Seeing Anywhere (w/iPhoneography)

I started this morning reading a quote from Ernst Hass,”The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to see “.

Later I was accompanying my wife and daughter to a clothing store. Not having much to look at myself, I started to see the palettes of color around me. Thinking of a new app, “Slow Shutter” (I had just loaded it on my iPhone), I decided to play with the colors around me and create color abstracts using iPhone pans and swipes.

This is what was there:

The opening blog image and those that follow are what I “saw”.

This next image was created from several black tops hanging on different color hangers. Again you can see what was there and then what I saw. Now you may say, how can one “see” those things? The answer is simply imagination, practice and experience. I  looked for pleasing color schemes, individual colors mixed with opposites, used oblique lines for more energy, etc.

Was all I saw abstract colors? No. Here are a couple more images from that store visit. One indoors and the other out waiting in the truck.

Blog images: As noted above the first images were all created using an iPhone with the “Slow Shutter” app. For the images here I varied the shutter speed from 1/4sec to 4sec. In some cases I just moved the camera up and down or along the dominant lines, in others, I would twist the camera while moving it forward or backward (with the  longer shutter speeds). I tried a variety of motions seeing what patterns I could create.

The last two images are straight shots using the standard iPhone camera app, the later being shot through a rain drenched window.

Power of the Oblique

While out shooting nighttime shots this past week I was reminded of the power of using oblique angles when composing an image. Look at the two blog images. The subject was interesting, but a straight up and down composition was less than exciting. Is this an original idea for a neon sign? No. But it definitely made this image have a lot more punch.

Blog Images: This was shot in downtown McMinnville Oregon while I was HDR Christmas window shopping. These are not HDR images – didn’t really need the wide luminance range. All adjustments were done in Lightroom 3.2. Both images were burned and dodged in basically the same way for comparison purposes.

All About the Eyes

 

Just a quick blog entry with a couple of shooting tips for the holidays. As you gather with your families during this holiday season and maybe take some family pictures, remember the eyes. When people view an image they are immediately drawn to faces. And specifically the viewer will focus in on the eyes. So if you’re shooting with your DSLR and maybe a large aperture in a dimly lit room, remember that the eyes need to be in focus.

Personally I try to use flash as little as possible and take advantage of window light. Open the drapes and let whatever light is outdoors flow into the room. Catch people when then are facing a window. Get in there, get intimate shots. Have fun and don’t sweat it. Use a flash if you need it – sharp with flash is better than blurred without.

By all means put down the camera at some point and just be there – you know what I mean.

Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!