Thursday, July 2, 2009

Cara (024) Ali

Ali was standing on one of the big metal balls in Brisbane Square posing for his mates to take pictures and was just about to get down when I managed to call out and keep him up there for a shot of my own. And then he pulled this pose out of the bag! I was so pleased with the silhouette - sorry to Ali who was joking he was going to be famous at last - you can hardly see his face at all. He will have to remain a man of mystery!

16 comments:

Julie said...

This is quite stunning, Cara. I suspect that it is full colour, too. The light source is spot on. The shapes I really like, too.

Wonderful portrait ...

cara said...

Cheers! yes - it's straight out of the camera, full colour, no fixing. I haven't quite got the full manual thing going on yet with my new camera so this was aperture priority (i know i know..) f11.
The harsh Aussie light has become a bit of an issue with us but I think here, with it low in the sky and behind the subject, it can be quite dramatic.

Julie said...

Our teacher last night said that he rarely goes fully M. He uses mainly P and chooses Av or Tv depending on the circumstances. I was astounded by that. So I am going to vary my selections a bit so as not to totally lock my own thinking into a box.

I guess it is the light that is causing me only to want to shoot at the ends of the day.

Tell us the details of your new camera again: ??

Nikon, D40 ??

bitingmidge said...

Julie, don't be astounded! P is just a combination of correct exposure settings when one thinks about it, and you can alter those by changing the Aperture or Shutter speed on the fly.

On my Nikon, it's just a flick of the thumbwheel to change the combination.

Beaut shot Cara!

bitingmidge said...

And on the light:

This is an example of light being where you find it! I haven't figured how the newspaper guys do it at all times of the day for instance, although I am now chasing my subjects into shade and that seems to be working.

I think we have been brought up saying "come and stand here in the light", perhaps it's the photographic equivalent of the early landscape painters relying on their European compositions and landscape forms.

The morning and evening light is inarguably the easiest to work with, but I don't think it's the only time you should take photographs.

I have a series of flower shots happening on the Sunshine Coast (blush) in a week or so, and they were taken in various locations in late morning in full sun and heavy shade. If people were flowers, I'd have taken some cracker portraits!

I've also been mucking round with the colour balance post processing. Many evening shots have that "dusky" colouring, but it is quite easy to remove by changing the colour balance and the result is a very clear "daytime" shot. Hmm... so much to learn, I don't suppose you two want to do another course do you?

cara said...

My new camera, Julie, is a Nikon D40 with a 18-55mm lens which is like suddenly needing glasses after my s2 days with it's 12x zoom *nostaligic sigh/faraway look*

I've been trying out close-ups and they come out nicely.
what else? ISO range is 200-3200
6 megapixels
erm... it's black... :-)

So with the lighting thing. I did exactly what you were talking about, Peter, with my next photo - Ina and Mary - I asked them to stand facing the light. The result was very shadowy. Maybe they should have had the light behind them with the flash filling in... hmmm...next time

bitingmidge said...

I'd hate anyone to think I was whinging about our light, far from it. We have wonderful opportunities to play with light and shade that much of the world rarely experiences.

It just doesn't work that well with faces, so we have to learn to deal with it.

Fill flash is the go!

Julie said...

And it doesnt have to be full on light ... we have so much light that even in shade we have "lightness". We simply need to get better at thinking what we want from our photos (our portraits in particular) and use what light/shade we have to our advantage.

That is what all this learning is teaching me ... that it is a failure to appreciate on my part.

Ann said...

I think this is why my night shots are working and my day ones aren't. I have to figure out how to deal with areas of light and shade and how to stop midday sun looking washed out. There's a reason the hour after dawn and the hour before sunset are called the "golden hours".

Fabulous shot Cara, you are so far ahead of where I was, or where I am now for that matter.

Peter, I'd love to do another course but I haven't found a "level 2" course that I can afford. I'm going to keep my eyes open for short courses specialising in particular areas, like the ones Julie has been doing.

I'd already decided that the best way to travel would be aperture priority, switching to shutter priority if I wanted to look at movement. I firmly believe that you need to understand the underlying theory first, then you can decide how much or how to use it.

Julie said...

Now see, this is where the old brain gets confused!

Flash compensation and exposure compensation have all rolled into one for me. Will try to sort that out over the weekend. I am off to the Pyrmont markets early tomorrow morning and then to a family lunch with friends. So lots of opps ...

Last night with Andy, I was trying to get a range of shots under different settings. And the first one I took was a flash - wanted it out of the way early. But I forgot to put the flash compensation on so he got it full bore. Will try again at Shirley's lunch. Report back next week.

I am going to stick with Community Colleges for my lessons. And I think I prefer the full day course to the 8 night course. Probably about $175 for a 6 hr full day course. I like Eastern Suburbs CC too.

Ann said...

ESCC have some good courses but all at places I'd have trouble getting to. StGCC doesn't have the same range and their art type courses are usually somewhere down in Janalli. I preferred the one night per week course for the intro, I've done it over a weekend and couldn't take it in. Would now be okay, I think, with a one or two dayer for specific areas.

Julie said...

Yes, I think you are right there. The introductory course being spread over 8 weeks really helped with the learning. And getting out on 2 hour shooting projects helps too.

But now I am ready for more specific stuff. I think Michaela has a night one coming up soon: Sunday arvo and evening.

ESCC holds some of their weekend courses one block from my house ... hee hee hee ...

bitingmidge said...

Here's a nifty little thing that demonstrates the relationshionship between F stops, shutter speed and ISO

http://dryreading.com/camera/index.html

Ann said...

I like that!

cara said...

Me too - that's going straight to the bookmarks.

Gunn said...

Wow,- just a superb shot!