MF-SoHo

Selfie from the view of my fridge

A cuple of years before I saw an image like this, but I can't remember the name of the photographer. I thought I try to reproduce it my way....
Read more

A cuple of years before I saw an image like this, but I can't remember the name of the photographer. I thought I try to reproduce it my way.
Read less

SONY SLT-A55V

settings

Aperture 1/1 ISO 400 Shutter 1/4

upload_date

Nov, 2017

Views

1067

Likes

+167

Awards

Contest Finalist in Social Exposure Photo Contest Vol 12

Peer Award

+34

Outstanding Creativity

+30

Superb Composition

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

Genius

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Virtuoso

Superior Skill

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in my kitchen. I placed my camera with a fish eye lens in the fridge and did several tests to find the best settings, because I couldn't see the display. First I started with a clean kitchen but I thought it was boring, and it doesn't reflect much of my personality. So I put together some of the most unusual things I could find in my flat and arranged them in the background.

Time

Well... the Exif data tell me it was the 6th of november 2017 09:13 pm. I remember, I was sitting in front of my laptop and there was a challenge about selfies. I had the idea for this selfie a few weeks going around in my head, but either I had no time or I forgot about it... Then I read about the challenge and I had time and I thought: now or never.

Lighting

I wanted to give that image a natural touch. It should look like an old photo or maybe a bit like a scene of an old movie. I switched on all the lights in the kitchen and realized that I have a problem. I didn't have suitable lights at this time, because I was mainly shooting outside with natural light. The basic rule for me was always: I capture light. I don't take a photo of an object, I collect the light it reflects. I never wanted to destroy the light situations that I found so I never used artificial light. It was night, so all I had was the light in the kitchen and some kind of work lamp.

Equipment

I used my Sony A55, a Samyang 8mm fish eye lens, a work light and of course my fridge ;-)

Inspiration

I saw some similar pictures some years ago. They looked differend than my version, but it was the same idea. I wanted to recreate one of this pictures and did a few tries, but they didn't work for me, so I forgot about this project and did other things. Later I found my photos again and I saw everything I did wrong. I had evolved so it was the time to pick up this topic again.

Editing

When I started to take photos with digital cameras I didn't do any post processing at all. I tried but it looked awful. So I decided to first learn to photograph and afterwards to learn the post processing. Over time I bought several cameras because I wanted to try everything, so I bought a sigma DP2M. The jpgs of this camera are unusable, so I had to use the sigma raw converter to get proper photos. Maybe this was the way my life told me: "boy, it's time." So I started to use the raw converters of my cameras. A few month before I shot my selfie, I discovered that sony had made a deal with phase one and provided an entry version of capture one, that's limited to sony raw files, for free. I tried it and I loved it. So all my post processing is now done in capture one. The post processing itself is rather boring. There is nothing special about it. Some contrast and saturation adjustments, color shift, sharpeneing, added grain... There is only one thing, that is a bit special, and thats the purple vignette. In this older version of capture one it was not possible to do big color changes on layers. To create the purple vignette I hat to paint a mask and then change the white balance of it. With the actual version they improved the layers so big color changes are no problem anymore.

In my camera bag

I don't have one standard bag ;-) Chase Jarvis once said: The Best Camera is the One That's with You (and he wrote a book about it). I always wear Trousers with big pockets, so I can take my Sony RX100 with me. So when I don't take a camera bag with me I have the RX100 and nothing else. If I go for a walk or if I go shopping, I often have a backpack with me. There I carry my Panasonic FZ1000, a little travel tripod, a flashlight and some lens cleaning stuff. When I go on a photo tour I usually pick one topic first. Let's say I want to photograph squirrels. Then my backpack looks like this: Sony A68, Tamron 150-600mm, Samyang 8mm fish eye, Minolta 50mm 1.4 (just in case), a compact camera (Sony RX100 for example), cleaning stuff (air blower, micro fibre cloth, lenspen, ...), tripod, batteries, nuts (to lure), food and a bottle of water. The basic concept behind this is that I want to carry as less as possible and if I want to capture a squirrel I don't take just a photo of the squirrel itself, I take photos of the surrounding as well and for this I need a wide angle lens (it doesn't have to be a fish eye but I simply love it). In the beginning I carried everything with me. I had a backpack as big as an elephant. Everything fits in there. And it was heavy like an elephant. When I found a proper location I was exhausted. Then I tried to find the right equipment. I thought about what I shall use. Half of the time I was thinking and searching. Now I got everything ready, I just need to open my bag and make one movement. And I have no questions about what to use, I have to use what I have. And if it doesn't fit my needs I have to improvise.

Feedback

My Zen of taking a good picture: 1. The beginner buys a camera with basic features, the andvanced buys a camera with advanced features and the master buys a camera where you can deactivate all advanced features. 2. The beginner worries about the camera, the advanced worries about lenses, the master worries about light. 3. The grandmaster doesn't care about all this. He simply uses what's there. Technically my picture is not the best. But that doesn't matter. It's the creativity that counts and creativity can be trained like a muscle. The key to this is to limit myself. The less resources I have, the more I have to get out of it. For this I have to improvise and that trains my creativity. So the process of taking a picture like this, is to put together what I have and what I want to archieve and then to go step by step to reach my goal. So first I have a basic Idea. I set up the scene and make a try. Then I check it and I rearrange the scene, but only one thing after another. If it's good, it stays, if it's bad, it flies ;-) In the middle of this process I usually have the perfect idea for the final result. So all the prior steps are just preparations to create this idea. The rest goes by itself. And I just play with the things and have fun. All that finally counts is to create something unique that has my handwriting on it. I don't want to be the best, I want to stand out.

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MF-SoHo

MF-SoHo

Selfie from the view of my fridge

A cuple of years before I saw an image like this, but I can't remember the name of the photographer. I thought I try to reproduce it my way.... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow MF-SoHo

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A cuple of years before I saw an image like this, but I can't remember the name of the photographer. I thought I try to reproduce it my way....
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.