Using A Circular Polarizer

Ok so it's been about a week since my last post. I had some free time the other day and of course I hit up the photography. I recently bought a circular polarizer from Best Buy and I was just itching to try it out. I think it safe to say I need a little more practice with it first.

I immediately noticed my pictures were coming out a little bit darker, but the color was a little more vibrant. The basis of a CP is essentially the same as a pair of sunglasses. It lessens the effect of the sun and brings in the color of the surrounding area. Giving you better color and less blown out highlights. The only problem I had with it was that some of the images had an added darker tint.

For this shoot I actually did a little urban exploration. I heard about this specific site from a friend of mine who'd done some skating here. The site was actually the floor layout of a mall that used to be in my area. The sad thing is I remembered going into that mall when I was a kid. I couldn't believe that there were still tiles and steps from the old building. It's actually really hard to notice from the street and if my friend hadn't told me it was still there I wouldn't have known.

Unfortunately there wasn't much worth photographing there. I find that with most of my shoots I try to make each shot as interesting as possible. Instead of just standing there clicking away. I was really excited that I found such a place and was interested for more. I took a drive to a few other abandoned buildings but I didn't have much luck with any of them because they were either locked or gated off. 
But I did stumble upon a group of stray cats outside an old grocery store. Apparently someone has been feeding them. I thought about getting close and taking a few shots of them but I didn't want to get attacked by a pack of wild cats. Plus they looked kind of diseased. : /
Poor cats.

On the brighter side of things I did meet some young skaters at the mall; they thought it was cool what I was doing and we even discussed shooting a video there. I think it would make a good filming location for a video. The only downside is the large NO TRESPASSING sign that I didn't notice until I was leaving. Oh well


P.S. Check back every Thursday for a new post.
 

Failed Project

So I've always had this idea that you can give life and realism to lifeless objects simply by drawing a face on them. I tested this little experiment in my kitchen the other day and it's safe to say that I did not get the results I wanted. 
Imagine opening your fridge only to have your milk smiling at you, your juice being grumpy because you turned on the light, or the carton of eggs that just want to get your attention. By drawing on these objects it gives them character, it gives them personality and it opens up your imagination and creativity. I think that's one of the most important things in such creative professions. Your ability to imaging and create and think outside the box. Stray away from what everyone else is doing and create your own worlds.

 

 This little project for me was an unfortunate failure, I couldn't find my sharpie marker so  I had to improvise with a kids crayola marker; which couldn't mark deep enough to get good contrast. And probably worst of all I couldn't fit into the dang refrigerator. The door didn't open quite enough so I couldn't position myself properly to get the shot. I has to squeeze one hand in there one at a time.
But all in all I think you find success in failure. Just because something didn't work out the way you wanted it doesn't mean you didn't learn anything. I learned to lose some weight because I'm a God Damn Fatty. lol jk LSHMSFOAIDMT - look up what that means.

Anyway I happened to finish my Fig Rig from that last post, and unlike this project it came out to be quite professional looking. I am quite happy with the results. I'm looking forward to shooting my first video with it. But I'm also quite nervous.

Juice says: "you better watch yo back Mother F****ER"
Dang that guys an ass.

Getting Into Film

Alright it's been about two weeks since I posted here. I've been pretty busy lately and haven't been able to do much photography. That, coupled with the fact that it's been raining on every one of my days off. So yeah I haven't been able to shoot much lately. 
But I have been working on a few things for my camera. When I'm not out photographing I'm stuck at home on my computer; learning as much as possible about film and photos. This week I happened to start my diy fig rig build and I must say that I am quite satisfied at how it came out. It's not finished just yet, I still have some minor tweaks to make on the parts. Can't have the thing falling apart on me while I try to shoot a video. 
Speaking of which, these two weeks away from photography have led me to focus on the film aspect of things. Certain things like shooting and editing video. I've also been quite into building a glidecam system for my camera; which is proving troublesome. It'd be complete by now if the parts I ordered for it would come in. But I feel like I'm coming closer and closer to shooting some videos. 
Film has pretty much engulfed my life right now. I spend all my free time just learning and watching as many tutorials as possible. I study every article written and every movie on TV. Even as I type this I'm watching Rush Hour 2, while at the same time examining every fight scene every car chase and every camera angle. Just contemplating and wondering how each shot was achieved.
I only hope to one day be able to make movies like this on my own.


On a side note, the rookie mistake for this week is: REMEMBER YOUR MEMORY CARD.
Last Saturday I took a trip to the aquarium here in New Orleans. Just when I was beginning to shoot my camera flashed an alert sign to me. NO CARD!
So I spent the whole day staring at the fishies and bumping into little kids. Those little bastards were everywhere; it was like we chose the busiest day of the year to go.
It would have been a nightmare trying to get any sort of decent shot with so many kids running around. Anyway this won't be the last encounter I have with the aquarium. I'll be back!


Here's what my unfinished fig rig looks like:

 

I need to re-cut the PVC pipes in order to get it all to fit properly. And the screw leading into my camera is just a little off to the side. I need to pick up some PVC cutters and fix the design. Then I'll paint it black and add the grips. More to come soon. If you're digging the superman why don't you go ahead and follow me up.