Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Vision & Blur

Beyond Layers Day 4 Challenge: Vision and Blur. It's about shooting photos with beautiful, dreamy blur.

Now, while studying the topic, I learned a new term - my camera is a point-and-shooter. Meaning, of course, that it's designed for simple operation, there's no changing the lens or anything of the kind. I also found out that it's not possible to blur the background like with a "better" camera/lens unless one is focusing on a (relatively small) object really close to the lens. Well, that's then it - if I want blur, I either focus on a small object, or produce the blur in Photoshop, and forget the advice about acquiring a better lens.

Earlier this spring, I did practical training on White Balance, and now, following Kim's suggestions, I also played around with the Exposure Value settings. Overexposing slightly is really a way to lighten up the image, but shooting outside in the garden, I also noticed that underexposing some really helped to pop out the colours of flowers from a general greenness. Hey, I'm learning!

Today I have three photos - the first one is a study in light I did in April. Shot in the afternoon in our living room, blur created by using the macro setting and by using texture, called Plaster Squared, by Kim Klassen, at soft light and using layer mask on the carnation.


Carnation
texture Plaster Squared by Kim Klassen


The second is a shot of a lovely Dandie Dinmont Terrier statuette we bought at the World Winner Dog Show 2008 in Stockholm, if I remember correctly. The statuette is really a little masterpiece, it has an exactly correct Dandie look. With this, I had to do a lot of tweaking for the lightness, but I'm very happy with the result.


The Look
texture Phoebe by Kim Klassen


The third picture is one I took yesterday morning, and here I tried out underexposing the shot. Used a touch of an action called Lovely & Ethereal by The Pioneer Woman to finish it.

Globe-flower
action Lovely & Etherial by The Pioneer Woman


But now, the sun is shining, the grass is growing and I hear the lawnmower silently calling...

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