Photography 24/7 » August Snaps

August Snaps 31 August

Thomas — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:51:00 +0000

“Kissed by the Wind.”

There’s an English proverb that goes something like “all good things must come to an end” and so it is with my August Snaps Project. Today was the last day of what has been both a challenging and creative month filled with photography every day.

I made more than 1400 images with my Canon G9 throughout the month of August which translates into an average of just under 50 images per day. The purpose of the project was not necessarily to create master pieces every day, but rather to challenge myself creatively and to practice my vision. However I’m still surprised about what the Canon G9 is capable of producing in terms of creative image making and I’m actually very pleased with most of the select images I have published here at Photography 24/7 throughout August.

I only made 27 images today and I had a couple to select from in the end. However the image above, I thought, represent me the most and the type of images I really enjoy making.

I processed today’s image in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and used the Split Toning panel to give it a subtle pink tone which almost reminds me of a hand-coloured image.

That’s it folks!

I might take a little break for a day or two (not only has it been challenging to make images every day, but it has been almost equally challenging to blog about them every day), so if you don’t see any new posts the next day or two, it’s because I have put my feet up to watch a movie!

In closing I can highly recommend investing in a serious compact camera if you don’t already have one. It makes for a great photographic companion and you will be surprised how much you can do with these small beasts. You will (most likely) find yourself photographing a little bit different to how you use your SLR camera. There is a certain sense of freedom using a small, unobtrusive camera (and leaving the tripod behind most of the time – I did use a tripod on a few occassion).

Now is as great time as any to get yourself a serious compact camera and my personal recommendation would be the brand new Canon G11 which you can pre-order at: Amazon.com, B&H Photo or Adorama.

Have fun!

Thanks for following the project.

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August Snaps 30 August

Thomas — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 09:24:22 +0000

“Tie-dye.”

Tie-dying is accomplished by folding clothing material into a pattern, and binding it with string or rubber bands before dipping it into a dye bath. It became fashionable in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of the hippie style. It was popularized in the United States by musicians such as John Sebastian and Janis Joplin.

Today’s image resembles the tie-dye look to my eyes, and in the name of full disclosure I should admit that I also pushed it in this direction by creating a mirror-flip both horizontally and vertically of the original image. This is the first time I have tried my hand at this particular technique, so my August Snaps Project has also pushed in new directions when it comes to post-processing. I have to say August has been a really fun month photographically.

While tie-dye is what the image looks to me, it is in fact a soft focus image of a Clevia plant in full bloom.

In total I made 33 pictures today out which 10 pictures were variations on the tie-dye theme.

There is just one more day left of my personal challenge to carry a compact camera with every day with the intention to make daily images. It has certainly been a challenging month, but also fun and very rewarding creatively. I hope you have enjoyed following the project so far.

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August Snaps 29 August

Thomas — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:20:28 +0000

“Cup Thru’ Bottle.”

A slightly different image today although it is abstract which I have made before in this August Snaps Project. As the title hints, however, it is simply my daugter’s sippy cup taken through a green bottle while we were having lunch. Yes, you can have fun all day long when you carry a compact camera with you everywhere!

Out of the 61 images I made today this was the image that somehow spoke out to me. However I also happen to like abstract photography quite a lot and of course the red and green colours work well together.

I should note that I didn’t make this image with my ‘new’ Polaroid SX-70, it is indeed a snap shot from my Canon G9, but in celebration of my recent aquisition I decided to give it a Polaroid look just to spice things up a little bit creatively.

I created the Polaroid frame very easily using the PhotoFrame Pro 4 Plugin and then I applied a vintage look using the PhotoTools 2 Pro Plugin. I topped things off by hand writing the title on the ‘Polaroid.

If you don’t already own onOne Software’s plug-ins go and check out their website and read about their products: www.ononesoftware.com and remember that you can get a 20% discount on any or all of their plugins simply by using the coupon code 24SEVEN.

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August Snaps 28 August

Thomas — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:22:22 +0000

“Frozen Leaf.”

I got the idea for this image through an article I had cut out and kept in one of my many inspiration files. However it is several months ago since I froze this leaf and my wife has asked me several times what I was doing with this leaf in the freezer? Well, today was the day. I finally set out to photograph it.

