Old Book
To be honest, the Ink and Paper contest inspired this photo. It was taken in my living room, with my fathers old chair and a lamp on our bookshelf. I placed the...
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To be honest, the Ink and Paper contest inspired this photo. It was taken in my living room, with my fathers old chair and a lamp on our bookshelf. I placed the book on an old serving plate and captured the image while the book was open. I hope you like it.
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Apr, 2015Views
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Awards
Zenith Award
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 21
Member Selection Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Ink and Paper Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Superior Skill
Love it
Genius
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Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the living room of my parents house. In the corner of my fathers reading study, by his bookshelf and his reading chair. I love the massive bookshelf in the living room, and the classic old chair and couch. It is so beautiful and gives me old school vibes. Especially since, in the background you can see the family portraits and the old comics my father loves so much - this was a room I loved as a child and would read countless books in.Time
It was around midnight - I had spent my entire day studying and I could not sleep at all. After my book had fallen on the floor, in the beautiful position that I tried to recreate in the photo. I decided that now was as good a time as ever to whip out the camera. All in all, this photo took about an hour for me to take, and a few hours in editing until I was satisfied with the results. I ended up going to bed at about 3:00 AM.Lighting
I wanted the picture to be dark and yellow - and the book was the main focus. All the curtains in the living room were closed and the only light that was on, I had positioned on the bookshelf, up and a cross from the book. so that the light was only hitting the book and chair. If you look closely in the background you can see the chord for the lamp behind the chair. I imagined this would also be the perfect reading light setting, for the occasion. No other light was on.Equipment
At the time of this photo, I hadn't much equipment, I only had my Canon 550D with the standard lens and a broken tripod. Because the tripod was broken, I placed the camera on top of a flat coffee table that I pulled in front of the chair to hold it straight. I didn't use flash as I wanted the lighting to be dark. Other than that, I didn't have much equipment. For lighting I just used the reading lamp from the living room.Inspiration
I had been studying all day, as I am a full time student and photographer on the side. When I was about to move some of my books around, one of them (a rather stiff and new book) fell, and opened up - and for just a moment it spread out completely and perfectly lined up. I thought it looked so cool, that I tried to recreate the position - and then decided how beautiful it would be, to have a 'self reading book' in my fathers reading corner. It was very late but now I already had the idea in my head and I couldn't let it go, so i tip toed into the living room to take the photo.Editing
I tried several things, I wished the photo to originally be a manipulation and the book would be floating in that position. So I tried to photoshop the tray that I had placed the book on out of the picture. Although it worked, I still think the photo with the tray looked better, the other photo looked off somehow. I changed the contrast of the photo to make the book stand out more and then I also changed the yellowtoned hue of the photo to make it appear more yellow. Lastly I used the sharpen tool, to sharpen the book and highlight the pages, so it looks like the book reflects more of the light than it actually does.In my camera bag
I am a 'simple' photographer and a student with not a lot of money... So I always take my Canon 550D, my 56mm lens and my 32mm lens. I also take my spare SD cards, and my spare batteries and my tripod.Feedback
For these types of pictures I find that it's not so much about the quality of the picture (in a technical sense like resolution), but more the vibe of the picture and the mood and setting of it. The more emotion and originality of the picture the better - by this I also feel like spontaneity works wonders. When you are right in that mood of something old, maybe moody, classic, dark, whichever mood it may be - just go for it, and make the setting look like the emotions you are having right in that particular moment. Everything else, comes second. If you don't value the emotion of this kind of picture first, it might just come off as flat - and it will be a pretty picture. But without emotion. You don't need tons of equipment to make a great photo - just soul.
