Younes Bounhar Photography

The matrix reloaded

That’s really the first thing I though about when I first came upon this scene: if like me you are a fan of the first Matrix movie (I honestly think the next two were…well…not to my liking) you probably remember a scene a the start of the movie where you see numbers and computer-generated characters scrolling through your screen, well that’s what I saw…now that I’ve confused you…on to the actual subject I want to discuss today. Oh and before you tune off, check out the end of the post as I want to start a mini contest stemming from this post!

One of my favorite tools when composing a picture is the use of contrast. Contrast?! says you, how the heck does one use contrast to compose an image. Just like when you look for elements to lead the viewer into the image, you can use contrast to set the stage for your story. Contrast creates tension, interest and keeps your viewer glued to the image shifting back and forth between the contrasting elements.

I chose this particular image because it illustrates the use of contrast at more than one level. The first obvious application of contrast as a compositional tool is tonal contrast. As you can see here, there is a clear demarcation between the clear tones of the plants and the darker tones of the rock on which they lie. Essentially you are looking for a subject that is much darker or much lighter than the background behind it, so that it jumps out at you. Here is there no doubt that the leaves are my subject, not the rocks behind it (well at least, I hope so!).

The second type of contrast here is the contrast in shape. Beyond the matrix reference, when I saw this scene, I was immediately drawn to the different shapes of the plants featured here: the straight and linear grasses on the right against the curvy ferns on the right.  Straight vs bent; thin vs thick; round vs square, these are merely examples to set you thinking.

The last element featured here is the contrast in texture: soft grasses and leaves against a hard and moss-covered rock. Here you can think of just about any combination: hard vs soft, moving vs static, liquid vs solid and the list goes on.

There is one more type of contrast that you can use: color contrast. Here the scene is pretty monochromatic, so really not much colour to speak of, but when you look in nature, or life in general for that matter, there is no shortage of colours and contrasts thereof. Here again, the idea is that your subject clashes against its background. Think blue agains yellow, red against green. As a rule of thumb, complementary colours tend to provide the most striking colours but really don’t get bent on it too much and go with your guts here. Remember that these are not rules, just tips and guidelines. Ultimately, you should always trust your instincts (then again, mine tend to lead me into some dire straits at times) and mostly do what YOU enjoy.

Now it’s your turn: show me your best contrast pictures and I will post them here on the blog…and may be, just may be I might have some goodies for a winner to be decided, let’s say by the third week of October.

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 in Photography Tips The Why and the How | 4 Comments »

Delicate

In lieu of the “why and the how” feature, I will rather go simpler this time as the subject matter of this photograph calls for just that.

It is very tempting as a photographer to always go for the big, bold, dramatic and all inclusive scenery. However, when one stops to look around, beauty can truly be found just about anywhere. So on my way to Eunice Lake in Washington state last week, I stumbled upon this plant (frankly don’t ask me what it’s called) that immediately jumped at me. I immediately saw some patterns and cools light/shadow plays that really looked appealing. As I worked the subject further, I just kept simplifying and simplifying some more until I ended up focus on just a single tip of a leaf.

At this point, I could have used a wide open lens at f/2.8 to single out that tip, however, I knew that doing that would basically render a featureless image. I also knew that it wouldn’t take advantage of the neat accordion-like leaves of the plant. From then on, it was simply a matter of stopping down the lens a bit more (f/9). In this way, I managed to bring the shadows back only enough to show, but without being completely in focus, thus adding some much needed texture to the image.

So, how did I do? I would love to hear your thoughts (even if you think I failed miserably ).

Posted on July 21st, 2009 in The Why and the How | 4 Comments »

The Why and the How: July 9 2009

In this section, I usually present a photograph and show you the intent and thought process behind it, which illustrates the point that nature photography is not about getting on location for a point and shoot session. That said, serendipity can definitely play a big part in the entire process, and your challenge as a photographer is to recognise an opportunity when it hits you on the head!

The Why

In this case, it’s not so much a why as it is a “ooooh, I really like that” . Initially, I had set out to photograph this flower in my garden, but adding a personal flavour to the shot. The idea was to recreate sunset light using a CTO-gelled flash and simulating rain using my garden hose. Well, all I have to say is that since I have yet to grow a third or fourth arm, it was not a very successful endeavour. That said, as I tried to slow down the shutter speed to capture the “rain”, I realised that the water flow was hard enough to make the flower move significantly (I was using a macro lens, so small movements seemed to amplify). So, why not try and capture some of that motion in my shot.

The How

I quickly realised that the flash would be of no use in this scenario, so I eagerly dropped it (literally, my clumsiness has been making frequent appearances of late). The rest after that was child’s play combined with a bit of trial and error. I set the focus manually on the flower, stopped the aperture down to maximise depth of field (I wanted motion blur, not bokeh) and increase shutter speed. After that, I simply pointed my hose towards the flower and shot a few frames until I got the sort of motion I was after. The background is made of my green BBQ cover (well I had nothing else), and was far enough that it was out of focus. A final crop was done to eliminate the extra green space…and also simply cuz I like square photos…

Posted on July 8th, 2009 in The Why and the How | 2 Comments »

The why and the how

A hectic schedule and a series of commitments have seriously reduced my “blog time” of late, hence the non-post yesterday…Thanks for your patience and understanding

Today is “The Why and the How day”. In the second instalment of this feature, I would like to discuss a photograph I made on a trip to Cuba earlier this year.  You can’t help but fall in love with that place: the people are awesome, kind and genuine, the weather as magnificent as it gets, and the ocean, well, the ocean is of the “wow” category.

