A Small World

After looking at the article on shutterbug I decided to do more macro work to add to my work on the blog. The following images which I have chosen are my favorite from the shoot, if you wish to see the rest of the shoot click here. This shoot was taken in my own home and I used a Panasonic Lumix G1 camera to take the images and all of the lighting was natural lighting.

"Colour Boutique"

Taken: 21st Feb 2010

For this image I wanted to capture all of the different colours and textures of the charms on my Paul's Boutique bag, hense the name Colour Boutique. To capture as much detail as possible on the charms I used a macro lens. The lighting for this image was just natural light which was coming through my window. The part of this image which catches your eye first is the Paul's Boutique label, this is because 1. It is on the bottom right intersection points, which is the first thing which you look at, and 2. because of the text. When I edited this image in photoshop the only part which I changed was the contrast so that text stood out a little more than the rest of the charms in the image. I also added a watermark to it, which I am now also going to do to all of my images so that if anyone uses my image it will still have my watermark on it.

" The Perfect Petal"

Taken: 21st Feb 2010

This image is my favourite image from the macro shoot, I really like how the vivid colour of the petals stands out from the dark green background. When taking this image I wanted the detail of the inside petals to stay as sharp as possible, whilst the rest of the image was blurred. To achieve this I used a macro lens and positioned the camera about 1-2cm away from the flower. The only lighting used to light this image was the sun, I took this image later in the afternoon as the sun wasn't too harsh and to stop it from washing out the colours in the photo. This image works well as you are drawn straight into the middle of the flower which is the sharpest part of the image. When I edited this image in photoshop the only thing which I change was the contrast slightly and then the saturation to make the flower more vivid and to come out of the background more.

"Modern Control"

Taken: 24th Feb 2010

When I took this image I was actually sat at the computer uploading the other macro images. I decided to experiment with my macro lens and take a few more images of things around my computer space. I think that this image works well as the leading lines, created by the shape of the Ctrl key, leads your eyes up to the Ctrl written on the key. The colours in this image also work well together as there are only greys and black in this image. When I had the image in photoshop I adjusted the contrast slightly as in the original image all of the greys were almost the same shade which meant the image had almost no depth to it and it didn't make such a visually appealing image.

When taking this set of images I wanted to capture the many different colours and textures of objects using macro. As macro is such a passion of mine I really enjoyed the photoshoot and was very pleased with the range of results which I got from this shoot.

Shutterbug Super Course

Macro photography is one of my strongest passions in photography. I love the extreme close-ups, the intesity of an image and how stunning an image can be. Whilst researching more about macro I came across an article on shutterbug.net which is about the different techniques and equipment you can use to help you to get amazing results. To see the article click here.

TabbyKat Photoshoot

For the first shoot of this week I have taken images of my kitten Moo-Moo. I took around 30 images and the following 3 images are my favourite from the shoot. All the images were taken using a Panasonic Lumix G1 with a macro lens. For this shoot I had to use auto on the camera as whilst the cat was moving around so was the shadows and light, so it was hard to capture images whilst constantly changing the aperture and shutter speed. To view the rest of the photoshoot click here.

"Slack Cat"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

I don't personally like this image as much as the bottom two which I have added, but I still think that it is a striking image. This image was taken at the beginning of the photoshoot so I didn't use the macro lens for this image. I took this image whilst my cat was rolling around and stretching on the floor, so I think that this was quite a lucky shot as I got her looking straight at the camera. I edited this image in photoshop as I wanted to adjust the exposure and contrast, I think that this makes the image look better as before all the colours were dull and nothing really stood out. The face of the cat stands out most in this image as it is on the top left intersection point of the rule of thirds.

"In AWhisper"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

I feel that this is a very strong image and that it stands out from others. To take this image I used a macro lens on my Lumix G1. When I took this picture my cat was starting to calm down and relax a little so it was easier to take. If you look at the rest of the shoot you will see that other macro images like this one have turned out blurry as the cat was moving around quite a bit. The lighting in this image was just natural lighting which came from the sun coming into my bedroom.

I felt that this image didn't need any editing as the exposure and the contrast in the image looked good as they were. The part of this image which I like the most is how sharp all the little details are and how the part which is in focus takes up most of the frame. I also like how the angle is slightly different than the one below which makes different in many ways yet just as visually nice to look at.

"Beauty In A Close-Up"

Taken: 8th Feb 2010

This image is my favourite from the whole shoot. To capture this image I waited until my cat was most relaxed and then shot it using a macro lens. I like the effect that you get with a macro lens where it focuses on one part and then the rest is out of focus. You can change what part of the subject you focus on by moving closer or further away from it. I also like how you are drawn into the nose straight away as this the part which is most in focus and it also takes up about half of the image. The other part of this image which stands out for me is the eye, this is because the rest of the image is made up of soft brown and cream colours where as the eye is a vivid green colour. The eye looks good in the image as it stands out but isn't so vivid that it looks out of place. Another reason why I think that this image is visually pleasing is that all of the fine details in the cats fur and on its nose are so sharp which makes it a nicer image to look at.

When taking these images I wanted to capture the beauty of the cats face, mainly the nose and mouth, as I think that cats are beautiful and intriguing creatures. I see many different animal photographers but only a few can capture the real beauty of an animal and I think that when they do capture it, it makes a stunning image.

Kristina Beceatchi

Whilst looking on the web yesterday for some inspiration for my first shoot I came across a photographer called Kristina Beceatchi. She has large collection of different images from different genres, but the image which stood out the most for me was the image titled "Another Vision". I felt that this was such an amazing and influencial image that it has inspired my first photoshoot.

http://www.buceatchi-kristina.com/index.html

Buceatchi's image is an extremely strong image with a great sense of composition. Because of the low key set-up, and the way that the light has been positioned to create strong highlights on the cats face, it draws you into the image, it makes you want to look closer. The black backdrop also makes the cat stand out more than it would on a white backdrop, which would make the cat seem more washed out, and to me wouldn't make the image as good a quality as it is. I think that Buceatchi put alot of thought and time planning and trying to create this image and that she has created an amazing image for a wide variety of viewers.