Friday 13 November 2009

15 minute photo challenge - Taormina, Sicily

It's been a while since I've added a new 15 minute photo challenge video to the blog, so I'm really pleased to correct that today.

If you've not seen one of these challenges before, here's how it works.

The theory goes something like this. I believe the quality of photographs you take isn't directly related to what camera or lens you own. Sure those are important, but a good photographer can take good photos with any camera you give them, just look at the iPhone gallery by Chase Jarvis to see what I mean.

So in that vain, earlier this year I set myself a personal photography challenge. Go somewhere I've never previously visited, take a "budget" DSLR camera fitted with a cheap 50mm fixed focal length lens and spend just 15 minutes photographing what I see. The results are run through Photoshop where once again I spend as short a time as possible which usually means less then 45 minutes.

In this 15 minute photo challenge I visited at beautiful town of Taormina in Sicily where I walked from one end of the main tourist shopping street to the other stopping only to take photographs.

I hope you enjoybthe results half as much as I enjoyed taking them

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10 comments:

Israel Zenteno said...

great post Gavin, you have a good eye for photos!! and I just love the way you postprosess your photos!

thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Z.

Patrick said...

Oh, i was waiting so a long time of a new 15 minutes challenge video! :) thanks!

one question, did u photographed always in die manual modus? because u didnt change often the settings. :)

Feekner said...

Great video! It's always a good reminder that there is always interesting stuff around if you just look. I like the use of the 50mm prime as it forces you to be very intentional with your shots! thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Great pictures, great to see you turning away from the regular touristy shots.

discus said...

thanks Gavin

Anonymous said...

I learn alot from your site. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. Catara

Unknown said...

Hi Gavin, nice post. I would really be interested to see another post where you show how you achieved the nice saturated and contrasty moods in your photos (for example in the photo gallery in the steps) from what seemed to be a rather dull light (from the video anyway). thanks and keep up the good work, i'm always looking forward to the next post. Regards
michel

Anonymous said...

As Michel said, I too would like to know how you achieved the cyan and salmon tones in your images (the one of the pictures on the steps caught my eye particularly also).

Excellent video's, always enjoyed, thank you Gavin.

Ann Parry NY said...

great fusion of video of you taking the photos with the actual photo taken, and lovely contrasty, saturated processing

Anonymous said...

Adobe Lightroom™ is great for those kinds of effects. It's expensive but well worth it if you want to achieve the same results. Nothing helps though if you take a bad picture. Gavin you have a great eye, thanks for helping other aspiring photographers to learn your tricks.

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