A Year of Beauty- Photography Challenge- Year 2

[Samtian]

September/October is here so break time is over!

Time to start with some fundamentals. Photography has it's own set of "rules". Which of course are meant to be broken, but it's really helpful to know some basics. Starting with the rule of 3rds in composition. What you do is place your subject on one of the "imaginary" lines that cut a photo into thirds ( 9 sections). I do this rule often, but sometimes parents don't like it in their pictures and want the subjects centered. Included is images with the lines showing. Just basic set up so you can see it. One of the easiest ways to get something on one of the lines is to crop it down. When you crop an image you usually get the lines that show up, using those lines tells you where the "thirds" are, and just line your subject up with one of them. 

If you want to get really technical I encourage you to look up the Golden Ratio and learn about it. It has many names and it is way too mathematical for my brain to comprehend. To my knowledge I don't think I have ever taken a golden ratio image. I have golden triangle but not ratio. Check it out! photoworkout dot com/golden-ratio-photography/  

Hopefully you can see the lines...I should have thought it out and used a dark background. 

What a great first year we had!! Even if I dropped the ball sometimes! I decided to change things up this year with the themes. They will be a little more challenging this year.

2023-

April- DOF 2 images.

May- Flash/Artificial Light.

June- What you see vs. What I see

July- Break

August- Break

September/October- Rule of 3rds.

2022 challenges-

April- Lipstick

May- Eye Shadow

June- Primer/Foundation/Concealer/CC/BB

July- Highlighters

August- Brushes

September- Sheet Masks

October- Hair Care

November- Fragrance

December- Nail Polish

January- Blush/Bronzer

February- Candles/Wax Melts/ Diffusers

The challenge and "rules"-

1. Flat lays and staged photos only. I'll post examples below. But no faces or people allowed in your photos. (Though you can include photographs).

2. All photos you take must be your own. 

3. Post as many images as you want, you have a whole month to get creative with each theme. Post one, post everyday, doesn't matter.

4. Let's talk gear and products! Tell us about your image. List the products and colors, talk to us about your concept and how it came to be, taken with your phone or DSLR? 

Here are some helpful reads- digital-photography-school dot com/flat-lay-photography/  and digital-photography-school dot com/tips-for-getting-started-with-still-life-photography/

Here are some of my example images I've taken in the past-

Gucci Bloom Eau de Toilette with Jasmine, Tuberose, and Neroli 1 oz/ 30 mL 

Floral Street Sunflower Pop Eau De Parfum Travel Spray 0.34 oz/ 10 mL 

[Buootiful]

Nice comparison shots! It would be tough for me to decide which one to post. The natural ight highlights the middle product and you know exactly what it is. On the other hand, I like how the Tatcha  name shows more prominently and draws attention to brand of Tatcha, in the artificial light . @itsfi 

[sister13]

Nice pic, thanks for sharing both! I keep wanting to take a pic with flash, but the phone won’t trigger the flash because it just takes the low light pic, haha. @itsfi 

[Samtian]

@itsfi Great job testing! It's sure fun to see the differences between the two!

[itsfi]

Thank you @Samtian! Seeing the contrast between different light sources has been fun.

[Titian06]

This is interesting, @itsfi !  It's like when I search for swatches online.  Which picture shows the **real** color?  That was the first thing I noticed, anyway. 😄  

[itsfi]

@Titian06, it’s funny because sometimes my camera autocorrects color and it’s not always entirely accurate 😆 much like when my phone autocorrects what I’m writing at times. Lol. 

[itsfi]

Flash / Artificial Light - May 2023 Photography Challenge

Okay, I took a few different shots (of the same product) using different forms of artificial lighting. All photos taken with my iPhone X. Editing involved cropping the frame at the sides or bottom of the photo, and including a note in the lower right hand corner to identify the lighting used for the photo. These were all taken generally around the same time, starting approximately 10 minutes before sunset.

For comparison purposes, here's a photo of the product(s) in natural, indirect, indoor lighting. 

Photos taken in natural light (indirect) with various tools (I don't know, are they called tools?) that came preloaded with the camera on my iPhone.

Artificial light - fluorescent lighting 

Artificial light - LED 

It was interesting to see these photos next to each other @Samtian, and as I was taking them. This time around I was focused on getting the shot and noting what lighting and tools I used. I'm planning on trying this again and will try to remember to note my initial impressions after taking the particular shot. 

[Samtian]

@itsfi I really really like how the fluorescent and LED ones turned out!! Great job! I've been sick last two weeks, everyone at work has been knocked down, so I'm going to do mine next week. 

[itsfi]

Thank you @Samtian! It’s been a good challenge for me to see how lighting changes the look of the same product. 👍🏼 

Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been sick and your coworkers too. 🤒 I hope you are getting a lot of rest and liquids. Chicken soup does wonders, but I can see how having it for 2 weeks might get just a little tiring. Feel better! 

[Titian06]

Interesting photo project, @itsfi !  Each one seems to invoke a different mood (mood lighting?). 💡

[itsfi]

@Titian06, yes! Mood lighting! This was an interesting one to shoot and to see how different lighting affected the look of the photos. 

[Samtian]

New challenge updated!

[Buootiful]

Interesting thing about the reflectors! The flash on my camera phone somehow is better at showing my skin than normal lighting. It shows my pores so it must not be auto blurring the skin. @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@Buootiful Oh yeah flash can be mean and show a lot of things you might not be prepared to see 🤣. 

[sister13]

A little late but I got a couple photos in for the challenge of my lip look from the other day. @Samtian 

In this first one, you can see my messy “bin of things to remember try or use” so it definitely takes away from any luxe vibes! 

This one was using the iPhone portrait filter. I think I actually have a version where I cropped this down but now I can’t find it and I am too lazy to do it again since I already started this post! This would be better if my messy bin was out of the way, but better than the deep DOF. I have a couple more non-makeup ones to post soon! 

 

[Sunnysmom]

Love the angle and reflection to @sister13 ! Very cool!

[sister13]

Thank you @Sunnysmom ! 

[itsfi]

Very nice @sister13! The products come into the eyes' focus more with the blurring of the background pieces. Love how you laid out those lip items as well. 

[sister13]

Thank you so much! @itsfi 

[Titian06]

Love this pic, @sister13 !  The lipstick really stands out in the second pic.  My brain isn't even trying to figure out what's blurred; the foreground is much more interesting. 😁

[sister13]

Thank you! @Titian06