I had made a few snap shots on my way back from picking up my new Polaroid SX-70 at the post office. I had three parcels waiting for me at the post office today. One was the camera, and the two others were several packs of Polaroid 600 film which I put in the fridge straight away with my other film stock. I will get in trouble for this as I’m now claiming about 40% of the top shelf in the fridge for film as you can see here:

Oh well…

I wasn’t particularly pleased with the snap shots I made on my way back from the post office. I think I was too excited to get back home and play with the Polaroid SX-70. When I got home I unpacked my parcels and started experimenting with a still life of a bowl of fruit using the Polaroid SX-70. I just wanted to figure out how it worked although I’m still waiting for my neutral density filters which will allow me to use the faster (and cheaper, errrrh I mean less expensive) Polaroid 600 film without battling overexposure on most images.

It is one sleek camera, the design is simply outstanding. It is just a beautiful camera which I’m really pleased I have bought. Sorry, I’m getting side tracked here. Anyway, so I proceeded to also make some snap shots of the still life set-up which turned out allright, but still not quite what I wanted.

Then I remembered the leaf in the freezer and proceeded to set things up on the kitchen counter. I had to block out any direct artifical light as it glared on the ice and the leaf itself, so I shaded the frozen leaf with some folded pieces of white paper and put the camera on a tripod and shot 15 different exposures from above (it was through this process I figured things out with the papers etc. as I went along).

The end result is what you see above. I processed the image entirely in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

In total I made 40 images today.

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August Snaps 27 August

Thomas — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:29:40 +0000

“Light Magic.”

Photography is about light, right?

This was quite a fun image to make. It was made at my main work place where I have the chance to watch how the light changes in this particular area depending on how high or how low the sun is in the sky. It is most interesting when the sun is high in the sky. This is in fact a ramp leading up to the upstairs warehouses and offices in the business complex our business is located in, but obviously I have made a fairly dark interpretation of the ramp area. Familarity with the location came in handy today.

Since there wasn’t really any colour in the image anyway I converted it to black and white.

I’d be interested to hear what you think about this image?

In total I made 44 pictures today.

There is only a few more days left of my August Snaps Project now, time just flies when you’re having fun! I do look forward to shooting with my new Canon 5D MKII in in the coming months though as well as with my new Polaroid SX-70.

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August Snaps 26 August

Thomas — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:39:40 +0000

“Leaves and Wall.”

As I planned my day today I knew I was going to make a second attempt at this image. I had photographed this particular scene when I made “Penny’s Picture” on the 3 August. Since I returned to the same location today I thought I would have another go as I really like the textures and the red and green colours in this scene.

I made five different variations on the scene and in the end it was a choice between this and a horizontal composition. I chose the vertical version because I like the variation in the top half of the wall between right and left and this didn’t show in the horizontal version.

I used onOne Software’s PhotoFrame 4 Pro Edition plugin to create the frame around the photo. You can get 20% off PhotoFrame 4 Pro Edition by using the coupon 24SEVEN during the check out process when you purchase plugins over at onOne Software.

Today result in a total of just 27 images.

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August Snaps 25 August

Thomas — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:22:40 +0000

“In the Depth of Dark.”

The title hints at when I made my photo today…after dark. It was a busy day today and I didn’t have a chance to shoot until I arrived home at around 6pm which was after the last light of the day.

I went out for a little walk close to home. When I noticed this flower I immediately previsualized the end result. While this image was shot at ISO 1600 it was still a four second exposure, so as you can appreciate it was well and truly dark. I knew that my Canon G9 would produce a lot of noise at ISO 1600, too much noise for an acceptable colour file, so I knew straight away that I would convert the image to black and white and use the noise to my advantage to create some ‘film grain’ which I feel adds some mood to the image.

I processed the image entirely in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 so this is where the conversion to black and white was done. I used the Split Toning panel in Lightroom to add a little bit of warmth to the highlights and to a lesser extent also the shadows.

In total I made 32 photos today where 12 of these were of the flower in the dark.

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August Snaps 24 August

Thomas — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:14:03 +0000

“Spring Rain.”

After more than a week with really beautiful weather here in Sydney the afternoon brought some grey skies and rain and I captured this image from inside my car in the late afternoon as I parked my car to go and pick my daughter up after work.

