Cold, warm, warmer – find the right temperature!

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I’ve reached the colour section of Cee’s essays and this means two more to go and I will be up-to-date with the current week.

Warm and cold colours – as experienced in a single shot but the mood changes according to the post editing.  These sandstone crosses are pretty stark – they stand without any adornment.3

I 0ften prefer sandstone in warmer tones because the stone itself – with it’s different rosy hues establishes a warm feeling – but in this shot it mellows them too much and they lose their strength.

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This witch tower is part of the medieval town wall of Ladenburg.  The clouds were dramatic and so was the light threatening a thunderstorm.

Hexenturm

Going for warmer colours, the tower itself seems to glow and although the clouds have lost their darkness they seem to be sulphuric.  The emphasis was changed through the colour temperature, i.e. in the photo above it is more on the impending storm and in the one below on the tower.

Hexenturm

 

I liked Cee’s idea of a colour collage and here is the “warm collage” – a collection of autumnal browns, greens, and yellows with a bit of red thrown in.

warm collage

 

And here is the opposite, cool blues and clear whites.

cold collage

 

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/10/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-16-color-basics/

CCY

 

 

The bad in the pot, the good for the crop

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Cee’s next tips are on “Cropping“.  It is the first thing with which I started to play around when changing to digital photography even though at the time I had a relatively crappy camera. On my first printed album pages – the equivalent of the sophisticated photobooks one can now put together online – I played around with a variety of formats and I’ve learned to be more conservative in sticking to traditional formats, particularly when the photos are displayed close to each other.

We were having a lot of fun in this playground for adults (it’s a tree top trail).

Baumwipfelpfad

But the focus in this shot should be on the people (I have others that show off the trail).  Switching to portrait does just that.

Baumwipfelpfad

A bit further along we found a slide.

Baumwipfelpfad

Again I cropped the photo to cut out ‘noise’ and changed it from landscape to portrait but I also angled the shot a bit to give it more impact.  Being closer also shows off the awkward position of the body since this slide was not adult-size.

Baumwipfelpfad

In the same area there is a woodcarver who has gone slightly mad – his sometimes bizarre sculptures are everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE.

little dwarf shitting

I cropped the little bloke tightly and got rid of the leaves overhead (there weren’t enough in this frame to look like anything but some weird speckles).

little dwarf shitting

Then I decided to try for a square foto.  I concentrated on the head and moved it more to the centre (in the second shot he was positioned more to the right).  Of course, the weird sitting position (don’t even think about what this little guy is doing!) is being lost but it shows off the smile crumpling his face as well as the cracked wood.  I keep changing my mind which photo I like better depending on what I find more important.

little dwarf shitting

Here is another threesome. I spotted this arrangement in a closed up window last weekend.  Of course, the window is already a square frame and the plaster wall to both sides adds nothing to the composition.

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I could have cropped even closer leaving only the black wood to frame the arrangement but I preferred the slightly loser crop.

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Or, alternatively, I got very close ignoring the dwarf daffodils and moss and the second (rather ugly plastic) pot and concentrated on the two chicken.  By switching to a square format I could lose the wooden item to the right of the smaller chicken.

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Let’s stay with birds for the rest of the pictures. It’s obvious there is too much dead space surrounding the head of this goose.

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I could have cropped to a portrait showing off the long neck. But there wasn’t all that much neck in the original photo so I decided on a 1:1 format keeping the orange rimmed eye almost centre.
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Different location, similar bird.  The goose is not positioned properly and the little heap to the left doesn’t really add anything to the mood of the photo.

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So I went very close, once again focussing on the eye.

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Last goose of the post.  This little guy rushed off just when I took the picture.  As a result he is too far to the left.  Cropping close to the gosling didn’t work very well because of his downy fluff being slightly blurred.

d

However, I think I rescued a passable photo by concentrating closely on his foot.

c

 

CEE’S COMPOSE YOURSELF PHOTO CHALLENGE: #15 Cropping Tips

CCY

Like two sides to every story

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The next step: “Symmetry“.  Horizontal symmetry is more difficult to find than vertical symmetry.  Often, though, horizontal symmetry is encountered in reflections.  The photo below has little to do with photographic skills, it was taken on a compact camera without viewer which meant I took the shot practically blind because the screen was almost unreadable.  Being at the right time at the right spot (at 2265 m altitude on the First above Grindelwald in Switzerland) was all it took.

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In any case symmetry in architecture is easier to find than in landscapes because architects have discovered the power of symmetry long ago.  The doors below are a case in point.

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So are these.  But although we look for symmetry as Cee states it is also a fact that flawless symmetry is not something we appreciate too much.  Faces that are artificially made completely symmetric are rejected by viewers as they tend to look wrong. I find that slight deviations in the symmetry can enhance the pleasing effect of a photo.  In the picture below it is the chalk lettering left by the Epiphany singers with the initials of the three kings, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and the year for which their blessing was given (2015) as well as the off centre doorknob which tip the balance.

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Here the whole house has been built symmetrically, from the windows which are symmetrical in themselves, to the door with accompanying windows, the pediment, the steps and the railings.

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Windows are often paired and lend themselves to symmetrical shots or, the photo can be cropped appropriately.  The different reflections in the window panes keep the photofrom being boring but I could have done without the electrical icicles on the right.

