Dissecting "I Still got the Blues..."

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been taking a few pictures of my acoustic guitar. I decided to get something a bit dramatic, playing with some light and shadows.

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My Yamaha Guitar

Several years ago, I used to play the guitar.  I've sort of given it up since I took up photography.  Didn't make a conscious decision, but rather have just not made the time needed to keep practicing.  Over time, the callused fingers heal, the finger-strength and speed diminish, and after a bit longer, the finger memory goes.  Now you have to actually think about what notes to play next.

Go Packers!!!

The Green Bay Packers are in the Super Bowl.  It has been several years since their last trip, and I am very optimistic for the win.

Phone Bouncer

I call this self-portrait the "phone bouncer".  The idea is that if someone picks up my phone, they have to go through this tough guy to get inside, and they better be on the guest list :-)

Egyptian Tapestry

A simple photograph of a tapestry I got from Egypt last year.

The thing to notice is that the texture is perfectly shown, and you can tell exactly what kind of material it's made out of.

That was my goal - to reproduce it as closely as possible.  The viewer should feel that they are looking at the actual object, or to put it another way... if they see the actual tapestry, they shouldn't be surprised at how it looks and displays.

Continue for the technical details ...

Wise Man Statue

This is a little trinket that I brought from the Serengeti (I never completed the "Places I've seen" series, but beyond Europe was Giza, Egypt and then a safari in Tanzania).

I really like the 3D look of this photograph.

Continue for the technical details ...

Medieval Barbecue

Out shopping, I came across a toy dragon. I thought it looked cool, so it went into the cart. As I continued shopping, I imagined it breathing fire at a small animal - I liked the cow, so got that as well.

As I imagined the final shot, I began building the scene around it - fire, ashes, bricky type building, etc.

Photographing Laser Light

My attempt at a technique taught by Dean Collins for photographing beams of light.

Light itself is invisible. Think of your car headlights. You don't see the light coming out of the headlights, but rather the areas where it hits.

To photograph it, you make the light beam visible by making it "hit" something in all the areas you want it to show up in your photograph. Pretty simple concept and pretty simple to do.

Photographing a beam of light

Strait Line Laser Level 30
Originally uploaded by Akif IkraEditm

Edit: I've rewritten this here. Keeping this post in place now - maybe delete it later.