Another Surrealist Photographer

Hello beautiful people! I found this photographer and I thought I would share since his photographs have captured my attention. The photographers name is Alex Stoddard who creates very beautiful surrealist photographs. His photographs have the ability to take your breath away. The are mysterious and they can be in my opinion be compared to a surrealist painting. They can be abstract without this affecting the subject and the image that we see.

☞link to Alex Stoddard website

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A dedication.

-Enfants gitans. Lucien Clergue.

Normally I would do a follow up post on long exposure photography featuring some photographers, but a great photographer died on the 15th and I thought that I would do a post to his honour and do the follow up post later on. 
The photographer that I'm talking about is Lucien Clergue. A french photographer who published more than 75 books and many films. He was born in Arle, France and took on photography in 1949.
The photographer was friends with Pablo Picasso and this also reflected on his work. "His first photos won the enthusiasm of Picasso, with whom he founded an unwavering friendship" said French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin.
"France, the home of photography, has lost one of its greatest ambassadors who carried this art to the four corners of the world"said former French culture minister Jack Lang.

-Fille à la ficelle. Lucien Clergue.

 -Fille à la guitare. Lucien Clergue.

-Fallen bird nest, 1955. Lucien Clergue.

-Little gypsy. Lucien Clergue. 

-Picasso à la cigarette I. Le Californie, Cannes 1956. Photo épuisée. Lucien Clergue.

 -Picasso at the beach. Cannes 1965. Lucien Clergue.

-Picasso and the toad. Notre Dame de Vie in Mougins, 1968.  Lucien Clergue.

 -Picasso and "The Monster of Matisse", California, Cannes 1956. Lucien Clergue.

-Nomadic Dolls, 1957. Lucien Clergue.

☞link to his work

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The theory of long exposure photography

- photograph by Darren Moore

Long exposure is something that is very interesting to me. It's a process where the shutter of the camera stays open for a longer time and more light comes in. This also gives the result of blurring everything that moves. So this way the water is blurred and the clouds and people come out either blurry or disappear. What is also very exiting with this process is that it doesn't only work at night, but also works during the day. This requires one additional equipment for the camera while taking the photo which is an ND filter (or a Neutral Density filter) which is a filter that comes in different shades of darkness and screws on the lens to darken it so that the photographer has the opportunity of capturing a photograph with longer exposure.
The equipment that you would need for taking these kind of photographs would be: 

1. a tripod

2. a shutter release cable/remote control

3. a cover for the viewfinder (this can be found on the camera strap. It's a small black square plastic that you place over the viewfinder after removing the rubber eye guard)

4. a Neutral Density filter or ND filter ( for a long exposure during the day) 

The tripod that would be used for a long exposure photograph either during the day or at night, ideally has to be a heavy tripod so that it won't move from the wind. 

The shutter release cable or the remote control will help with taking the photograph without touching the camera so that again it want move especially if you are using the Bulb setting.

The cover for the viewfinder is essential so that the photograph you take doesn't get affected by the light coming through the viewfinder and only capture the light that is coming in from the lens. If you don't have one you can cover the camera with a cloth.

And lastly the Neutral Density filter or ND filter that's used for taking a day long exposure photograph will help with making the lens dark so that you are able to take a long exposure photograph during the day. ND filters are not the cheapest equipment that you can purchase for your camera but there is also a cheapest alternative that you can get and it is a glass called welding glass. It's a very cheap alternative as you can purchase this glass for around 1.50 euros or 1 english pound and it's a piece of black glass that also comes in different shades and it's normally used for a welding helmet for the protection of the eyes. The darkest shade is also used for looking at the eclipse, as it protects your eyes and makes this astronomical event visible. There some obstacles for using a welding glass instead of the ND filter. Firstly, attaching the glass to the camera, which can be done by the easiest way which is using two rubber bands to attach the glass to the lens cap or to the camera itself. Or by these two different ways: ☞1 or ☞2. Another obstacle is that the welding glass will attract more fingerprints and more dust than a normal lens filter but a simple microfibre cloth or/and wiping the glass with some rubbing alcohol will do the job. Lastly, the final problem from using a welding glass will be that the photo that you take will come out green. This is also a problem that can also be easily solved by using any editing programs similar to Photoshop.

I find long exposure photography to be very interesting. 

I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did and try this out!

I will be making a follow up post with research on long exposure photography :)

☞B+W ND filter

☞Hoya ND filter

(also can be found on other websites in different shades and sizes)

☞Welding Glass

☞a very helpful website I found that gets into more detail > the main website

☞Darren Moore Website

ps: if anyone tries this I would be very happy to see a photo! :)

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Thoughts: A Project by Noukka Signe

Noukka Signe is a very interesting photographer that has her own point of view on how to capture images. She creates amazing photography portraits and her project "thoughts" is one of my favourites. She manages to create a blurred reality and project a different more romantic world through her photos.  

links to her work:

☞website

☞tumblr

☞facebook

☞flickr

☞instagram

☞deviantart

☞pinterest

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Surreal Photography by Zev Hoover!

These surreal photographs are taken from a 14 year old boy named Zev Hoover. His photographs are magical and are masterfully created! 

links

☞1

☞2

I hope you have enjoyed this and you have a great day! :)

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