I have seen better examples of these types of images, but all I could find to put behind the rain drops were some green trees. There is something about rain on a window that I really like, it creates an instant mood, but ideally I would like to put a slightly more interesting subject in the background, but I just didn’t have enough time to do this today.

I made a total of 31 images today which included a few different subjects, but out of the bunch this was still the image I liked the best. Feel freel to let me know what you think.

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August Snaps 23 August

Thomas — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:03:55 +0000

“Moon Power.”

Allright, allright, not exactly the most inventive title, I admit, but I feel a little unsinspired with regards to titles tonight. Today I’m about 3/4 way through my August Snaps project. It’s been a lot of fun shooting with my compact camera and I would encourage you to consider a serious compact camera if you don’t already have one. My personal recommendation would be the brand new Canon G11 which you can pre-order at: Amazon.com, BH Photo or Adorama.

August Snaps is not all snaps though. It is very rare that I see a scene, frame it up, shoot it and then walk away with a good image. For all of the images in this project I have typically always ‘worked’ the situation to a certain extent (sometimes more than others) which means spending a bit of time trying different angles, different points of view and indeed different compositions.

Today I made 14 different images of the power lines and power pole incorporating the moon in different ways in the various images. It just so happens that this was the last image in the series and the one I happened to like the best (eventhough I had several others with the moon lined up in a similar way as in this one).

‘Working the scene’ or ‘working your subject’ is far from a novel tip, nevertheless it’s a very good one. If you’re new to photography one of the easiest ways to improve your images is to spend more time shooting what you’re shooting. When you think you’re done, push yourself to try a few more different angles, points of view or compositions. Move left, step to the right a little, crouch down or elevate yourself to a higher vantage point if you can. Not only could this extra time spent result in just the right image, but the process of editing your images for subtle differences will also teach you a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

Today I made a total of 22 images and as mentioned 14 of these were of this particular scene.

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August Snaps 22 August

Thomas — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:51:35 +0000

“Mosaic.”

This was one of the first images I made today, so effectively it is what could be termed as a ‘warm up’ image as also discussed here. While I’m not entirely sure why, I really like the mosaic look of this brick wall reflected in the water in the late afternoon sunlight. It’s simple, yet quite complex at the same time.

The image was created with my Canon G9 which has since been succeeded by the Canon G10, and as just unveiled by Canon in the last few days now also by the brand new Canon G11.

Serious compact cameras are a lot of fun and a great addition to your SLR kit (or indeed for when you don’t want to bring your SLR kit). Pre-order the brand new Canon G11 today at: Amazon.com, BH Photo or Adorama.

I finished with a relatively small total of 29 images today.

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August Snaps 21 August

Thomas — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:36:16 +0000

“Agave Layers.”

Admittedly there is not a lot to keep the viewers attention in this image. There is no real focal point, no real place for the eyes to go to for a little rest. It’s probably not the type of image you look at for ages.

Nevertheless I quite like the image and chose it as today’s pick. I find Agave plants outrageously beautiful and I’m always enthralled by their beautiful luminous edges. I have photographed Agave plants before and here is one other such attempt at capturing its alluring beauty.

I used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 to process the image and convert it to black and white.

In total I made 33 photos today.

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August Snaps 20 August

Thomas — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:13:29 +0000

“55.”

There is not too much to say about today’s image other than I like the various rectangular shapes (helped along by the half-finished white paint) from a design stand point as well as the yellow against the red and brown tones. I have walked past this particular scene many times and so today I decided to frame it up and make a couple of images this morning.

I used onOne Software’s PhotoFrame 4 Pro Edition plugin to create the frame around the photo. It’s one of my favourite plugins from onOne Software. You can get 20% off PhotoFrame 4 Pro Edition by using the coupon 24SEVEN during the check out process when you purchase plugins over at onOne Software.

I made a total of 25 photos today.

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August Snaps 19 August

Thomas — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:27:19 +0000

“Self-Portait.”

Little did I know I would be flirting with self-portraits during this August challenge, but nevertheless that is what I found myself doing yesterday and again today. Self-portraits are hardly my usually choice of subject! Self-portraiture is a whole genre in and of itself. For example you may have heard about Rebekka Gudleifsdottir from Iceland who rose to stardom on flickr as a result of her amazing and creative self-portraits.

