RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2025.05.25 — How does photography shape your perception of the world? What subjects or moments do you find most captivating to capture?</p></blockquote><p>Taking a few semesters of drawing shaped my photography and my perception of the world. When you need to manufacture the illusion of depth in a flat medium by hand on blank paper, you learn to see shadows and highlight, not just the subject. In my sketch and drawing class, working with pencil and charcoal, I learned to focus on the shadows and darkness in rendering volume and a 3D effect. In my color class, I learned I could do a similar thing using color, creating "color contrast" between the tonal qualities of the colors. I worked in pastels, chalks, and with colored pencils.</p><p>It was when I used my first digital camera, that I finally got to tie it all together in my photography, which was poor and snap-shoddy before. See the image of my Nikon Coolpix 950. A beast for the time. See <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AltText" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AltText</span></a> for more details.</p><p>When I could take a picture and immediately see the 2D effects of color, shadow, highlight, aperture, and shutter speed, it changed my perception of the world. Whilst that camera was rudimentary, later digital cameras and then DSLRs allowed me full and simple manual control, to learn to see the picture I <em>might</em> capture before even lifting the camera, or even reaching for it. Not any Hollywood shtick where I see photo frames superimposed on the world, but my subconscious does draw me to focus here, there, and over there. Experience. Playing with the controls. Being able to delete any number of failures rather than paying for rolls of film and processing 36 images having forgotten what I had done to capture the good ones.</p><p>Don't read me wrong. I still post-process most images. And. I shoot RAW. If you're a serious photographer, it is a must.</p><p>I am attracted, as you might guess, to color contrast. I admit to taking lots of pictures of flowers and trees, but old buildings are also my thing. I am complemented on my portraiture all the time. Oh, right, and... Recently, I've been taking lots of pictures of the meals I've cooked, doing both in-process documentation and, having paid special attention to plating, the final result.</p><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photographer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photographer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/chef" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>chef</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/cooking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cooking</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photo</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photography</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/raw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>raw</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/coolpix" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>coolpix</span></a> <br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a></p>