Final Pictures

Contrasts 9: Transparent/Opaque

I couldn’t even imagine that there would be any problems to take a picture with a pair of contrasts in it. Inclusion of two poles usually gives a picture a good balance. Actually, I often balanced my pictures by contrasting elements in them.

At first, the pair “Transparent/Opaque” was not in my project. However, I jotted down some ideas about what kind of object I would need. I thought of a picture that include two umbrellas or two bags or a bag with some content in it. Having such nice choice of subject gave me enough encouragement to give it a go.

I found it a bit difficult to have two umbrellas in the same picture. They were competing for room and attention. Also, it was a bit difficult to make my little models to pose for more than two minutes. So I opted for a picture of bag with some content in it. The problem was that I couldn’t get the lighting right. I tried exposure compensation and compensation for the flash, but there were still a lot of blown out highlights.

I was not sure what would be better to do: retake the failed picture using a soft box or switch to a different tried and trusted pair. I tried placing the bag in soft box, but the picture did not work for me. I didn’t like it at all. Once again, I use my favourite dictionary in search more ideas.

“Opaque glass or liquid is difficult to see through and often thick” (LDOCE 5)  This was it. I got a few plastic party glasses out and filled them with some liquid ( milk and coffee), then I added a transparent vase with 3 flowers. I used a golden reflector as a background. This was my mistake. The reflector panel was not smooth, but I noticed this only a few hours later then I transferred the pictures to my compute.

In Lightroom3, I set camera profile (Camera Standard) and lens correction. Also, I adjusted white balance using the white balance selector, sharpness, tones, fill light, vibrance and clarity, lowed down saturation of green and yellow colours and boosted a bit saturation of the red.  At the end, I made some local brush adjustments increasing contrast and added two gradient filters.

Post-processing: clarity, vibrance, tones, lower saturation.

Contrasts 2: Thin/Thick

For quite a while, I couldn’t come up with any working ideas for this pair. The only idea that I had was a kind of Dr Seuss’ type. I wanted to find something different, so I had to refer to my favourite dictionary. I drew up a list of objects I might be able to photograph. I believe my choice of the object was determined by a picture of an old books of prayers that I saw a few years ago on Flickr. The other possible subjects were slice of bread / cheese, door.

Although I lived the lighting effect in the picture and I remembered it very well, I did not want to try to reproduce it. The main problem was to find a suitable thick book. I do not know why I did not go to our local library in search of it. The book that I used in my picture belong to my relatives, so I went to their house to take a picture.

I set the picture in their living room using natural light that came from their windows. I had to use my diffuser to get rid of highlights on the rim of the table. Unfortunately, there were two light sources, so I needed two diffusers instead of one. Since I used my tripod, I took several pictures positioning the diffuser to block the light from each light source in turn and edited the rim in PSE9. I took several pictures of the book positioned it at different angles in the frame, but I felt that my pictures were a bit unbalanced. I noticed my husbands’ glasses in the room and positioned them by the book. This made the picture for me.

I thought that a picture of several thin books would nicely complement my picture of a thick book. However, I couldn’t come up a picture I like. I started thinking of different possible subjects. I’d already used my needles for a different contrast, but I couldn’t let this idea go easily away. What else looks like the needles? Cocktail sticks, barbecue sticks … pick-up sticks. Pick up sticks – Mikado. I found a box with the sticks of Mikado game and started a game. The sticks looked just right although their markings were very pale.

I decided that a close up picture would look a bit more interesting than a wider view. I got my macro lens and set my tripod. After a few shots, I decided that a selective lighting would bring a tense atmosphere of the game, so I got my favourite torch out and switched off the main light.

I increased saturation, clarity and vibrance in Lightroom.

I was a bit unsatisfied that I gave up my original idea so easily, so I decided to give it another go. The main problem for me is to find a suitable background. This time I set everything outside against cream garden box and I collected all thin books around the house. I tried a few ways of arranging them.

Contrasts 7: Hard/Soft

This is the pair that was done in no time after I decided on the subject.

I found a hard when we were visiting our relatives. I love the figurine of the mole in their garden and I thought it would be a perfect subject for the first contrast. I used my favourite 50mm prime lens to isolate the figurine from it’s background.

In Lightroom3, I set camera profile (Portrait) and lens correction. Also, I adjusted white balance using the white balance selector, sharpness, contrast, tones, fill light, vibrance and clarity. At the end, I used an adjustment brush on the mole (contrast, clarity and exposure)

Although, I finished quickly with a picture of the first pole, I could not find anything soft until my toddler got a nice small soft bunny. This worked like a trigger to my memory. I remembered that she also got two bigger soft bunnies that had already been perfect subjects for my pictures. I found a dark brown bunny in her room and borrowed it for a day.

I decided to take its picture outdoors. I noticed a small daisy on my way home and decided to use it in my picture. I opted for a wide aperture to make toy’s fur look even softer.

In Lightroom3, I set camera profile (Portrait) and lens correction. Also, I adjusted white balance using the white balance selector, sharpness, tones, fill light, vibrance and clarity. At the end, I used an adjustment brush on the daisy.

Contrasts 1: Long/Short

 

The possible subjects for this pair were my knitting needles, sawing needles or pencils. I thought it might be interesting to use a theme, so I was going to use needles for both pictures.
The idea stemmed from my childhood hobby. I was taught how to needle when I was at primary school. We used short needles to learn to knit. Later I used short needles to knit socks and gloves. The long needles were good to knitt jumpers. I found my craft bag and there they were short and long needles.

I thought that the best way to present the short needles would be to show them being a part of knitting project. I quickly made several rows.

I set up the picture on the brown table in the morning light. Unfortunately, I didn’t noticed a few cup marks on the table which turned to be very distracting when I viewed the pictures on the screen. I had to spent some time cloning them out of the picture. At the same time, I realised that filling the frame with the subject reduced the effect of shortness, so I should have included a bit more negative space to accentuate their shortness.

A few years ago, I took a picture of my favourite long needles in the round case for a different project. I thought that I might retake this picture from using a higher point of view to put a special emphasis on the length of the needles. I should’ve remember an old saying about entering the same river twice. I couldn’t make the idea work. The angle was too wide and as result of that there were too much negative space.

I remembered a picture of a guitar that I’d seen on Flickr where a photographer used a low angle to emphasise the length of the strings. I, too, used a low point of view, wide angle lens and wide aperture to maximise the length of the needles. I liked the picture, but the only problem I had was to find a good background. I had a few white sheets at home, but A2 page wasn’t big enough. I put to sheets together and took a few pictures changing f-stop and point of focus. Developing them in Lightroom, I noticed a big patch of reflected black light from the fire guard where the two sheets were overlapping. I tried to use the Clone Tool in PSE9, but I didn’t like the result.

I tried to retake the picture at a different setting in the house. Also, I selected a large green table cloth for the background.  Although, the green table cloth nicely complemented the bamboo needles, its pattern and the needles were competing for attention. I was going to get a larger white sheet when I had a different idea.

I decided to reduce number of needles to two and show how I usually keep them when I’m about start a knitting project.  I set my soft box by the large window in our living room and took several shots. I positioned the needles diagonally in the frame. This positioning gave me a different idea that I though might be worth trying.

Using the same soft box, I placed most of pictures from my set organising them in an arrow shape. I had to use the Gradient Tool and Brush in Lightroom to whiten the background and boost the colour and contrast of the needles. This is the I’m happy with. The low PoV and wide angle help to emphasize the length of the needles.