patterns Archives - Page 14 of 15 - Ed O'Keeffe Photography

9 December 200728 May 2017

Iron Gates in Pula, Sardinia

Small towns on Mediterranean islands such as Sardinia are perfect for finding both beautiful photographs and interesting details. The above photograph features the latter. It was found in the central square of the town and the gates were big enough to drive a car through (when opened – obviously). The building these gates belong to is extremely run-down and looks as if it might collapse given half the chance. Despite that, the iron gates were extremely ornate and interesting for me as a photographer. The very dark alley behind the gates made it easier to take the picture and make sure that the iron details were “pin sharp”. It is a slight shame about the modern key hole below the handle but now I’m just being picky!

29 October 200728 May 2017

Sparkler Pattern

It has been easily five years or more since I last held a sparkler in my hand. Last Saturday I had a couple of packs of them with me and so tried experimenting with long exposures and painting with light experiments. The above photograph is a self portrait. It is very blurred, but that is due to waving the sparkler around to make the pattern. The images were captured with the camera on the tripod and with a remote shutter release. In this particular shot I tried really hard to keep still, I think it is almost impossible to take an image like this and make the face sharp. The exposure was five seconds on this picture. If you do have a digital camera and have sparklers this type of picture is very easily achieved, even on basic compact cameras. Simply make sure that the camera is supported, on a tripod or table etc. Make sure that you have the flash turned off (in auto or programme modes the shutter speed will then compensate for this). Another setting is to use the self timer to reduce camera shake. Light a sparkler, press the shutter and start drawing crazy shapes in front of the lens. You can even try writing your name (backwards of course).

8 October 200728 May 2017

Reflections of Detroit Bridge, Salford Quays

Now the blog is driving more traffic and gaining more readers I wanted to do a little experiment. I hope to do more things like this and work out new techniques based on the feedback I receive. Can you work out where this photograph was taken? Or simply what it was taken of? The reflections seemed to make a photograph on its own so here it is. The non reflected subject of the above photo has been published previously on the blog. If you have any ideas then please comment in the comments section below. Tomorrow I will publish a photo of what we are looking at clearly but for now, it is you to you to guess. There are no prizes for commenting, only my thanks but in future I hope to be able to give away prizes to my readers. Looking forward to reading what you think this photo shows?!

31 March 20071 June 2017

Ceiling of the Guggenheim Museum, New York

Both occasions I visited New York with my old College we took a trip to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side of New York City. The first time in 2005 was interesting and the building looks fantastic but the exhibits where slightly disappointing on both occasions . The photograph above was taken from the ground floor, just inside the entrance. The viewing gallery forms a gentle spiral from the ground level up to the top of the building, which can be seen around the edges of this picture. I struggled to like this picture, its very grainy and didn’t look very good in colour or black and white. In the end I used Photoshop to covert the original file to Black and White and then erased the center of the glass ceiling to bring back a touch of blue. Apart from the grain or noise produced by the low light, high ISO, compact camera situation I like this photograph, mainly for it’s interesting composition.