Top Ten photographs 2

Earlier this year we had an assignment to take pictures in five different categories. After handing in the ten best photos from this bunch we got five new categories to work with. These included 

1: Light. Light is an essential factor in photography and one of our challenges was to work with this tricky but very useful factor in photography. 

2: Black & White. Contrasts are always fun but you have to learn to balance and use them properly.

3: Hands. Hands are the most complicated thing on the human body and an excellent photo object. 

4: Weather. 

5: Optional category. Witch I finally decided should be "Cold".

Last time, the categories consisted of very concrete things like animals, autumn motives and fruit but now our teacher probably wanted us to take it to the next level by taking pictures of a little bit more abstract thing that vary a lot and can change in a short period of time. I noticed that this was a bit more challenging that last time, maybe because I know a little bit more what makes a good photo.  
                           Unfortunately I only have a compact camera and can´t use Time or Aperture Value to my benefits. And also after using the Schools Digital SLRs I realize how much my own camera sucks, but I made the best of it and got some pretty good shots. Here ´s my ten best photos of the group. 

Light 

This is my sisters horse, Bjørngaards Prinsen, with the wind in his mane and the sun, clouds and sea in the background. I love this picture because it is so full of movement, life and light. The warm colors in his mane really stand out. This was actually an idea I got by accident and then when I studied the mishap I started taking more pictures like it. 

This was one of the most characteristic sunsets we had this year. The clouds really where dark, and the sun barely shone through. It changed every second but this was the one I liked best out of the bunch. I exaggerated the darkness, to make the light more visible, by tuning up the contrasts. Its a really dramatic shot, but has a calm sense over it.

Black & White

My guitar, a half acoustic Fender in black with a white pearl pick-guard was excellent for the black and white shots. I love this picture because the direction of the neck forces you to look away from the guard and up at the corner. I love the sort of "Stairway to Heaven" feel over it. Also, it is quite abstract and you don´t immediately see a guitar. 

The two photo of these two horses was dull and plain. Then I cropped it and gave it a panorama look. I also switched the colors to black and white. The interesting thing is that there is more that one contrast here. The black horse look sleek, smooth and shiny, while the white one looks matt and soft. 

Hands 

I unfortunately only have one good picture of hands, not because I didn't want to take pictures of them, just nobody had the time to pose. Anyway, this was taken with an digital SLR Canon Eos 450 D, so the quality is way better. 

Weather

Ok, this cant exactly be defined as weather, but think about it. When the weather is bad outside you always start a fire inside. So technically, its indirectly a picture of weather right? Hehe, well anyway, I wanted a picture with a lot of movement and color and what could be better than a crackling fire?

This is a picture of one of our lanterns on the brick wall in our driveway. You can see that they are really beat up by the weather. It had been raining and water piled up on the lantern. I really liked the lines in this picture. Diagonal lines in a vertical picture worked really well. The light is also a good factor. 

I absolutely love this picture. It was taken the same day as the first "Light" picture. It portrays wind and is wild and flowing. Its a busy picture without straining the eyes, and the hairs in front make a diagonal line over the whole surface. The white horsehair looks shiny and light. This was a difficult shot, because of the constant movement of hair in the wind. I also had to hold up the horses tail so the sun could shine trough. 

Optional Category (Cold)

This is a picture of a walk at the beach. It was so cold that day, and I wanted to capture this in the photo. I adjusted the contrasts up and then i Photoshopped the sky in an ice blue tone. The picture looked pretty chilly from the start but this really made it look harsh and lonely, just like I wanted it to. 

I think this was one of my favorite pictures of all times. This is me wearing an enormous winter jacket that has a hood with a faux fur trim. I love the cold grey, almost blue look the fur got in that light. I´m not rally that pale, so I had to photoshop away my natural skin tone for something more, hmm... nordic? I also like the way my face is out of focus but you can see tiny details in the fur.