The Why

I had fairly limited opportunities to move around while there and I really wanted to get an image that not only reflects the beauty and serenity of the place, but also something that included a human element (which I often avoid doing for some reason). As the hut was being built, only the vertical stakes were put in place and left there for a couple of days, and it was really to my dismay that I found that the hut was completed (I thought that the stakes were very photogenic in and of themselves, but whatcha gonna do?). So to  find a composition that included the one hut without the bridge on my right and the hut on my left was a bit difficult – you kinda lose the serenity, peace feeling if you have all those elements in your composition.

The How

As I mentioned above, I wanted a composition that only included one hut, yet needed a very wide angle to take advantage of the beautiful sunset colours and fit in the entire hut. I found that a focal length of 10mm was necessary (on a DX body, that’s  15mm on 35mm equivalent).  This meant I had to play around for a while to find the right spot. No recipes here: take your camera off the tripod and move around til you find it. What is not visible here, is that I have water above my knees, in incoming tide, so the idea here, is you do what you have to do to get the shot, and that means getting your feet wet and your equipment exposed sometimes. This was shot about 20min after sunset so an exposure of 25s at f/16, iso 100 was required. Because I am shooting towards the east and because the water partially reflects the light from the sky, there was no need for graduated ND filters or exposure blending. There is only one element left however: a straight exposure, would have completely underexposed the hut, leaving it as a dark, featureless form. So to make it pop, I used a SB-800 flash and manually light the hut with a few burst (you can’t see me on the frame because of the long exposure, but I actually walked into the frame to light the hut properly – this takes a few tries not to get flash bursts in the frame). To better simulate the glow of evening light, I gelled the flash with a full CTO filter, hence the orange glow on the hut.

Posted on June 18th, 2009 in The Why and the How | 4 Comments »

The Why and the How

In my everlasting quest to provide interesting content for you guys, I am always willing to try new things to see if you would enjoy them. For today’s post, I decided to try a new concept on Out of Focus called “the Why and the How”. What I would like to do here is go through the creative as well as technical process that goes behind my imagery. Let me know if you find it useful.

So, to start this feature, I chose to present on of my favorite shots in my portfolio. It is not my most popular, but to me it resonates more than most. It’s one of those shots, that you “just know” when you nailed it. The minute I got back from my shoot, I told my buddy that I would be happy if I never made another shot after I got that one (obviously, I was lying, cuz really the best shot is always the next one ). Anyhow, I digress…actually I am not done digressing cuz there is a funny story behind the title of this image that I have entitled “The Tower of Babel”. It was taken on the shores of the world famous Moraine Lake and shows a part of Mt Babel. Being the clever man that I am, I thought that I had the cleverest of titles with the Tower of Bible, only to realise that the tower in this scene is actually called…yes you’ve guessed it: the tower of Babel…so much for the clever title.

The Why

Anyway, enough digression…What was going through my mind when making this? Probably nothing, or at least nothing I can talk about here. Seriously though, I am standing in front of one of the most photographed landmark in the Canadian Rockies. Almost every single shot from this place is taken from the top of the boulders with a tree or two cutting the scene in front of you, you can see the 10 peaks, some alpenglow and a beautiful reflection on the placid lake. Great, been there done that. What I wanted was something that screamed original, yet gave a sense of the place. So, the image would have to show a mountain or two, the incredible blue of the lake and the lichen covered stones on which I was standing.

But to make it really unique though, Momma Nature had to lend me a hand. After all, it had been the 4th straight day I tried to shoot a sunrise here only to be welcome with the dullest grey sky! This particular day looked no different as low lying clouds completely covered the valley. As I was packing up to leave, the clouds started moving out real fast letting some incredible light through. There was my chance. I loved the look of the tower of Babel, and the clouds being pushed up from behind it were the perfect setting. The lichen covered stones provided the perfect anchor, somewhat mirroring the contour of the tower. My composition was set.

The How

From a technical standpoint this one was a breeze. Because of the size of the elements I wanted in the frame, a wide angle lens was a no-brainer. So I set my Sigma 10-20 at 14mm on a Nikon D70s. Since I wanted to show some of the rocks below the water surface, I used a polarizing filter at a minimal setting. Finally, in terms of exposure, the tower was hiding the sun, so that the differential would not be too hard to handle. That said, there was still a fair difference between sky and foreground. I used a 3 stop soft ND filter to bring down the exposure of the sky. An aperture of f/8,0 and shutter speed of 1/10 were then selected. To be frank with you, the f/8 looks a bit odd to me. I would normally have shot this at f/11 or f/13 as the lens is sharpest between f/8 and f/13, but the smaller aperture provides larger depth of field. Here the foreground rocks are far enough that f/8 has no negative consequences on sharpness, but to the contrary, the lens is at its sharpest here, so it all worked out in the end. This is one of those scenarios where the light was changing very very fast, and you just have to react and go with the flow.

Posted on June 3rd, 2009 in The Why and the How | 3 Comments »

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