When I mentioned I was shooting a mirror at the car park in my post yesterday I was in fact shooting myself in the mirror.

Today I decided to try my hand at a few more self-portrait mirror shots and decided this was the photo I liked the best from today, perhaps because it also represents something I would not normally shoot, but it’s a lot of fun and very refreshing to try something new.

In total I took 66 photos today.

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August Snaps 18 August

Thomas — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:02:06 +0000

“Straight Ahead Into Emptiness.”

As glorious a day as yesterday was, as bad a day I have had today. I shall not bore you with all the details of what went wrong, but suffice to say that it didn’t help when the parking attendant at the parking lot where I had parked started making comments about me taking pictures! Sure, I looked a little suspicious lurking around a car park at 10pm at night with a camera, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it today.

While I know it’s generally a lot better an approach to just relax about these people in so-called authority and be nice and polite, I barked right back at him! “What does it look like I’m doing?” (with a camera held up to my eye?)

“Are you photographing the mirror?” the parking attendant asked completely dumbfounded.

“Yes, I’m photographing the mirror!”

I moved on when the parking attendant gulped up some sort of laughter.

10 mintes later I was photographing what was quite a cool looking piece of machinery near one of the boom gates when an intercom sounded nearby. It was the dumbfounded parking attendant again! Talk about big brother! I ignored him at first. I could’t believe it, but then he continued carrying on:

“Wot rrr u doin naaw?” a robotic sounding voice asked, although there was still no mistaking it for the dumbfounded parking attendant.

“I’m taking pictures as I told you before, mate.”

“U rrr fotograffing the hole carrr park. We hav it on CCTV. Wot for?”

“For the sake of art, my friend. For art.”

I just couldn’t be bothered with this character. In the end I walked over to my car and finished up for the day.

In total I made 38 images today.

I have converted today’s image to black and white in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and then added some film grain and gold toning using onOne Software’s PhotoTools 2.0 Pro Plugin.

Use the coupon code 24SEVEN to get a 20% discount on any of onOne Software’s plugins when you check out.

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August Snaps 17 August

Thomas — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:32:26 +0000

“Angels Play.”

We woke up to the most glorious day here in Sydney today and I chose to walk to work. The walk usually takes about 20-25 minutes, but I left an hour before work so I could take a little bit of time out to make photographs along the way as I knew I would have little or no time at the end of the day.

I was in the mood for abstracts today, so I started out making ‘motion pictures’ right off the bat. In fact all I did today was ‘motion pictures’. I made several images I was quite pleased with, but then I encountered a young tree with large pink blossoms which just took my breath away. I will have to go back to properly identify the tree, but I think it might have been a magnolia tree with pink flowers (instead of white). Sorry, but I’m not a big botanist.

I made several exposures (17 in total) where I pointed my camera straight up against the sky and deliberately overexposed by about two stops in order to blow out the sky while moving the camera during each exposure. This resulted in a series of airy, delicate pictures set against a nice ‘clean’ white background.

I’m perfectly aware that this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I just happen to have soft spot for these type of images. I have edited the 17 images down to 6 images which I’m really quite pleased with. I might even consider them for a small limited edition canvas series. However for now I will just live with these pictures for a while and see if I’m still as excited about them in a couple of weeks time or whether I’m still just on a high from the experience of creating the images.

In total I made 57 images today.

All images for my personal August compact camera challenge are created with the Canon G9 which has since been replaced with the Canon G10 which is capable of shooting some seriously large RAW files (just like a SLR). The Canon G9 produces a 4000 x 3000 pixels RAW file, so if you want to print big, you can.

Get yourself a Canon G10 from B&H Photo.

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August Snaps 16 August

Thomas — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:42:43 +0000

“Take Me to the Ocean.”

Today marks the half-way mark of my personal August challenge of making photos every day with my compact camera. As the title hints, today’s image was made at the ocean. We are fortunate enough to live just a short walk away from the beautiful Tasman Sea. I created this image late in the afternoon. I was shooting directly east which can often result in some beautiful pastel tones which have been brought to life from the RAW file in the post-processing work which was mainly done in Lightroom except for a small curves adjustment to the sky which was done in Photoshop.

It is 1/2 a second exposure – using the Canon G9′s built-in ND (neutral density) filter – during which I panned across the sea to achieve the painterly effect which I have a real soft spot for.

