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My final image for Project 3 - “Perpetual reflection” f16 1/25 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering. I used a very direct approach and kept the composition quite simple. The abstract aspect of the photograph - the sense of “3D-space”, and the symmetrical balance, reminds me of a mirror maze - this sense of “space” “depth” is what makes this image interesting for me.

Comparison (4 of 4) Images above:  (Left): by Akira Takaue - “Interruption”. Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. 2012.  (https://www.flickr.com/photos/drgeist/7484561566/)   (Right) by me: f16 1/80 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering.  Black and white adjustment layer & perspective correction applied.   I had many attempts trying to “replicate” the concept behind this image of Akira Takaue’s, however it really was challenging to get the composition right! At the end I feel like this photo of Quest Hotel was a little bit closer to what I was trying to achieve than all the others.   Perspective correction method worked well for this image! I must learn to get even closer the building (or choose the right lens) to get a “cleaner” shot of the subject.

Comparison (3 of 4) Images above:  (Left) by Akira Takaue - “An Isotophic Window Matrix” Shinjuku Tokyo Japan 2012   (https://www.flickr.com/photos/drgeist/6866658616/)   (Right) by me : f16 1/125 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.   I had to do an U-turn and quickly find a temporary car park to get this shot!  The colour of the building in ‘the golden hour’ was beautiful, but I think the black and white adjustment layer reduces distraction from the foreground (surface of the road, plants…etc).   I like the concept of contrast in the original photo - the contrast between the tones and shapes of the 2 subjects.

Comparison (2 of 4) Images above:  (Left) by Akira Takaue - “Meaningful Cells”. Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. 2012. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/drgeist/7165500191/)   (Right) by me - f16 1/60 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering. Black and white adjustment layer & Perspective correction applied.   Although it is nowhere near as striking as the original picture, I feel like I am getting closer to the concept of the shot (a better attempt than the last one at least!)

Comparison (1 of 4) This “under the bridge” shot was incredibly hard to duplicate (Umm, obviously, looking at the image I produced….)!!    Akira Takaue had several shots of bridges at night time, where the subject was well lit-up (sometimes with beautiful lit-up city scenes in the background too). I couldn't find a bridge in Nelson region to do the same evening shots, in fact even for daytime shots I am afraid I failed miserably to find a good enough composition!

  Image above:

 (Left) by Akira Takaue - “Acknowledgment CANTHO” Vietnam. 2012. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/drgeist/7994915989/)

 (Right) by me: f16 1/10 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering. Saturation reduced.  This was - would you believe it - one of the better “under-the-bridge” photos I managed … (and didn’t have to intrude on any homeless man’s “base” when I took this photo! Phew.) (Yes that happened most of the other times when I got under a bridge).

Discover a photographer - Akira Takaue https://www.flickr.com/photos/drgeist/  http://www.akiratakaue.com/ I came across the works of Dr Akira Takaue during my research for still / architecture photography, and his style definitely left a huge impression with me.   I love his mostly minimalist style - most of his works are very “neat and tidy” - composition wise as well as colour wise, as he often chooses to present black and white images. I love how often geometric shapes feature in his photos, and how he showcases them with perspective from different angles.     I like how his work features a lot of “ordinary” buildings and shows off the beauty of simplicity. He often uses long-exposure-time to capture the movement of cloud in the background (a keypoint which I failed to reproduce while attempting to copy his style).      There are a quite a lot of his images that include a distinctive “subject” as well as the central focus of the photo. e.g. A traffic light or a signage next to the building - or sometimes both. I have tried to experiment with this idea as well, probably about the only time when I wished for more traffic lights or signages around Nelson!

#akirtakaue

“Reflections” & “Geometric shapes” Photo 1: f16 1/45 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering.  Photo 2 (2nd row, left): f16 1/80 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering.  Photo 3 (2nd row, right): f16 1/25 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering.  Photo 4: f16 1/5 ISO100 Manual mode. Spot metering.  Photo 5: f16 1/13 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering. B/W adjustment layer & perspective/lens correction applied. I was quite happy with Photo 1 - the subject as well as the background were both well-exposed. I aimed to achieve a symmetrical composition and the trees on both sides did me a favour. I love how the yellow structure was so visible behind the glass wall, and the reflection of the sky showing too!   So then I started taking a whole series of photos to try and capture more reflection off the building. I feel like although overall effect not as striking - the black and white layer applied in Photo 5 showed off the reflection quite nicely too.

