Samta Photography

Monday, June 9, 2014

Photography Styling Challenge # 12 - Personal

This is #12 of the Photography Styling Challenge started by Redesigned by M. I have had a lot of fun and a lot of learning from doing this challenge. Though I joined these beautiful people only from challenge #8 onwards - I have been looking forward to this every month.
I sure hope "M" starts a similar challenge again soon. I would love to be a part of it - Hope you are listening "M"

The challenge this month was to style something personal to us. Well, my family is the most personal to me - but, sharing those pictures would make me look too pompous. So, my husband suggested the camera idea. Ofcorse - the camera is the most personal to a photographer. I have styled my Canon 70D, the camera I love and adore and use always - along with my two most favorite lenses - the canon 50mm and the canon 18mm-200mm. I used natural light coming in from my studio window and used a white backdrop along with a small red burlap cloth to take the pictures.
I used my old Canon Rebel Xsi with the 18mm-55mm lens to take these pictures.

Here are the pictures

Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures. Do not forget to check what the other participants had to say about the challenge through their pictures.

Redesigned by M
I Live Under A Rock
At the corner of Happy & Harried
My Food Tapestry
Inge Kathleen Photography
A Woven Life
City Girl Searching
Chefette Spicy
A Tree Grows In The Bayou
Hooked on Homes
Miss Wang Photography
Simply Vegetarian 777
Coconut Craze

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Photography Styling Challenge #11 - Living Room

Wow! already at #11 of the Photography Styling Challenge. Another one next month and then its done. I hope and pray that Redesigned by M comes up with something new to get our creative and thinking caps on once these 12 challenges get over.
I joined this group only in March 2014 - from Challenge #9 onwards - and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Well, this month the theme was 'Living Room'.
Before I put my pictures - let me talk a bit about our living room. We moved into this house in June 2013. It became home instantly. The previous owners had converted their 2 car attached garage into a huge family room - and this was what sold the house to us. We entertain a lot and having an open feel was what we were looking for when we were house hunting.
Well, after we moved - we changed the entire concept - the family room became our living room. The old family room became our dining room. The dining room became our family room.............. where all of my kiddos toys are forever scattered and this is the place where we spend most of our time together as a family. And ofcorse the old tiny living room (the original one) became my photo studio with all the bells and whistles. Sorry to have confused you all with the room by room description.

Coming to the Living room - We have painted one wall a burgundy type red color and that color also goes over our brick fireplace. The other walls are given a beige/moss kind of color. We do have a black leather couch which is in an "L" shape. There is a 5 piece light just above the corner of the couch. The fireplace mantle has our pictures put on it. The wall above the fireplace has a metal showpiece which goes well with the color. Ofcorse since its summer and we do not use the fireplace - I have my plants near the fireplace - there is the jasmine creeper, the hibiscus plant and I have 3 ore pots where the plants are yet to bloom - we have the curry leaf plant there, thai basil and the holy basil. We also have 2 flower paintings that my mom made and gifted to us when she visited from India. Its a nice and quite room which is generally used when we have guests over. We do have a huge TV there along with the Wii game console - yes.......... when our friends visit, its always an overnight thing where we end up dancing to the latest 'Just Dance' stuff and ofcorse watching movies comes naturally.
We love that room just the way it is - minimal stuff around - enhancement only with the wall colors and the curtains. Since we have a east facing window here - we get ample sunlight early in the morning and the room just looks great. However, today was a cloudy day and hence the pictures are a bit dull as I have used only the lights from the lamp and the focus light over the fireplace.

I clicked the pictures using my canon 70D with the 18mm to 200mm lens and no flash was used.

Here are the pictures.

Couch and the 5 head lamp with the contrasting curtains (contrast with the wall paint)

The brick fireplace and the mantle. The mantle has all our pictures, the plants in front of the fireplace and the 2 flower paintings my mom made for us.

The metal showpiece above the fireplace. This was gifted to us by a friend as a housewarming gift.

My mom believes in Feng Shui and she gifted this wind chime to us, which sits on the ceiling just above the couch.

The couch and the 5 headed light with the curtains opened. I do always keep a sheer on just for privacy.

Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures. Do not forget to check what the other participants had to say about the challenge through their pictures.

