Silhouettes

[mistress_elaine]

If there's one thing I've learned over the last year, photography-wise, it is that I love shooting against the sun. There's something about silhouettes which makes me go, "Ooooooh..." whenever I see one. So I relished the opportunity to take an early-evening walk in Stirling's old town, where a nice old cemetery and the castle where Mary Queen of

Comments

[deepsan]

absolutely love the third photo.

[mistress_elaine]

Despite the fact that my camera couldn't deal with shooting directly into the sun, burning out a few branches in the process? Wow, that's nice...

Thanks. :-)

[bshakesit]

very nice! i love the super contrast between blacks and lights. that first pic is chock full of character.

[mistress_elaine]

Thanks! I like the first one myself. The rest aren't terribly special, but I got lucky on the first shot.

[mortsleam]

I'm related to Mary somehow. These are amazing.

[mistress_elaine]

Thanks and hi! Nice to see you still frequent these parts. Do explain the "related" bit...

[mortsleam]

I dunno, apparently I'm a descendant through my scots/english great-grandfather. My grandmother's brother did an extensive family tree on that side.

Meanwhile, my paternal great-grandfather was a notorious horse theif and stage robber that ran with the James gang. There's a wanted poster floating around somewhere.

[mistress_elaine]

You have quite the family heritage. My father has done a fair bit of genealogy, but as far as I know, he never dug up anything as spectacular as that. Wow! Have you ever seen the "Wanted!" poster?

[siro_gravity]

hi elaine.
you know, i remember being told not to shoot into the sun when i was in school. only he said it this way: "you always want the sun at your back." i now have about as much respect for that rule as i do for the "rule of thirds." jeez! i hate such rules!!!!

i tell my students to try EVERYTHING. and shooting into the sun is one of them.

i love the first shot. i like how the rays stream through and make the sun look like what it is: a beautiful-sassy star. and i love the diminutive character of the figure.

i also like the third one, but i actually think i'd like it better if the sun did not blow out the branches. there is something really beautiful about the relationship of the lines of the tree to the lines of the bench.

[mistress_elaine]

Hi Smith! I agree, rules are meant to be broken, although I have to admit to having a healthy respect for the rule of thirds. I actually rather like that one, although it obviously doesn't work in all situations. It's true, though -- people who never shoot into the sun rob themselves of excellent photo opportunities, especially when the sun is low and all these wonderful silhouettes come out. There'll be a few more silhouette photos in this journal over the next few months

[siro_gravity]

Should I have cloned out the tree to the left of the bench? I didn't think so when I edited the photo, but now that I'm looking at it again, I think I should have...
i think your original instinct was right on...it makes the pic more unique. i like it there!!!

i am a film-human and have never experienced the blacking out-thing you're describing here. maybe one day i'll actually take my digital camera with me on a shoot. we'll see. i kinda like being the dinosaur of photographers. it's funny! :D

[mistress_elaine]

OK, I'll leave the tree in. Thanks for confirming my original instinct

[coeursaignant]

Oh God, Stirling. I hate that place.

Bad memories and the place itself.. ugh. (Yeah, the castle is beautiful, but the rest of the city [village?] not so much.. UGH.)

Nice photos, though. :)

[mistress_elaine]

Really? I actually quite liked Stirling. It probably helped that it was nice and sunny when we got there, after a few not overly sunny days farther up north, but whatever it was, I quite liked the place. Although they did serve me a disgraceful mango lassi there which will go down in history as one of the vilest things I've ever tasted.

Sorry to hear you didn't like it.