YOUR PHOTO

We discuss three reader photos; each captures a beautiful moment forever.

A look from inside

The photography bug has bitten Desiré Smith of Krugersdorp. After initially using her husband André’s camera, she soon bought her own.

“I took this picture in Heidelberg while on honeymoon. The window with the mirror and the sink drew my attention, and I wanted to capture it. For exposure, I played around with the camera’s settings because I really only knew how to use the camera on my phone then. “The picture turned out so lovely, and I’m quite sentimental about it – firstly because it was one of my first ones with this kind of camera, and secondly because of where I took it. My mother, Sarie Horn, saw the picture and painted the scene for our first joint Christmas gift.”

At first glance, Desiré’s photo doesn’t take your breath away; but keep still for a moment, and just look. As your eye jumps between the three focus elements – the window, mirror and basin – you start feeling as if you’re in the room yourself. It’s almost as if you experience the peace of the scene as your eye moves between the three points. As Desiré explains, she played around with settings before taking the picture. This kind of lighting (with the majority quite dark, and one bright spot) can mess up many a camera’s exposure reading. It’s not easy getting the balance right between the shadows and highlights. And, because the photo was taken in JPG format and not RAW, you lose much of the original detail. That’s because the camera first processes the digital information, which it then stores in a compact format that leaves out most of the detail. It is therefore critical to get the exposure as close to perfect as possible when taking the photo, as you’ll be limited as to how much you can edit it afterwards with software. The one element that, well, jars a little is how the reflection of the jar in the mirror touches the frame. Desiré could have stood to the right a little, but it doesn’t detract from a peaceful scene that gives you a moment’s pause before re-entering the world.