Develop On Fridays Lesson Three :: Unexpected Light

For the third lesson on Develop On Fridays, Jeffra talked about taking advantage of challenging lighting situations.

I was in such a situation last night, when I was at my brother's place. Because we were going to serve the birthday cake, all the lights were off. The only lighting came from a votive candle.

I'm happy with this, I especially like the reflection of the flame in the coffee cup!

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Develop On Fridays Lesson Two :: Under the Influence

This week's lesson from the Develop on Fridays workshop at Paislee Press was to make a list of our different artistic inspirations. You know, painters, works of art, photographers, etc. Then we had to analyze it and see what draws us to these. We then had to be inspired by them for our photograph.

To be honest with you, I don't pay attention to art all that much. I see something I like, I look it over and that's it. I move on. So this was quite a challenge. In the end, I realized only two artists stayed on my mind: Norman Rockwell and Mélanie Louette.

I love Norman Rockwell's paintings. After looking at them more attentively, I realized that although most depict something fun about childhood, there is also a melancholy about them. I can't figure out why it seems that way to me, but that's what I see.

As for Mélanie, scrapbooker extraordinaire, I love her black and white photographs.

I didn't know what my picture was going to be. I was hoping to be inspired at the right moment. That's exactly what happened. When we were out at the restaurant, my daughter was having an ice cream sundae. She was also not feeling so well due to an ulcer in her mouth. What is more childlike than a sundae? Yet, the melancholy comes through due to her pain. I tried working on my black and white, but Im not really happy with it. More work to come for me!


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PS Make sure you check out my blog post at the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker blog!

Develop On Fridays Lesson One::Voice

My scrap friend Barb turned me onto this online photography workshop called Develop On Fridays. It is led by professional photographer Jefra Linn.

I only just recently started to play more with my photography. I want to develop new skills, see my subjects in a different light. I want to learn to shoot manual. I want to figure out how to properly use my new 50mm lens. I love it, but I have a hard time getting the focus right sometimes. I tend to get too close, and it does not work with the 50mm!

I came in at week 2, so this is me catching up with week 1 ;)

So, week one's assignment? To take at least 75 shots of a single subject in an attempt to find my creative voice. For the record, these were taken at 11PM under bright lights. 50mm 1.8 lens, ISO 800, automatic portrait mode. Here are 3 favourites.

Second runner-up. I love seeing a hint of the tail curled under my cat, Sunshine.


First runner-up. I like the orientation of this one. This picture of Sunshine looks exactly like what he looks like IRL. I love that!


Winner. I chose this one as my favourite because I love how the focus is exactly on his eye. Love the blurriness in the front.

Well, on to week two's assignment, see you soon!

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