Fancy Car Friday- Los Angeles Arts District

Check this sucker out! I was exploring Los Angeles with a friend and happened upon this cherry red Lincoln in the parking lot. It was beautifully waxed and washed-- there were still droplets on the handle, check them out on the image below!

We were en-route to the trendy LA eatery, Wurstkuche. They have a wide variety of sausages on delicious buns, great topping and the most AMAZING fries with tons of dipping sauce options. I want to go back right now! Check them out: www.wurstkuche.com 

Also in the area is an adorable, funky art store, Poketo. I had to pull myself out of the store!

We came back for dinner at a trendy small plates place, Americano. Their motto: eat, drink, Americano. Again, so great!

Basically, this area is so trendy. and artsy. I want to live here.

Until next time,

Kylie

Dorm Room Lighting Techniques

Hello friends!

As a part of my photo-extravaganza last weekend, I experimented with some desktop studio lighting. Inspired by Edward Weston's beautiful black and white produce photography (such as the pepper pictured below), I decided to photograph a strawberry.

(source: sfmoma.org)

 I found a berry with a nice dent in it-- I wanted one with a dent or some sort of imperfection in it that would be accentuated with the hard lighting and shadows it produced. Hearkening back to my days in AP Photo class, I set up shots of hard and soft lighting.  Note how the hard light hits the strawberry below:

Like I said before, I did this all atop my desk. I placed a plate with a strawberry on it in front of my window, set up a white backdrop, and then used my desk lamp to project dramatic light down onto the berry. The light was positioned out of the top left of the frame.

Here is the same strawberry, this time lit with soft light: the light from the window alone.

Looks a lot more appetizing, huh? My photography class loved the emotion in the first one, saying it looked evil or menacing, while the second strawberry looked ripe and ready to eat.

What a difference lighting can make!

Photographically yours,

Kylie