Lens Filters

I got some of my new lens filters delivered today, when I was playing around with them a cool bird flew past. Yh, he was cool and made the photograph more cool as well.

A little bit about the lens filters

A lens filter is a glass/plastic circle which you place on your lens, it gives you more control over your photography as well as protecting your lens.

There are different types of them which give different effects. The most common ones are :

UV (Ultraviolet) Filter

It is mainly used to protect the lens from damage, it also absorbs the ultraviolet rays and reduces haze.

Polarizing Filter

It basically selects which light rays enter your lens, as the light rays that are reflected by any surface become polarised. Therefore it removes reflections from surfaces such as water and glass, as well as making the colours a bit more saturated and clearer; having a better contrast.

ND (Graduated Neutral Density) Filter

This one allows your image look more neutral and have an equal reduction in light, it also reduces overexposure if long exposure time is used.

1000 views

I checked my statistics today and discovered I've got 1000 views on my blog. It made me well happy! 

Also thought to add the Pageviews statistics box, which now you can see on the right :) 

Thank You guys! 

A little bit of Title Design

Found this really good video on 'A Brief History of Title Design' it shows some really cool title sequences. 

http://vimeo.com/20759580

It made me remember the first time I started being interested in title sequences. When I first watched 'Catch Me If You Can' (great movie, of course) and absolutely loved the opening credits by Kuntzel and Deygas, they open the movie in such an elegant and creative way, they preview the events of the movie however don't give too much away and are also entertaining. Then I thought about how people (as well as myself) usually just skip the credits, and don't really acknowledge them, even though they are vital part of the film as a whole. Thats when I started to get more interested in the title design and this video might get you more into them as well! 

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

The sans serif typeface used is called Coolvetica if you're interested, it used to be free however you now have to pay for it, probably after it got really popular.

Heres some more title sequences worth watching

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Se7en (1995)

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Ps. Don't forget that the clocks go forward tonight!

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I neeeed more of the beautiful sun!!!
Cant wait till sunday when the clocks go forward
I want the days to be longer
I want to wear summer clothes
I want to wear sunglasses as well!
I want to get a tan
I want to go to the beach..


14 days! And YES ALGARVE !
Hopefully the weather there will not disappoint us! :)

The Night we went crazy with the Diana

Prints from a night when my flatmates and I decided to have a cheeky little drink, which followed by taking out the Diana. The results came out quite crazy as without realising we changed the shutter switch to B (for long exposures) or didn't wind the film properly. But it was all good fun.

Hello Sun

The weather is gorgeous today, I love it when its sunny and warm. I feel so different, it changes my mood completely, puts me in a better one just like that. I sat near the pond with my flatmates for a bit today and just realised how pretty it is! And now I'm off doing research for my new uni project.. 

Btw I still cannot stop listening to JLo & Pitbull - On the floor <- Click

It puts me in a holiday mood and I cannot wait till summer!

Zenit 12 XP

Few months ago I got a really nice gift, a gift from my uncle which is a Zenit 12 XP, a Russian 35mm SLR camera. It's really special as he has been using it for years (years ago) and he shot many amazing photographs with it. I've only just started using it last week, something I should have done ages ago and I hope maybe someday my photographs will be just as beautiful as my uncles.

Pendant lighting

Right, so if you want to have some nice piece of 'design in your room, definitely check this out!

An architect called Bridget used a clothesline pulley to make this lovely pendant lighting something more than just a standard bedside lamp. I absolutely love this and I might try something simillar myself? :)

Click

Tonight - The best day to shoot the Moon in 18 years

If you want to take a nice photograph of the moon, tonight is your chance as it will be at perigee, the point in it’s orbit when it’s closest to Earth. It will be 14% larger and 30% brighter as well as 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to when it is furthest away from the earth. Your next chance will be in about 2029!


More info here

Unfortunately I dont have my DSLR with me now.. but will definitely try with Zenit !
Good Luck !

Freaky?

Thought to show you guys one of the photos I took from around Brixton markets. The actual photograph isn't anything special as I just had to take quick snaps, not get caught and I was kind of (really) scared, but after I went through all the photos I got a bit freaked out by this one.. although when you look at it closely it's not what it looks like, which kind of calmed me down a bit!

Amy Harris

I absolutely love this moving image by Amy Harris in which she's exploring the nature of memories.
I really like how she cut out the photographs and put them back together as well as "forming, linking, fading and deteriorating " to form the idea of memory, and also the tune she used which i still have in my head.

Check out her other work here

Flash

Managed to go and get my ColorSplash Flash sorted for my Diana Mini (it just stopped working and nothing could be done..) and I ended up experimenting with it and my DSLR, some of the photographs came out quite cool as the effects were pretty unexpected..! Here's few exemples,
I haven't used Photoshop.

And I cannot resist.. I just love the Lomo Shop.

'REALITY OF BRANDING' Shop! Exhibition, KK Outlet

An Interdisciplinary Project in which the BA Graphic Design, Graphic Design & Photography and Illustration & Animation students had to collaborate together. The name of the Brief was 'Shop!' and the 15 chosen groups were able to exhibit their pieces in the KK Outlet Gallery in London, Hoxton Square.


My group concentrated on the branding and its reality. Our piece challenges the glamorisation of the tag-line against the perceived reality behind consumer purchasing as the brands are constantly conjuring new ways to capture consumers with the fantasy of an idealistic lifestyle. We questioned Harrods costumers as well as other places what made them shop in the exact shop and why, their answers were nowhere near to the tagline reasons such as 'I want The Best of Nothing' or 'Because I'm Wort it' Instead we got reasons like: 'My Wife Gave Me a List', 'I Just Get it From Anywhere' or 'Because I'm from Holland'. We tried to show this by putting tshirts with both; brand tag-lines and real reasons and placed them on a rail, then most of the brand tag-line ones on the floor to show they're not really as important and effective as it seems.

Website Logo

Just finished off my new logo for my website.. which hopefully you guys will be able to see soon. Although I still have some bits and pieces to finish before I actually put it online, must say I am a little excited and hopefully everyone will like it :) 


Anyway thats the logo (which now you can see at the top of this page anyway)

The letter 'W' is literally my least favourite letter in the alphabet as it aways just annoys me in typography, and yes.. thats the letter my surname begins with.

Shrove Thursday / Doughnut Day

Today is Shrove Thursday in Poland, which is the same thing as Shrove Tuesday in the UK, however the only difference is; we eat doughnuts instead of pancakes! Now how good is that?! I actually went and got some doughnuts after I realised its thursday today..

You're probably wondering what are the bits on top.. its dried orange, my favourite.