Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Project Purple

I read somewhere about ideas for photo projects and assignments one could take up to practice and hone their photography skills. I felt like trying one out and decided on " A color a week". You pick any random color and click photos of that color everyday for a week. It could be of anything, but as it is so restrictive, it makes you more observant of your surroundings (after all, it is not easy and you have to search everywhere for your chosen color), gets your creative juices flowing and you learn how to photograph mundane things in an interesting manner.

I chose purple and started walking around the house everyday for sometime looking for purple things. Sometimes I made great discoveries but many times there just wasn't anything interesting enough.


Day 1


I really like the way the writing fades away in this one.


Day 2


A string of beads that I made to decorate the living room curtains.


Day 3


 Umbrella!


Day 4

 
This is one of the worse ones. The day was almost over and I was out of ideas. Then I noticed that my toothbrush was purple. I clicked the same toothbrush again and again from different angles till I was fed up, trying to get a decent picture, but this was the best I could come up with. One thing I learnt from this is that it is really difficult to make your toothbrush look beautiful. :)














Day 5


Art supplies. I don't know if this is cheating or not, but I did it anyway. :)


Day 6


Only one day left! Its been fun, but for some reason I can't wait to get this project over with. This is a picture of our toy cupboard and I used selective color to make the purple one stand out, because otherwise it would be lost among the colors of the rest of the board games.


Day 7


Another selective color picture! I really like this effect. The fact that I do is also apparent from the number of pictures I have taken with it. :)

And so, we come to the end of this little journey. However, the end of this one is only the beginning of the next. I leave you now, but my head is bursting with crazy ideas and it won't be long before I'm back  with another silly project.

Until next time then! :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Put a hood on it!

Ever since I got my new camera I have been using the kit lens that came with it. Then, a few days ago I remembered that I had been given an old zoom lens by somebody who didn't want it before I was gifted this camera. 
The lens looked like this-



When I started using it I was puzzled by something: the case or whatever that was at the front of the lens would come in the way and make it difficult to zoom and focus. I tried removing it but it wouldn't budge and gave up afraid that it might break. But I just couldn't figure out why it was there. Finally I looked it up on the internet and found out that the case was a lens hood, a device used at the end of a lens to block the sun and prevent glare or lens flare.
Then I learned a vital piece of information, lens hoods were designed so they fit onto the lens facing outward for normal use as well as backward, so that it occupies less space when stored. So this thing could be removed! I went back and tried harder, and with more confidence, to remove it. Then I managed to attach it back the right way -



The idea is pretty neat, it spreads outward while being used and conveniently fits the other way when not, taking up only as much space as the lens itself.
I felt happy at having solved the problem, or rather, correcting my silly mistake. However, it is only from our mistakes that we learn right?