Interesting Perspective - Project 52

While in London searching for Olympic mascot statues, I noticed this Sherlock Holmes outside Baker Street Tube Station. He always had an interesting perspective on things.

Project 52 - Fun in the Sun

Something we all need when we get the chance. Seeing as summer is a slowburner at the moment, every time the sun so much as peers around a cloud, I'm there. And so is Ted. 

Project 52 - Look Up, Mr Gull

Having been surrounded by seagulls down on the coast last week, I thought it appropriate to use one for the 'look up' theme. It never fails to amaze me how cheeky and greedy they can be, especially if you're a bit free and easy eating your food outside!

I managed to take this shot using only my kit lens (a 55-200mm lens is next on my photography wishlist!), which means it has been cropped down quite a bit. I was happy to discover that I'd done a good job holding the camera still in the wind! Mr Gull here might not be the prettiest bird, but I find him very interesting to look at all the same.

I used Camera Bag 2 and Picmonkey to process the image. 

My reject shots were the same image in black and white (but I felt you needed the colour around his beak and eye), and this one of the Devon flag flying high in the winds at sunset.

Mis-matched - Project 52

Week 4 of this year's project had the great theme of 'mis-matched' which instantly made me think of science and art. I love both, although art is my true favourite. 

To most people, science and art just don't mix. Science seeks to explain the wonders that art revels in (or maybe I'm talking nonsense). They may be mis-matched also because often when you see something with a scientific eye, you fail to see its beauty. Sorry if this is coming across as pretentious rubbish. It's hard to get the point across without using flouncy words!

I happen to use science in some of my art, so they can work together, but it can be a challenge to use both ways of seeing the world at the same time.

I love using scientific equipment at home and bought the conical flask to use as a vase, and the measuring cylinder is from Ikea for the kitchen. I set this up in my light tent:

I had to brighten the image a bit and increase contrast, then I used Reala effect on Picnik to really make the colours pop. I also quite liked adding a polaroid effect, as below, but decided the white background needed to stay a crisp clear white.

In A Row - Project 52

This photo turned out to be a total pain to take - I could only find one complete pair of my old Barbie shoes (luckily bought these pairs from the local secondhand toy shop), the dolls kept falling over, the desk lamp I was using for light fell on the floor so the bulb broke, and my knees hurt from trying to get in the right position. Moan over. 

I intended to just have the shoes in a row, but thought the legs looked better. I used polaroid effect and added a slight matte border using Picnik.