Author: baker

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image 009 – The Shop

The Shop

 

mysterious black and white image of a cluttered workshop with a window and a clock

I made this image last December during my monthlong obsession with the shop. The lighting is always so low key and mysterious in there!

Aesthetic Elements

I’m just going to point out a few things about this photo that I like. First off, the light coming through the window gets to the edges of nearby objects with lots of intensity, but falls off fast. I really like that in a photo, because it makes for very defined and obvious edges. Next, I like the restfulness of the image. The repeating pattern of horizontal and vertical lines make it very “rectangular” feeling, which to me is restful, as opposed to diagonal. I also see the entire greyscale in this image, from the bottomless void of black under the counter to the heaven-like whiteness of the window, it’s all there. There are lots of interesting textures that I see. The fan cage is nice. The smoothness of the ceiling contrasts the clutter. The closet curtain on the right is very 3-D. The clamps lined up in front of the curtain are very contrasty.

Metaphorical Elements

And then I notice the clock, hiding in the shadows on the left. Especially being in the shadows, could it symbolize that time is not considered in this environment? But why even include the clock if it’s not considered? Though time can be ignored [to a certain extent], it’s always there, happening, passing, making people and things age, whether ignored or not, like a train with no brakes. Even when full attention is given to a task, at some point it will be time to stop for the day. The other symbolism that I see with time is the location of the clock. It can be pushed off to the side of the work/play area, relocating it to the boundaries of perception, but that’s as far as it goes. To the edge, but not past, because we’re always going to be subject to it. Could life be possible without time? I don’t think so. So without time, maybe there would be no life at all. The consequence is simply this: our time bombs are ticking away.

exposure time: 1/15

f-number: f/4.0

ISO:100

focal-length: 28mm [effectively 45mm on this camera]

equipment: Canon T2i with 28mm f/2.8 USM

software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0

 

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image 008 – Cooling

Cooling

 

rain falling off of a roof rainy weather photography in Virginia with lots of bokeh and dull light

“Why this image?”, one might ask. What you’re looking at is my miracle air conditioning. How it works: 1. The high for the day tops 90 degrees. 2. The heat index in our apartment tops 100 degrees. 3. We hope a storm moves in. And that’s it. It’s free!

I chose a wide aperture for this image to “bokehtize” the background, but wanted the raindrops to be slightly blurry, due to motion, so I used 50 ISO in order to get a proper exposure at 1/60 shutter. Lightroom adjustments were minimal.

exposure time: 1/60

f-number: f/1.8

ISO:50

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Canon 5D Mark II with 50mm f/1.4 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image 007 – Nebulous

Nebulous

 

black and white image of a field disappearing into the morning mist with a bird flying minimalist photography

Nebulous (adj) – in the form of a cloud or haze

My original vision was to make an image of a field disappearing into the morning fog. A bird flew into the frame just as I pressed the shutter, so I took another right away. In my opinion, the image with the bird is better, because the bird makes such a stark contrast to the rest of the image, breaking the smooth pattern of grass and fog.

exposure time: 1/2000

f-number: f/1.6

ISO:50

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Canon 5D Mark II with 50mm f/1.4 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image 006 – Notes

Notes

 

pentax me super on kodak bw400cn film photography of Canon T2i and moleskine on desk low key photograp

I recently obtained an Epson Scanner that has an adapter for film strips, so I thought I would share a shot from my most recent film experiment. I shot this image a few months ago with the Pentax ME Super that my dad lent to me. He bought the Pentax when he was fresh out of high school.

Using old equipment and media can be inspiring; it makes me look at ordinary things very differently, not to mention much more decisively. I used to believe that going to an exotic location would lead to better images, but the love of simple things has recently refuted that belief. While traveling and experiencing new things can definitely broaden one’s horizons, it can also be distracting. I yearn to be so observant towards everything around me that I am able to see fresh photographs, ready to be made, in everyday life. This image is meant to serve as an example of that belief. To further drill the point home, let it be known that four out of the six 104 experiment images so far were all created within a half mile of each other around our apartment, and I hope to maintain that ratio.

&#8220To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.&#8221 -Elliott Erwitt

exposure time: very slow

f-number: f/2.0

Film speed:400

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Pentax Me Super with Pentax 50mm f/2.0

scanner + software: Epson Stylus RX500, Adobe Photoshop Elements (cropping the strip).

 

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image Number 005 – Mixer

Mixer

 

guy mixing the sound at Aletheia church of Harrisonburg Virginia handheld low light shot in black and white

I’ve been eying the light spill from the window in the background of this photo ever since Aletheia moved to the new location. I knew it would be perfect backlighting for something or someone when the lights are dimmed for worship. Yesterday my vision became reality.

I was able to use a technique that I learned by photographing weddings for this photo. I wanted a relatively low ISO, so I chose 320. I also wanted shallow depth of field, so I went with f/1.6. Where did that leave the shutter speed for a proper low key exposure? 1/13 handheld. I held my breath, pressed the button halfway to focus (yes I autofocus), and waited for the perfect expression with the least amount of movement. This time, the wait was only about five seconds, as the mixer seemed to freeze in place for a second while he sang along with the band. I often end up holding my breath way longer than I should and my muscles start trembling. That’s when I feel like I’m really instinctively practicing good technique, when it overrides my instinct to breathe regularly.

exposure time: 1/13

f-number: f/1.6

ISO speed:320

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Canon 5D and Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment Personal Weddings

104 Experiment – Image Number 004 – Sister

SISTER

 

headshot of girl with Canon 5D and 50mm f 1.4 bokeh

Last Sunday, Aneila and I had dinner with my parents. My sister, Micah, is finished with school for the summer, so she was there too. She asked me to take a photo of her, so I figured why not practice? Being unable to dictate the schedule for wedding days leaves the lighting situation at the mercy of the bride and groom. It’s critical to be able to work with all types of light. The high noon sun is one of the most difficult for me.

