Streams of Light

Remotivation

2009-12-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Whoa, over a year since the last update? What's wrong with me?

Actually, I know exactly what's wrong. I lost my groove, and I'm not just saying that in a humble way. For quite a long time, I felt like everything I touched turned into utter crap. I mean it. Fuzzy out of focus pictures, photos that looked like crappy snapshots because I took the picture a second too late, the ones that were way, way under/over exposed. I put my camera away for a long, long, long time.

I was persuaded to bring my camera to a few company events, and some of the pictures I took turned out surprisingly well. Like the portrait above.

One of my coworkers brought her son to work for Halloween. He knows me, but mostly is shy and reserved around me. I pulled out the camera and something suddenly changed. He began to play a very spirited game of hide and seek with me. I had all of two seconds to take a picture of him peeking through the chair.

It's not perfect, but that's what makes it so wonderful. It's spontaneous and his joy really shines in his eyes. I have to say that this is the kind of portrait I want to take. I don't want to do the stiff portrait where people pose and smile stiffly for the camera. I prefer something much more natural. Anyway, hope I'll be able to share more pictures soon.

iPhone = lomo?

2008-09-16T16:18:00.001-07:00

Labyrinth, originally uploaded by cellissimo.

So, the iPhone's camera doesn't have the greatest quality. But that's ok, having a multipurpose phone is nice, and I have managed to take some decent portrait shots for my contact list. It's nice to see who's calling you, no?

I was taking a walk near my office and happened on this Labyrinth, which is in the E A Games campus. It's based on a labyrinth in England, and walking a labyrinth is meant to be a relaxing and contemplative practice. It's kind of amazing that there's one right near me!

Anyway, I was actually quite happy with how this photo turned out. I really shot have shot it in landscape mode instead of portrait, but I liked the color balance. It's got that lomo quality. Of course, this is the most expensive lomo, ever.

this is not something you see everyday

2008-08-14T16:37:00.001-07:00

this is not something you see everyday, originally uploaded by cellissimo.

Most of the time, I pretty disappointed with how my photos turn out. I still have problems focusing, composing a short, and choosing the correct parameters to create the shot. One of the nice things about digital is that I can throw out a bad shot almost instantly, but there are times when the view screen is too small for me to tell whether I've created a nice picture or not.

And then there are times when I get a real surprise. Like this shot. The lilypads were actually pretty far away , and I was sitting on the shore. It was too hot, and I was being lazy when I took this picture, meaning I didn't want to get up and move around to get closer to the plants. So, I didn't even see the bee until after I got home and loaded the pictures into Picasa.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this picture. I like the Depth of Field, the glossiness of the leaves, and the surprised detail of the bee. Even though it was a very sunny day, I adjusted the exposure a bit so that the colors look deeper instead of washed (which is what usually happens when I try to take a photo in full sun).

Photo Processing on the Web

2008-08-07T15:15:00.001-07:00

Created with dumpr.net - fun with your photos

There are a number of sites that allow you to do interesting processing on your photos. My personal favorite is Picnik, but after poking around flickr, I discovered Dumpr. It's a bit slower than Picnik, but there's some good stuff there. I really love the lomo look, but I don't have the lomo camera yet. For now, digital lomo will do.

Under Construction

2008-08-04T13:46:00.001-07:00

Under Construction, originally uploaded by cellissimo.

Hello and welcome to my new photo blog!

Last year, I bought a Canon Digital Rebel, and it's been love ever since then. I've been trying to learn more about taking pictures and processing them. I've been thinking about starting a new "photoblog" and documenting my learning process.

Most of my photos are here, and I will be blogging on the ones that are my favorites.

I love comments and will try to reply, so if you have any suggestions about photography, just let me know.

Thank you!