Macro

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

• Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 44 (10/21 – 10/27), Theme 44 : Subjects of Phobias, Technique 22: People in B&W and Monthly Project 10: Fall on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
• If you like light painting, you should check out this video about “Pixelstick“. If you want to help it they have a kickstarter campaign.
• Speaking of light painting you should check at this.
• I apparently missed on some Lord of the Ring maintenance in the NYC subway
• WTF Animals?!
• Another beautiful time lapse under the stars.
• Courtesy of Celine and Gizmodo these creepy micro photos
• Beautiful wildlife photographies.
• Had a stressful week? Can stress kill you?
• The Simpsons in the Shire!
• Happy Halloween!

By Sebastien Grobelny

Photoblog Challenges : Results #10

This week on Photoblogchallenges, the winners are Ruimnm for Best of 42 (07 Oct – 13 Oct) and Xerraire for Theme 42 : Skylines. Congratulations!

Celine and I are permanent guest judges and since the middle of the year we switched the roles a little. She has to pick one favorite from the winning pictures and I have to pick several “non-winners”.

Each week I will try to shed some light on some of my choices.

• For Best of 42 (07 Oct – 13 Oct) : I real liked Remus‘ submission here as I found it very original and telling. I’m glad it’s among the winners. I picked Klaus Neuner for the beautiful fresh look and Rue Du Lavoir.
  

• For Theme 42 – Skylines : I picked Monica for once again great colors as she is used to to, Rue du Lavoir for a very strong picture that illustrates loneliness and Shaker for the strong lines and colors.

My pick of the week is Rue Du Lavoir for is beautiful dragonfly for Best of 42. Love the details and the vibrance of the colors.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Reeds in Monument Valley

We went back with Celine to Monument Valley in 2013. The scenery is still very magical but the vegetation and light was a great rediscovery there.

Macro

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

• Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 43 (10/14 – 10/20), Theme 43 : Begins with “H”, Technique 22: People in B&W and Monthly Project 10: Fall on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
• You can help name these cute lion cubs from the Oregon zoo.
• Some footage from Monsters U that didn’t make the cut. If you’re a Pixar fan you should check it out.
• You should check out “Life According to Sam” on HBO. Here’s the trailer
• It has been everywhere this week so here it is…Dog fluids in slow-mo

By Sebastien Grobelny

Photoblog Challenges : Results #9

This week on Photoblogchallenges, the winners are Spectrum for Best of 41 (30 Sep – 06 Oct), Boxman for Theme 41 : Straight lines, Deja for Technique 20 : Macro of metal and Larans is the big winner for the Monthly Project 09 : Photo Hunt . Congratulations to them!

Celine and I are permanent guest judges and since the middle of the year we switched the roles a little. She has to pick one favorite from the winning pictures and I have to pick several “non-winners”.

Each week I will try to shed some light on some of my choices.

• For Best of 41 (30 Sep – 06 Oct) : I picked Orchard for a very joyful portrait and Xerraire for a beautiful silhouette with great colors.
  

• For Theme 41 – Straight lines : I picked Deja, Remus for the vibrant red and beautiful light and Shaker for the dynamic composition and a great title.

• For Technique 20 – Macro of metal: I picked Ellebelle for the repetition and the great metallic feel, Love2b because I’m a sucker for rust and textures and Wanderungen for a picture full of symbolism.

• For Monthly Project 09 – Photo Hunt: This project was slightly different from others and I was able to pick freely one picture as my favorite in each of the 5 categories. I picked Twiggy for the apple category for a tasty shot full of textures, Larans for bridge for a stunning light and great composition, Love2b for red for a great light and a vibrant red, Shaker for street for a nifty effect and Day One for “any” for a picture with a lot of story behind.

My pick of the week is Deja for Theme 41 – Straight lines. I love the pattern and the abstract feeling of that shot.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Long Exposure #7 : My first critic

On Tuesday Celine took me to our first ever photo critic. There was a bit of frenzy on Monday night to pick up what we would present. I wasn’t initially supposed to go but with a little bit of pushing here and there, I was convinced into going. It was at the B&H Event Space.

I ended presenting from my Studio Projects gallery. The idea was that I thought that a lot of people would present travel and portraits and I also wanted to be able to progress on this with targeted assignments. Thought it would be more difficult to re-shoot a landscape in Monument Valley on a whim ;).

Here are the 5 shots I picked in the same order I presented them.

