9/9/11

Exploring with the Camera

I'm working on my photography skills this year and started the photo/day in January with the goal of taking a photo every day....haven't missed any yet!  All my daily photos are visible in my flickr account or my photography blog, PurkeyPages.

One of the learning challenges I'm participating in is with Kat at Kat's Eye View and currently we're focused on the process of elimination.  In other words, framing or editing a photo to get rid of the extraneous stuff so you can focus on the story you're trying to tell.  Here's a few examples of Elimination from my photo archives (not necessarily from my 365 project).



 I thought I wanted the context of the rusty gauge thingy, but it's really kind of a boring shot - the closeup is much more interesting.


I framed this rusty old car to eliminate most of the car and just focus on the grille, then came in even closer for around the headlight for an abstract shot.


I love the simplicity of the framing here - there was a big planter to the side and plants in front to work around, but the result looks kinda cool!  (It's San Juan Capistrano)



Here's one where I resorted to the magic of Photoshop (Elements actually) to remove that distracting light post.  Much better, don't you think?  This is a hotel on Tenerife, Canary Islands.

I find that I pretty naturally frame and reframe in the camera, trying to get the best angle or light but sometimes I'm carried away about the subject and don't notice the background - or it's immovable like the light post!  This was a good reminder exercise to keep me focused on the "why" of my photos - what's the story I want to tell?

You can see even more great examples of photographic Elimination at Kat's blog and flickr group.

8 comments:

  1. Great photos, you are doing a good job! And well done on keeping up all year! Valerie

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  2. I agree that these close ups are really nice and great job to remove that pole. It makes quite a bit of difference, doesn't it?

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  3. Love your 'elimination' photos here, especially the last one. Taking the pole out really made a big difference.

    Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your kind words!

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  4. Awesome Terrie! You have some great examples. I agree, the closeup of that gauge-y thing is more compelling than the shot that has it all in the frame. I love your car grill shot too, nice composition. The "cleaning" on the last shot makes a subtle but important difference. The lines are now clear for your eye to move through the photo, what a beautiful place. The colors remind me of Greece. :) Thanks so much for linking in!

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  5. There's no doubt that 'elimination' has made for some excellent shots here... good work Terrie.

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  6. beautiful work, you really did a great job highlighting the special, eccentric elements of each art piece.

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  7. Lovely photos! Such a great exercise and very fun to learn from others! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Love the photographs!! I also love to take claose-up photos of things! I've joined our local Photographic Society as well.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to add a comment. I value what you think!