Photo Project 365

This is a photo blog focused on but not limited to study of composition and tonal relations in photographs.

It is a continuation my Project 365 from 2010 a moderately successful attempt to make and publish one photography each day for one year.

The Project lost it's steam somewhere half along the way and this place became a depository of my more satisfying photos.

Click photos to enlarge.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

D 227 - Sandy slam



Dramatic clouds and dramatic pose.

D 226 - Nordic Sunset



Sunset conveniently occurred over the beach.

D 225 - All things run to the sea



Experimenting with external flash fill light on a bright midday at the seaside.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

D 224 - Motherly



When the child is away on vacations...

Friday, September 3, 2010

D 223 - I kept them waiting a little more



I kept them waiting for me a little more, so I could change my lens to tele-zoom and shoot from across the street.

D 222 - Rainy days



Funny case.
It looked great through my bare eyes, then it looked poor on the mobile phone LCD, but after spicing it up in Lightroom it looks good again.

D 221 - Ping Pong #2



Please, don't mind the door.

D 201 - Ping Pong #1



More off-camera flashing.

D 220 - Off-camera



One of my initial, clumsy attempts to use external flash.

D 219 - Orchis

D 218 - Towards the light



Fooling around with 300mm (x2 crop) focal length.

D 217 - Wrinkles



Accidental head turn.

Monday, August 16, 2010

D 216 - Seeing Double



Old facade, High-Definision TV.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 215 - Inferior power



Snapshot at a crossing.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 214 - Old School



Skoda Octavia, take one.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

D 213 - "α"



A black belt.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 212 - "Y"



Parking Lot.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 211 - "2"



A factory wall.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

D 210 - Twin-Valve



Some derelict hydraulics outside industrial complex now turned into offices.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015

D 209 - Too gloomy to fly today



Pigeons at a rooftop.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015

D 208 - Ungothic



City cathedral being renovated as seen from across the street with a tramway line in-between.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

D 207 - Beggar



Pigeon in a gateway.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015.

What I learned

I've attached the kit tele-lens zoom the my Olympus and try to keep it on at all times. I've strongly neglected this focal length range before and so I feel that only forced practice can give me the feel of it.

D 206 - Z



A relief.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015

What I learned

I never agreed with the opinion that harsh sunlight and clipped shadows and highlights are a no-no for street photography. Some of my favorite shots were black and white lo-quality urban shots made on clear summer days.

D 205 - Farewell to the Day



I never learned what caused this magnificent sunset. Low clouds which let the sun out just before it reached the horizon must have been a factor.

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4

What I learned

Sunset/dawn silhouette photos have quite an "African" feel to them. I never thought that they can be so powerful with only some red sky and majority of the negative space within the frame.

D 204 - Beeseye



A decent summer flower.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442

What I learned

While not being my kind of a subject sometimes flowers seem hypnotically irresistible.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

D 203 - Sunset in the garden #3



Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442
JPG corrected in Lightroom

D 203 - Sunset in the garden #2



Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4
RAW developed in Lightroom.

D 202 - Sunset in the garden #1



Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4
RAW developed in Lightroom.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

D 201 - Valkyrie



My wife's niece shortly after a little incident on patio stairs.

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4.

D 200 - Dead Heat #8



Equipment

W810i

D 199 - Dead Heat #7



Equipment

W810i

Thursday, July 15, 2010

D 198 - Dead Heat #6



A stroll down sun flooded streets with a mobile phone.

Equipment

W810i

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 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.

Monday, July 5, 2010

D 192 - Toying around



Die alone and that cats eat you.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

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.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

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.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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



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Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.
RAW edited in Lightroom.

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