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Amaryllis

(9,523 posts)
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 04:19 PM Feb 2020

Russian Mother Takes Magical Pictures of Her Two Kids With Animals On Her Farm

Here's your happy break for today, to remind you that there is still a lot of love and beauty in the world.

"These wonderful photographs by Elena Shumilova plunge the viewer into a beautiful world that revolves around two boys and their adorable dog, cat, duckling and rabbit friends. Taking advantage of natural colors, weather conditions and her enchanting surroundings, the gifted Russian artist creates cozy and heartwarming photography that will leave you amazed.

The boys in the photographs are the photographer’s sons and the animals belong to the farm she runs. “I largely trust my intuition and inspiration when I compose photos. I get inspired mainly by my desire to express something I feel, though I usually cannot tell exactly what that is,” Shumilova explained to BoredPanda.
















More at Link:
https://www.boredpanda.com/animal-children-photography-elena-shumilova/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

55 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Russian Mother Takes Magical Pictures of Her Two Kids With Animals On Her Farm (Original Post) Amaryllis Feb 2020 OP
Truly beautiful! hlthe2b Feb 2020 #1
These are beautiful...lucky kids to have such a life... Dream Girl Feb 2020 #2
She's very talented. BusyBeingBest Feb 2020 #3
These photos are SPEC Leghorn21 Feb 2020 #4
Thanks! I need more magic in my pics bookmarks! abqtommy Feb 2020 #5
Magical. emmaverybo Feb 2020 #6
Absolutely beautiful malaise Feb 2020 #7
How lovely. Arkansas Granny Feb 2020 #8
Lovely, but also a bit Thomas Kincaide with photgraphy Ms. Toad Feb 2020 #9
Lots of shallow depth of field. Ones with dogs may have been done with the Brenitzer technique Bernardo de La Paz Feb 2020 #29
What I was noticing in most of her photographs Ms. Toad Feb 2020 #31
Sweet! burrowowl Feb 2020 #10
They are beautiful. yewberry Feb 2020 #11
Those are stunning. brer cat Feb 2020 #12
Cute kids. Scarsdale Feb 2020 #13
I love that huge dog! nt tblue37 Feb 2020 #43
Great pictures tiredtoo Feb 2020 #14
Like a breath of fresh air. This lady is really good with light and depth of field. KY_EnviroGuy Feb 2020 #15
Gorgeous. AJT Feb 2020 #16
Beautiful! My favorite is the one on the dock. Luciferous Feb 2020 #17
She has a 'great eye' and understanding of light and shadow NotHardly Feb 2020 #18
Not to mention BlueIdaho Feb 2020 #21
I wondered about that; not being adept at either photoshop or photography. Amaryllis Feb 2020 #22
Photoshop BlueIdaho Feb 2020 #24
Just curious as to what suggests photoshop to you Ms. Toad Feb 2020 #33
Good at Post-Processing? druidity33 Feb 2020 #36
These images aren't manipulated - they are lovingly enhanced. BlueIdaho Feb 2020 #39
What you said "...my opinion that these images have been lovingly enhanced to make them what the Amaryllis Feb 2020 #41
I know the concept of post-processing Ms. Toad Feb 2020 #40
No image straight out of any camera BlueIdaho Feb 2020 #42
but...but...but all the greats Ms. Toad Feb 2020 #44
👍🏻 BlueIdaho Feb 2020 #45
I use Photoshop all the time... druidity33 Feb 2020 #48
Beautiful. murielm99 Feb 2020 #19
Just gorgeous.... magicarpet Feb 2020 #20
Those are incredible. Marie Marie Feb 2020 #23
Breathtakingly beautiful democrank Feb 2020 #25
Stunning. Srkdqltr Feb 2020 #26
I've seen these photos before. They are unbelievable! secondwind Feb 2020 #27
She's a good photographer and an excellent artist lunatica Feb 2020 #28
Love reminders that we all share common human desires, children, family, beauty, nature. Karadeniz Feb 2020 #30
I love that she is Russian. Nice to see "Russian" in a headline that is about something positive Amaryllis Feb 2020 #38
Beautiful photos! smirkymonkey Feb 2020 #32
she's an excellent photographer. so talented. Demovictory9 Feb 2020 #34
Stunning. sheshe2 Feb 2020 #35
Yes, I've seen her work before. But there are some new ones here. gristy Feb 2020 #37
⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️⭐️K&R⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️ spanone Feb 2020 #46
These are magical mcar Feb 2020 #47
Terrific pictures MFM008 Feb 2020 #49
Chiaroscuro from a camera. pazzyanne Feb 2020 #50
The picture of the boy on his sled in the snow is pure magic Botany Feb 2020 #51
Thank you. bitterross Feb 2020 #52
Those are extraordinary! PatSeg Feb 2020 #53
Stunningly beautiful! ElementaryPenguin Feb 2020 #54
Wonderful photos. Nitram Feb 2020 #55