Shapes and lines My experiments on geometric shapes, lines, and organic shapes! Photo 1: f16 1/25 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Photo 2: f16 1/6 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering Photo 3: (3rd row, left) f16 1/80 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering Photo 4: (3rd row, right) Photo 3 with black and white adjustment layer Photo 5: (4th row, left) f16 1/60 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering Photo 6: (4th row, right) Photo 5 with saturation adjusted.

Minimalist (?) - attempt 3 Photo 1 (Top photo): f16 1/25 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Bottom row - Photo 2 (Left): f16 1/8 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Photo 3 (Middle): Photo 2 with black and white layer applied.  Photo 4 (Right): Photo 2 with black and white layer applied (this time with blue reduced right down)

Minimalist - attempt 2 Photo 1 (Top left): f16 1/15 ISO100  Manual mode. Evaluative metering.   Photo 2 (Top right): Photo 1 with saturation altered.  Photo 3 (Bottom left): f16 1/25 ISO100  Manual mode. Evaluative metering.   Photo 4 (Bottom right): Photo 3 with black and white layer applied.

Minimalist - attempt 1 Photo 1 (Top left): f16 1/30 ISO100  Manual mode. Evaluative metering.   Photo 2 (Top right): f16 1/30 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Black and white layer applied Photo 3 (Bottom left):  f16 1/25 ISO100  Manual mode. Evaluative metering.

  Photo 4 (Bottom right):  f16 1/30 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.

Product photography experiment - Food photography   Photo 1 : f3.5 1/400 ISO100 AV mode. Evaluative metering.  Photo 2 : f3.5 1/100 ISO100 AV mode. Evaluative metering.   Photo 3 : f4.0 1/4 ISO100 AV mode. Evaluative metering.    “Staged” by the chef at Suter Gallery Cafe and La Capilla restaurant (Unfortunately I can’t take any credit!) Disappointing that out of all my attempts, these ones that were shot in AV mode with auto white balance turn out to be way better than the ones taken using manual mode!

Macro attempt / Bokeh Top row: (Left): f5.0 1/100 ISO100 Evaluative. Auto WB (Right): f5.0 1/250 ISO100 Evaluative. Auto WB 2nd row: (Left): f5.6 1/640 ISO100 Evaluative. Auto WB. (Right): f5.6 1/200 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. 3rd row: (Left): f4.5 1/1250 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. (Right): f4.5 1/800 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. 4th row: f4.5 1/800 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. 5th row: (Left): f4.5 1/800 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. (Right): f4.5 1/3200 ISO100 Spot. Manual WB. All photos taken using manual mode. Would love to experience macro-photography one day using an actual macro lens!

Product Photography (well kind-of) Scene was ‘staged’ but no extra lighting or filter used. Photo 1: f5.6 1/30 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering. White balance Auto.   Photo 2: f22 1/15 ISO100 Manual mode.  Spot metering. White balance Manual (Sunny) Photo 3 (Bottom Left):  f3.5 1/4000 ISO100  AV mode.  Spot metering.  White balance Auto.  Used AV mode mostly to achieve a comparison with manual settings.  Photo 4 (Bottom Right): f22 1/15 ISO100  Manual mode.  Spot metering.  White balance Manual (Sunny).   Things to improve on :   ***Prevent shadow of something else showing in the background!   ***Staging ( I don’t like how the knitted cupcakes were positioned in this photo… somehow they were arranged this way while preventing things from flying away on a windy day! )

An old church - “La Capilla” Photo 1 (Top left) - f22 1/8 ISO100  Manual mode. Spot metering Photo 2 (Top right) - f22 1/8 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Photo 3 (Middle row, with hue adjusted, and with BW layer + tint)- f22 1/8 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Photo 4 & 5 (Bottom row) - f22 1/8 ISO100 Manual mode. Evaluative metering.  Didn’t have my tripod with me ... so these were shot hand-held. Would love to have done a HDR-merge to have the sky as well as the subject properly exposed.

A collection of buildings Photo 1: f16 1/200 ISO100 Spot metering Photo 2: f16 1/16 ISO100 Spot metering Photo 3: f16 1/800 ISO100 Spot metering (Bitterly disappointed about the timing of my visit - if only the shadow of the other building wasn’t there in the bottom right corner!) All shot in manual mode.

A collection of bridges Photo 1: f16 1/5 ISO100 Photo 2: f16 0.6 ISO100 Photo 3: f16 1/30 ISO100 Photo 4: f16 1/8 ISO100 Photo 5: f16 f/15 ISO100 (Hmm don’t really like this one at all - but feel like this would be a good one to try “replacing the sky” - ha ha ha) All shot in manual mode.

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