slinky
Feb, 2014Views
277
Likes
Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
Great Shot
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 20 rank week 2Top 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I had just moved to the city to study mathematics at university, and I had picked up the camera the previous day. I had never owned a camera before, so my college neighbour (featured in the shot) and I were playing around to familiarise ourselves with the settings. I suppose we were pretty exhausted from the fist-week antics, so adding a slinky to the mix felt like the natural thing to do.Time
Ah, I remember that semester I had five 8am classes. It was horrible! For the first couple of weeks I would wake up too early and not know what to do with myself, so on this particular day I got out the camera for a play. The shot would have been taken at around 7:30am.Lighting
This photo is one of my favourite examples of the first big lesson in photography: lighting is everything! This might not be supported by everyone in the community, but as a person with colour-blindness my experience of a photograph hinges mostly on the contrast and the form rather than enjoyment of colour. The shot was taken in the early morning, while the light was directional but soft, and this gently brings out the depth in the image.Equipment
I used a Nikon D5200 with a basic 35mm f1.8 lens. Plus a slinky.Inspiration
This photo was pure uninhibited experimentation: we really weren't trying to do anything in particular. I have always loved patterns and echoes in nature, so we figured the human eye shot though a spiralling slinky could make for an interesting image.Editing
This is a point of regret for me. This photo was shot during meh very early days using a camera, and the art of subtle post-processing had not become familiar to me. The photo is actually a composite of two images: one with the slinky in the frame and in focus in the foreground, and one without the slinky in which the eye was in focus. I fear that in my inexperience I over sharpened the skin around the eye, removing a great deal of texture and realism from the shot. To add to my foolishness, I edited the shot destructively so the original file has been lost.In my camera bag
These days I like to carry as little as I can. For a while I dreamed of splurging on a kit with the best cameras and the sharpest, brightest lenses money could by, but it dawned on me one day that I was missing 90% of the shots I wanted to take because I never had my kit on me! To use the old cliche: the best camera is the one you carry with you. For the most part I just carry.my Fujifilm X100T in a leather case in my satchel, and nothing else. When I have an absolute need to more reach I will also carry my Fujifilm XE-2 with the XF 90mm F2 lens.Feedback
My advice would be to not think and just shoot. Of course I don't mean people should mindlessly snap away at every whim, but I do think the most interesting images are created when we are free from unproductive over-criticism and planning. If you pick up the camera trying to take a particular shot, chances are that you will tie yourself in knots chasing an ill-formed mental image of perfection, or worse you will end up producing a poor-quality facsimile of somebody else's work. It is far better to approach photography in a playful and disinhibited way, because that way the shots you capture will be far more likely to stand out and be different.
