theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Three
Posted on August 2, 2017
52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 8 – Pink
Posted on September 26, 2016
I wish I could have come up with something a bit more original than a flower for week 8 of the 52 Weeks Photo Challenge being run by The Girl That Dreams Awake. However, the truth of the matter is that pink isn’t really my colour.
However, that’s not to say this wasn’t a very nice pink poppy (complete with wasp) growing in Monet’s Garden at Giverny.
Macro Moments: Week 5
Posted on July 22, 2016
Flowers are one of my favourite subjects for macro photography, so I’ve decided to participate in the ‘Macro Moments’ challenge hosted by Susan Gutterman at Musin’ with Susan, as flowers are the topic for this week.
This is a close-up image of a chrysanthemum bloom taken at Monet’s Garden in Giverny, in Normandy. Apart from the spectacular colours, what I particularly like is the way that the individual petals can be seen to be folding back on themselves in a symmetrical pattern.
Nikon D800 with Nikon f2.8 24-70mm lens at 56mm. 1/180 at f8.0, ISO400. Cropped and edited in Lightroom.
Contrasting colours
Posted on March 16, 2016
Well, I learned something today. Did you know that colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, when mixed, produce black? There’s a fact to be added to the store of useless information.
However, on this occasion we’re not looking to mix opposing colours but to juxtapose them. Essentially there are three ‘pairs’ of opposing colours, so here are a couple of images of each set:
Red and Green
Two roses, the first from Monet’s Garden, the second from outside our own back door (this one hs a wonderful, heady scent. Madame’s grandmother had some of these in her own garden and it brings back happy memories).
Orange and Blue
Two photographs taken on the island of Burano, in the Venetian lagoon
Purple and Yellow
I had to get a bit creative here, as I don’t seem to have many images featuring this pairing in my library.
The first is an imposing building in Bruges, where the yellow detail on the columns contrasts with the indigo shade of the reflected sky in the windows. The second is a detail of a window display in a quilting supplies shop in Sarlat. The purple and yellow are among the threads at the top, in case you’re wondering.
Analogous Colours
Posted on March 1, 2016
The latest instalment in this thread calls for examples of analogous colours – in other words, ones that are adjacent on the colour wheel:
The most common mnemonic to help with remembering the ‘proper’ sequence of colours in the spectrum is ‘ROYGBIV’: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Here are some images that put together good neighbours.
OYG
Two examples here: a flower from Monet’s Garden in Giverny and a selection of flowering courgettes from the Rialto Market in Venice
GB
A bright blue dragonfly on a green leaf (from my garden pond)
BIV
My grandson sitting at the top of a slide at his pirate-themed second birthday party
IVR
Finally, this is an electronic display in The Mall of The Emirates in Dubai. The colours actually cycle through the whole spectrum
Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Complimentary Colours
Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art
Posted on February 13, 2016
Claude Monet painted over 250 pictures of waterlilies, mostly those found in his garden at Giverny and most famously those which also included a view of the Japanese bridge. When visiting Giverny, it’s quite something to recognise a vista from one of Monet’s paintings and realise you’re standing in the same spot he must have done with his easel over a hundred years ago.
Monet himself, of course, did it better; this version is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:
Before & After: Boat
Posted on December 18, 2015
My little exercise in post-processing this week was actually inspired by the December One Photo Focus, which was published last Friday. My own humble effort can be found here, but I was particularly interested by some of the other participants’ use of the more sophisticated and creative tools available in Photoshop. Apart from anything else, it made me more determined than ever to try to get to grips properly with this extraordinarily sophisticated (downright clever) program.
Original image
This photograph was taken at the famous lily pond in Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny, in Normandy. The day was very overcast and drizzly, so the light was very flat, the water looks very drab and even the reflections are rather dull. The whole thing obviously needs some work.
Lightroom
Some basic editing in Lightroom helped to cheer up the image. Cropping made the boat the centre of attention and some work with the sliders brought out more detail. Increasing the Green Saturation helped to overcome the overall flatness, and moving up the Clarity and Vibrance gave the image more punch. Without being anything special, it’s a lot better than it was.
Photoshop
Then it occurred to me that, since the picture was taken in a painter’s garden, why not make it look more like a painting? And since Monet was, of course, an Impressionist, why not try to give it something of an impressionist feel?
So I used the Paint Daub effect in Photoshop and came up with the image below. I could have made the effect more extreme, but – if I’m honest – chickened out. Anyway, it’s far removed from the original image and, I think, a lot more interesting.
Leading Lines
Posted on November 2, 2015
Leading lines could well be the first basic tool of composition that I picked up on and have stuck with ever since – to the extent that in many cases the leading lines are the image. Anyway, I seem to have plenty of them, of which these are a few – and, hopefully, varied – examples.
And finally, in a shameless attempt to earn a gold star, two images of curved leading lines
Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up
Posted on July 25, 2015
The heart of a poppy in Monet’s Garden at Giverney. I hadn’t spotted the flying creatures until I zoomed in on the image
Photography 101: Water
Posted on November 5, 2014
Where there’s water, there’s a good chance of a reflection – nature’s buy-one-get-one-free.
Today, an image from my visit earlier this year to Monet’s Garden.
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