tips to use your "not technically good" photographs

Some days ago, while I was looking through my image collection in my computer, I noticed that I have some images that are not good technically, with people in that photos that I don't know about, so my first inclination was to get rid of them. However, after some browsing in the internet, I decided to use that kind of photographs with some related quotes written on them.

One example is the image below, at the time I took this picture, I just wanted to capture the movement of the train, which was very fast, so I didn't have a second chance to reshoot because you can see that the focus in this photo is wrong. But, after I added that quote, I think the image serves its purpose.

So, don't delete your "technically wrong" photographs yet, find good related quotes to accompany them.

Grow old with me

A friend of mine gave me a good quote about husband-wife relationships. I don't remember the exact words but generally it says that we have to find a husband/wife that is fun to talk with because when we are old, talking with each other is what we will do most of the time.

I took the picture below when some friends and I had a day-trip to Kebon Raya Bogor. Although we can only see their backs, this old couple really shows how they still try to find time and place to be just with each other. It's like there were only them in this entire world.

 

Picture taken from: http://pagespeed.5thvillage.com/u/rindakoban/

Black and White photography: Cyanide (Metallica)

Cyanide 

Sleep and dream of this

Death angel's kiss

Brings final bliss

Completely

Empty they say

Death won't you let me stay

Empty they say

Death hear me call your name

Uhh call your name

Suicide I've already died

You're just the funeral I've been waiting for

Cyanide living dead inside

Break this empty shell forevermore

Wait, wait patiently

Your death black wings

Unfolding sleep

Spreading on me

Empty they say

Death won't you let me stay

Empty they say

Death hear me call your name

Uhh call your name

Suicide I've already died

You're just the funeral I've been waiting for

Cyanide living dead inside

Break this empty shell forevermore

Say is that rain or are they tears

That stained your concrete face for years

The crying, weeping, shedding strife

Year after year, life after life

In narrow freshly broken ground

A concrete angel laid right down

Upon the grave which swallows fast

It's peace at last, oh peace at last

Empty they say

Death won't you let me stay

Empty they say

Death hear me call your name

Call your name

Suicide I've already died

You're just the funeral I've been waiting for

Cyanide living dead inside

Break this empty shell forevermore

Forevermore

Forevermore

It's just the funeral I've been waiting for

Songwriter(s): Robert Aguirre Trujillo, Kirk L. Hammett, James Alan Hetfield, Lars Ulrich

How to take silhouette pictures (Anyer beach)

I just had a holiday at Anyer beach with my family and took some silhouette pictures. When I showed them to my sister, she asked me how to do it. So these are a few tips on how to take silhouette pictures:

1.       Make sure there’s a backlight or in other words: the main source of light should be coming from the back of the object or in front of you. So that means if you are in a beach and shooting in the morning, you should face east where the sun is in front of you. And vice versa if it’s in the afternoon.
2. Expose for the bright sky not for the object. If you expose for the object (meaning: you put the focus point on the object), the camera will compensate for the dark object and make it brighter not darker, which the whole point of silhouette is all about. If the camera fails to focus because the sky is low contrast, you can focus on the spot between the sky and the object.
3. Because the object is in dark, as in silhouette, it has to be in a recognizable form or shape. So if the objects are a few people (doing whatever they’re doing), make sure that they are not too close to one another that it’s so hard to identify what they are. Other wise, they will look just like some black blots.
4. After you push the shutter button halfway to lock the focus, you can recompose the picture, just don’t release your finger on the shutter button yet. Then after you’re satisfied with the picture you see on the view finder, you can press the shutter button completely to take the picture.

Bonus tip: you can add a ‘starburst’ sun behind the object by using a high-number aperture (e.g.: F/22).

www.rindakoban.wix.com/rindakoban

Bended

Reflective

Jump!

Meditating

Playful

What's that?

Starburst

Food Photography Trip: Korean Cuisine (Bibimbap, kimchi, cold noodle)

Before I went to Korea, I only knew 1 Korean food: Kimchi. In fact, Kimchi in Korea is just a free small side dish every time you order food in a restaurant. Although I don’t like the smell and the taste of kimchi (too sour), there’re still other kinds of Korean food that I like, for example: bibimbap and Korean instant noodle, but not cold noodle. I had an unfortunate experience of ordering cold noodle and still regret it for the rest of my life, uughh. When I ordered it, I thought it would be nice to have something cold on a hot day. However, I was surprised when it came with scissors. Apparently, you have to cut the noodle with scissors since it's too hard for a plain-normal-looking fork. Don't ask me about its taste, I'm (or my tongue is, to be exact) still trying to forget it. Lesson learned: "cold" is best associated with drinks, not food.

If pork is “haram’ for you, be sure to ask before you order (there’s this sausage-like food in which rice is mixed with pork blood)

www.rindakoban.wix.com/rindakoban

Bibimbap

chili pickle

This is how scissors come to handy 

rice mixed with pork blood

Before you eat bibimbap, mix them while it's hot

The infamous cold noodle *greenish face*

Kimchi

Korean instant noodle

Korean sushi?

Street Photography: Sleeping Soundly (Kota Tua, Jakarta)

It’s a hot, tiring day for a cat, man and kid.

 www.rindakoban.wix.com/rindakoban

Square Format Photos

I just read Andrew S. Gibson’s ebook, The Creative Image, and in 1 part of the book he talks about square photos. I quote from him about the square format: “The square format suits the minimalist approach…” Feeling intrigued, I cropped in Photoshop 3 photos that I took last Friday to make them square. These are the results. (And now my camera at the moment has been set to 1:1 ratio) 

 www.rindakoban.wix.com/rindakoban