The creative ‘frame’ you see if you view the thumbnail large was created using PhotoFrame 4.0 Professional Edition from onOne Software. onOne Software creates award winning plugins for Adobe Photoshop.

I have teamed up with onOne Software and together we are pleased to offer you a 20% discount on any or all of their plugins (you may consider getting the entire Suite!)

Simply use the discount code 24SEVEN at the checkout and your discount will automatically be applied.

And just for the record I made a total of 45 images today out of which 25 images were pans at the beach.

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August Snaps 15 August

Thomas — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:09:24 +0000

“Spring is in the Air.”

It was a beautiful warm day here in Sydney today and for those of us living in the southern hemisphere we can now smell spring is in the air after a fairly long, wet and cold winter. I didn’t set out to capture spring today, but I did venture out with my Canon G9 – now replaced by the Canon G10 – in the warm, late afternoon sun.

Throughout this August challenge I have come into the habit of starting to shoot fairly quickly after I set out. It’s not so important what I shoot of if it’s not the perfect subject or lighting conditions, what is more important is to ‘warm up’ as if it was before an important sports match. It gets you into the right frame of mind and helps fine tune your vision.

Today I was shooting some reflections and textures as my ‘warm up’ images:

I kept on walking in search for images of interest and this is when I noticed the backlit plants in the main image (click the square thumbnail above to view the image large). Back lighting is one of my favourite lighting conditions because it almost instantly creates mood in your images. I’m a big advovate for seeking out mood in your images and this is not very easy to do. In fact I’m working on becoming more conscious about looking for mood when I’m photographing, but mood can be very elusive and it’s far from present in all situations. So much of the time when an image moves me, I realise it’s because it evokes a certain mood.

Today’s image reflects the warm day we have experienced today here in Sydey and at the same time it evokes feelings of spring and summer for me, so here is hoping it does the same for you as a more objective viewer.

I took a total 77 pictures today.

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August Snaps 14 August

Thomas — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:19:31 +0000

“Concrete Abstract.”

As I was walking around Darling Harbour scouting for images this afternoon I came across this concrete pillar which caught my attention. There was what at first looked like a big unsightly stain on the large pillar, but when seen isolated the stain created a beautiful urban abstract to my eyes. Most passers by were bemused at what I was doing and, I’m sure, thought to themselves why on earth I would waste my memory card on such a strange photo. However I liked the end result and picked it as today’s image.

I made a total of 59 images today.

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August Snaps 13 August

Thomas — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:15:46 +0000

“Texture and Shapes.”

I left work early today and walked home in the late afternoon, just as the sun got nice and low providing a beautiful warm hue to anything in its path. This house is located on the main road leading up to our office and warehouse and I pass it almost everyday (usually in a car). It has this lovely texture of aged wood and peeling paint. Today I had the opportunity to grab a few snap shots since I was walking and happened to have a compact camera with me!

It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it captures some of the texture of the house and I liked warm colours enhanced by the late afternoon sun and as the title indicates I was also seeing some geometrical shapes in this particular composition.

I made only 12 pictures in total today.

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August Snaps 12 August

Thomas — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:29:02 +0000

“Green Space.”

I had a 12 hour work day today which, as you can imagine, left me with little time for snap shots once again. However when I finished work in the city around 9:30pm I took out half an hour to do some photography around Darling Harbour. I made a total 49 images in that half hour and ended up with three images I quite liked.

I chose “Green Space” because it was a surprising image, yet also very simple and straight forward. I suppose it does provide some information, but still also leaves some questions unanswered. I took the picture at the parking house where I had parked. I had wandered all the way to the other end when I saw this green colour (and yes it was this green in reality) and it couldn’t escape my attention. I noticed the words in white on the wall and it was a straight forward matter of framing it up. In terms of composition I left a little bit of the ground in the picture as I liked the ‘grunge’ plus it provided a little depth and balanced the words at the same time.

The “Green Space” words indicate two car spaces which are specifically reserved for “Hybrid Vehicles Only”. Very cool.

Enough said already, it’s late and time for me to get some rest. I hope you like the image despite its simplicity.

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August Snaps 11 August

Thomas — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:49:05 +0000

“Bouncy Ride.”

