Day 290; Rule of Thirds

I've taken lots of photos of this old shed over the years, but each one turns out a little different. This one I cropped to a wider, shorter size to empathize the lines of the ground and the fence. I also made this particular shot unique through editing. I wanted a different look, so I used a faded black and white filter to give an older, more artsy feel. If you're not a photographer, you probably don't know what the title of this post means. The rule of thirds is a basic rule of thumb for composition. I won't explain it here, but there are lots of articles online if you want to know more.

Day 142

This photo is of an old Allis-Chalmers tractor my grandfather owns. I loved how the paint had cracked and aged, and thought it would make a really cool photo. I also like the angle I used, as it draws the reader's eye back into the photo. To edit, I applied a very slight Orton effect to add some contrast between the paint and the orange background of the tractor as the colors were pretty faded with age. I also did a really faint light edge to enhance the white paint.

Day 136

This photo was a quick set up with 7 or 8 quarters on a book on a desk by a window. I wanted to create a really dramatic lighting that really showed the detail and lines on a quarter. I love how prominent the line is on the forehead, nose, and lips of the front quarter is, as it really sets the head off from the rest of the quarter. I also like how there's bright white on the right of the frame and then really really dark shadows on the left. To edit, I first made the photo black and white, then added slight Orton and Lomo effects to help give the shadows a deeper, darker, and smoother look.

Day 135

I found my dad's old softball glove and thought it would make a good subject for today's post. There were so many interesting areas to photograph, with a bunch of different textures and looks. To give this photo an older look, I applied a slight Dusk effect and then a faded sepia to decrease some of the shine and bright colors my lighting gave it.

Day 132

This is a photo of the pages of a dictionary. This is an unabridged version, so it's really, really thick, and I was able to fill the entire frame with the pages. It's also pretty old, and the pages are starting to fray a little giving the photo more texture and breaking up some of the black lines. I really wanted to pull out the shadows, so I made the photo black and white then added very faded dark edges.

Day 73

Yesterday afternoon the light shining through the leaves and grass in the forest arrested my attention. The scene just inside the treeline with the little run down shack looks almost like a picture from a fairytale.

Day 56

The other day my brother was outside playing, and I thought I would take some photos of him before he noticed me. I added the dusk effect to create that older look.

Day 55

Here's a photo I took of my horse the other day at sunset. I added the dusk effect. 

Day 34

Today I asked my two year old brother to pose for me. He wanted to at first, but he quickly lost interest. I managed to snap this photo as he was trying to escape. I liked this photo when I first took it, but then while I was editing it I noticed the hot spot on his cheek from the sunlight, the window ledge in the background, the way the top of his head was stretched out and bigger than the bottom, and I started second guessing whether or not I should post this picture. But I think after I added the Dusk effect on picmonkey.com and cropped it a little, it turned out to be an interesting photo. 

Day 20

This photo I took a couple days ago. It's a farm elevator that has been sitting in a field near my house for as long as I can remember.  I again liked the original photo, and left it exactly the way I took it.