Header Challenge 22nd December 2010 � The Light.

 

Well Christmas is almost upon us so this is the last header challenge before Christmas. This week it has been my turn to choose the theme for us to create our header on.

I chose �the Light�. I thought it would give everyone a good scope to come up with something creative, it will be interesting to see what the others come up with.

My first thought was that I wanted to use candles as my light�

but, I felt it needed a little bit more�

so as it is Christmas (or very nearly) I added Jesus to the photo as he is regarded as bringing light to the world at Christmas.

Now for my header to fit it needs to be in the landscape format so I had a bit of a play adding extra candles and foliage�

In the end I�ve gone for a shot taken very low to the ground to get the angle I wanted.

I hope you like it.

I wonder what my fellow headbangers have come up with this week for their headers.

Remember this Christmas to add the true light to your Christmas celebrations.

Angles on architecture!

Sometimes when you are taking pictures of buildings so that you can admire the architecture and marvel at how they have stood the test of time unchanged you can be thwarted by things such as electricity cables.

When I took this picture in Trapani in Sicily it was one of those occasions.

With the wonders of Photoshop and a little add-on called Wire-Worm I was able to get rid of the tell tale signs of modern technology. 

I know its a bit ironic that I am using modern technology to get rid of signs of modern technology from the picture but I think it does improve it.

Some times when you take pictures of architecture it is good to be unconventional.

As you can see here I have changed the angle by getting in very close to the building and shooting straight up at the sky. I think it adds something by changing the composition. What do you think?

Everywhere around Trapani the buildings and doors had intricate carvings. Many of them depicting religious symbolism as shown in the door here.

 When we visited Trapani we arrived on board a cruise ship which berthed right alongside the main road.

This enabled me to get this shot looking straight down the water front to Mount Etna in the background (far right in picture).

Waddington Air Show

I have been rummaging through some of last years photos and came across a batch I took at the Waddington air show.

Here we have a World War 2 Lancaster bomber with its Spitfire escort.




As you can see I've used the rule of thirds again to try and help the photo.
Although good, this photo doesn't work as well due to the propellers being frozen in place taking away some of the illusion of movement.

The Vulcan bomber was returned to the skies in October 2007 for the first time in 14 years after its retirement following 33 years of service in the RAF.

Here we have it climbing into the sky at Waddington Air show 2008 one of its first public appearances.



And later seemingly chasing the Lancashire bomber across the sky.



By keeping the flow of the photo across the diagonal it helps to add drama to the shot. Also the cropping out of any land gives a further illusion of height to the action.




Also on display was the Euro-fighter, here doing an aerobatic display with its World War 2 counterpart the Spitfire. By taking careful notice of the angle of the shot it looks as if this photo was taken from another aircraft even though I was stood on the ground amongst a crowd of people at an air show.
It proves with some thought a photo can be changed from an ok shot to a great shot.

The Waddington Air show is a great opportunity to try various photo techniques some of which I have shown here and some which I will keep to show another day.

The art of photo composition

One of the key arts of taking a good photograph is its composition.

Have you ever had a photo like the one here that was just, well, boring!




There's no focal point. The eye has nowhere to rest. The eye may flow with the water but it doesn't lead anywhere.

If you change the perspective and perhaps add a bit of foliage you get this.




This shot gives a bit more by showing the fast moving stream with a strand of foliage.

Its better but still not brilliant.

Lets try yet another angle.



Here the stream has been framed by the tree.

This allows a good comparison with the fast movement of the water and the stillness of the tree.

Its not perfect but of the 3 it is well on its way to getting there.