Of all things that are certain about the holiday season, the most right and true is that diets stop existing at all. For the last run of the year, Tersha adequately thought of preparing a marvellous feast of side-lighting techniques with food as the main course! This type of lighting technique is perfect if you are trying to achieve a moody vibe with your images. Even so, side-lit is the reason why Flemish still-life paintings look so dramatically mysterious.
However, not every side-lit image has to produce a moody or cosy result. Using light from the side could also be used to fill in some unpleasant-looking shadows as we will see in a bit. A good trick to have in mind here is this, if you are pursuing the darker vibe, relying solely on available natural light from a window might be sufficient for you. But if you are trying to get a brighter result, then filling the darker regions with a flash or fixed artificial light source could do the trick for you!
Alright, as photographers we all have mixed feelings about AI and image generation capabilities. And as we approach the end of the year everything becomes chaotic while juggling with last-minute fixes, as well as family and friends. What I'm trying to say here is that, amidst the convoluted times in which we all are living right now, some of our members didn't have the chance or the opportunity to take a photograph by themselves. But they had the gesture of imagining how a holiday meal would look and requested AI solutions to give them a hand. Some of the results are cartoonish and even fantastic, so don't restrain yourself from enjoying them!
But first, let's all give a special shout-out to ElinL for winning our current POTW!
Photo Of The Week
When I first saw this image I couldn't believe the exposure from it! This has to be one of the most impressive over-exposition handling I've ever seen in my life; let me explain why. Capturing snow is a challenge by itself due to the notorious white tones. Beyond that, Max (Elin's feline friend) is predominantly white, not to mention the lovely orchids framing him as well! Now, the colour palette is just perfect! The colour temperature ain't that cold but it still feels cosy, and the dark patch from the furniture indicates that this image is a legit photograph!
My friend Max prefers looking at the snow from the inside…
Congrats Elin, thanks for sharing such a high quality photograph with us!
Weekly Photographic Challenge Wrap-up
The following images are best-viewed with an empty stomach… Or maybe not…
Elin the same problem as last year, she was either too busy making the food or enjoying it to remember taking photos (it happened to me btw!), so she asked Midjourney for a bit of help, look at the snow!
Patrick got carried away with Elin's shot and gave it a try as well!
Just like Elin, and many of us, Belinda had the same problem. She wasn't able to take photo of her holiday food, so she also asked Midjourney along with three mobile apps to help her out; look at the Brussels sprouts and the five-toothed fork!
Another from Elin, but with some guests included on the frame! We are still trying to figure out what these three where eating but it looks tasty.
Alright, enough of AI, and for it Pat gave us the perfect portion control:
A plate which certainly can't control having too much of some nice and rich plum pudding of course — old family recipe in case you were wondering about!
No holiday season would be complete without a cute-looking gingerbread house!
And for the sweet-finale, a gorgeous still-life made entirely with peppermint candy and canes!
What a feast don't you think? If you wish to see more photographs, take a visit to the original thread here.
What You Shouldn't be Missing from the Light Stalking Community
In case you didn't notice, Steve Walker changed his username to LightandShadow, which sounds awesome! During the week, he shared a couple of frames from his grandson's bkb game 🏀
Here’s a floor level image, cropped to a tight POV and portrait orientation. #31’s eyes appear closed but I don’t think they were–just looking down. I used the new blur function in lightroom to create the narrow DOF. Sports photography is really fun but a difficult discipline.
You bet it is!
Canon r6, 70mm focal length, cropped from the left. Exposure adjustments made to brighten the image. Shutter priority @ 1/1200, f/4, auto ISO 12,800. Servo autofocus. Lightroom’s noise reduction feature used. Also darkened the background and used the new blur function to throw the spectators and sideline folks OOF.
Marty shared an interesting thought on feedback, and I'm sure it will raise a healthy debate! She also requested some technical advice on luminance histograms; especially when dealing with colour and monochrome conversions.
As the colour red throwdown follows, Tersha shared this minimal still-life of what seems to be golf tees; please correct me if they are not:
Oh, and a couple of days ago, Rob shared what in my opinion seems as a great venue for a documentary project:
The Mobile Monday Challenge is open for sharing some shots! And if you want to see more shots, take a look at the Members Picks, a place where our community shares their favourite photographs from our forums every week.
We'd Love To Hear Your Thoughts
Also, our Feedback Forum got some nice pictures and is clear that some of you have started building a solid photography style. This is the right place for all those people that want to grow fast as photographers.
Here, you'll get your work critiqued by plenty of well-intended people, but you'll also have the chance of critiquing your peers. We truly believe in the power of criticism and feedback. Here are some of the most interesting shots shared during the last week:
The Shark Tank is a great place to learn and to discuss, so please read the instructions in order to get a better critique experience. Share your comments, opinions and doubts on any or all of the images above. We also will be delighted to see some of your own images. Don't be shy, critiques are given to photographs and not photographers.
Also, don't forget to participate in our upcoming challenge!
