Games of light

Vampire

2010-07-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

They're beautiful, mystical, old and they're in fashion.

Anyone else feeling cold?

Dark angel

2010-07-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Made a feather and then it all just came to me and this gothic dark angel came out.

"Mir ist kalt"

Volcanic eruption

2010-04-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

A few hours, a couple of tutorials and this turned out.

Goddess of water

2010-04-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

With her crown of blue jewels and her hair of water flowing,
With her clothes made of waterfalls
She gives water to the world

Moon over waterfalls

2010-04-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Dare to dream.

Ancient forest

2010-03-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ancient forest of mysteries and things long forgotten

Alas your beauty was crushed, your whispers burned

Inside the trunks of the trees the story that was written

Shall once again return by your revenge awakened.

Earth hour came and went, lights were turned off and than relit, but did we really learn anything, do we really care?

There is no life possible without forests.

Inspired by Fagorn Forest and this video Fantasy forest

Relax, breathe in, enjoy your life

2010-03-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today I am a simple person, I smell the roses, I watch my chinese elm and I drink some tea. Enjoy life as it comes.

Light study

2010-02-14T09:36:00.001-08:00

Light study with a lantern

A new life

2010-02-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

These are going to be lettuce some day (hopefully) :D

Spiced up

2010-02-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, I love to cook, and I love food. I like to experiment with different ingredient and I can not imagine life and food without spices. There's an old romanian story called "Salt in the food" in which the king of the land asks his daughters how much they love him:
First one says she loves him like honey, second one like sugar, but the third one says she loves him like salt in the food. The king is very upset and orders her to leave his palace and his land.
And so she does and becomes a servant in another king's castle, where people love her for her beauty, charm, wits and great cooking. Thus she becomes friends with the queen and when the prince is wounded in a war she takes care of him and makes him better.
The prince asks to marry this girl and the wedding is prepared. She asks for her father to be invited as well without letting her new family she is the daughter of kings.
She prepares the food for her father by her own hand and asks for it to be specially delivered at the table so that no other guest receives this.
While everyone is enjoying their food, her father dislikes it, but when asking around he realizes only his tastes bad.
Considering he's been done wrong he demands explanation and then his daughter tells him that the food he is eating is only made with honey and sugar that he likes so much.
Recognizing his mistake, the king asks for forgiveness.
And they all live happily ever after.

So this is for all those who like to eat and love spices in their food.

Soldiers go home too

2010-02-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

Atomic bomb

2010-02-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" J. Robert Oppenheimer

Based on a tutorial from Allphototuts

Summer feeling

2010-02-06T05:08:00.000-08:00

A cold icy wind is blowing outside,
A feeling of summer is smiling inside.
Of light diffused and dreams.

My first portrait...

2010-02-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

....in graphite pencil

Photography - work with what you have

2010-02-01T03:36:00.000-08:00

Photography - work with what you have , a blog on how to use your compact camera to achieve stock worthy images.
Published on Dreamstime on January 29th, 2010

Snow flakes

2010-01-26T09:52:00.001-08:00

Yes, it was really cold

Japan, land of simple beauty

2010-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

In the background you can see a kimono or a japanese fan. The kimono is authentic, it is a kurotomesode, a most formal kimono for married women, made of exquisite silk and painted in the lower part with beautiful autumn scenery.
I have it from Ichiroya, the place where for some bucks you can have a small peace of Japanese arts, crafts and history.
I can not say why I like Japan, maybe I like more the idea of Japan, simpleness, perfection in everything, cleanliness, beauty.

Because not all stories are magic

2009-11-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

A yellow dim light spreads its weak rays on the cracked walls. This show is not on a great stage but in a small room, this dancer is not wearing a bright white tutu and tiara and the only similarity she has with a graceful, beautiful ballerina is her shoes.
Not all dreams come true, not all stories are fluffy white tutus and sparkly diamonds tiaras, some simply end differently.

Ballet, a beautiful art

2009-11-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ballet is an art, like photography. It's a beautiful art that requires a lot of strength, patience, tears and pain to reach to beauty and grace.
In my vision ....

Shooting images at the seaside

2009-10-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

...The main idea when making images for stock is to think stock,...
posted on Dreamstime

What is light and how do we use it in photography

2009-10-01T01:48:00.000-07:00

The only real problem in photography be it stock, microstock, art or otherwise, is and always has been light.

Light is the electromagnetic radiation visible to the human eye. In classical physics the wave of electromagnetic radiation has amplitude, which is the brightness of the light, wavelength, which is the color of the light, and an angle at which it is vibrating, called polarization (reflecting windows anyone?). In quantum physics electromagnetic radiation consists of particles called photons, which are packets ("quanta") of energy which move at the speed of light. The brightness of the light is the number of photons, the color of the light is the energy contained in each photon, and four numbers (X, Y, Z and T) are the polarization.

And as weird as it may seem experiments show that both interpretations are correct.

Photographs are impressions of the electromagnetic radiation called light on an impressible medium, such as the digital sensor or the photographic emulsion. Light reflects from the surfaces that we photograph (people, objects, nature) thus giving us the colors and forms.

If we calculate the exposure of this medium as too high or too low we will have a blown out, overexposed image or a too dark image (anyone familiar with that refusal?). If the intensity of the light is too low in one part of the image and too high in another part we will also have an unusable image.

Before digital and fancy film cameras there were manual cameras were the film was drawn by hand and the exposure was at the mercy of the photographer's eye. It depended on your ability to measure the light condition and on the knowledge you had on your camera and lens to obtain a good picture.

Then came lightmeters incorporated in the photo cameras and they became better and better, then came the digital cameras and we could instantly assert if an image was well exposed or not.

How to obtain the perfect exposure? Measure with your camera in different points of the image you wish to take. If the differences are big you may wanna use a light reflector surface or a flash to fill in the darker area/areas. For microstock photography is usually better to overexpose your image by a half stop, or even a full stop, depending on the actual conditions (check Yuri Arcurs' portfolio and see why). Assert the light with your eyes, this is a good exercise for beginners and it's also a way not to forget where we started from as photographers. Use the manual mode of your camera and shoot images with different times and exposures until you achieve the perfect one. You will find this rewarding in the end.

Some tips:

- best natural light you can have is on a cloudy day. Why? Because sunlight refracts through the clouds and the result it a surrounding light just perfect for shooting outside

- light reflecting surfaces such as aluminum foil are great to reflect the sunlight onto your subject's dark side (they are also available at specialized shops but you can build one out of tin foil and cardboard, just stick the foil to the cardboard and you have a light reflector)

- white is your best bet if used as background cause it reflects the light back, thus offering a glow to your subject, black simply absorbs all the photons.

- white is not a great choice for clothing when you shoot outside, it will always look overexposed (we all know how hard it is to see those details of the bride's wedding dress)

- red is the strongest color in bright light, green is the best distinguishable color in dim light

- sunlight can damage your camera sensor for good so try not to shoot directly at it

- if you take a picture on a sunny day always keep the sun at your back, you will have a sky to look at in your pictures and the things and people your shoot will show clear features

- sunset light is great for shooting, thanks to our refracting atmosphere the light will catch a warm glow that will make your images look dreamy

My final advice is, before you go shooting mind the light, cause everything depends on it.

Published on Dreamstime