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Nature Calendar 2007
Happy New Year! I wish you all a most rewarding and playful 2007! To celebrate this event, here is my gift to you: Beautiful Nature Wallpapers Calendar 2007. Spent quite a bit of time doing it! These are made by photographs I took recently in Spain, Portugal and Turkey. You can view it below and download the entire calender here [Updated].What? You actually want a toy? Then there isn't anything better than Line Rider for this season. Enjoy!
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my readers. I'm glad to see your interest in my blog during its short life and hope you are looking forward to my future posts! If you enjoyed what you read in 2006 and would like to read about similar posts in 2007 then subscribe to get new posts in your inbox.
14 thoughts:
Those who have a higher screen resolution than 1024x768 might like to use this tutorial to display my calendar in a CD jewel case.
It would be great if there was a widescreen version available for those of us with widescreen screens :)
Special thanks to Lifehacker for featuring my post. Lots of love!!
I think your photos have character which isn't surprising given your eclectic creative energies. They could improve from a technical and artistic standpoint. What camera do you use? I enjoy your blog. I like variety. Beth Ellen
The camera I use is Sanyo Xacti C1. Still learning about photography and I am collecting different views to make a post about how to take better photos.
Thanks for the comment Beth! Do you think you can elaborate a bit in a similar way raoulpop did on the Lifehacker blog?
Greetings! I am finally able to get back to the photos. :) I want to preface my comments by saying I am an amateur and not a professional but I think I can point out a few things. I started photography in July 2006 and am still learning. I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ5 which has been a great starting camera for me and has a quality lens and features for a decent price.
First, I did some searches for example photos taken with the Sanyo Xacti C1. I have to say in general I am not overly impressed by the quality. This isn't to say that you cannot improve or learn with your camera. In fact it is a fine place to start for now. If at some point though you might consider a camera that is really more geared towards photography. One thing you can do is learn a bit about photo editing especially where the colors are a bit over the top as seems to be really the case with this camera. They are unnatural and sometimes that is fine if it is a choice and it works artistically but in this case it really detracts from the images.
I will comment a bit on each monthly photo.
Jan- This composition works fine though alway keep in mind how much sky or water you want to balance it out. Part of me is tempted to lift the camera up just a bit. The blues are unreal in this photo and there is a lack of contrast between sky and earth. I don't know if a Haze filter would work here. I lack experience dealing with hazy photos.
Feb- I am not sure what exactly happened here but it looks to be overexposed (light). I think you already mentioned you shot at a lower resolution. Too much light, too low resolution? But I notice there is a lot of noisy glow coming out of this camera of yours and I do wonder what the lens is capable of.
March- I think this is a nice composition but again everything just glows and somehow is not getting to the detail that is there in the world. See if you can get more detail with your camera at better resolutions and dissuade me it isn't your lens.
April- Overall a good start to a composition but the width of the water is too much. For me at least. Again, the blue is not quite right...
May- A rose bud can be a potentially powerful image. You could work with something like this but get it more at an angle instead of just letting it pop straight up into the frame and don't let large items like leaves distract from the main object. Again, this unreal glow and lack of detail...
June- This has potential compositionally. Keep in mind that water levels should remain level. Think of how you are dividing up the canvas. Your frame is a canvas that you are filling it with objects that are to fill that space in an aesthetically pleasing way. It has a bit of a dream effect with the blur though I don't think that was intentional. :)
July-Again, the glow, lack of clarity. The leave to the right takes away from the composition. It is blocking part of the flower and the flower is setting pretty low in your canvas. It lacks balance. Think canvas.
August- In this one I would have edited the trees up front out. You can do that. It is legal. :) I like the vista and I think I would have pulled back a bit (zoomed out and try to get a bit more of the vista to the left. Just me personally but overall this is nice except again...the colors and the softness...the glows...why is that happening?
Sept- Here you got a bit more detail but even so there is just a softness and glow to everything. The colors aren't right. In an image like this you also want greater depth of field so that the object of interest doesn't get lost in the business of the background. It makes me dizzy to look at...too busy...too dizzy. :)
October- This is interesting and I do see a hint of clarity especially down in the water but the upper rocks are a bit washed out. I have never shot anything remotely like this and honestly don't know how I would approach it.
Nov.- Good potential. Water level almost perfect...I think your focus ended up being more on the rocks that on the shore line and hence it is not brought into focus and it is a bit overexposed.
Dec- I like this. I think the the trees/mountains could be lightened up a bit and more contrast...a bit muddy.
General recommendations. I would recommend getting a book on basic functions in photography that gives examples. One book that is decent is called Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I would really take time to get to know your camera and really seeing what your lens can or cannot do. It could be by getting to know it better you can clear up the unreal glow, the limits of clarity and way it processes color.
Also, think of your view finder or LCD screen as a canvas. Think composition. You are clearly creative and I think you will begin to translate this to photography in due time.
I wish you the best and feel free to ask anything.
Beth Ellen Nagle
Beth, thanks a lot for this extremely helpful comment! It is very informative. Excellent!
I am not sure where does the glow, blur, and unreal color comes from. Me starting to read the manual of the camera to find out.
As another photographer friend of mine mentioned, the exposures need adjustment. Hopefully I can find the book you recommended.
There is a lot I have to learn about photo editing as well. I am using GimpShop but perhaps there are better software out there?
I will keep your advice and suggestions in mind next time I shoot. (Think canvas, think canvas!)
Thanks from Brazil. Your work is really helpful and beautiful.
Alberto
Awesome photos love it!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
Thanks for the nice post!
amazing stuff thanx :)
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