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Slowing down the time
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Slowing down the time



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(Christchurch, New Zealand)

(Christchurch, New Zealand)
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cameraPENTAX K-r

settings Aperture f/8.0 ISO 200 

upload_dateJul, 2013

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Behind The Lens

Location

This is not only the time related 'where' but also the 'where in life': I took the photo in the botanic gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand, at the beginning of a long journey. These travel times were actually the main reason, why I finally bought a DSLR after some years of just dreaming about it. So this shot was at the very beginning of getting more into photography in general. I liked taking photos since I can remember though... I love the power of photos to trigger memories of moments and to bring back feelings, that I had back then.

Time

The photo might be able to tell you the time of day. ;) But the shadow of the sundial is not really clear to see. It was taken shortly after lunch time at the end of summer. It was a nice and sunny day. That made some nice reflections on the metal of the sundial and therefor a good contrast. Also the cobblestone and the joints inbetween made an interesting background texture. But maybe a bit disturbing from the main object of the image, I'd say now.

Lighting

The lighting is all natural, but I took three different exposures for an HDR picture. I really like experimenting with this technique. I love the great contrasts and satuation (if not converted into b/w of course...) in those images. I gotta admit, it's a kinda convenient technique, as the software decides for each part of the image, which of the originals is correctly exposed. That's why there is a lot of detail, also in the shadows and the bright areas, in this kind of images.

Equipment

It was shot with a Pentax K-r with a standard set lens 18-55mm (1:3.5-5.6) at 18mm, F/8, ISO 200. The exposure times were 1/250s +/-3 steps. Actually I was just playing around with this HDR feature. As the scene was quite bright, I didn't use a tripod or flash or any other equipment. I really like my Pentax camera, as it is not as bulk as others. Also it comes with an af-motor in the body, which reduces the price and the weight of the lenses, as they don't need a motor each. On the downside, the autofocus is a bit loud. But I don't mind, as I'm not mainly shooting birds or other easily frightend animals. The K-r comes with a whole lot of great features and options for getting started with a DSLR for a decent price. And I gotta admit, I often like having something that is a bit off the beaten path. In this case that means, not having a mainstream Canon or Nikon camera. I'm sure they make awesome pictures as well! ;)

Inspiration

I liked, how the antik looking sundial and pillar blended with the modern writing around it.

Editing

As meantioned above, I used an HDR software to combine the three different exposures of the image. This was done to increase the amount of visible details and to boost the contrast of the image to create a more dramatic look. I chose to make it black and white, as there weren't many colors in it anyway and as there was such an interesting contrast in the brighter and darker areas already. Also I cut off a little bit of the surroundings which didn't seem to add anything of interest.

In my camera bag

Beside the above meantioned K-r and the standard set lens, I've got a tele lens 70-300mm, but also not a very fast aperature. I'm looking forward to a 50mm 1.4 lens, as I became a big fan of narrow depth of field. Beside that I always carry a small remote shutter control and an extra sd-card as well as some extra batteries with me. Sometimes also a tripod and/or a gray filter.

Feedback

Wait for good light. It automatically creates interesting shadows and helps you to freehold the camera without bluring your image, even on highly overexposed images like the one I took for the HDR image. For a similar shot, next time, I would try to blur the background, so that it doesn't distract from the main object. And maybe take a separate photo of the nice cobblestone textures. There is so much to try, learn, figure out and discover in photography. That's the beauty of it. It's highly creative and doesn't get boring.

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