The Challenge: Texture and Silhouette

30 day photo challenge

This week I am covering the fourth challenge which I accidentally skipped, and the seventh challenge of the 30 photo challenges. To make these challenges even more difficult it was pouring rain when I had the time to pull out my camera and work on the challenges. I grabbed my camera and headed to take my youngest daughter to work hoping I would think of somewhere that would have interesting subjects for the challenges. With the gloomy skies and all the ran I thought I was going to have to just head back home and set up my lights and find a subject there. Then I saw that the parking lot lights were on and shining really bright. After a few minutes of looking around the car for something interesting to shoot, this is what I came up with.

4th Challenge: Texture

I parked with the light about 50 feet in front of my car and hung my necklace from the sun visor. I took this shot and then remembered that I had the white balance set for tungsten lighting so I changed it, but decided I really like the blue cast of this photo much better than the other photo. I did boost things like clarity and tweaked tones a bit to enhance the texture aspect. Side note: The red spot in this photo is a passing cars tail light reflected in the raindrops on the windshield.

7th Challenge: Silhouette

Same necklace, just a different section. Once again I shot with white balance set for tungsten. The only post processing I did with this photo was a slight crop to remove a thin line of the visor which could be seen at the top of the photo and to boost clarity by a little.

I do believe that the poor weather actually did me a favor, because it made me get more creative with both the subject matter and how to meet the challenge under less than ideal circumstances. Side note: The moon like white spot in this photo is actually the light reflecting in a raindrop.

In addition to these photos of my necklace I also took some silhouette shots of the two action figures that my friend has sitting on the dash of her car, which I was driving. I often shoot texture shots but seldom shoot for a silhouette, so this was a lot of fun in that aspect too. How about you, do you look for and take texture or silhouette shots? 

Sharing with:

Jame's Weekend Reflection

The Challenge: Rule of Thirds and B&W

30 day photo challenge

2nd challenge: Rule of Thirds

This week has been extremely hectic, so I decided since these two challenges cover aspects that I am very familiar with I would pick a few photos that I had already taken that I believed had the necessary elements to meet both challenges.

In the above image the chain  sits on the lower horizontal line with the main link at the junction of the left horizontal/vertical lines. Lake and tree line sit between the upper and lower horizontal lines. Skyline predominately above the top horizontal line, with one tree top at the junction of the upper right horizontal/vertical lines.

Here the rule of thirds is applied only to the chain, with the chain sitting on the lower vertical line and the primary link at the junction of the bottom left horizontal/vertical line.
 

For this photo instead of applying the rule of thirds by having lines intersect at a focal point, I placed the subject almost entirely on the left vertical line. Lining the shot up so that the line would pass through the center of the top of the boy and so the bottom link of the chain would also touch the line. I contemplated changing my position to have the line go directly through his arm and the chain, as well as intersecting at his had, however at that angle less of his face would have been visible. I could have cropped the photo to place the junction of the upper vertical and left horizontal line at his hand instead of slightly right of his hand as it is here but I preferred this composition.

3rd challenge: Black & White

Prior to converting this image to black and white I followed some of the suggestions in the 30 day Challenge descriptions. I boosted the exposure, black point, contrast, saturation, vibrancy, highlights, and added a vignette to the color photo. As you can see in the image on the right, this gave the color photo a very over processed look. It did enhance the conversion to B&W. However, in my opinion this technique did not provide as much control over the B&W conversion as I feel I have when using Photoshop or even converting the image to black and white first and then applying tonal adjusts as I have done in the following images. Maybe I just need to practice this technique more.

For this Black and White conversion, after making a number of tweaks in Lightroom I applied the HP_BW_Drastic preset I downloaded for free from Hacking Photography (HP). The tweaks were minor enhancements that did not make the photo look over processed and I really like the final results.

With both the above and below photos the images were first processed in color with adjustments in Lightroom to render vibrant photographs. For the above photo I applied the HP B&W_Hard preset, slightly adjusted the tones then applied a vignette. For the bottom photo I used the stock Lightroom B&W Contrast High preset, then tweaked the tones a bit.

Click here to see the color version

Although these images were not shot with the challenge in mind, the challenge has played a major part in how I processed the images. Later I will revisit these challenges and take some photos specifically for the challenges. Who knows, maybe that will make a difference in my view of the B&W conversion suggestion to over process the photo.

In the past I have performed image enhancement and B&W conversions in Photoshop, but since I am trying to improve my Lightroom skills these photos were all processed in Lightroom. What program do you prefer for digital photo processing?

The Challenge: Self Portrait

30 day photo challenge

1st challenge: Self Portraiture

Instead of doing one challenge a day, I have decided to just focus on each challenge as time permits.
 

I combined my first attempt at this challenge with taking portraits of one of my granddaughters. I am much happier with her portraits which I will share later. 

This is a shot from that first attempt. I shared a better shot Here. I definitely chose the wrong time of day and the wrong location. In addition my attempt to get the focus set properly wasn't very successful. Not to be beaten by a challenge I had to give it a few more tries.

On my second attempt, I headed out with two of my grandchildren. Once again, I captured some good portraits of the kids. As for the self portraits, they were better than my first attempts. However, I was still not satisfied.

Although it was about the same time of day as in the first attempts, this time I chose a location that had more trees to diffuse the harsh light. Thanks to the children, who agreed to sit where I planned on sitting, I was able to set the focus better this time. Although still not satisfied, I am happier with this than with my first attempts. Maybe if I had posed differently I might like it. But the way I am sitting almost makes me look pregnant! Thank God that isn't possible. LOL

For my final attempt I decided to go for a completely different type of self portrait. I did a series of shots that will be used for a project I am doing about living with Narcolepsy. I am very satisfied with the results. 



This challenge definitely took me out of my comfort zone (behind the lens). It also gave me a chance to work on conceptualizing the portrait instead of relying solely on what I see through the view finder to compose the portrait.  

At first I thought this took me out of my comfort zone because I am getting older and like mirrors I can't hide that from a photo. Then I realized that isn't it, because I have never liked having my photo taken. It seems to me many photographers feel the same way. So I ask, why is it photographers are more comfortable taking photos of other people than they are of themselves?