Lightpulse - Fine Art Photography and Digital Art by Strato Agianoglou | Lightform

Cruel Punishment

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:04:29 +0000

What else could it be when a bicycle is hanged up high above the ground, immobilized and helpless to move or escape

This shot was taken during the Cosmopolis festival which is held every summer in Kavala next to the seaside park.

This year they had some very playful and “photographic” decoration ideas such as hanging bicycles and white umbrellas in every place imaginable, due to the fact that the whole festival was dedicated to children.

I took the opportunity to get some day and night shots during the peak of the festival, but I believe the latter are among the best of the whole set. Hopefully this image serves as a good example of the photographic opportunities that were scattered around the area.

I already look forward for the next summer’s festival more more shooting

Dark Horse

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:33:41 +0000

This shot was taken during a photo walk at the city of Xanthi. While I was walking around I saw this horse toy that was just standign there waitting for a children to insert a coin, give it some life and ride it.

I thought it might make a good subject to shoot at and after a few dissapointing shots I started to treat this opportunity as a portrais session and finally came up with a few images I actually liked.

One of them is here for your viewing pleasure

The Day They Arrived

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:19:20 +0000

The title says it all regarding the overall feeling I was trying to capture during one of those rare moments that no one was in this park, located in Drama city.

This was shot with my new Tokina 11-16 and my old trusty D80 by dragging the shutter and using custom White Balance setting to get this warm color feeling

Midnight Run

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:46:09 +0000

While I was walking in the streets around Taxim at Istanbul I was trying to capture a good frame of the local trams that were passing by regularly. Simple panning just would not do so I tried to combine panning while wooming the lense a bit. This is the best frame I managed to get and I am quite proud of it

Also since this is my first post for 2010 I would like to wish you a Happy and Creative new Year

Slide Through The Night

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:57:22 +0000

This shot was taken during a late night trek of mine around the city. I just had to test the Tokina 11-16 during nighttime and boy what an experience !
I already knew that this baby stopped down to F/8 in long exposures gives superb clarity, detail and color saturation. But I had to do some testing wide open at night by dragging the shutter, and so I did.

The result was surprising clear images with lots of detail at around 85% of the frame and supreme color as well. I tried a couple shots as well with my Nikon 18-55 VR but hands down Tokina delivered a much better image every time. And a wider angle of course

So no surprise that the more I use it the more I get addicted to it

More images from this lens coming soon so stay tuned. ..

Conquer The Blue

admin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:11:34 +0000

This shot was taken during a short ferry trip to Thassos Island. It might now get the excellence award in panning execution but I believe artistically it is worth the trouble to put it online

I don’t believe that technical excellence should dictate every single shot. Sometimes instead of adding to the photo it just takes away.

Thus I believe that the blurred seagull is a strong element in this photograph, in contract to others where I have managed to get the seagulls as crisp as possible during my panning attempts.

Feel free to throw your two cents on this

Wider Views

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:52 +0000

This is one of the first “real” photographs that I took with my new Tokina 11-16 F2.8 which I must admin is one of the most difficult lenses I have ever owned, even harder than the Tamron 90mm Macro.

Although I am still trying to get the hang of it, I decided to share my efforts with you

This scene was captured on my way back to Kavala, after the usual Sunday photo walk.

Now, the more I use this lens, the more I begin to realize that is extremely sharp for it’s kind and also that it delivers ultra saturated colors out of the box., which I adore since I am a huge fan of saturated colors in general.

Be warned though that sometimes Lightroom 2.5 will desaturate / mute, or even alter the colors when you import your RAW files, an issue which is said will be corrected in the long awaited V3.

Stay tuned as I post more photos and experiences regarding this great lens.

The Wizard And The Glass

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:53:50 +0000

Those who are familiar with Steven King’s “The Dark Tower” book series will recognize the title. As for the rest I strongly suggest to check them out but be warned that you will be sucked into a magical world that will probably never forget.

This show was taken during a rainy day, while I was looking for a creative outcome out of household objects using glass objects and trying to get an interesting result from reflections and refractions.

I will not spoil the mystery by revealing what I actually shot. I’d rather leave it up to you to do the guesswork

The Timekeeper

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:28:13 +0000

This shot as one that came out a lot better that I actually expected when i clicked. I will not tell you who or what the guy is just to keep the mystery alive but I can tell you this: Custom white balance when you don’t have that warming filter on you is your best friends sometimes.

My intention was to create a mystery feeling across the frame not only by composition but also by color. At first since it was near sun dawn I thought that just a good angle would pay off but it did not. The result was way to … realistic.

So I started using the custom white balance, using warmer that usual settings until I git this. A little pps was added later just to add a small vignetting for artistic purposes., although I usually try not to use pps for 90% of my “artistic” photos.

Business photo shoots are of course excluded. I still don;t know any photographer / graphic designer that became rich by making things look ugly

Now a challenge: The first three who will comment and guess what this’ man is doing for living will get a free print from Lightform Store. So take your shot

Hidden In Shame

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:10:25 +0000

This is one of those images that just happen to fall in your field of view out of the blue.

I was wondering around an abandoned village, almost disappointed because I just could not find anything interesting to capture at the moment ( wait… abandoned village and nothing interesting to shoot; You must have the “Give me a break” face right now! ), and then suddenly as I looked to my far right I saw this naked tree aligned with a huge sand dune.

I took the picture and then started to notice as I zoomed in that most of the trees at the background had still their leaves, in contrast with the tree in the foreground, which created a strong emotional contrast.

I choose to remove all color in order to magnify this feeling of shame and loneliness, but left everything else untouched.

Also note that his was taken with my ( rest in peace ) dear 18-135 lens at 135mm, which added compression making the image even more dramatic.

Click on the image to view it in it’s full glory