Christmas Still Life - Mostly Decorations

  'Christmas Still Life' Photo Series

This post is about a series of photos featuring Chrsitmas decortions, How I shot them and some of what I learned while doing it.

It's one of the few times I though the process of setting up a full shoot with lights & backdrop etc.  for items from around the house.

This series started last February 1st, as I was putting away my Christmas decorations.  I was late putting them away and part of me wasn't too enthusiastic even then. As I was getting out the boxes and taking things down it occurred to me  "this stuff would make good photos to post next year around Christmas".

So, I decided to get some photos as I put away the last of the Christmas decoration.  Initially the plan was to snap a quick shot of a few items and put everything in a green totes. It soon turned into a a case of "If somethings worth doing it's worth doing right".

Before I knew it I had a backdrop, key light, a few fill lights, and a host of modifyers along with all the gear to get them in position all set up & ready to go. Along with that where a couple of prime lenses, a set of macro tubes along with camra & tripod. To complete the arrangement there was a pile of decorations on one side & a group of boxes on the other to put away the decorations after they'd been shot.

Still life & studio lighting are things I don't get to do too often. So, I was excited to get started and get more experience with type of shoot.  I started with the brand new set of macro rings that Santa had dropped off at Chrsitmas.  After a few test shots the macro tubes went back in the box and became a project for another day. I wasn't getting what I wanted/expected and I realized needed to do a bit of research to get what I wanted from from them.

At this point I realized a few things  simultaneously 1) it's 11 pm  2) I have to work in the morning 3) I have a a bunch of stuff set up that has to come down before I go to bed (I'm in a pretty tight space)   4) I'm about to teardown thsi setup with out getting and good shots and haven't put away a single Christmas decoration.

It became clear that when I restarted this process tomorrow it wouldn't be as quick or as easy as I first thought. As it  turned out that it would last another three evenings, but it did end with all of the decorations put away for next Christmas and a few hundred images on my hard drive, also awaiting next Chrsitmas.

Over the 3 evenings I learned a lot and jsut as important I got some practice.  It's one thing to know how things should be done.  It's something else to be able to set things up quickly and in the right order with out having to take two steps back before taking one forward.  recreating almost the same setup 4 nights in a row went a long way towards my aquiring that ability. I'm still not a professional light tech, not by a long shot.   But, I have felt better about  doing a basic light setup since then.

What Else Did I Learn?

I learned a little bit about ligthing faces.

How to accentuate things by hiding other things in shadow. Leaving empty space (AKA negative space) and using techniques in post to further change or enhance the viewers perception.

How hard it is to fill in all the shadows and how unneccisarry/boring it can be when you finally achieve it.  Some times shadows are your friend (see above)  and sometimes they're not (below -left)

I was repeatedly reminded once again that "good enogh" rarely is and that if you say "I'll fix it in post" while shooting you usually curse yourself in post & rarely end up with what you where hoping for. As an example, use tripod or some other camera support system. Camera support systems aren't just to get more gear out on the floor. They really can give you more options and better results.
When when "sharp focus" and "blurry mess" are seperated by fractions of a centimetre hand held might not be the best option. It can create some happy accidents, but mostly,  it creates stuff that 's frustrating in post & often wholely unusable.


I'll save the joys and advantages of Hand Held photography (of which there are many) for another post.




I'll wrap up todays post with a link to my FLICKR ALBUM where the photos from this shoot are being posted from November 15 right into the New Year.

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Fall Pics for a Fall Day

Pic-of-The-day

Fall is here & I am seeing Autumn scenes everywhere.

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I'm also on Twitter,  Redbubble, Flickr, Vimeo,  YouTube.

10 000 buddhas Temple Niagara Falls (2018) - Part Two

Dragons, Monks, Buddhas & Elephants.

 More Pictures from Last summer's visit to the 10 000 buddhas Temple in Niagara Falls.


There where lots of these metal things where dotted around the grounds. To me it seems like it might be a stylized brazier, caldron, incense burner combination.  Different ones had different designs and components. Some had pieces that looked more like pots,  some had sections that where closer to a type of charcoal burner etc.

none seemed to be used for anything,  they looked more symbolic than practical.



Along one wall was a row of stone statues which I thought could be monks.  Each one was different and might of represented different virtues or possibly attachments.I could imagine a meaning for some of them but I can't imagine what these two represent.





