Project 50 - Week 14 - Cookie Time!

Project 50 - Week 14
Title: Cookie Time!

Well, I finally had a free Saturday and I decided that one of things I needed to do today was take some pictures!  Course, the problem was, since it was a "free" Saturday, I decided I needed to create a giant list of things that I needed to do (of which, I've gotten nearly nothing done so far, except "Create 'Free Saturday To-Do' List".  Doh.)  One of the items on the list, that was critical to do (mostly because my wife comes home tomorrow and if isn't done, I'm going to be sleeping outside on the lawn) is wash all of the dishes.  Now clearly, when I say "wash all the dishes", the first step is of course, getting them all dirty by making cookies.  Which I did.  A lot.

As soon as I started getting my "Mize En Place" (that's French for: Soon your kitchen will be a total disaster and you will wonder why you didn't just go to the store and by a box of Pop-Tarts - the French language is strange), I realized it might be kinda fun to take some macro shots of the cookie-making process!  Mostly I thought this because I needed a better justification for making the kitchen a mess making cookies than: I wanted to get every dish dirty before having to wash anything.  And a photo project is always a good reason!

These aren't exactly the best shots, mostly because I didn't really do any setup specifically for taking the pictures (lights, reflectors, etc).  Strangely our kitchen isn't setup with high-powered photography lights (lame!), but I think some of them came out interestingly.  The flour shots were, to put it plainly, very boring.  I mean, it's white dust!  Not very photogenic.  So, I played around with them a bit in photoshop to make them "pop" a bit more.

Enjoy!  And please don't lick your monitor.

Project 50 - Week 13 - The Rise of Fruithulhu!

Project 50 - Week 13
Title: The Rise of Fruithulhu!

Yeah, I know its been a bit since last post - but I've been hidden in a dark, mysterious laboratory studying the dark arts of Fruithulhu!  I'm sure you've all heard of the Great Old One, Cthulhu - but did you know he had an equally evil Fruit Bowl!  It is this Fruit Bowl of Evilosity that I've been exploring.  After month of laborious work and consumption of many (delicious) fruity minions, Fruithulhu has finally risen! 

His tartness knows no bounds!  His citrusiness will blind the whole world! 

Behold...

Fruithulhu!!!

Free Stuff Reminder

This is just a short little reminder, that the October Free Prints contest only has one week left.  If you want to try and win a free print, all you need to do is comment on any of the facebook posts I've made in October.  For each post you make a comment on, you'll get an entry to win a print.

Our facebook page is located at: http://www.facebook.com/anttree

Thanks!

Project 50 - Week 12 - SteamRay

Project 50 - Week 12
Concept: SteamRay

While working on this weeks project, I had a sudden "gear change" (pun very much intended) after I saw some photos of Man Ray.  He created a few photos of gears and clockwork items (quite a bit before "steampunk" was considered it's own art-form), using a method  known as photogram.  A photogram is, simply, a photograph created without a camera.  Man Ray (and countless film students) placed objects directly onto unexposed photo paper and then exposed them to light.  After exposing the paper, he would develop the paper (as you would normally do after exposing a negative onto photo paper) and create unique images.  Man Ray used fruit, toys, trinkets, flowers, and more to create photograms, many of which would be impossible to create using "normal" photographic methods. 

Originally I was going to try and take more macro photos of watch parts (ala Steampunk), using different methods than last week, but after seeing Man Ray's "pre-punk" work, I decided to do some digital photograms.  Rather than using photographic paper, I decided to use my scanner bed as my medium.  I placed the different parts directly onto the scanner bed and then covered them with different materials (to limit the light overflow and add contrast).  I used black cloth and black cardstock as my blocking material, but I was pleased more with the cloth than the paper - the cloth had less light leakage and wrapped around the objects better. 

This weeks change just reminded me that you never know when/where inspiration will come from, but when it does just grab on and go with it. 

Enjoy!

Proejct 50 - Week 12 - Concept

Project 50 - Week 12
Concept: Broken Clock

This week, I'm continuing with my "Steampunk" theme, but changing is slightly.  Last week photos were macro/abstract shots of small pocket watches, in one piece.  This week, I'm shooting even more abstract by only taking photos of the individual watch parts (cogs, gears, springs, etc).  I'm not sure if having the parts in context of the watch will be better or worse than just having them separate. 

One thing that makes this pictures so tricky, is the scale of how small these parts are (see photos).  The whole watch is about the size of a quarter and there are 40-50 parts inside that watch!  The gears and cogs are only about 5-8mm (some are as small as 2-3mm)!  Because of how small they are, even using a macro lens (such as a 1:1 ratio) they don't appear that large.  I've had to tinker together components to get a higher-powered macro.  Last week I tried using a 2x and 4x ring filter adapter on my 100mm macro lens, and while they magnification was better, the photos were blurry and had a nearly non-existent depth of field.  For this weeks project, I'm going to try a different method, using extension tubes rather than magnification filters.

Enjoy!

Ps: Here are some shots to show the scale of what I've been working with.

Project 50 - Week 11 - Tick-Tock

Project 50 - Week 11
Concept: Tick-Tock


I've completed my first Steampunk themed week, and I have to say it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be!  Ultra-macro photos are very tricky to shoot, due to their extremely small focal point, but I think I got some nice photos.  I tried a few different post-production techniques, including tinting, selective coloring and straight black and white conversion.  One thing to remember when looking at these is the scale of the items.  The watches that I used in this project are about the size of a quarter, and many of these shots are just of a few of the cogs/sprockets, which are very tiny!  The purple items that you see are the timing crystals, which are about the same size as the head of a pin. 


Enjoy! 

Project 50 - Week 11 - Concept

Project 50 - Week 11
Concept: Tick-Tock

For this week (and perhaps next), I'm working on some Steampunk art pieces (Steampunk is a sci-fi genre based on extraordinary steam-powered devices, based during the Victorian times - Think Jules Verne or Will Smith movie, Wild, Wild West).  I am working on two (although, I guess you could say three/four with fact I'm photographing all of it for my next for Project 50's) projects related to SP, the first is a Deco Book and the second is a mixed media piece (acrylic paint, metal, plastic and paper).  To start both projects off, I needed to collect a lot of gears and cogs and the best place to do that is clocks! 

I've been finding watches and clocks at all kinds of places and basically destroying reclaiming them for their parts.  I decided some of the smaller watches would make for some great macro shots before they became "bits".  So, for this week's project I'm showing the internal "bits" of some really old watches that I came across.  One thing to remember when looking at the photos - most of these gears and cogs are 1/8th an inch or smaller.  It's amazing how they made these devices (and also amazing how quickly I can now rip them apart!)

Enjoy!