overwhelming.

Equipment

E-510 with Pentacon 30. Mounted on gorilla-pod.

What I learned

I was using a manual lens at night with very little ability to precisely focus the lens and with a need to have large depth of field. I ended up with exposures from 30 to 60 seconds and ISO boosted up to 200-400.

I'd decided to start shooting SooC (Straight out of Camera). So no editing here, although I had to fight myself not to correct the exposure with Lightroom sliders. I broke at noise removal and did some.