This was an experiment with light from a few weeks back. The objects were set on a table on top of and in front of a black cloth.the camera was tripod mounted and pre-focused then the lights were turned out. On a 30 second exposure in the dark, individual objects were lit for a few seconds with an old torch.

Nice neat way to get interesting lighting.

Happy Halloween…

Way back in February I mentioned that I’d had a look at Stock Photography. To be honest I’d quickly lost interest in it, and apart from adding a couple of pictures of the summer I hadn’t given it a huge deal of thought.

Yes, if you’re asking, I’ve sold some photos – probably making to the tune of $250 over the year. Hardly rocking my world…

However, gratification comes in many forms and I’ve grown to love showing people my photographs and getting feedback when people like them. I can even cope with the feedback I get when people don’t like them.

I got a new form of gratification today when surfing the local ferry operators site…

Yup. That’s my photo.

This picture has been on sale for a while from the stock sites, and it is quite popular compared to other images I’ve submitted.

But, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a photograph of mine used on professional site or publication where someone has paid money to do it.

I know it’s a little thing, but it made me smile.

If you want to practice portrait photography, the only realistic option is to have someone model for you. Self portraits are fun, but you’ll always be a little out of sorts with the process.

I’ve lined up a few friends for the next few weeks, but the club had a session on Tuesday which was a great place to start.

Gordon offered up a theme a few days ago, but I’ve held posting it for a little while to give people some time to do other things.

This rounds theme: Unusual

I asked Gordon to give a little more information and he said anything which is “unusual” or unconventional, weird, bizarre, strange, odd, different, wacky, alternative, outside the box.

Maybe with Halloween coming up you might get some inspiration…

I suspect we’ll get a lot of very different shots this time!

Closing date for submissions is 15th November. Usual rules apply -

1 image on the above theme which you’ll submit via “submissions<at>learningtosnap.com”. I’ll make the images submitted available to the entrants for about a week. Winner gets the kudos and the right to pick the next theme.

Go on, give it a go!

There’s a portrait round in the club coming up and I’ve been trying to come up with a different style of shot. I expect there will be an abundance of traditional portraits doing the rounds and I fully expect I’ll submit a few of those myself.

But I also wanted a few more unusual shots.

And after watching the Matrix a few months back, I couldn’t get the idea of a computer lit shot out of my mind. I lined a person up for the shot, but had no idea about lighting it. So rather than waste their time, last night I used myself as my test subject.

OK. It’s maybe a little 1999. But I kind of like the effect.

I started out by just lighting my face using the glow from a laptop monitor with a series of lines of bright green text on it. This just wasn’t generating enough light though and holding still for 30 seconds was a nightmare. So I settled on reducing the exposure time to around 15 seconds and firing a flash with a green gel from my right during the shot.

An overlay layer, a graduated filter and some curves later and the shot was done.

I’ll do the same shot again with the friend who’s volunteered, but I’ve learned some lessons along the way.

1. Long exposures are impossible to manage for the model.
2. It’s impossible to auto focus a Canon 400D in the dark, so you need to get the focus set and then stay still until the light goes off and the shot’s taken
3. Make sure the strobe is behind a diffuser otherwise you’ll get hot spots
4. The text on the monitor needs to be bigger to be legible (and will be reversed (duh) on the image
5. Even if you’re planning on having one side of the face dark, you need to be careful – no light means no detail. If I lift the image on the left side the ear is just a lump of noise
6. Straighter on to the monitor would have helped the text a little more

The latest challenge, Daily Ritual, was set by Shereen a few weeks back. Talking to those who submitted, I think this probably caught the flavour of the game perfectly. Everyone seemed to go through the same series of emotions, from “what will I take” to “I’ve loads of ideas” and ending up with “this is really tough”. The final images though are all good, and all different – it’s interesting the different take people ended up with.

Though hygiene seems important!

The entries for this round were:

Geoff -

Stuart -

Gordon -

Shereen -

Paul -

Darrell -

It’s interesting that three of us picked self portrait shots.

This months winner, able to take home plaudits and bragging rights is Gordon. The shot of the aftershave bottle really impressed me with the complimentary colours and the strong shadows leading you into the feeling that it’s a morning thing.

Gordon, you’re up – next theme when you’re ready and we’ll have another go.