Photography At Home

[steve ridgway]

As many people could be spending a lot of time at home now, I thought it might be interesting to see what we could find to photograph from there. Things actually inside the home itself and any garden, yard etc. but also what we can see standing somewhere within the bounds of our property and looking out.

[steve ridgway]

In the garden today.

[steve ridgway]

Most of us should be able to see the sky.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Lovely photos!

I've actually spent some more time recently looking at things like live bird webcams online.  Had fun talking to a friend (over the phone) and we had fun discovering how to use the site better; he's not much into birding (I'm quite new)--more into hiking, but I think that he appreciates them more now and enjoyed looking at the cams.   

A few times now, I realized that I wasn't certain what a particular bird was, but was able to ID it/them by taking a photo of my computer screen with my smart phone and then used their bird application to ID it!     Worked a peach!

Best wishes,

PD

[steve ridgway]

Lovely photos!

I've actually spent some more time recently looking at things like live bird webcams online.  Had fun talking to a friend (over the phone) and we had fun discovering how to use the site better; he's not much into birding (I'm quite new)--more into hiking, but I think that he appreciates them more now and enjoyed looking at the cams.   

A few times now, I realized that I wasn't certain what a particular bird was, but was able to ID it/them by taking a photo of my computer screen with my smart phone and then used their bird application to ID it!     Worked a peach!

Best wishes,

PD

Thanks PD  .

I don't know a lot about birds either but will try to photo a few. Another thing we could include is scanner images of any objects we have on our property - this is a feather I found last autumn.

[steve ridgway]

It took a while to spot anything in the garden today but I eventually found this shield bug.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I recommend you to look at the work of the late photographer Lauren Simonutti, a massively talented artist working in black and white film. A master of the use of toner and still life composition, she was horribly injured in a car accident and was confined to her home, where she made a stunning series of photographs of various rooms she designed and various constellations of objets d'art. Her portfolio in the fine art mag Silvershotz in 2007 is among my favorite in my collection. I do not like her photos of human figures as much as her other still lifes.

You should also look at the work of André Kertész and Josef Sudek, both of whom were also confined due to injury.

[steve ridgway]

I recommend you to look at the work of the late photographer Lauren Simonutti, a massively talented artist working in black and white film. A master of the use of toner and still life composition, she was horribly injured in a car accident and was confined to her home, where she made a stunning series of photographs of various rooms she designed and various constellations of objets d'art. Her portfolio in the fine art mag Silvershotz in 2007 is among my favorite in my collection. I do not like her photos of human figures as much as her other still lifes.

You should also look at the work of André Kertész and Josef Sudek, both of whom were also confined due to injury.

Those offer great examples for the creative art photographer. I've mainly done snapshots with a compact camera while out walking so am more used to documenting interesting things I see. I bought the DSLR I've used here about 18 months ago with vouchers from work but it's no good on my walks; I can't work it one handed with a dog pulling on a lead in the other .

[Mahlerian]

Those offer great examples for the creative art photographer. I've mainly done snapshots with a compact camera while out walking so am more used to documenting interesting things I see. I bought the DSLR I've used here about 18 months ago with vouchers from work but it's no good on my walks; I can't work it one handed with a dog pulling on a lead in the other .

What type of camera are you using? The quality looks pretty nice to this amateur's eye.

[steve ridgway]

Hi, I don't remember how to embed own photos.
please explain...

ps: I'm not a keen photographer, but I collect old (ca 1900-1950) photographs.

Click the Attachments and other options below where you type your reply, then the Choose File button. The  (more attachments) below that lets you add a few more.

Old photographs are interesting; I have a few pictorial books around 100 years old with plenty of photos. Well the newer ones do, rather than engravings.

[steve ridgway]

What type of camera are you using? The quality looks pretty nice to this amateur's eye.

