D 195 - Dead Heat #3

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i

D 194 - Dead Heat #2

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i.

D 193 - Dead Heat #1

A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i.

D 192 - Toying around

Die alone and that cats eat you.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 191 - End of the ride

Fiat 126p - a licensed vehicle manufactured in Poland with a icon status nowadays. This one has been stuck in a parking for over a month. Probably waiting for someones merciful decision to put it down on a scrapyard.

Equipment

Sony-Ericsson w810i.

D 190 - Nature vs decoration

A sign from the times past. It was one of only a few furniture shops in a town of almost 1 mln people and it had barely any supplies usually. Hurray for centrally planned economy!

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4.

What I learned

I keep seeing those ridiculous trees rising straight from concrete surface with no other green matter but themselves around.

D 189 - It was you, who did this!?

My son not-posing with sunglasses.

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4.

D 188 - I want to ride my motorbike

Picture nicely composed with a prime lens.

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4.

D 187 - Elevation

Perspective view on a tower block.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 186 - Skew't No.2

Second interior photo with skewed horizon.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 185 - Skew't

Accidental shot, really. But I liked it when I checked the photos on the LCD.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

My new tool in the photographic arsenal is: twisted perspective. Frames get some extra dynamic when the horizon is far from straight.

D 184 - Ablaze

Another photo of a big fire.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 183 - Half Way There

Abstract composition of a ceiling lamp and a photo on the wall.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

So, this is it. It's summer solstice and I am half way through my Project 365.

What do I like about it so far?
It pushed my photography forward and made me shoot some great photos. It helped me explore new areas which I neglected before.

How my photography changed?
Only recently I stopped shooting compulsively. I became more critical about what I photograph. This resulted in not making dozen shots of a single object.

That's a good thing since I used to shoot the same frame many times looking for technical excellence (perfect sharpness, exposure triangle, metering and framing) which gave me several compositionally identical photographs.

Now I circle around a subjects, moving up, down, closer and further. I control myself not to shot an interesting snapshot until I work it out to be a good photograph. If I can't find a satisfactory angle of an interesting object, I force myself to leave it be and don't photograph it at that moment.

This is what I mean by compulsory shooting. I used to think that if I waste a single photographic opportunity I will loose something. No I know that I will truly waste the opportunity if I don't stop and try to make the shot. Whether I press the shutter or not is irrelevant in the long run. I could learn just as much and develop my skills equally if I only walked around with a viewfinder and a light-meter.

Let's imagine a situation when I have my camera holstered and see a funny situation on the street. I grab the camera, turn it on and press the viewfinder to my right eye. I adjust the zoom and check the shutter speed at preset aperture and ISO. Then I tilt and turn the camera a bit to improve the frame and composition. The scene doesn't usually look as good in the camera as it does in 3D but the funny situation won't last forever so I take the not-so-good photo because otherwise the opportunity would be wasted. I end up with a mediocre photo which I copy to my disk and soon forget about it.

That would be just a waste of shutter and disk space. So now I control myself not to take such a photograph. And I loose nothing because of it.

D 182 - Fire

Burning down an old desk.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 181 - Old Shed Door

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Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 180 - Night Stripes

---

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 179 - Antenna

Quiet corner by my building.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 178 - Blinds

Another abandoned building in the neighborhood.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 177 - Pimp up my pot

A random family snapshot.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I like the result, how the light worked out. I used built in flash but, using vertical camera orientation i got a slightly unsymmetrical side light with harmonized with side light coming from a window on the right.

D 176 - Pretty far, dude...

Some guys were filming capoeira on the roof. It was raining most of the time and they stayed there for hours. Those two took a cigarette break.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
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 173 - Tyred

Old tires put around a backyard in some deliberate manner but without any obvious purpose.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 172 - Half Earth, Half Heaven

An office building in midday sun.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 171 - Bad Stuff

Another industrial area, now turned to a low-end offices.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 170 - Handset

A doorphone handset shot in a DIY light tent made from a recipe found on the net.

Equipment

E-510 with both kit ZD- lens interchanged.
RAW heavily worked on in Lightroom.

What I learned

I bow before accomplished product photographers. I thought it was a no-brainer to make some clean and appealing product shots.

I was very wrong. Achieving a barely satisfying result was quite a hard work for me.

I didn't make it easy for myself and used only household and DIY equipment to make the photos. It took my well over 3 hours to make a makeshift photo tent and set it up under a lamp with extra bright bulb (do they still call that name those new fluorescent energy-saving things?) and than make the shots.

I approved 12 out of 42 photos, which all-in-all is quite a good ratio but on the flip side, I know that next time I could make the shots way better.

I wish I've had: black backdrop, dense fabric for tent walls (or a light tent), two or more lamps giving exactly the same light, a good tripod, external flash(-es) with a reflector or soft-box.

Additionally I must remember to compensate exposure bias when photographing white object on white backdrop. I had to brighten photos in Lightroom to a point when even ISO 100 gave away some noise.

D 169 - Bus Reject

If you pay attention, you can spot water in a ditch between the road and this old bus stop.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

Recently my Project 365 with a photo-every-day turns more into photos-every-weekend with occasional shot made during the week.

But I don't worry. I'm not even half way down the project and I already feel my work becoming more to my liking, taking some shape. Not distinct enough to call it a name but just enough to feel it's presence.

D 168 - Swingallows

And sometimes a night can look like a day.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 167 - 40 Days of Night

Sometimes a day can look like a night...

