Glow

Untitled, originally uploaded by take 1 for all.

One great thing about flickr is its great diversity of style. Browsing around flickr, I often come across photographers who employ styles completely different from my own. And when I see photos like the one above, by take 1 for all, I'm first moved and second inspired. The warm glow of sunshine from the window above, and the expression of peace on the woman's face set me at ease. I wonder what the story is behind the woman and the photographer, what she's thinking, and also think about all the times I've sat around with my girlfriend, soaking in the warmth under a square of sunshine.

At the same time, I'm inspired because my photos rarely look like this. The cool color temp, purposeful overexposure, haziness, and off-balance composition are all things that I've tried to keep out of my photos, either through my in-camera settings or post-processing on the computer. I have some habits to unlearn. Specifically, what I've learned from this photo, and others, is that I one great way to bring attention to natural light is to shoot into a light source, with your subject backlit, exposing for your subject. Also, I have to let go of the orangy-yellow kodak-style image in my head. Again and again, cooler, bluer photos are the ones catching my attention.

I'm still chasing after a feeling. take 1 for all has captured a bit of it and I feel that he's one of many on flickr that are helping me along my way.

Direction

This Way, originally uploaded by photosapience.

I like the simplicity in this photo. It's an image of a person in front of a wall, arm outstretched to mirror the signage. The size of the white arrow is big enough to dominate the frame and loudly dictate: this way. The arm and index finger are nearly completely overshadowed and outweighed by this massive symbol, and yet, the arm stands out almost as much as the arrow. There's an interesting play between positive and negative space. Is the red wall the solid, with a cutout form of an arrow? Or is white the positive space atop a red background? How then does the arm factor in as an additional form? Is it a positive space surrounded by a colorless negative? Or vice versa?

There's also a juxtaposition of curves and angles: the organic and inorganic. Because the wall is backlit, the figure in the foreground is thrown into near total silhouette, not only creating a play between light and dark, but emphasizing the lines and curves of the human form versus the angular form of the arrow. What's so cool here is that we have two geometrically opposite shapes that convey to us the exact same message. A rectangle with a big triangle on the end registers as "arrow" which registers as "this way." A person with arm stretched out away from the body, three fingers curled in, registers as "person pointing" which registers as "this way" too.

I think the vignetting from the Lomo LC-A camera helps to further emphasize the brightness of that arrow. The use of the arrow as the primary light source is beautifully done. I especially like how the figure isn't totally dark, the light subtly washing across the t-shirt and wrapping around the arm and fingers. What a cool effect.

Crossing

the city, originally uploaded by abre/tus/ojos.

Lighting is everything. Just like how a beautiful model can be ruined by poor lighting, a bustling intersection can be reduced to a static mess of indistinct blobs when shot without consideration of the light source. With the right eye, however, and careful attention paid to natural available light, a simple scene (above) of people crossing the street can be transformed into something magical.

What I love about the lighting here is that the low angle of the sun casts the shadows of the pedestrians down onto the striped crosswalk, adding strips of dark, textureless shadow to the alternating bands of bright reflective white and gritty black asphalt. It almost looks like the white stripes are rays of light stretching down from the upper left. And whereas I might have blindly just tried to shoot silhouettes of back-lit pedestrians, abre/tus/ojos has chosen at angle about 45 degrees from perpendicular to the sun's rays, that has captured the pedestrians with a thin slivers of side-lit highlight. It's just perfect.

Tilting the camera slightly down, he's cropped out any potentially distracting sky or buildings. What is left is a full frame of crosswalk. With the amazing highlights, each person is discreet and clearly visible. I like the sharpness of the forms, making it seem as if we have paused a bustling scene. It feels as if the serenity of the moment might be broken with one false move. And I wonder, are these people on their way to work, energized and invigorated by the rays of a new day's sun? Or are their steps heavy after a long day's work, aching, yet rushing to get home.

Glow

Untitled, originally uploaded by Taigah.

There are alot of photography rules. One is don't shoot into the sun. It saps the contrast out of a shot and washes all the colors out. Another rule is don't try to get backlit shots unless you want a silhouetted foreground or burnt out background. Well here's a photograph that does both--with glorious results. Sunsets, along with puppies and flowers is one of the most derided photo subjects on flickr. In defense of sunsets, though, it's a tough situation to photograph in a creative or interesting way. I love this photo because of its unconventional approach to a tough shot, capturing an amazing warmth.

Instead of sapping the color away, the glow of the sun breathes life into the entire scene. It's beautiful how the grains of sand are lit golden as they drift down into the sunlight. Incidentally, Taigah's real courageous here for getting down for this low angle shot. Sand pretty much hates anything mechanical, cameras especially so. But the angle works well here to fill the frame with not just the subject but the beautifully colored sky. It is not easy to capture nice gradient in the sky at dusk. Here it just looks like it was so easy.

On top of that, the little details work to add to the "story" here. There's that band-aid above the right knee, toughening up our heroine. She's got that handful of sand, grains slipping away into that sunset. I wonder if she's thinking about metaphors as she gazes down at that sand. Credit has to go to Taigah here for exposing for the foreground, affording us a glimpse of a magical moment. I probably would have exposed for the sky, loosing everything but a boring sunset in the distance. The two beach chairs complete the picture. It's great how you can't tell if they're occupied or not. Maybe they're beckoning us to visit Aruba.