A Canon EOS 800D aka Rebel T7i, plus a zoom lens with image stabilisation. The technology is great for those like me who use it hand held on full automatic. I've started using manual with the Moon at night though, all the black in the frame makes it massively overexposed. The daylight photo was handheld on full auto from the garden and the nighttime one out the window with manual control, monitoring and shutter release from my iPad.

[Mahlerian]

A Canon EOS 800D aka Rebel T7i, plus a zoom lens with image stabilisation. The technology is great for those like me who use it hand held on full automatic. I've started using manual with the Moon at night though, all the black in the frame makes it massively overexposed. The daylight photo was handheld on full auto from the garden and the nighttime one out the window with manual control, monitoring and shutter release from my iPad.

Thank you! I'm interested in getting a decent digital camera at some point, so I'm considering what options are available. My smartphone's camera just isn't enough for what I want to do.

[steve ridgway]

Thank you! I'm interested in getting a decent digital camera at some point, so I'm considering what options are available. My smartphone's camera just isn't enough for what I want to do.

The pocket size Canon IXUS 210 which came out 10 years ago is pretty good for holding in one hand and snapping photos while walking but doesn't show the detail and contrast of the larger lens. It was a lot cheaper though and I'm not nervous about taking it out. I process the photos from both a little with the "Preview" app included in Mac OS X - I overdo things and mess them up if using more sophisticated software .

[steve ridgway]

Thank you! I'm interested in getting a decent digital camera at some point, so I'm considering what options are available. My smartphone's camera just isn't enough for what I want to do.

What can you do with your smartphone though? There must be something worth photographing with it.

[Mahlerian]

What can you do with your smartphone though? There must be something worth photographing with it.

The resolution just isn't very good and everything ends up overexposed or not focused correctly. This is from a few months ago:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UqQcoh0SrZS7x0gIoJ7PkEy0AotjVCDM

This is from last summer:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tnbB2t8JJDNyHUT0yD7EvtC3GtZTWymW

(Although I should stress neither of these are strictly from home, though the first one is nearby where I was living at the time)

[Ratliff]

Mostly I like taking photos in the outdoors or public spaces. This recent photo at home struck me as strangely surreal.

[JBS]

I even found a photograph of a very young Eugène Ysaÿe which I donated to the Ysaÿe society in Brussels

I've seen that one, in the liner notes of a Ysaye CD. Unfortunately I don't remember which one.

[steve ridgway]

The resolution just isn't very good and everything ends up overexposed or not focused correctly. This is from a few months ago:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UqQcoh0SrZS7x0gIoJ7PkEy0AotjVCDM

This is from last summer:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tnbB2t8JJDNyHUT0yD7EvtC3GtZTWymW

(Although I should stress neither of these are strictly from home, though the first one is nearby where I was living at the time)

That pair came out well. You might experiment with how the focus and exposure change with where you point the phone. Move it around a bit and take several shots. With my pocket camera I can see the brightness change on the screen as I move it slightly up towards the sky or down towards the ground. It could focus on for example the centre of the image or might look for contrasting edges and try to get those as sharp as possible. If the images are large enough you can then edit on a computer to keep just the most pleasing rectangle. Auto correct of exposure levels is also generally useful and I often move the mid tone brightness. Some lighting conditions may also produce better results, such as bright sunlight.

[steve ridgway]

Mostly I like taking photos in the outdoors or public spaces. This recent photo at home struck me as strangely surreal.

Yes that is rather odd, as if a being from another dimension was peering into your seemingly normal kitchen. I sometimes see such bizarre, incredibly bright and colourful images beaming out from the immense TV screen in the house on the other side of the road.

[steve ridgway]

I buy old photographs on markets and in second hand shops. Portraits, people with dogs, carnival groups ...here are few examples.

That's another interesting photographic hobby, do you find a lot of old photos and are they cheap? Here's one from my copy of The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 1, 1898 showing a tram in Denver, Colorado. The horse had to pull the tram about a mile up a steep hill but got a break on the way back down.