I didn’t have any time to shoot during the day time today, so it was back to night photography for me although this time it wasn’t out the front window of a moving car! Instead I went up the local street corner to shoot some light trails which was a lot of fun. Oh, you have to enjoy those sceptical looks you get from people when you are on your knees at the roads edge with a camera on a tripod. Some cars slowed down their speed quite a bit!

While I did bring along my tripod I couldn’t resist the temptation to create some extra movement in the images. This is a 15 second exposure where I tilted the tripod forward a few times during the exposure when cars were passing which resulted in the bouncy light trails you see. I made a total 22 exposures from this viewpoint with several light trail variations. In the end I like this one the best.

In total I made 40 pictures today.

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August Snaps 10 August

Thomas — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:53:54 +0000

“Three Wine Glasses.”

It was another difficult day today and I found myself hopelessly short of time to make any images. I took about five minutes out to photograph around my workplace today, but I was uninspired and made some fairly uninteresting images. When you feel stressed for time it can often be difficult to ‘get in the zone’.

So, like yesterday, I found myself making long exposure images out the front window of my car at the end of the day. It’s quite a lot of fun and can result in some unexpected images. I was quite happy with a couple of the car images from today.

However as I arrived home and we were preparing the food I saw these three wine glasses left out to air dry in our kitchen. I was taken by the the shadows and light patterns on the wall. I figured the scene had potential for a simple, high key image. So I interrupted the food preparation and made 7 quick images of these wine glasses. Fortunately my wife is very understanding of these situations! In total I made 58 images with my compact today.

The image was entirely processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and I used the Split Toning panel to tone it with just a hint of cool blue.

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August Snaps 9 August

Thomas — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:09:50 +0000

“Aliens Crossing the Street.”

Today was not easy at all. The girls have been out of action with a nasty stomach bug Friday and Saturday respectively and I thought I had steered clear of it, but then it hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. It really took the energy out of me and I wasn’t really in the mood for making pictures. However I managed to drag myself outdoors this afternoon and made a few pictures. There was a few that were OK, but not really anything revolutionizing.

Then on our way back home in the car at dusk I decided to pull out the camera and make some exposures out the front window as we were driving. This is the beauty of having a little compact camera available at all times – and for the record I wasn’t the one driving!

I quite liked a couple of the images that resulted from this little exercise during our 10 minute drive back. While this is not a revolutionizing picture either, I quite like the shapes and colours in the image. I probably also like it because it’s not the type of image I would usually make.

In total I only made 30 exposures today and 20 of these were shots out the front window from the car.

Click on the thumbnail image above to view large and feel free to let me know what you think.

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August Snaps 8 August

Thomas — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:34:29 +0000

“African Daisy.”

Spending time with your subject is the key to success. It is exceedingly rare that someone can approach a subject, take a picture, move on and then return with a great a great photo. Most great pictures are created which includes an investment of time to get the best possible picture from the best possible viewpoint.

In this example I made a total of 41 different pictures of the African Daisy. I tried different viewpoints, different flowers, different backgrounds, motion during exposure and various compositions.

Now, I’m not saying you have to make 41 pictures every time to get one good one. Sometimes 3 or 4 different images will do, but flowers can be elusive and the wind often plays tricks on you, so I tend to cover myself with lots of exposures in the case of flowers. In total I made 75 pictures today, so more than half of my efforts were spent with this African Daisy.

It’s a pretty straight forward photo, but I like the pristine condition of this flower as well as the extraordinarily beautiful colour combination in this scene.

Click on the thumbnail image above to view large.

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August Snaps 7 August

Thomas — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:41:42 +0000

“Crying Little Devil.”

As the title implies it was the poster of the little devil (or what looks like a little baby devil to me anyway) that attracted me to this scene. However as I looked at the scene more closely I also started noticing interesting geometrical shapes and I saw the potential for contrasting warm and cool colours.

Today I made a total of 25 exposures of which 6 were different interpretations of the little devil.

Click on the square image above to view large.

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August Snaps 6 August

Thomas — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:05:09 +0000

“Who Are We? Who Are You? Who Am I?”

One of few attempts by me to include people in my image. This doesn’t happen very often. However I have long wanted to make an image like this although I was hoping for a lone figure in a red shirt to contrast against the gray concrete structure and double doors. However I’m still quite pleased with these three figures and how they are placed in the image.

