SPC - 'High Key / Low Key' - #4

This is the final week of the 'High Key / Low Key' challenge at SPC.

I'm convinced that Johnny Cash never took a bad portrait in his entire long career. Every photo I've ever seen of him, portrait or candid, has an 'intangible something' that just made him, "Cash."

I found this particular portrait of him...


...and used it as my inspiration this week:

Photo Friday - 'Brown'

Earth Mosaic 2009

I got an e-mail from a friend this week informing me about a project about which I had previously known nothing.

Earth Mosaic 2009

Here's their promo:

Take a Picture of the Whole Entire Planet

Got big plans for Earth Day?

Gonna build a windmill out of recycled soda cans? Or modify your car to run on potato peelings and hope?

Yeah, sure you are. How about something that’s simple enough to actually DO?

Something like taking a day-in-the-life portrait of the whole entire planet!

It's easy, just take some photos of the world around you on Wednesday April 22nd.

Then send your best snap to the good folks at Earth Mosaic, and they’ll use it to create a giant photo mosaic of the Earth!

Then you can totally brag to your greener-than-thou friends about how you participated in a global art project on Earth Day and all they did was buy organic yams. Wusses.

So, on this past Wednesday, I took a few opportunities through the day and snapped a few photos. Nothing out of the ordinary for me.

Here are the three that I have submitted to the project.







That's it.

Even if you didn't know about the project, but you took some pictures on Earth Day 2009, you still have until April 30 to submit them to the project. Click the link above (or below) for more details.

Earth Mosaic 2009

SPC - 'High Key / Low Key' - #3

Trying 'High Key' again this week. Still not sure I've got it, but I think this is an improvement over last week.

I think I was trying too hard to get the effect in camera last week with flash and ended up with a 'high contrast' image, but not 'high key.' This week, I tried for a bit flatter lighting so that I could process it to this look without blowing too many of the highlights.

Photo Friday - 'Circular'

This is from my first attempt at a photography technique where you hang a light of some sort from a string, cord, etc and set it to swinging with the camera set up to catch the light trails on a long exposure. The LED light is from the insert from a toy one of the kids got that lit up when you threw it around. The casing for the light device split open and I saved the lights for a shot like this. I hung it from the pull cord on our ceiling fan and got this.

Easter Photos

SPC - 'High Key // Low Key' - #2

Not sure if this counts as "high key" or not. Still learning.

SPC - 'High Key // Low Key' - #1

The Self Portrait Challenge theme for April is:

High Key // Low Key

I, along with the rest of the group, are exploring what these terms mean and how to accomplish them photographically.

Briefly, your 'key light' is your main light. This might be sunlight or a studio strobe or a candle, but it is the light that is providing the main light to any photograph.

So, High Key would be exposing so that you're getting more of this light than you would for a 'normal' exposure. High key photos will generally be dominated by light tones and highlights.

Conversely, Low Key would be exposing so that you're getting less of this light than you would for a 'normal' exposure. Low key photos will generally be dominated by dark tones and shadows.

Obviously, my first attempt is meant to be Low Key.