SILVER FILIGREE
A Japanese lantern, dried to a lacy pattern, lays over the top of a blue glass coffee mug. the sun shines down for a brief moment and, for this photographer, b...
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A Japanese lantern, dried to a lacy pattern, lays over the top of a blue glass coffee mug. the sun shines down for a brief moment and, for this photographer, becomes "SILVER FILIGREE". The blue glass mug and Japanese lantern are lit ONLY by natural sunlight..no editing was done to this photo other than adding my watermark. I held the camera just above the lantern and looked straight down from above the mug - natural sunlight provided what I needed to capture the inside of the mug and bottom of the mug - the light pinkish colour you see on bottom of the photograph!
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May, 2013Views
1214
Likes
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Exceptional Contrast
Peer Award
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 2
hmwilsonphotos
May 16, 2013
Thanks! It was a little experiment that actually worked!!!! I entered it into the Contrast Contest!!!! :)
Platinum
hmwilsonphotos
May 31, 2013
Thanks very much!!! This has stretched me - and made me want to try more things like this!!!! I appreciate the peer award!!!
PRO+
hmwilsonphotos
June 06, 2013
Thanks MaryAnne! It was a sunny day and I was sitting outside with a neighbour - who had the blue coffee mug! I am thinking I need to expand my "horizons" and try different experiments more often!!! :) Thanks for the like!
Platinum
hmwilsonphotos
June 22, 2013
Thanks JudyAnn - I appreciate the peer award, the like - and the kind comments! This was quite fun - and I am pondering on what to try next!!!! :)
hmwilsonphotos
June 30, 2013
Thanks very much! It has certainly appealed to many more people than I ever thought it would!!!! :)
ThompsonsPhotography
August 11, 2013
Great shot I thought I voted for this one already .... Voted :)
hmwilsonphotos
August 20, 2013
Thanks - it has been put in a few contests - came in top 20 and 30 in POINT OF VIEW - and is presently in top 20 week 1 for Contrast Photography!
Platinum
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This is one of my favorite photos of all the thousands I have taken. It was taken right outside my home, beside my garden! It was unexpected, a moment I captured when not even looking for one, and actually had to go back inside for my camera!Time
My friend and I were standing outside my place on May 16, 2013, in the early afternoon. We were talking about my garden and all the work needing to be done since it was now Spring! The sun had been playing hide and seek for a bit, and it was close to 1:30 p.m.Lighting
The ONLY light used on this image was the sunlight! Absolutely no other source was used!!Equipment
This was taken with my first really good digital camera - a Canon Rebel xTi which I bought second hand in 2011. I used my kit lens 18mm - 55mm - set at 55mm. Hand held, no tripod! I now have a Canon Rebel T3i and love it!Inspiration
My friend saw this Japanese Lantern, which had dried to a lacy filigree, in my garden and wanted to take it home with her, and had just put her blue glass coffee mug down on the edge of my garden while we chatted. I placed this dried lantern which was hanging onto a short stem over the top of the mug, so she could take it later! We continued to chat, and I happened to glance down. The sun shone down on it as I was looking at it, and I ran indoors to grab my camera! I was able to capture an image that has become one of my most popular! It is used on photo cards (almost 100 of those sold so far) and I have also provided various sized print enlargements! I recently had it printed on metallic paper, which enhanced the background color of the mug and made the filigree pattern pop even more!!!! If one holds this photo up in the sunlight, it really does appear to be silver filigree and I have been told it looks like a piece of jewellery which I set up and photographed. When I make cards or prints I put a short explanation on the back so people can understand just what the subject is! This was not a set-up photo - it is simply the angle of the sun shining down, the way the dried lantern happened to be hanging over the top of the mug - and the blue glass coffee mug which seemed to absorb the sunlight! I happened to notice the effect and ran back into my place to grab my camera. I usually leave my telephoto lens on my camera, but for whatever reason happened to have my kit lens on, which turned out to be the best option! I held the camera by hand, fairly close to the subject but not in the way of the sunshine, and snapped only a few shots before losing the sun! This brief moment in time became, for this photographer, "Silver Filigree".Editing
For this image - when I brought it up on my computer, all I did was a slight adjusting of highlights, but it did not need much - just enough to bring a bit of light into the darkest edge at the top. Depending on what I am doing with this image I have cropped it in order to include more of the blue around the lantern, or to allow more of the curve of the inside bottom of the mug (with the slightish pink tinge) to show (this pinkish tinge came from the sunlight on the mug!) - but I have never done any further post-processing beyond this!In my camera bag
My present camera, a Canon Rebel T3i, the kit lens Canon EFS 18mm-55mm with image stabilizer, macro 0.25m/0.8 ft.; a wide angle lens by Tamron - SP 10-24mm 1:3-5=4.5, and recently got a Canon Zoom Lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6. I have in the past also had a macro/zoom lens but it is presently not working! I have a tripod also, but it is a heavy one and I sometimes do not take it with me unless I know that I will be shooting night shots or fireworks etc.Feedback
Be patient, be willing to look at everything around you with an eye for what is different in the moment. I mostly shoot nature photography - flowers, sunsets, birds, the odd sunrise, and night shots (the moon, fireworks, city nights) sometimes city landscapes but also oceans and rivers etc. My first photographs were mostly "straight on" images of anything around me. Now, 5 years after getting my first Canon Rebel, I take more time, I move slightly left or right or forward or backwards, I try shooting the subject in various ways. I happen to have knee problems, so can not actually get down on the ground, or kneel down looking up - which is why I use my telephoto lens so often. I love to challenge myself, and now as I walk around I am constantly looking for the different angles and subjects. I did not set up this particular image of the Silver Filigree lantern, and rarely do I set up a shot in nature, but I have been known to remove a dried weed or flower from around another subject at times!! I can only advise that one should constantly look around as you walk, try many different shots, and practice, practice, practice! Be willing to learn and to experiment, be patient, and if the first one does not work, try again...and again, if necessary! You never know when the next image you take is going to be the best one ever! Although this particular shot has never been repeated by me - in my gallery on Viewbug, there is another unique image I took of a dried Japanese Lantern...ask me about it sometime!
