Creation of an artistic photo 創作一幀優美的照片

Yesterday, I went for a coffee with a friend.  Our chat focused on the photography technique.  Recently, I have posted the "Cherry Blossoms in High Park" which was well received by friends.  I have taken 600 photos within 7 hours in the park.  Some of my friends also went there but returned without avail.  They said that there were not many things for photography.  Why is it that in the same place one could take many photos whereas some other could not?  In my opinion, they are lacking three senses:  observation, creativity, aesthetics.

Sense of Observation: to discover the extraordinary characters and events in the environment.  Using the panoramic shot of cherry only presents the blooming atmosphere of the cherry in the park.  Try to take more close-ups of the cherry and look closely to flowers, buds, twigs and leaves.  Among the visitors in the park, I could find a charming girl shining bright in the cherry.

Sense of Creativity: try to avoid too trivial in composing shots.  People's eyes to look at things are different from the camera that has depth of field.  That is why we can see every thing clearly except difference in distance and perspective.  Also taking photos from different angles.  For instance, lying on the floor to shoot flowers and grasses will give you a low angle of view that is rare through our eyes.  If you can use camera's depth of field, it will create a blur background but clear main subject.  The bokeh effect will be very interesting and impressing.

Sense of Aesthetics:  This is a personal interpretation and feeling towards art. It also requires the use of design in terms of circle, angle, square, color, contrast and other elements used in photography skills.

Plot of green plant inside a coffee shop 

captured with Ricoh Digital GR3
用 Ricoh GR3 拍攝咖啡店內吊下的盤栽 

In the coffee shop, I made a small experiment.  I said I could easily take any pictures from there to create some beautiful photos.  I looked around and saw many customers.  I looked up and noticed a small pot of green plant hanging from the ceiling.  The color of the leaves was green and tender.  I used Lumix G10 with the Contax Sonnar 90mm f/2.8 lens to capture the beauty of the leaves.

I just kept sitting and pointed my camera  to these leaves and captured their elegant shapes.

I carefully composed the shot to make these leaves stand out in the window
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
我小心構圖把綠葉移到窗前以突顯其美貌

On returning, I saw neighbor's cherry tree.  The environment was not ideal for photography. However, I still believed that there were many themes for photography in this inconspicuous neighborhood.  I therefore created the following pieces of photos.

The cherry trees were captured in neighbor's backyard.
Ricoh Digital GR3
我拍下鄰居種下的櫻花樹

I focused on the slender twig and blurred out the background with f/2.8 large aperture
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
我向著幼細的挽彎枝對焦並以f/2.8 大光圈虛化了背景

Click for related post: Looking Thro the Bus Window »

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創作一幀優美的照片

昨天與友人在咖啡店聊天，話題談到拍攝照片的技巧。日前帖了一輯《櫻花綻放峭寒春》照片，友人喜愛不已。當日在七小時內拍了600張照片。有朋友也去拍攝，卻無功而還，他告知沒有甚麽可以拍到。為什麼同一地點，有人可拍的「東西」甚多，但也有人卻找不到值得拍攝的對像哩？無他，我認為祇是缺乏了三個要素：「觀察感」、「創作感」、「藝美感」。

I emphasized simplicity in shape and color and put in a Chinese poem with Photoshop
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
我強調色彩線條的簡潔並加了一首詞在右方

A cherry tree in an inconspicuous neighborhood
Ricoh Digital GR3
鄰居的櫻花樹

觀察感：是在周遭的環境事物中去發掘不平凡的人物和事件。倘若用全景拍攝櫻花，祇能顯示櫻花在公園綻放的氣氛而已。多拍些櫻花近照，細看花、芽、枝、葉的形態來取鏡。在海柏公園遊人眾多。我便發現當中有美少女，在櫻花中泛出艷麗。

Changing shape of the twigs in a deep blue sky
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
形態萬千的樹榦怒向天

創作感：盡量避免過於平凡的構圗。由於人的眼睛觀看事物不若相機般有景深，所以我們都可以眼見的事物都是清淅而祇有遠近之別。也嘗試多角度觀看事物。例如伏在地下拍攝花草，由於這種角度是人眼少見到的角度，效果便完全不同了。利用相機景深，做成背景虛化而主體清楚，也會給人有獨特不同的感覚了。

Blurring the yellow trees as background
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
虛化的黃樹作背景

藝美感：個人對美的詮釋和感覺。這也包括設計學中的圓、角、方、色彩、對比等元素運用在攝影中的技巧。

Cherry blossoms in front of a window
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
窗前櫻花怒放

在咖啡店中，我便即時做個小小的實驗。我說，我可隨意在店內拍照而可以製作一張富美感的照片。我環顧四周，顧客不少。抬頭見到天花吊下一盤綠葉盤栽。色澤青嫩。我便用Lumix G10加Sonnar 90mm f/2.8 捕捉了綠葉的美態。

Capturing the tender twig
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
捕捉了幼枝的形態

停車屋旁，見鄰居種了棵櫻花樹。眼見環境不是理想的拍照地方。我卻認為可拍攝的題材甚多！終於在這不顯眼的鄰居，我創作了這幾幅照片了。

Cherry blossoms
Lumix G10, Contax G Sonnar Lens 90mm (equiv. 180mm) f/2.8
櫻花綻放

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