1$ bill detail shot with the 100mm f/2.8 @1/10s

Processing experiment with paint. Shot with 100mm at f/11 and 1/15s

Detail of my old AlienWare laptop shot with 60mm f/2.8 @6/10s

Detail of a Mc Donalds Angus Deluxe shot with 60mm f/2.8 @1/125s

Troopers and Vador with 100mm f/4 1/125s

I thought this would be one on ones, us versus the panel of critics. Instead the pictures of everyone where put up on screens and discussed by the critics and often times other participants. Celine went first, and I thought it went pretty well. I went close to the end and left with a ton of questions. I’m very grateful for the critics and the opportunity. I was able to see what I’m up against and how to better myself. I think I’m currently following a similar process than grief and am currently between denial and bargaining. I will eventually be there, but I will need some time.

Don’t hesitate to leave your critics in the comment section or if you want to get some constructive criticism put some links of your own there.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Macro

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

• Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 42 (10/07 – 10/13), Theme 42 : Skylines, Technique 21: Free Lensing and Monthly Project 10: Fall on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
• Happy Birthday Celine!
• Platypus can be cute too!
• Great article by Scott Kelby on his selection process during his latest NFL game
• For the Portal fanatics here is a fan film about GladOS
• Discover Barcelona through this timelapse
• Walking Dead was back on AMC and Honest trailers summed up our feelings once more

By Sebastien Grobelny

Happy Birthday Celine!

Happy birthday love!
You’re my muse, my model, my inspiration.
Hope you will have a wonderful day!
Love you.

Shot by Sebastien Grobelny – Edit by Sebastien and Celine

If you want to wish Celine an happy birthday, you can go to her website, leave her a comment on her aminus page, participate in Photoblogchallenges.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Sébastien/Céline 1

Sébastien and I met almost 9 years ago, and our passion for photography was one of the things that brought us closer. We have been taking photos together all this time, walking around New York, at various museums and gardens, doing various studio projects, during road trips in all 48 continental states of the USA…

What always made us laugh, was that we never took the same photos. We share our equipment and editing softwares, but even when we capture the exact same thing at the exact same time, we still get different results. I won’t lie: sometimes, I prefer my photos, sometimes, I am very jealous of Sébatien’s!

This post is the first one of a series called “differences”. The idea is to show these photos of an identical subject with a few words about the context and the technical informations for each of them. I hope you will enjoy these guest posts of mine!

Sébastien’s photo

LENS: Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM – EXIF: 1/1600sec f/1.2 ISO 100

Céline’s photo

LENS: EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM – EXIF: 1/800sec f/1.2 ISO 100

These photos were taken in Santa Fe in May 2013, during a road trip, in a market where a lot of folk art was in display. We had our brand new Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens with us and were still very impressed with the 1.2 focal. I think that if we had to do it all over again, we would do it at f/4.5 or f/5 (we only recently learned that sharpness was better a couple of f-stops under the widest possible for the lens).

What I like in each of them: Sébastien’s photo has the most wonderful colors! I have no idea how he achieved such a wonderful result, but I am very impressed! I also like that we don’t see the cheapness of the table (that we see on mine). But I think I prefer my composition and point of focus (although it’s impossible to lower the visibility of the table this way).

Photoblog Challenges : Results #8

This week on Photoblogchallenges, the winners are  Tede for Best of 40 (23 Sep – 29 Sep) and Christine for Theme 40 : Aquatic Life. Congratulations to them!

Celine and I are permanent guest judges and since the middle of the year we switched the roles a little. She has to pick one favorite from the winning pictures and I have to pick several “non-winners”.

Each week I will try to shed some light on some of my choices.

• For Best of 40 (23 Sep – 29 Sep) : I don’t think we ever had this before but Tede was the unanimous pick of the guest judges. I picked Ellebelle for a splendid end of day light, Gumnut because I love a good action figure (i.e. toy) shot, Rue du Lavoir for a beautiful street art and Spectrum for a great B&W and very well controlled macro.
  

• For Theme 40 – Aquatic Life : I picked Ellebelle for a very sharp picture of a seal, Klaus Neuner for showing us what sardines feel all day, Mittened Hands for another great composition and story and Pheno Menon for a creepy dangerous crocodile portrait.

My pick of the week is Love2B from Love2bHomeschoolers for Theme 40 – Aquatic Life. This is a great jelly fish shot very nicely done. I love especially the colors and crispness. Very nice picture!

By Sebastien Grobelny