What I have found is that shade can really make a difference. Making sure not to venture too far into the forest (otherwise skin starts to turn green or more pale), I place the subject under a tree full of leaves. The result is a very diffused, even type of lighting for the skin, and some awesome bokeh in the background slipping through the leaves!

exposure time: 1/80

f-number: f/2.0

ISO speed: 50

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Canon 5D and Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment Personal

104 Experiment – Image Number 003 – Doors

DOORS

 

massanutten mountain after a storm in the evening with full colors with a perspective rendering lens 28mm

I always hate being stuck somewhere during a storm that prevents me from fully experiencing the power of nature. On May 23, 2012, I had to deal with just that. We finally returned around 8:15pm to catch this sight from our backyard and it just goes to illustrate how doors being closed can open up new and better doors for an artist. My camera battery died right after I made this photo. If I had been able to photograph during the storm, I wouldn’t have had the battery left to capture this.

exposure time: 1/40

f-number: f/5.6

ISO speed: 320

focal-length: 28mm

equipment: Canon 5D and Canon 28mm f/2.8 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment People Personal

104 Experiment – Image Number 002 – Walk

For the next 52 weeks, I will be posting a new single image each Monday and Friday along with a short-long collection of my thoughts about it. The images may represent things that are special to me, random photographic captures, deliberately engineered shots, blah blah blah, I’m sure I’ll eventually post an image that doesn’t fall into any of those categories. I’m calling this series “104 Experiment” due to the fact that over the course of 52 weeks, two images per week will result in 104 total images.

Welcome to post number two.

WALK

 

tiny person walking preserved with a Canon 5D Mark II and a perspective rendering lens 28mm

The day UPS delivered the Canon 5D Mark II was a glorious day indeed. I had been waiting anxiously all morning, and finally I heard the truck. I remember tearing open the box and realizing “I bet the battery doesn’t come pre-charged”. 150 minutes later, Aneila(my wife) and I were off for the mandatory “new camera” walk.

As we got down near the train tracks on Bear Lithia Road outside of Elkton, Virginia, Aneila walked ahead as I experimented with the new full frame wideness that the T2i wasn’t able to achieve. After about thirty seconds of tinkering while pointing the camera towards the ground, I happened to glance up and immediately liked something about the lines and contrasts that created the scene.

Studying the image now, I see lots of converging lines going towards Aneila. I also see the evening color of the grass contrasting with the blue sky. The utility pole, tree, and Aneila form a triangle, which is the simplest, yet most robust of all the geometric shapes. One of my favorite aspects of this photograph is the focal length, when combined with the chosen aperture (mentioned below). 28mm at f/9.0 on a full frame sensor gives a very wide perspective with little pincushion distortion, and effective hyper focus (everything is in focus). Thus, the world surrounding what I consider the subject (the triangle), appears large. Accurately large. People, trees, and utility poles are nothing compared to the vastness of the universe. Those are the things that I notice about the image now.

Often times I just get this feeling about a scene that I can’t explain. “I want to photograph that. . .someday” is the most common response to stimuli. This time, the “I want to photograph that. . .someday” feeling arrived and without missing a beat, I raised the camera, framed the shot, and pressed the shutter. One shot. It’s not a contest winning shot, but I’m satisfied with this image because it represents the scene in a way that invokes the same feeling I got when I first glanced up. That is my ultimate goal as a photographer.

exposure time: 1/200

f-number: f/9.0

ISO speed: 320

focal-length: 28mm

equipment: Canon 5D and Canon 28mm f/2.8 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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104 Experiment – Introduction and Image Number 001 – Ferguson

An intro of sorts:

For the next 52 weeks, I will be posting a new single image each Monday and Friday along with a short-long collection of my thoughts about it. The images may represent things that are special to me, random photographic captures, deliberately engineered shots, blah blah blah, I’m sure I’ll eventually post an image that doesn’t fall into any of those categories. I’m calling this series “104 Experiment” due to the fact that over the course of 52 weeks, two images per week will result in 104 total images.

Anyhow, the neat part is, I’ve added a “follow” button to the bottom righthand corner of the blog. If you click that button and enter your email address, new posts will be delivered to your email inbox each week! How cool is that?!

With all that out of the way, I present:

FERGUSON

 

black and white image of a ferguson tractor parked in a virginia field

On a rather hazy day in April of 2012, at around 4:30 in the afternoon, I offered to assist my wife’s “Grandpap” with some yard work. He happened to be leveling out the banks of a small hill, created by a new septic system they had installed. “You want to bring over some dirt with the tractor?” he asked. “Hmmm”, I replied, shaken by the request to operate such a machine for the first time in my life, “I’m not sure”. “You don’t want to? Or you don’t think you can?” he asked. My reply was a warning, “I guess I could try, but I’ll be asking LOTS of questions!”

About thirty minutes later, I was operating this relic piece of machinery (from the late 1940s), picking up topsoil with the scoop on the back and dumping it on the sides of the hill. I especially love driving vehicles with clutches and gears and this tractor had a scoop lever! It was a blast!

This memory had to be preserved, so I captured several photos of Ferguson parked in the field. I usually don’t like hard edits, but the high sun called for it. Lots of tweaking was definitely involved, but the biggest difference was made by raising the intensity of the blacks to about 67%, all after converting to black and white of course.

exposure time: 1/160

f-number: f/2.0

ISO speed: 50

focal-length: 50mm

equipment: Canon 5D and Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

software: Adobe Lightroom

 

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