Redesigned by M
I Live Under A Rock
At the corner of Happy & Harried
My Food Tapestry
Inge Kathleen Photography
A Woven Life
City Girl Searching
Chefette Spicy
A Tree Grows In The Bayou
Hooked on Homes
Miss Wang Photography
Simply Vegetarian 777
Coconut Craze

Monday, April 7, 2014

Photography Styling Challenge #10 - Light

This month the challenge was 'Light' - Was easy and difficult to interpret at the same time.
Easy - because 'Light' can be photographed in so many forms - Sun Rays, Sunrise, Sunset, those beautiful lights during the festival season, shadows, rainbows, lightening....... oh this list will be endless.
Difficult - because 'Light', how can it be styled? It has a form and style of its own. So, styling light is what made it difficult for me, a person who is style handicapped.

Jokes apart - my mind started racing. Since I like to shoot in natural light, I wanted to make this one special too. I used the natural light of the tea-lights in my shoot and used the effect that light created from inside the cut-glass container/candle holder as a style. Hope it worked.

I used my canon 70D for shoot along with my 18mm-200mm lens. I used a white as well as a black background for the pictures. Clicked the pictures in a dark room to only use the light from the candles. The styling was simple as I used a 'Buddha' statue and those cut glass tea-light holders as the props.

Here are the pictures.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Photography Styling Challenge #9 - Fashion

A very happy Monday to everyone. A wonderful and happy Monday here simply because we did not get as much snow as was predicted. No snow blower needed and no shoveling either.

Well, this is the very first time I am being a part of a photography styling challenge. I stumbled upon redesignedbyM quite by chance. Saw this challenge and the beautiful work done by all of them and wanted to be a part of this group.

A little about myself here - I am a stay at home Mom to a soon to be 4 year old beautiful baby girl. Taking pictures was always a hobby and after buying my first SLR - a Canon Eos Xsi Rebel back in 2007 - this hobby turned into a passion. After the birth of our baby girl in 2010, it was fun to dress her up and take her pictures. I have more then 15000 odd pictures of her alone. Last year my husband gifted me a Canon 70D for Christmas - and have I fallen in love again - well, yes!
I had an empty room in my house - which we have converted into a studio. There is the umbrella lighting and the muslin backdrop with green, black & white muslin. I am still learning and hope to learn more through this challenge all about styling.
This is the #9 challenge that everyone is doing - but, its the first one for me. I am hoping to do the previous eight challenges too in some time.

About this months challenge - it was about fashion. I am not a fashion photographer - and the only models I work with are my hubby and my baby - both of who can make it very difficult if you try to dress them up and ask them to pose. So, after a lot of thought and a lot of going back and forth - I decided to dress my amazing camera bag from Jo Totes. People from India who have watched the movie 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' will surely get this concept where one of the stars dressed up a Hermès Kelly handbag as the character ‘‘Bagwati’’
Well - this bag is not as expensive as the one in the movie - but, its the very first time I indulged in such a bag treat and hence the theme and concept sounded pretty much apt.

I used my Canon 70D for all the pictures using the white muslin as a background. Shot it in natural light in the studio room in my house. Used the Canon 50 mm lens and also the Canon 18 mm to 200 mm Lens. I just cropped them a bit here and there before posting.

Here are the pictures

28 Feb 2014

This was a beautiful chair that we had in our hotel room today. It was the place that me and lil miss "A" were fighting to sit on. Thought of making it the picture of the day for today.

Exposure time – 1/30 sec, ISO Speed –320, F-Stop - f/4, focal length – 24 mm, No Flash

27 Feb 2014

We got a chance to visit the Shiva & Vishnu Temple in Maryland on the auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri. The temple is beautiful with lots of such statues. This statue of 'Nandi' was something I could capture without shaking the camera on the super cold and super windy evening.

Exposure time – 1/160 sec, ISO Speed –250, F-Stop - f/5.6, focal length – 120 mm, No Flash

26 Feb 2014

Was packing our overnight bag for a one night trip. This toothbrush & toothpaste pack caught my eye and was captured by the camera.

Exposure time – 1/50 sec, ISO Speed –640, F-Stop - f/4, focal length - 35 mm, No Flash