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Another set of interesting and symmetrical windows.  The shadows, of course, point in the same direction and are thus not strictly symmetrical, neither is the plant in the left window but I think this adds interest.

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These two doors obviously lead into houses that are build in mirror symmetry but probably furnished individually just like the colour difference.  Having once moved from one side of such a house to the other, I know that this mirroring can be quite disconcerting.

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An old church with a symmetrical entry through several arches.

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But not just architecture, nature itself provides symmetrical topics altough I find them easier to discover on macro level.  Again, it shows that’s Louis’ face is approximated rather than perfect symmetry and this is what makes him so attractive.

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CEE’S COMPOSE YOURSELF PHOTO CHALLENGE: WEEK #14 Symmetry

CCY

Evil is as evil does

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“Perspective” and knowing what your main topic is – or, in my case, this often means only finding out later when I review my photos what the main topic was.

When I am out and about with my running friends I often snap photos – literally snap because I’m there to participate in the fun and taking pictures comes second.  Usually my main objective is to capture the people that are there with me.  We were having a break from our jogging/hiking day at the shores of Lake Constance.  Beer was waiting for us bobbing on the waves. I like the fancy clothes people are wearing at these occasions and I am particularly drawn to runners’ socks and their messages.

 

The next four shots were all taken at a pre-wedding party.  I was there with my camera and my brief was to take pictures of the guests as unobtrusively as possible.

In the first photo the focus is very obviously on the people and the overall garden setting showing off the newly acquired house of the soon-to-be-weds and the party area in front. Not a great shot per se but one setting the mood and showing the crowd.  The second photo was taken from the same position but focussing on the balcony with its pretty flowers and the bird cut-out and reflection in the window.

The following two shots are again taken with completely different objectives in mind.  The first one shows three guests on a cigarette break, totally unawares of being photographed. I liked the way they were standing next to the little amorette all in white.  It would have been better if the third person had not been blocked by the one in the middle (I could have moved to the right to avoid that).  The second shot focusses clearly on the head of one of the women.  I found the colours of her dyed hair fascinating.  Coming to think of it, this would have been a good photo to illustrate the 2/3 rule, bokeh and all.

CEE’S COMPOSE YOURSELF PHOTO CHALLENGE: WEEK #13 Perspective

CCY

 

Das Runde muss ins Eckige

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A quote – reputedly from the former German national football coach Sepp Herberger – that’s not easy to translate since “eckig” means “angular” rather than “square”.  But f0r Cee’s next topic: “Centre point – breaking the rule of thirds” it is spot on to say:

“The round thing has to go into the square thing.”

Round things are fairly easy to centre and so these flower balls are perfect to illustrate pictures with a centre point.  In white:

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and black:

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and white again.

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The rose below does not quite work as her middle is slightly off centre and the distribution of the petals is unbalanced.

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The focal point here is the little bead below the earlobe which almost makes one miss the building reflected in the red stone.

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I found this interesting as the centre point of this picture is found in the negative space slightly above and to the right of the knee but because of the diagonal division of the shot I think it works.

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I like this little duckling and I’ve included a copy with the centre clearly marked.  It is not the beak as one might expect but the fluff on its chest where the feathers create a swirl looking almost as if everything radiates from that point.

And here is Mama Duck with a magnificent orang beak as the centre point of the photo. I have changed the photo to black and white with selective colour for the beak in order to emphasize the centre point and not get distracted by the pinkish feet or the brown duck to the left.

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Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Week #11 Centerpoint – Breaking the Rule of Thirds

CCY

Two thirds can make a whole

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Cee’s next challenge is concerned with “Using 2/3 of your photo frame” just the opposite from the previous one. 

I’ll start off with a gnarled treebark where the background was so light that it showed off completely white and featureless making the bark almost into a cut-out.

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This was a “naturally occurring” 2/3 – a graveside flowerbed in a display of such plantings at the German horticultural show in Brandenburg an der Havel.  These small plots showed off gardening en miniature and since it was also a competition for gardeners meticulously cared for, I watched a gardener trim a bed with something that looked like nail scissors.  In this case the colourful display contrasted with the two variety of greens of the border.

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A macro of a tulip – the spring colours at the moment are stunning.  The dark green leaves in the out-of-focus range form the perfect contrast to the bright orange of the blossom.

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The same botanical garden features this abundance of tulips. In both shots the colour covers two thirds.  I think I prefer the second photo – neither of which I would have taken like this before reading Cee’s essay.

 

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8One more flower shot, this time another landscape photo shot from below to block out anything but the clear blue sky in the upper third.

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A cockerel contrasted by the green bokeh behind and to the left.

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And to finish off a close-up of a white pony.

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Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Week #10 Using 2/3 of your photo frame

CCY

OWPC: Bottle

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owpc bottle 1

 

It’s spring – and yes, this means hayfever time is here!

 

Bonus pic: I kind of struggled with the word given this week – bottle – and the only other picture I could come up with was with this little creature loving his bottle a bit too much:

owpc bottle 2

A late addition, but I just came across this picture in my archive and it reminds me of a fun day with all that beer in bottles stored in the cool waters of Lake Constance:

owpc bottle 3

https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/04/19/one-word-photo-challenge-bottle/