 Here are two shots from a tall pagoda type tower covered on all sides with images of what I assume is the Buddha.

 Next up is a very large statue of what appears to be  a mother with two children. I assume she is a type of mother figure and I particularly like the child pulling at her robes. she might be an idealized or representative mother figure, but, the kids doesn't care. The kid just wants her attention, which is kind of endearing.  Who ever designed this has spent time with real kids, which is also reassuring. She was flanked on both sides by a brightly coloured, 2 level gallery with rows of statues
 
The final feature in this blog is a statue of a woman in the lotus position on the back of an elephant.
I believe this was fiberglass, but I can't remember for sure.  

 There where lots of other things and I have lots of other photos from the temple grounds. There's a few more below, but if you want to see the whole set check them out on Flickr.

All in all, I had a pretty good morning at the temple. It's been almost a year and I feel like it's almost time to make another trip to the temple, especially since it's just down the road. Maybe this time, I should do video.  The key would be finding a them or a "through line"  to tie the footage together and make it more like a story and less like a random bunch of footage.  We'll see how it goes.


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10 000 buddhas Temple Niagara Falls (2018) - Part One

Pictures from Last summer's visit to the 10 000 buddhas Temple in Niagara Falls.

Since I  live in Niagara Falls it could expected that I would have a lot of photos of things in Niagara Falls and I have lots of photos taken in and around the city The thing is most of them are not recognizable as Niagara Falls unless, maybe,  your local.

You see, when you are a local you generally spend as little time in the tourist area and attractions as possible.  Not that there's anything wrong with tourists or the places they go.  It's just that, like everyone else,  life is hectic and sometimes it's easier to avoid busy areas.

After all that has been said, last august (just before Summerfolk) I had a day off and went out to take photos and ended up at the temple.

DISCLAIMER: Before we start. I know nothing about Buddhism or it's practices except what I've seen in pop culture, which is probably misleading.  My comments are not meant to be disrespectful.  lighthearted, but not disrespectful.

There where a few things that caught my eye.  Like the small stone gazeebo's (mini shrines?) statues inside.  So far nothing unusual, until you notice that none of the statues have heads. It appears that they where made with heads and that they've all been broken off. The  first thing I thought of was vandalism. But,  none of the mini shrines they sit in show signs of damage,
neither do any other statues or carvings. I didn't seem damage to other things that could be defaced more easily. I struck me as very precise and that's not a quality you generally associate with vandals.*
Then I wondered if there was a faith based reason that it had been done. Some sort of practice that had symbolic meaning or something along those lines. But, with no guide book and no guided tours (of the grounds)  I was left wondering.

One of the other things that surprised me was these large statues that have the appearance of  being made of cast metal. As I was looking for closeup to shoot I found a crack that showed the are actually fiberglass painted to look like metal.

 Maybe it's not that surprising but, it's not what  I was expecting. Regardless of the construction technique I like the photos I got.



There was some very cool stone carving which was much more what I was expecting.





The Giant Bell hanging in the courtyard was actually cast in metal (as far as I remember),  it had nice dragons and rows and rows of text on the body. Once again I couldn't find anything to give me a clue as to what it says.

 Next Time: Dragons, Monks, Buddhas & Elephants.

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*Vandals meaning modern people that break and damage things, not the Europeans we hear about in history. They may have been precise, I.m not really sure.

Pic Of te Day - Shed

Shed

Another photo I've been hanging onto since fall. 
I like the texture on the roof and the patterens on the paint,  the combination of light & shadow doesn't hurt either.

Pic Of the Day - Wallpaper Wednesday

Today's Wallpaper Wednesday has some ice wispy clouds with slightly different colour treatment for each version. 

Click the links above to get higher res versions. Download them, share them 7 check back next Wednesday.









Happy Wednesday

Pic Of the Day - Hanging

Hanging

For the first time in a while today's Pic Of the Day is not part of a series.

We're freestylin' for a few days. There might be some more 'series' pics next week,  but the next few days will have something different everyday.

Wallpaper Wednesday Returns!

Wallpaper Wednesday Has returned. 
There are 2 versions of today's Wallpaper, one vertical & one horizontal. Both have a CC license "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons".

So download them, use them, share them & come back next week for another Wallpaper Wednesday"