Well That Was Unexpected

So a month and a half between posts isn't all that flash is it? I've had things to say but actually saying them seemed like a huge jump.

If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram (taflineh) or Facebook you would be well aware that roughly 7 weeks ago I broke my ankle and have been unable to walk at all until just recently. So you could say I've had nothing but time to write blog post. But whenever I started to write it all seemed forced or fake or going in directions that I didn't want them to. 

I'm one of those people who if I'm not careful I get attacks of what I like to call 'stinking thinking'. Let me tell you when you have nothing but time on your hands 'stinking thinking' is nigh impossible to avoid. And really who wants to read (or write for that matter) a blog were a person is just moaning? So it seemed like a far more preferable option to keep silent. 

But now it's time to pick myself up off the mat and get going again...

Insomnia Sucks... But the Skyline Sure is Pretty

I went to bed Friday night fully intending to sleep. I went through my usual nightly ritual (it's important to have good sleep hygiene), closed my eyes and waited for blissful sleep to envelop me... And I waited... And I waited... I tossed and turned and I waited. Eventually it was time to admit defeat and just get up. After reading through my Google Reader and researching about what bit of kit I'd like to buy next I was at a loss as to what to do. Watching home shopping commercials is never a good idea for me as I become convinced I desperately need a (insert product name here). I realised sunrise was only a few short hours away and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to break out my neutral density filters and see what I could capture. As it turned out however I am much happier with the photos I took before sunrise and I thought I'd share a few.

I'd be willing to bet that most if not all photographers in Brisbane (be they enthusiasts or professionals) have been to the Kangaroo Point cliffs to take photos of the city skyline. Armed with this knowledge I took along a prop to add a little something different into the scene.

 It was heaps of fun tossing a torch around to light up the foreground. Testing out different angles and directions to light the birdcage from to see what looked best. If you ask me it was the prefect way to spend a few hours while I was waiting to feel sleepy.

Once the sun had fully risen I loaded myself up and walked the short distance back to the car to put most of my gear away. Side note: I only got in the way of three super keen, super fit jogger types on the way back to the car so I'd consider that a complete success.

As I put away my tripods and bags I was stuck by the beauty of the morning. So I decided to go for a walk without any of my bags weighing me down. Armed only with my camera and a 50mm 1.8 lens I set off again to enjoy the morning and capture a few more photos along the way... But that's for another post.

A Little Bit of a Rembrandt Wanna-Be

Over the past couple of weeks in one of my classes we have been discussing, learning about and practising rembrandt lighting. Rembrandt lighting is a fairly simply lighting set-up that uses one key light and usually a reflector. This lighting style lights up half of the face while placing the other half in shadow save for a triangle of light underneath the eye. Here's one of my first attempts at rembrandt lighting in the studio. Thanks to the awesome Miss M for being my model.

 
 Rembrandt lighting is unsurprisingly named for the Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (how fantastic is his middle name??!!? Imagine trying to say that one to a voice automated system.) The painter often used this technique to give his subjects form, depth and definition. Here's a self-portrait he painted which demonstrates the lighting style perfectly:

Source

See that little triangle of light underneath his eye on the shadow side of his face? That's rembrandt lighting at its finest. Man oh man could that guy paint or what?!?

While more difficult it is possible to implement this lighting style outdoors using the sun as your key light. You just need to get a little more creative when working with the sun. The lovely Miss T proved to be my best example of rembrandt lighting outdoors. Thanks Miss T for being my model for a while!

As you can see while we are learning about photography from behind the camera we also spend a bit of time in front of the camera being models as well. If nothing else I suppose that it teaches you how to communicate exactly what you want/need from the model because you can see it from both sides.

There's a whole lot more still to come but I want to know: do you like me sharing what I've learnt and photographed in class? What would you like to see on this blog? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time I hope your weekend has been restful!

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

So I wonder how many people can answer the question "What did you do at school today?" with "Popped water balloons and threw water over each other."? Did you ever do that while you were studying? It was all in the pursuit of practising photography skills. That it happened to be loads of fun was just a bonus!


It was all about freezing motion by using high shutter speeds. You need to balance your ISO, shutter speed and aperture. I found to get the best results I needed to under-expose the photos by about a stop and a half.


A few brave members of the class were willing to have buckets of water, cordial and milk (!!) thrown at them. Pretty pictures and sticky, smelly clothes ensued. A big thanks to Miss R and Miss D who happily took whatever we threw at them.


As you can see from the pictures there's a split second where the water stays in the balloon shape after it has been popped. It's kind of amazing to see it captured it a photo. It all happens so fast that the human eye just doesn't see it.



So what can I say? It's all in a days work. I'm so keen to capture a few more bursting water balloons! Any one want to be my assistant? There are so many more pictures to share but for the meantime I hope your weekend is going wonderfully!

A Little Bit of Light Painting...

Recently I have been experimenting with light painting a little more. If I do say so myself some of the photos turned out great. I do so love playing with long exposure photography! It's so much fun to paint with a touch and run around to the back of the camera to see what I've managed to get.


I am developing a little collection of vintage cameras (must admit I've got my eye on a few more!). The Nikkormat in the above photo is one of my dad's old cameras. I would dearly love to get it in proper working order again but unfortunately that is a little out of my budget at the moment.


I picked up the above camera on eBay for only $10! Unfortunately it doesn't work either but I still think its a total bargain if you ask me. I have a few interesting photoshoots planned with this pretty little camera.


Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph my cute little d5000. And, boy, let me tell you it does seem little compared to my d7000. It's funny to think that this was my first ever dslr and that I've had it for almost 3 years. I don't think I could ever part with it... There's a little too much sentimental value attached to it!


Of course what light painting without a bit of good old-fashioned steel wool spinning? I decided to use my external flash (popped by a helpful friend) to make it into a self-portrait!


I decided to make a little video of my latest steel wool spinning adventure. One thing (well actually many things) became obvious - I need to get WAY better at editing if I'm planning to make any more videos!

It's kind of fun to watch the video of what I look like spinning the steel wool because when I'm spinning it is of course from a completely different perspective. I think I might try my hand at making a few more videos (if I can think of interesting subjects!) If you have the equipment why not give it a try? I'll always enjoy photography the most though.

I hope you had a fantastic week!

Lately...

Extremely long time no blog! My bad. Thanks for sticking around. Obviously downloading an app to make blogging easier didn't exactly work out as planned. Apparently I'm still trying to figure out and adjust to my new schedule. Here's hoping the adjustment period is almost over!

I thought I'd share a few photographs I've taken recently for one of my assignments for the course.


First I have to say a huge thank you to a few of my friends who let me photograph them for a few hours. You guys were fantastic models! It's been kind of fun practising and perfecting my portrait photography skills. I can see some definite improvement in my ability to get the photo I'm after.


It's incredibly gratifying to be able to have an idea - a concept - in mind and be able to execute it.


I have lots more photographs that I'm planning to share. But instead of photo-bombing you all with one extremely long post chock full of photos I think I'll spread them out over a few posts. Maybe that will encourage me to blog more. What do you think? I'd love to hear from you - what you think of the photos, ideas about what to photograph next or even just to stop by and say hello. In the meantime I hope you've had a wonderful weekend!