Author: Nina_Kirienko

Owner of Old Girl Photography. Graduate in Digital Photography at Durham College. I am especially drawn to fine art, architectural, landscape and community event photography.  The world is full of fascinating natural and man-made landmarks, many of which tell compelling stories of survival or imagination or both.  My aim is to find and photograph as many of them as I can. When I do photograph people, I most enjoy portraying them in a place or situation that inspires them. I have an infinite curiosity about the world. I'm not happy unless I'm learning.

Composition and Composure

Artistic Ideas, Learning, Life, Photography

Does your photography move you emotionally?  Do other people comment on how it moves them?  Is there a “wow” factor?

NotebookExperienced photographers who share their knowledge with new photographers spend a lot of time talking about composition and the “rules”.  Leading lines, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. help to teach the eye what to look for when evaluating a scene.  But they don’t spend a lot of time talking about why these rules matter at all.

I can only find one answer:  it’s an effort to disrupt the composure of anyone who views the image.  To get a reaction.  Most often positively, sometimes with delight, and sometimes deliberately negatively.  The “rules” provide a roadmap for the senses, and by extension, for the emotions.  To be truly successful as a photographer, you have to tap into that emotion – yours and your viewers.

Continue reading “Composition and Composure” →

Photographing the Work of Others

Architecture, Artistic Ideas, Fine Art, Photography

It seems there is a long-standing debate around photographing other people’s work.  It’s a simple debate:  what exactly is the photographer creating if the photograph includes an object or structure that has been created by someone else?

This debate arises mostly in relation to works that exist in public spaces.  The originating works may already be labelled “works of art” or may be labelled “architecture”, “edifice”, “structures”, “building”, “hardscape”, “figure”, “carving”, “casting” or any of many names that don’t necessarily assign an aesthetic value.

And yet all of it was imagined by someone, designed by someone, built by someone and placed on display.  Even if the work has another function, such as a building, there was a creative effort expended to provide that space.  If a photographer takes an image of it, presents it as their own creation and maybe makes a profit from it, is that right?  Disclaimer:  this is not a legal review. Continue reading “Photographing the Work of Others” →

Reading the Histogram

Gear, Photography, Tools

Another short presentation to my local camera club.  This item was on activating, reading and responding to the histogram.

Histogram Continue reading “Reading the Histogram” →

A Focus on Autofocus

Gear, Photography, Tools

One of the greatest advancements in photography has been the invention of autofocus.  Simply by pointing your camera at a subject and pressing the shutter halfway, the camera will not only meter the ambient light, but bring the main subject into sharp focus.

Canon-5D-Mark-III-Autofocus-SystemAs with most things photographic, there is theory and there is practice and sometimes the two don’t mesh exactly.  Here’s what I’ve learned about autofocus. Continue reading “A Focus on Autofocus” →

Some Inspiration…

Artistic Ideas, Learning, Life, Photography

One of the joys of photography is simply the chance to talk to other photographers.  So many topics to indulge, so many experiences to compare.  And of course, best of all, the chance to admire good work.

I had the pleasure yesterday of attending a talk at our local camera club by Kas Stone, a Canadian photographer based in Nova Scotia.  In addition to her work as a landscape and nature photographer, she regularly teaches, holds workshops and speaks to groups like ours about the art of photography.  Continue reading “Some Inspiration…” →

File Storage Options – What You Need to Know

Gear, Photography, Tools

Happy-New-Year-Images-2018-HD-1-1The start of a new year.  Time to consider shaping up – not only personally but maybe for your photography workflow.  How can you do things better?  At the very least, you’ve probably accumulated a huge amout of content this year.  Are you running out of storage space?  And are you safeguarding your work appropriately?

Managing and safeguarding your photographs is a personal decision with lots of options. Built-in computer hard drives are bigger and faster every year.  But there’s also detachable hard drives and network hard drives and online storage.  How do you choose the right combination?

I’ve used mixtures of all of the above over the years, and currently assign files to different storage options based on importance and where they are in my workflow.  I also need a clean, easy way to organize my content – client files here, personal files there.

With image volumes increasing, I recently looked into just how well these options are working for me, and here’s what I discovered.  One disclaimer:  these options may not be right for you.  It’s about what you feel comfortable with and what you are willing to spend. Continue reading “File Storage Options – What You Need to Know” →

Being in Control

Artistic Ideas, Photography, Tools

It’s one of the ironies of photography that we spend ever increasing amounts of money to purchase better and better cameras and lenses, acquiring more and more automatic features to aid us in getting the best images possible.

Canon 5DIII Top SideAnd then what do we do?  We turn everything off and shoot completely manually, because “that’s what pros do”.  Think about that for a minute.  Does that make sense to you?  Give your head a shake.

I recently had a moment shooting an event where I had to do just that.  Then I did a little experiment to find out just what I was missing by doing all the work myself.  Read on for the results.

Continue reading “Being in Control” →

Getting Good Bokeh

Artistic Ideas, Photography, Portraits, Tools

Another short presentation to my local photography club.  Last time I spoke, it was about preventing blurry photographs.  This time, it’s about deliberately blurring the background to make the subject stand out.   Continue reading “Getting Good Bokeh” →

Seriously Adobe?

Photography, Tools

A few days ago, Adobe launched its latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop.  Strangely, this was done with little fanfare, and came as a complete surprise to me when I first saw the updates.

The Future of PhotographyIt’s been a long standing complaint that Adobe Lightroom is frustratingly slow to load and display images, particularly previews on import or previews when switching from Library to Develop.  Adobe promised to deal with this issue, going so far as to release a statement from photography product manager, Tom Hogarty in July.  The statement acknowledged user concerns and committed Adobe to working harder to address them.

I guess this week they delivered, but not in any way that anyone expected.  Far from being pleased, many users are puzzled and even angry at what the latest releases imply. Continue reading “Seriously Adobe?” →