Subconsciously I think the image is largely inspired by Otto Steinert’s work. I have his book Parisian Forms which I find hugely inspiring and I can highly recommend it. I will write a more detailed review of the book at some point in the future and share it here on the site. For now you will have to take my word for it!

I made a total of 73 images today of which 43 were different exposures of this very scene but with different passers by each time.

Technically I stacked two neutral density filters plus a polarizer in front of my compact using the rather cool Lensmate on my Canon G9. I have applied just a touch of split toning to the image in my post-processing work. I hope you like it?

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August Snaps 5 August

Thomas — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:02:22 +0000

“Industrial Beauty.”

Today I went for a 15 minute walk in the late afternoon in an effort to create today’s image with my Canon G9. Once again I stressed a little bit as the light was fading quite fast. However then I found a couple of road signs on a street corner and spotted what I thought was a cool urban semi-abstract image and amade a few quick exposures I was happy with.

However towards the end of the walk I came across an industrial cement factory and noticed how the last soft rays of beautiful warm sunlight contrasted against the cooler raw industrial building materials. I made some images and after long deliberation back and fourth between the road sign and the cement factory I opted for the cement factory image as shown above.

I made a total of 17 images during my 15 minute walk and I was pleased with the results – and, oh boy, did I enjoy the impromptu photo walk and a bit of fresh air before finishing up at work!

Very invigorating and therapeutic…

Since the choice between the street sign and the cement factory was so close, I have decided to include the street sign here so you can view the choices I was considering for today’s image. Click the thumbnail to enlarge the street sign image.

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August Snaps 4 August

Thomas — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:01:15 +0000

“Bench and Wall.”

Like yesterday I had limited time for photography today, but unlike yesterday I didn’t have any specific ideas in mind for today’s image. In fact today was the first day where I thought this personal challenge might fail and I would be unable to produce any image I would be pleased with. In the end I pulled through though and came up with this colourful image which I’m quite happy with.

I made a total of 41 images and this image was created just as the sun was setting and the light was fading. As much as I like my Canon G9 the quality of the image file declines dramatically at ISOs higher than 200 and the images start to get quite noisy at ISO 400 and higher. I therefore rely on a reasonable amount of light to avoid shooting at too high ISO settings.

This is another semi-abstract image. You may have an idea about what the subject is, but you might not be 100% sure. While it is course the colour that is the main subject here, the actual content in the image is a striped wooden bench set against an orange wall. However viewed small the image also reminds me of the colours in a flag of some small exotic nation somewhere in the warm part of the world!

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August Snaps 3 August

Thomas — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:45:48 +0000

“Penny’s Picture.”

I had very little time to make images today, but today’s image came to me before I had even left the house – and it wasn’t because I was making any images at home this morning. As I was getting ready for my work day I suddenly remembered a rusty pastel coloured wall at the location where I was going to be for the entire day. I had been wanting to create an abstract photograph of this wall for years, but I had never gotten around to bring my camera with me to this location. I associate the location with work, not photography. However, carrying a compact camera with me changed that and I finally created the image!

This proves to me the power of carrying a serious compact camera with me whenever possible. It gives you the ability to make images at locations where you might not otherwise think about making images – and there are a lot of these types of images out there.

I like this image because it relates to the Japanese aesthetic or concept known as Wabi-sabi which has been described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. The Japanese word for rust is also pronounced “sabi” and there is an obvious relation to this idea as well.

I made a total of 19 images today of which six were different interpretations of this wall. I hope you like it?

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August Snaps 2 August

Thomas — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:12:42 +0000

“Life in the Shadows.”

I didn’t have quite as much time for photography today as I had yesterday and I will have even less time tomorrow, but I will worry about that tomorrow! I did manage to shoot a total of 75 images today (although I shot some scenes quite extensively). I made images both indoors at home, some at the coast during a midday walk and again some this afternoon during a walk down the street to a little local creek which is where today’s image is from.

I chose this little shadow on a textured tree trunk as today’s image because I liked the idea of combining two elements in nature into one image (i.e. the shadow of the plant and the tree itself). Again I have opted for a black and white interpretation.

I enjoy being more visually alert since taking on this personal photo challenge and hope I can keep it up throughout the month. I would be pleased to hear any constructive feedback you may have on the images – good or bad.