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 166 - Night of the Lush Green

A scene that attracted attention on a dark, cloudy night.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 165 - Ms. Whiskers

Ever-elusive cat has been finally befriended and photographed.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 164 - Twist

A slightly overcomplicated ceiling.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

Tip from Chris Weston

"Something I still do to this day is, before I press the shutter I ask myself the question “How would I caption this image?” If the only answer I can conjure is the species name, then I wait for a better shot."

- Chris Weston

From: Digital Photography School

D 163 - A Cherub

One of the new fountains at Piotrkowska street, main commercial alley, in my city.

Equipment

w810i
Corrected and turned monochrome in Lightroom.

What I learned

Again: "Your best camera is the one you have with you". After Chase Jarvis.

D 162 - Crane

Long tele-lens shot from my window.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW developed in Lightroom.

D 161 - Urban Planning

View from a backyard just next to my house.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW developed in Lightroom.

D 160 - A Cell

Part of a corridor in my house.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 159 - Another World

Reflection in a traffic jam.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW developed in Lightroom.

D 158 - Tower

Detached from other buildings this red brick tower stands in a back alley of an industrial complex with it's roof collapsed and bricks forming a heap seen through a window some 20 feet above ground.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW developed in Lightroom.

D 157 - Point!

Another photo from an old industrial complex.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 156 - Typing Machine

Another neglected and abandoned factory in my city. A large lot in front of it looks like some old foundations covered with soil and weeds.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

D 155 - Busy Bees

On a walk in the park with my son he collected sow thistles and suddenly a hungry bee came down to feed on those I held in my hand. I just had a mobile phone handy and took this macro shot.

Equipment

Sony-Ericsson W810i.
Cropped and enhanced saturation in Lightroom.

What I learned

I learned to finally leave behind Picasa and do the works in Lightroom. I don't even need to use GIMP, because I don't do any multiple-exposure shots or collages and I gradually learn to appreciate the functions of Library module.

D 154 - Trailer / Park

Another kindergarten shot. I spotted this lonely trailer on a desolate lot behind a new house from D 149. Then I found a satisfactory angle to shoot it from the kindergarten window.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I'm more and more happy with my new, critical attitude toward making photos.
I don't take quick snapshots. I respect every shot like if I had a film with limited capacity loaded into the camera body.

As a result I come home with three to eight shots, each of them workable, some half of them interesting to my eye even after the first enthusiasm passes.

I don't get the nasty feeling I used to, when I look at my photos on PC and wonder: 'What the hell did I see in this frame when I pressed the shutter?'.

D 153 - Good Old Rusty

Actually a burnt down Ford Focus. I don't know what happened but it just stands in a corner of a parking lot, probably the same place where it ignited.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file edited in Lightroom.

What I learned

I wondered if I should leave the colors on this photo or strip it down to b/w. The colors here are strong, not for the composition but for the contrast between elements (green vs orange). However in monochrome the picture was clearer and textures on the car more evident.

D 152 - V-Formation

Decorations in kindergarten.
They looked like a flock of geese in flight to me.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom with custom color mix.

What I learned

If you see a good frame, take the photo right away. Don't leave it for later.

The burdock photo from yesterday couldn't be made today. A crew with overgrown lawnmowers came and shredded it like a lettuce.

D 151 - Burdock Farm

Heavy rains this Spring put certain plants on hype. Burdocks are a good example. They suddenly became ubiquitous and their leaves bigger than usual. This is a lawn in the middle of a housing estate.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom: tone curve, custom red filter, sharpness and crop.

D 150 - The Worst

A T-shirt.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom: crop, levels, sharpness and yellow filter.

What I learned

I felt really good about my photography yesterday. I had to choose some good family photos which I made since December. It was hard for me and my girlfriend to cut down below 120, because each photo left at this point was too good to reject.

I thought that my cheap Chinese tripod was a junk already, but it came out that after fixing all the loose screws and lubricating joints it is works smooth and stable.

D 149 - Flooded in Spring

One of new houses built in my neighborhood. It was built right next to a small park, opposite half-ruined buildings from Running Down the Gutter.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
RAW edited in Lightroom: contrast, saturation, noise/sharpness and slight crop.

What I learned

Colors on rainy days have a particular quality, they seem brighter, more saturated because of the air having been cleared of dusts and because of contrast with blue-gray sky.

D 148 - Staircase-Well

Peculiarity of staircases in my block is that they are in the middle of the building without any outside windows. It isn't a problem until the electricity shuts down. Then it turns into a parade of Will-o'-Wisps when people try to get in or out of their homes.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW file developed in Lightroom.

D 147 - Creepy Guards

Ivy planted at a poplar trunk.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.
RAW developed in Lightroom; corrected contrast, sharpness and added green b/w filter.

What I learned

The same story happened to me twice this weekend: I shot a frame, thought I could correct it and shot some more photos. Than while choosing which photos to post I went for the first attempts in both series. I liked them the most.

D 146 - Dandelions O.M.G.

I spotted this field while on a short bike trip, then I fetched my camera and went back to get the photo.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015 (a strange lens for such a shot, I know).
RAW file developed in Lightroom: red filter, stronger contrast, sharpening.

What I learned

I was without a tripod and day was rather cloudy, so at f/16 and 40mm (80mm after crop) I wasn't able to get this sharp as I went down to 1/6 exposure time. In effect, the trees on horizon and the rock and the first row of dandelions are slightly out of focus.
I do tend to neglect the fact how much longer I need to expose to get proper photos at small apertures. Tripod isn't that heavy, is it?

If I used wider lens, than the DOF would get bigger and the trees on horizon would become apparently smaller, but the rock would grow too big.