One Filter, One Vision

With all this politic talk floating around in the US, it got me thinking. How 'bout I unify my recent pictures? And what better way to make them one than to use a filter.
I delved into a search for one filter I liked, and this one is called "marine". 

Freshly planted garden flowers 

I was playing with the every aperture setting... settled on this.

A small version of a curry leave plant in the dark. 

A tiny baby cucumber sprout that, one upon a time, grew indoors.

Frozen oranges... that's all. 

Coriander leaves on its way to becoming a side dish.

That precious time when the flowers bloom in our front yard.

I drove on the highway for the first time on the way to this picnic by the lake. 

This dahlia was harvested in those perfect flower farms, a show flower for a day, and finally ended up in our flower pot. 

Thing is, I'm guilty of avoiding filters that are commonly used, like "process", common on the iPhone with blue and green tints. Those filters just drown the impression of the picture. Although, gotta love black-and-white filters; they look stylishly retro and possess a dramatic look.

Past my opinion, here's photo-filtering 101

Pick the photo that best represent the mood and story of the picture. Keep an eye out for light, which is the most important aspect of your picture. Make sure the filter brightens your pic well and doesn't conceal any details. Keep the colors bright and balanced because pretty much all pictures mess with the color and tone. But more or less importantly, let the filter bring out what you like most in that picture. It'll work even if it's not an A+ picture.

I've read that the most popular filters out there are those that turn up the warmth, exposure, and color. And if you're one who routinely uses a filter on social media, it's been said that using the right filter will get you almost 40% more attention. Fact is, the general population likes filters.

Just be wary. People typically look for a natural look, even with a filter on. So too much saturation and light doesn't look pleasing. Just be wary.

Weed a Wish

Weeds are huge inconvenience; a disgrace to the garden. It makes your yard look like a car that's been trashed with popcorn. And the car becomes dirtier every season, just like the family of weeds spreading every season. They're the grasses' worst nightmare. 

And these weeds, these dandelions, may just be the worst. You see them everywhere, around the mailbox all the way to the vegetable garden. I think they just can't compromise with us... We try to put 'em out, day after day, spending money on weed killers time after time. But they're just being lazy bums. Why can't they turn off their lights?

These weeds have secrets, some we've discovered. They have a way to get around the yard as well. After the flowers come, these little furry puff balls appear and take over. With the help of the wind, there's no end.

But these stubby fuzz balls are more commonly associated with those wishing superstitions. Kids make a wish and blow the seeds away and well, their wishes supposedly come true. I may, sorta, possibly, have blown a wish on this one...

Morning Routine

Heaps and stacks of times, we zoom through a morning and don't grasp what we're doing. What I mean is, our minds are so busy thinking about the excitements and stressors about to happen in the day, we don't take the minute to focus our attention on the moment. For example, when we brush our teeth in the morning, are we thinking about our teeth being fresh and clean, or are we actually thinking about what we're going to have for lunch? 

Taking pictures of our everyday lives helps us stray away from thinking in a certain mindset as well. This mindset is something I think many people have in photography- pictures look great only when the subject is cool. For instance, one will think they should photograph a superb sunset, or city lights or a visit to the zoo, but don't think our everyday moments are good enough.

For those reasons, I documented a morning in our house, from the time we wake up, until breakfast. Taking pictures of such simple activities made me realize that I often don't pay attention to details in the morning myself. It also made me think differently... photographically speaking. I had to think hard about how to make something so ordinary, look appealing and tell a story. So here's our morning:

Waking up from a groggy state and opening the curtains to get a glimpse of sunlight 

Then sluggishly dragging our feet to the bathroom and brushing our teeth 

Then quickly taking a bath to freshen up 

Putting on clothes and dressing our feet with comfortable socks

Looking in the mirror to look our best, despite those baggy eyes

Getting the hair tidied up

  

 Going downstairs to get a glass of liquid water... you thirsty yet?

Eating a very healthy breakfast, one order of eggs and a cup of milk

And getting the day going with a smile on the face

So how's your morning routine? Be in the moment and have a pleasant morning!

A-Z Objects

Here's an A to Z project/challenge that's really popular. The idea is to take a picture of an object that represents each letter of the alphabet. After reading about it, I jumped right in and started with the easy letters like O and X and S. I nailed 10 letters off the bat, and then I thought, how in the world am I going to find letters like K and G and M? I finished it all, thankfully due to my sister's brilliant and creative eye. I think she found more because she's younger, and therefore has more creativity left in her brain... or I'm just really bad at this activity. And we were able to find all 26 letters in just the family room and kitchen. The objects have to be naturally found in the letter; no creating the letters or moving things around to form the letters. Take the challenge!

     

 

Blown Highlights

Stuck in a pool of empty space? Not even a thread of an idea running through your head? Well I've got a creative technique to get a new angle on pictures. First, drop your comfort zone... you can shred that barrier and bury it because this "blown" technique is about to blow up.

Since your comfort zone doesn't exist anymore, find any picture that has good lighting. Then open up an editing software. So what you need to do is turn up your exposure, brightness, and highlights to get this abstract look. That's all. No more comfort editing because this... is extreme. 

Admit it, these looks cool. Unusual. Abstract. Flashy. Whacko. Extreme. (original on the left, edited on the right)

I actually got this creative editing from an article which showed an example of purposefully having extra light in the picture. I would post the link here but apparently a few days after I looked at that article, it wasn't there! So later I found out that the site the article was hosted on (digital-camera-world.com) moved to a new site and changed all it's content. And digital-camera-world was my favorite photography-go-to site of all time! What a tragedy :(