Old Meets New - Photo Of The Day, July 29, 2013

Old Meets New - Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong

I thought the contrast of the old boat against Hong Kong's modern skyline made an interesting image. I liked how the "new" skyline which is almost monochrome against the colorful sails of the boat further adds to the contrast!

Photo Of The Day, July 5, 2013 - Little Dreamer

Little Dreamer

I love the dreamy effect here created by the shallow depth of field.

Though this was taken with a small sensor compact, the Fuji X10, the close focus and large aperture gave this shot very shallow depth of field.

Photo Of The Day, July 3 2013 - Blinds and Floor

Blinds And Floor

The lines and play of light and shade here caught my eye as I drank my coffee this morning.

I used my Fuji X10, which has great dynamic range, at f/8 to make sure that the texture on the lower part of the blinds was in focus. Black and white conversion was in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Sleeping Chairs

Sleeping Chairs

One of the little perks of today's smartphones is that we have a pretty capable point-and-shoot camera on us at all times. I like to use 645 Pro Mk II on my iPhone 5 to give me a little extra control of the stock iPhone camera.

I liked the stark lines and shadows of these restaurant chairs this morning, and thought this would make an interesting shot in black and white.

I chose the H5 film preset on 645 Pro - a replica of the classic Ilford HP5 black and white emulsion -  for crisp contrast and hard grain. I further processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to create the final image.

Photo Of The Day, July 2, 2013 - The Toys

The Toys

I like the spooky atmosphere I was able to create in this image. The room looks dark and dingy and a little ominous, and it's almost as if the toys are about to come to life.

This is a black and white HDR image. I shot 3 exposures in RAW, then combined them to create the HDR image using Nik HDR Efex Pro 2, which is currently my favorite software for creating HDR images.

The slight eeriness of the HDR image, black and white and the grain and vignetting all contribute to the slightly surreal and spooky nature of this image.