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
9. Lovely, but also a bit Thomas Kincaide with photgraphy
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 04:51 PM
Feb 2020
https://500px.com/elenashumilova

(Ignore the NSFW warnings if they come up for you - I didn't find a single one that was NSFW - the breastfeeding one showed more flesh, I can't even imagine what about 3 brothers lying in a bed playing hand-airplanes (for example) that might trigger a NSFW warning.)

Bernardo de La Paz

(48,789 posts)
29. Lots of shallow depth of field. Ones with dogs may have been done with the Brenitzer technique
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 06:47 PM
Feb 2020

Some are just from use of telephoto lenses in low light.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenizer_Method

I think some her photos are compelling while others are a little obvious, as you suggest. Regardless, all are pretty.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
31. What I was noticing in most of her photographs
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 07:27 PM
Feb 2020

was the Kincaide-style light glow. But your'e right about the shallow depth of field in virtually all of them.

yewberry

(6,530 posts)
11. They are beautiful.
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 05:01 PM
Feb 2020

They make me feel a little nostalgic not because I grew up a Russian farm but because I live in a city. I miss the woods, wide spaces and no tech in sight.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
15. Like a breath of fresh air. This lady is really good with light and depth of field.
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 05:15 PM
Feb 2020

I hope she can enter some of these in photography contests.

Thank you, Amaryllis!...........

BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
24. Photoshop
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 06:30 PM
Feb 2020

Can be used or abused. In this case it was used to great effect - but her eye for a photograph is what really makes these images special.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
33. Just curious as to what suggests photoshop to you
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 07:37 PM
Feb 2020

as opposed to skilled control of the camera?

(I create images using both techniques - so not a criticism. It just doesn't seem obvious to me at which stage the lighting and depth of fiield that seems to characerize her work was created. So I'm curious to aobut what you're seeing.)

druidity33

(6,435 posts)
36. Good at Post-Processing?
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 08:32 PM
Feb 2020

This is where you can adjust color, contrast, sharpness, cropping, etc. Sometimes shooting like a crazy person is great if you are good at editing from there. I had a friend who shot over a thousand frames a day for over a year (Digital of course... I graduated with a BA in Photo before film had given up the ghost. 1,000 frames a day in film would have been an astronomical cost) He spent most of his time post-processing. All he was looking for was perfect focus. Everything else he could adjust for. My Pentax DSLR can shoot 14 fps... and that's a "prosumer" camera, several steps below a professional camera.

You know all of this of course. This photographer obviously has a good eye. And damn if she doesn't have reliable dependable subjects. I would bet she totes her camera everywhere and goes for walks with the kids when she knows there will be good light. She has baby animals, cute kids, good light... why not take tons of photos?

I didn't get a sense that the photos were manipulated per se. But i wonder how many pictures it took to get to the ones we see?



BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
39. These images aren't manipulated - they are lovingly enhanced.
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 08:56 PM
Feb 2020

I cut my teeth shooting large format sheet film. We were trained to capture the right moment, use the right lens, and set shutter and aperture to control effects. Even then, we worked in the darkroom to adjust film development and finally print the print. In the darkroom we adjusted contrast, selectively burned and dodged areas to lighten and darken them. it’s all in the photographers bag of tricks. Now with programs like Photoshop we can also control the color palette of the shoot (color profiling) enhance the image’s vibrance, and do oh so much more.

Ansel Adams once said “The negative is like a musical score. The print is like a performance of the score.

Being a professional photographer, and teaching photography for 31 years informs my opinion that these images have been lovingly enhanced to make them what the photographer felt more than what they saw.

Amaryllis

(9,523 posts)
41. What you said "...my opinion that these images have been lovingly enhanced to make them what the
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 09:35 PM
Feb 2020

photographer felt more than what they saw" fits with the quote from her in the OP: "I get inspired mainly by my desire to express something I feel, though I usually cannot tell exactly what that is,” Shumilova explained to BoredPanda.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
40. I know the concept of post-processing
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 08:56 PM
Feb 2020

and often I can tell from looking at the photos whether the effects came from post post-processing v. excellent camera skills. I started in the film era, as well - no degree, but plenty of darkroom work for the college yearbook.

I find it a bit odd that people believe that post-processing somehos makes the photographer less skilled, when virtually all of the digital post-processing has its parallel in old-style darkroom work. But somehow photoshop is evil.

I do distinguish between post-processing wtih the image actually recorded (which I still view as skilled photography), and equally skilled manipulation to alter the image (which is art but uses photoshop and the raw image as the medium). I do both (restoration of old photographs & minimizing the impact of death in post-mortem photographs) - and people with a skilled eye can identify when I've crossed the line.

I just wasn't sure wheher you were seeing tells in the finished images, or just guessing based on the current technological capabilities.

BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
42. No image straight out of any camera
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 09:48 PM
Feb 2020

Looks this juicy, this rich, and has this dynamic range. No doubt it looked damn fine, but not this good. Since you cut your teeth on film - you might want to take a look at this classic Ansel Adams image, before and after editing.

https://petapixel.com/2018/11/07/the-story-behind-ansel-adams-iconic-moonrise-hernandez/

Ernst Has once said “the art of processing is like running through snow without leaving footprints.”

I hope you are still making photos!

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
44. but...but...but all the greats
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 10:18 PM
Feb 2020

use their images straight out of the camera. Post processing in cheating!

Unfortunately - not much photography recently (although my camera is within 20 feet of me, I'm at work on a Sunday night). Work keeps me busy 80-100 hours a week . . . just waiting for retirement.

druidity33

(6,435 posts)
48. I use Photoshop all the time...
Mon Feb 17, 2020, 07:12 AM
Feb 2020

I wasn't trying to denigrate it. It's actually its own skill and a difficult one to master. And i wasn't trying to suggest the photographer was cheating somehow. Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever post-processing program is being used... they're ubiquitous. Everyone tweaks their great images a little. I mostly just adjust for contrast and color which is what i suspect this photographer did. Standard dodging and burning stuff but digitally. No big woop. She's got a great talent and excellent subjects. Apparently she mostly uses a Canon 5D with a 135mm lens. It's got a nice bokeh.



Amaryllis

(9,523 posts)
38. I love that she is Russian. Nice to see "Russian" in a headline that is about something positive
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 08:55 PM
Feb 2020

Last edited Sun Feb 16, 2020, 09:36 PM - Edit history (1)

that we all have in common - love of, as you say, children, family, beauty, nature and pets!

gristy

(10,667 posts)
37. Yes, I've seen her work before. But there are some new ones here.
Sun Feb 16, 2020, 08:48 PM
Feb 2020

She really knows what she is doing!

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