Kickoff
Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This place is at my workplace, in Dublin City Centre, bellow the Connolly Train Station. I sometimes park my car in there. The place is otherwise inaccessible for the public, so I got a minor advantage with this one. I see a lots of other opportunities in it.Time
It was in the morning around 11 o'clock. With this particular picture the time is really not relevant, as only some of the ambient light got in there. However it helped that I had little more than usual light on that particular day. I remember that it was cold, I had to do all the pictures in about 15 minutes, as I did not bring the gloves, so my hands started to protest against my intentions. Why would I need gloves, I work there right? Wrong. Never underestimate the weather conditions, that was the lesson for the day.Lighting
I like to work with the naturally present lights. I'd rather wait for perfect conditions, than use any added lights, as it alters the experinece. (Yes, sometimes you do want to alter it, I admit.) At this place it means that I had to wait until the ceiling light got replaced.Equipment
I took it with a Sony a6000 mirrorless with the stock 16-50 powerzoom from hand. I wanted a low perspective to create an interesting comparison between the size of the ball and the arc in the background. No flash or other extra lights.Inspiration
People see this place on a daily basis. Frankly it does not look much of interest at first glance: dark, dusty. I like tunnels, factories, mechanical stuff, so the place got my attention. Literally every day I was thinking how the best is to overcome with the difficulties of lighting, and what is the best way to capture the proportions, the atmosphere, shapes, and shadows properly all in a single shot. After months of thinking (which brought me nowhere) one day I decided to "just bring in the cam and try to do something". I took about 40 pictures, the whole thing was missing a reference, it was out of context and meaningless. But there is always something! After a short thinking I saw the ball beside a bin. Then I placed it in the middle took one quick picture. I saw immediately that this is the right setting. So I took more pictures, different angles. But the best one was where the ball was comparable size to the arc in the backgrund.Editing
I try to keep post processing at a level where it does not take over the whole image, instead I just gently try to emphasize the subject. So I have adjusted the levels, and added vignetting. Not that the shapes doesn't bring your attention in the middle, but this time vignetting gave it a little extra depth.In my camera bag
I keep it fast and light. I know myself, if my stuff weighs 10 kg without sandwiches, drinks, clothing I would not go anywhere to begin with. So for me I got the Sony a6000 mirrorless, 16-50 + 55-210 lens. Plus 3 spare batteries, a 9 stop ND filter, and a polarizer. All this in a ridiculously small camera bag. Also I have a Sony tripod in my backpack, which is very small and lightweight too, so I don't need an extra case for that.Feedback
The best is to find places where other people simply don't even dare to go, or they tell you that you are out of your mind. Railways, factories, docks are prime locations, the more ruined they are the best it is. For example I'm currently preparing a set of photos I took in an old factory. The whole experience, just to be there was a WOW. I could see with my minds eye that 40 years ago the place was full of life, workers, machines everything, in contrast with the current empty abandoned state. For composition, find objects, and put them into perspective, with a proper background. Play with the depth of field. Then they will tell their stories. For post processing do a good B&W work, but I wouldn't recommend crazy amount of local edits. The ruined objects, and buildings give off lots of contrast anyway.
