July - Round 7 - "The Sun" Discussion thread

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Well as the theme is announced and the thread started I've taken this one tonight.

Sun through the bushes with drops of sunlight falling on the poppy.
 
Well I was sat in the back garden and spotted the lineup of the sun, bush and flower and although I had something similar in mind but not that, took the opportunity. The 200mm lens has had a nice "mirror lens" effect on the out of focus sparkles of light that are sphericalised if there is such a word.
 
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Taken too early for this month's competition, but here's one I did earlier.

picture.php
 
I like the way you see different elements and then compose them janiep.

A creative eye and effective minimalism when the opportunity presents itself. Like a decisive moment occurs for you naturally.

Did you take this style of photographs before the comp began or did you just use the camera for the usual snapshots?
 
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Mercia Blackcat said:
I like the way you see different elements and then compose them janiep.

A creative eye and effective minimalism when the opportunity presents itself. Like a decisive moment occurs for you naturally.

Did you take this style of photographs before the comp began or did you just use the camera for the usual snapshots?
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Thank you very much. I've never consciously tried to compose/style a photo before this comp. I have learnt so much from trying to do so over recent months. I do other creative stuff in my life - bits of writing and making patchwork quilts. The quilts may have an impact because it does teach you about juxtapositions of colours, and arrangements of disparate elements to make a harmonious whole.

One of the lessons you learn early on with making quilts is that while you're tempted to use all your favourite, fabulous fabrics, some of the best quilts relay on acres and acres of white, in order to set off the arrangment and colours of the other fabrics. In other words, less can indeed be more, and that may have fed into what you call my minimalist style.
 
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Funnily enough, it was a picture of the sun that made me think I could do this photography stuff in the first place.
I'd just bought my first Fuji S7000 back in December 2004 and headed out early one Sunday morning on Lindisfarne and shot this:
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At the time I loved it, although I now find so much wrong I never look at it. Although my Mother still has it framed on her wall.

It got me hooked though.
 
janiep said:
What's wrong with that? It's lovely!
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There's no post processing there except to fix the wonky horizon. The problem was that if I fixed it properly the sun's reflection is way too far off the vertical and looks stupid, so I had to leave the horizon slightly wonky.

There's also a green tinge towards the bottom left, and I'm sure the ring around the sun wasn't green when I shot it.

Also the composition doesn't work for me - the boat is too central. The composition is more pleasing if I crop it to a portrait format and put the boat and sun on the thirds, but that just accentuates the wonky horizon.

I could always head off to Lindisfarne again and re-shoot I suppose - and this time I'd take a tripod with a level in it.

See what I mean?
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I do, but I prefer the landscape orignal because of the reflected evening sunlight on the wet sand, and also the birds. The horizon wonkiness is barely discernible. It's a lovely shot, drenched with fabulous colour.
 
janiep said:
I do, but I prefer the landscape orignal because of the reflected evening sunlight on the wet sand, and also the birds. The horizon wonkiness is barely discernible. It's a lovely shot, drenched with fabulous colour.
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Thanks Janie.

The full set from that morning is here if you're interested. Mixed in with one or two others from another trip.
 
Ghost of EH7 said:
Thanks Janie.

The full set from that morning is here if you're interested. Mixed in with one or two others from another trip.
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Just had a quick look, will give it a better look later. But I had to come back on to say that I loved the one with bricks against the pink gate. That's a fantastic juxtaposition of two objects of different colours which normally clash (orange and pink), but the way you've taken it brings out the pink in the bricks.

It's that sort of messing about with placing colours next to each other which is part of the magic of designing a patchwork quilt too.
 
janiep said:
Thank you very much. I've never consciously tried to compose/style a photo before this comp. I have learnt so much from trying to do so over recent months. I do other creative stuff in my life - bits of writing and making patchwork quilts. The quilts may have an impact because it does teach you about juxtapositions of colours, and arrangements of disparate elements to make a harmonious whole.

One of the lessons you learn early on with making quilts is that while you're tempted to use all your favourite, fabulous fabrics, some of the best quilts relay on acres and acres of white, in order to set off the arrangment and colours of the other fabrics. In other words, less can indeed be more, and that may have fed into what you call my minimalist style.
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I think any graphic art such as quilt making must provide positive feedback to other mediums in due course.

Like landscape painting with foreground, middle ground and distance all oroviding the same depth as scenic photographs taken outdoors. It may only be a small rock or flower in the foreground but it is enough.

Ghost of EH7 said:
There's no post processing there except to fix the wonky horizon. The problem was that if I fixed it properly the sun's reflection is way too far off the vertical and looks stupid, so I had to leave the horizon slightly wonky.

There's also a green tinge towards the bottom left, and I'm sure the ring around the sun wasn't green when I shot it.

Also the composition doesn't work for me - the boat is too central. The composition is more pleasing if I crop it to a portrait format and put the boat and sun on the thirds, but that just accentuates the wonky horizon.

I could always head off to Lindisfarne again and re-shoot I suppose - and this time I'd take a tripod with a level in it.

See what I mean?
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Click to expand...

You could try the distort tool to straighten lines but the tool in Paint Shop Pro works better for staightening a flat image than the one in PS which appears to warp the image slightly.

The distort tool is sometimes called the perspective tool in various software.
 
Nice theme.

I was in Aruba last year, and the sun at sunset was always a perfect sinking sphere rather than an effect on the clouds. Weird like.

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Flickr link
 
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I'm going to have to be REALLY inventive this month.

We're currently on the dirty side of Hurricane Alex and it's forecast to rain everyday for as far out as they can predict.

Haven't seen the sun since the competition opened.
 
Been clarting about in the garden this evening....

#1

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I projected the sun onto my point and shoot camera. Not the most sensible thing to do - get it wrong and you could nacker the camera - but I am a curious sort. :) Don't try this at home - especially not with your eyeball!

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You should really project the sun onto a piece of white card. I didn't have any card to hand so beer belly had to suffice.

I have absolutely no idea what I am going to enter in the competition (if at all!)
 
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