Kitchen Panograph

I've been wanting to try this for a long time, panographs are just so cool! So, today I killed two birds with one stone - I finally got around to a great (and very late) spring cleaning, and, I got to experiment with my camera a bit too :).

Since I wanted this to fit into the "24 pictures from one spot" challenge, I had to think it through a bit beforehand. I ended op going with a 6 by 3 grid, which makes 18, and then shot 6 additional shots, featuring some details (to mix things up a bit), and thus I got to 24.  I chose 6 by 3, because I wanted quite a lot of overlapping so that the distortion would not get too great - I wanted a more natural, and less edgy look.

The post-ed was a bit time-consuming, but not as complicated as one might think. Since I shot all of the photos in the "grid" with the same settings on manual, there was practically no "drift" in contrast. The hard part was to make them fit together nicely. I decided on having the 2nd row on top and the upper and lower rows layered below it - I think it makes the whole thing look more natural and harmonic. When I had gotten the whole thing together, I merged all of the 18 layers, and put it though my usual basic post-ed adjustments (levels & curves). Next, I added the six "detail shots", and matched them to the grid. As a final step, I went over the photo with the desaturation sponge and removed some color from places with a bit of color drift. And.. I done!

All in all, it was a fun exercise! I'll definitely do more of these :)

/MrsHjort

24 Pictures from One Spot Challenge

I love new challenges, that's why I joined W1K back in 2013, and it's a huge part of why I've stayed. Even more important though, are the awesome artists you meet there, and all the inspiration you get.

Today, thanks to Buffy, I've finally gotten around to shooting my garden. For some reason, it's hard for me to get around to shooting at home. I like to go places and shoot, but really, you can find loads of nice subjects in your own back yard.

So anyway, the challenge was to stand in one spot, without moving your feet, and shoot 24 different photos. Fun huh? It makes you look around more than you usually do and experiment with angles and composition. I shot all of the pictures with my Sigma 70-300 mm lens - I just love how flexible it is and the gorgeous bokeh you get when using a large aperture :). It's just the best!

Shooting comes quite natural to me, I'm usually very fast - that's the way you get to be when you have an impatient husband, who sighs loudly when you take too long haha. The time-consuming part is the post-ed. But, it's an oh so important part. Some sharpening here, some curves manipulation there, getting the levels right is important, and saturation is the cherry on top. About two hours later, and I'm done.

So, here it is, the fruit of my work, both as a photographer and gardener. I hope you like it.

/MrsHjort

Devotion

I never get to shoot Mr, seriously, I don't, not for real. Oh, I'm not counting those times when he "lets" me. No matter what we try, he can't help but look totally awkward and tense. Have you've ever seen the episode of Friends where Chandler and Monica are taking an engagement picture? Well, that's exactly what it's like! So for me to actually get a good picture of Mr... it's a very rare thing indeed.

Shooting Mr, involves stealth and a lot of luck. Fortunately, I have a lens that lets me get in real close from quite a distance, which really helps in his case. That way I can catch him off guard, when he's relaxed and unaware. I shot this from 20 meters away, and I got really lucky! In my eyes it's one of those pictures that really defines him. It's a rare thing to succeed with that... just a picture of him, doing such an every day thing as watering our garden, but with the same care and devotion that he handles most things in life. Mr is a very caring man.

We've been together for 11 years now, and I'm still totally crazy about him. He told me recently that an acquaintance had asked him how long we had been a couple. When Mr told him, he said that he never would have guessed - we're still as addicted to each other as we was when we first met, and that is what I really love about us! It tells me, that no matter if 11 more years pass, or 22, or 33 for that matter, we'll still be the same, crazy about each other, just like a couple of teenagers.

/MrsHjort

Happy Summer Holidays

My, my my! Has it been so long? Almost a month since my last post? Time sure flies!

I've been really busy lately, not gaming though - I'm done now - but "photoshopping", and time really passes quickly when you're busy with BotS. Then there's the garden to take care of, and work of course, and we also have two house guests, furry ones. You see, my sister in law is away on a trip and we're taking care of her chinchillas. But alas, no pictures of them yet, if cats are quick, we need to coin a whole new word for those guys!

So, today, Lady Freya is my poster girl again. Two weeks ago the weather here was wonderful. The temperature was around 35 degrees C (which is really uncommon where I live), and Mr, I, Freya and our other cat Morris, would just lay in the shade, on a blanket in the grass, and read comics - that's the only thing we had the energy to do. Isn't it wonderful when nature provides the perfect excuse for you to be lazy? Those days were perfect!

Anyway, what's the perfect thing to do when you're bored with comics and need something else to occupy yourself with? That's right! To lazily lay in the grass with a camera! It makes for interesting low angle shots, and the furry subjects are too warm to jump out of your shots. All you have to do is snap away :).

Happy Holidays to you

/MrsHjort