Spidey and Shadow

The challenge for this week was shadows. I took a shortcut and placed Spiderman on a blue cardboard paper. Then I pointed a flash, with grid, directly at Spidey from a low angle to create a long shadow. It kind of looks like Spidey is caught in the middle of something. Frozen when someone turns on the lights and shouts out: Hey! Who's there?!

Spidey and Shadow
ISO 100 - 100mm - f/4 - 1/160sec

WEEK  9 - Artistic: Shadows - The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece.

I don't know about the masterpiece part, but it is a photo an there is a shadow in the photo. :-)

Venezia

I’ve spent the week in Solighetto, Veneto, northern Italy. It’s been relaxing and good for the soul. Spring is on its way and long walks have been on the agenda. A day was spent in Venice, walking around without a plan, just roaming the “streets”. We came across this gondola boatyard at the Squero di San Trovaso and I took this photo with my X-T1 and Fujinon 10-24 lens. During the week I’ve also played with the panorama function on the camera, but I need a bit more practise before I publish one of those pics. The challenge this week was Wide Angle / Panorama and I went for the wide angle landscape or… well… urbanscape. I’ve then edited the photo in LR and Color Efex Pro 4.

"Gondolas in Venice"
ISO 200 - 11,5mm - f/10 - 1/160sec

WEEK 8 - Landscape: Wide Angle / Panorama - This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a wide sweeping landscape.

Week 7

Ruth is 95 years old. On March 7th she will be 96. She lives in an apartment on her own. She has almost lost her eyesight and her hearing is nothing to brag about either. She used to watch The Bold and the Beautiful every day. She used to solve a lot of crossword puzzles. She used to read. She used to make delicious food. She used to do a lot of gardening. She used to have a lot of stories to tell. She still has a lot of stories to tell. Her long term memory is fantastic. Better than mine, I’d say. She’s a great woman with a huge and strong heart. She’s brave and courageous, kind and gentle. She’s my heroine, my grandmother.

I knew from the beginning of this project that I wanted to shoot grandma’s hands this week. I’ve always loved her hands. I think they’re beautiful.

WEEK 7 - Portrait: Faceless - Tell someone's story without showing their face.

"The Hands of My Heroine"
ISO 100 - 100mm - f/2,8 - 1/200sec

I took the picture by her kitchen table. I think she was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning, but also flattered that I wanted to shoot her hands. She quickly warmed up and I couldn’t have asked for a better model. I had a black rain cape as background and a speedlight pointed right at her hands. I wanted a sharp contrast between her hands and the background, but I chose a shallow DoF to make the transition softer. I’ve adjusted the photo in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Sweet Week

Week 6 was all about candy... A bit tricky. I don't want to keep any candy around the house since I'm trying to lay off the whole thing. Not too much success with that though. I decided to go all in and bought Karl Fazer's new Travel - Copenhagen chocolate. White chocolate, raspberry and liquorice - yummy. I love it all separately and now also as a combo. Delicious!
I decided to shoot the chocolate against a white background. White on white, light and airy. Soft contrast, minimal shadows. Inviting. Allowed. That's what I was aiming for. I was quite happy with the high key result.

Week 6 - Artistic: Candy - Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography.

"Copenhagen"
ISO100 - 100mm - f/7,1 - 1/160sec

I've stacked the chocolate on a white cardboard paper thingy and set up studio flashes on both sides of the yummy heap. The direction of the flashes is slightly to the front of the chocolate. Well they're basically pointing right at me.

Week 5

The challenge for week 5 was a black & white landscape. Well I went for a seascape a foggy and grey Sunday afternoon. I drove to a beach nearby and strolled by the water for a while just enjoying the sound of waves on the sand and the cliffs. It was my first time shooting on this beach and it took a while to find a spot I was happy with. Hardly ever do I have a clean horizon in my photos, but due to the fog this day you can't see all the small islands you would see another day. I really liked the place and I'm quite certain that I'll go there again. Not in the summer though... Cottages all around.

WEEK 5 - Landscape: Black and White - Look for a great scene with great contrast that will make a great black and white.

"Gloomy Afternoon"
ISO 100 - 16mm - f/13 - 0,5sec

Week 4

Last week I met this little dude for the first time. He was then exactly one week old. He is adorable, cute as a button, sweet as his mom and cool as his dad. A perfect little human being... 10 fingers, 10 toes, two eyes, two ears and one nose. Amazing.

Anyway I shot Stellan (that's his name), in poor light with the ISO cranked up quite high, with my Fujifilm X-T1. The processing I did in LR and Silver Efex Pro 2. The tiny man kept moving, so it was quite challenging to get a sharp enough shot. I wanted his forehead to be all wrinkly. And his mouth to be wide open. And for his hand not to be in front of his face. It took "a few tries" but I got what I wanted.

Week 4 - Portrait: Headshot - You shot a selfie, now shoot a "selfie" of someone else!

"Meet Stellan"
ISO 3200 - 35mm - f/2 - 1/125sec

The challenge was to shoot a selfie of someone else... This got me all confused. Again. I thought, and still do, that the word selfie comes from self portrait, a picture of oneself that oneself takes, makes or paints. One can't take a selfie of someone else. Or did I get the whole thing wrong...?

Week 3

I'm a bit late with my photo for week 3 in the challenge, but anyways... Here it is. The theme was artistic and red. I'm not suggesting that this is very artistic, but you can't miss the red. I was in London because of work and I took this photo just by Oxford Circus. This time I used my Fujifilm X-T1 with a 35mm prime.

Week 3 - Artistic: Red - Shoot whatever inspires you. Red should be the focus of the image. Don't be afraid to be creative.

"The Tube"
ISO 1600 - 35mm - f/4 - 1/60sec

Week 2

I spent Saturday morning with a good friend of mine at Särkkäniemi (Rataudden) in Vuosaari, Helsinki. We wanted to catch the blue moment and a wintry seascape... I think we both came back home with photos we were quite happy with. One of mine below.

Week 2 - Landscape: Traditional Landscape - Shoot a beautiful landscape and share it with the world. Find a nice foreground and don't forget the sky.

"Welcome Winter"
ISO 100 - 19mm - f/13 - 4,0sec

Uusi vuosi, uudet kujeet...

It's been a while since I've updated. Again. Life is quite hectic. But I've got no excuses.

Anyway, I've got big plans for my photography this year. One of them is to take part in a 52 week photography challenge. You can read more about it here. I'll be posting my photos here on the blog and also on Instagram (@hanna_sandin). I'm going to do my best to do this once a week, no promises though.

Week 1 - Portrait: Self Portrait - Start things off right with a "selfie"! Explore the self timer setting on your camera.

"Me and Me"
ISO 200 - 50mm - f/4,0 - 15,0sec

I didn't want to take a "traditional" selfie, so I played around with the camera settings and movement for a while. The result you see above.