Graffiti

D 251 - Muddy Waters

I've found some due photos on my phone memory card.

D 213 - "α"

A black belt.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 197 - Dead Heat #5

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i

D 196 - Dead Heat #4

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i

D 195 - Dead Heat #3

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i

D 184 - Ablaze

Another photo of a big fire.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 180 - Night Stripes

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Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 175 - Giraffes

Not cows.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I slowly learn gravity of the term 'standard zoom' lens. It could be called: 'between 80-99% of your photographs' lens. Unless you are struck with some specific kind of photography like macro or astro. Even if you are, than if you shoot in the field, you will find yourself eventually drifting into those percentages.

Just try to click "ZD1442" tag under the post. Divide it by 175 and you will see what fraction of my photos have been taken by the standard zoom since December.

Hmmm... I did that and I only got 50%, but the figures would be correct for last few weeks. Exactly 83,3%.

D 174 - Dirt

Bathroom sink after rinsing vacuum filter.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

Even dirty menial housework can have an interesting perspective.

Well... Alice In Chains rules anyway. I'm playing 'Dirt' on my stereo today, so I guess I got inspired or something.

Garbage, sewage, dirt and abandon. The rat and roach infested backstage of modern life. Menial works that nobody thinks about but someone has to be doing it. It all sounds like a very tempting theme and it has always been so to me. Freud wouldn't have liked it.

D 164 - Twist

A slightly overcomplicated ceiling.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

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 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 121 - Dead Dog

A dog. Asleep. Right in the middle of the busiest pass in the house.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
Developed from RAW in Lightroom: levels, color mix, sharpness and just a 1-2% of a frame cropped from the top.

What I learned

Coming back from the land of no editing I admit that many shots should be leaved as they come out of camera without any changes and only some need anything more than sharpening and a slight crop correction.

There is however no way I can imagine making b&w photos without playing around with the RAW file in Lightroom. Just to show my point, here is the same photo as it came out of E-510 in jpg format (click to enlarge):



With each level of zooming in the amount of detail lost becomes obvious. And remember, that in Lightroom I was working on the original 10 megapixel file, so I was able to witness 10x more details that this 768x1024 file.

D 117 - Tracks

A photo from a series of shots of a nice spot that will be run over by a major East-West trans-European motorway in a few months. Some terrain bulldozing has already taken place.

I plan to call this series "My Way or the Highway".

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

I'll make a comment to the entire series of shots I made, after I reviewed it on a PC. I made too much similar general shots and panoramas. In a series there must be more shots showing details and single objects.

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.