This Week - 31/07/2016

This week we went to a family birthday barbecue and basked in the lovely summer sun.

Photo Challenge Week 30 Artistic: Patterns

 This week's challenge theme was patterns, and as seems to always be the case with the artistic themes, I assumed it would be far easier than it was. Patterns are everywhere, be they architectural, natural, incidental but everything I saw left me wanting. I didn't want to shoot something I'd photographed before and I didn't want to photograph a print of somebody else's patterned design. So while I was in the garden, grumbling to myself and considering skipping the week while removing fallen leaves from my last attack on the hedges to keep them in some semblance of order, I spotted the colourful litter of petals from my flowerbed and had a eureka moment. And what a pretty one, too!

 

The Wood

After watching Brave for the millionth time Rory asked if we could visit the woods this weekend so that she could run around like Merida. The woods we could do, her Dad even carved her a surprisingly effective bow and arrow from a branch, though we had to draw the line of practically at the ballgown she planed on wearing. I took along my 24mm to see how it would stand up by itself without being able to switch to another lens and I was really impressed by it's versatility. I can't believe I was so worried about shooting wide angle, when as it turns out I think I prefer it. For so long my shooting 'style' was built around shallow depth of field, close crops and small detail. So it's incredibly refreshing to work with much more space, composing scenes as a whole but still keeping the sharpness and being able to shoot surprisingly close if I want to capture detail. I even like the vignette.

Catch-up

Playing catch-up from the last few weekends. It's mostly been time spent visiting family and fetching ice cream. But really what else are weekends for?

Photo Challenge Week 29 Landscape: Waterscape

I think one of the best things about living in the centre of Bridgnorth is that I never have to venture far to find something beautiful to shoot. So for the 'waterscape' theme we walked into lowtown and spent some time by the river and as we sat there in the baking sunlight, watching the fish jump for the bugs and the birds dive for the fish I was filled with such a longing for my childhood spent in my canoe, on this same river, in under the same summer sun.

Light Testing - Home Photography Studio Bridgnorth

 Figuring out a studio set up that I'm happy with has and continues to be an ongoing process for me. My space is very limited which restricts the amount of equipment that I can use and therefor effects the kinds of images that I can take. It's incredibly frustrating and it put me off really spending any time with my studio gear because I couldn't get the results that I wanted. But with a cake smash coming up and after looking over my space with scrutiny, trying to decide if I could rearrange the area to utilise the more baby friendly natural light, I had an epiphany. If I placed the backdrop in a different position to accommodate the natural light, I might lose some space in terms of distance between myself and the subject, but I'd gain a new light source, more width and therefor more space to add modifiers where I couldn't before and with my newer lenses, distance wasn't necessarily an issue I couldn't work around. It was worth a try.

So as always, before the cake smash I tested out the set up with Rory, and I was so pleased with the results! When previously I would shove the backdrop at the furthest end of the room to give myself adequate distance, I brought it forwards, opening up the space for a fill light, reflector and giving the subject far more space to move around. I think the original set up will still be perfect for headshots, and full-body portraits with adults, as I can control the light and my own movement is more important than the model's, but for kids and shooting lower to the ground, this is great and I can't wait to find an excuse to use it again!