#Mikhaylov’s Method | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nicolahnd2photo · 5 years ago

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Something New

Wednesday the 28th of October

I aim to photograph my air freshener on a white clean background with the inside can to be sat beside the air freshener. The aim of the image is to be cut from the background so there is to be no shadows and no reflections. The can will be my biggest challenge. I aim to photograph a few images moving the light around and merging them together to avoid a reflection. If the reflection works on the image, I will try to minimise it but still keep it intact.

I aim to have two lights and use flags to distract the light. Lighting diagram will be uploaded afterwards.

Photographer 1 - Ian Knaggs

I think both of these images are perfect examples of something new. They are both so crisp and sitting on a pure white background. My favourite from the two is the second image of the brown wristwatch. The watch is perfectly in focus and I'm pretty sure it was by using the focus stack method. The positioning is another very well known method for photographing watches. This is a way for the viewers to know how it will look on their wrist. My biggest fear for this project is shadows as it's been advised to avoid them as best as possible to make it easier when cutting out in photoshop. But Knaggs has managed to effortlessly avoid that issue. The first watch is positioned in a way I hardly see when photographing watches. It is more focused on the details of the watch than the actual quality.

Photographer 2 - Andrew Mikhaylov

For product photography, I'm guesing watches are a popular product. This watch is however positioned on a black background matching the black watch. This creates a very modern and simplistic outcome. Very effective in my opinion. But out of the two, my favourite is the perfume as its very clean cut and photographed beautifully. The photographer has managed to create a delicate image.

Sources:

https://mediacreationz.com/shop/product-photography/

https://www.fiverr.com/leewonli/shoot-professional-product-photography-on-white-background

http://packshotcreatorme.com/products/still-photography/

https://ianknaggs.com/watch-photography/

https://www.photigy.com/school/meet-andrey-mikhaylov-commercial-product-photographer/?r_done=1

#SomethingNew

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ageofwrathrpg · 8 years ago

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Name: Aleksandr ‘Sasha’ Ivanovich Alkaev Age: 40 Ability: Retrocognition/Precognition Faction: CITIZEN as a JOURNALIST Faceclaim: Santiago Cabrera Availability: OPEN

THE STORY || CW: Death

Aleksandr’s childhood was spent shepherding his family’s sheep through sunburned grass in the foothills of the Altai Republic. The son of farmers, he was expected to uphold the custom of being a farmer himself. But he wasn’t particularly good at this sort of work. It came naturally to his two younger sisters; as though the herd was an extension of their nervous systems. This life involved understanding and predicting the movements of an inconsistent mass. Of containing it. Every bleat of a sheep, every weary shift in mannerism – they understood; Aleksandr was witless. He understood history. He understood that the earth they trod was an agglomeration of aluminum and calcium and iron and steel, of decisions good and bad, and that the delicate balance of life and death swayed each day like a proverbial pendulum. He couldn’t compete with that. And so rather than attempt to change something already tied to an invisible string, he elected to press his fingers to the stony earth, to stare into the sunset and inhale its story; as he learned literacy, he elected to document it.

Aleksandr was nothing like his brother. 8 minutes Aleksandr’s senior, Osip was his superior in every discernible way. He was smarter, more handsome, and he could bend fate. He could tell the future. He could sense a rattlesnake coiled in the grass before any lamb could. He would guide the herd away before they spooked into indiscernible chaos. Despite their differences, and despite his jealousy, Aleksandr loved his brother. It was hard not to like Osip. He was expected to lead their family out of poverty. One night, before their 16th birthday, Osip came to Aleksandr in a panic. His visions were gone. He couldn’t see. Anything. Aleksandr, Osip’s lighthouse, assured him that it was only a passing phase. He should think nothing of the problem and rest; sleep would short-circuit him back to normalcy. That night, a wandering vagabond crept through the window and killed Osip in his sleep.

When Aleksandr rose, he was all agony. His visions and Osip’s visions came at him like liquid daggers, all at once. His mind was an iron maiden. He couldn’t escape the explosive marriage of his and his brother’s abilities, nor could he escape the crushing ache of losing half of his heart. When he wasn’t writhing for one reason, he was writhing for the next. As time passed, as Aleksander spent his days bedridden, he learned to control his abilities, he learned to fathom his angst, and he learned why. Yorick Spektor, aged 27 had heard of Osip, the Champion of Altai. Like every other Russian, he also knew the legend of the twin princes. Angry with circumstances in Russia, and Human-Vila conflict, Aleksandr’s murder was supposed to grant Osip with the final power needed to control time and to fix Russia. But Yorick hadn’t anticipated the legend being fake, and he hadn’t anticipated murdering the wrong twin. In his time bedridden, Aleksander repeatedly watched Yorick killing his brother through his visions, but he had no evidence. So he wrote the evidence. At his request, his parents provided Aleksandr with a typewriter, and he recalled the circumstances of Osip’s death with picturesque detail. The narration impressed policemen, and it was more than enough to convict Osip’s murderer.

The next five years of Aleksandr’s life was filled with sorry stagnation. In his family’s farm, he saw Osip’s ghost everywhere. He saw the two of them talking, laughing, spreading goat cheese over sunflower oil crackers. Aleksander also saw himself continuously spinning this same depressed pattern if he didn’t change. So at 21, he moved to Moscow, where he continued writing and made a small fortune selling crimes to newspapers. Eventually he was recruited by the Moscow Times and became their golden goose.

THE CHARACTER

Aleksandr hates his job. He derives little joy from telling stories anymore; he feels that recording the past does nothing to prevent heartbreak, only exacerbate it through details. Unfortunately for him, he’s very, very good at it. Fate dealt him a blessing he didn’t even want. Despite his aversion to attention, his writings have made him famous. And so, Aleksandr writes because he must. When he’s not writing, he seeks mind-numbing agents. With the whole world in your head, any means of dulling the noise is a blessing. Aleksandr drinks often, he paints furiously, and he goes on long walks with Chopin blasting through headphones. His heart has healed for the most part, but his past left him a cynic. He loves people and things rarely and cautiously, but when he cares, he cares with every fiber of his being; with everything he is and more.

CONNECTIONS

Foma Alexandrovich Zharkov - Aleksandr still remembers jolting awake, a vision tearing him from sleep with incessant urgency. An experiment would kill Moscow if Aleksandr didn’t interfere. A human granted with the ability to kill on sight. Aleksandr found Project Medusa cowering naked at the edges of a power plant. He clothed him, named him, and brought him home, where he taught him to disguise himself as a blind man. He became Aleksandr’s live-in editor, learning braille to make the act all the more convincing. It took Foma a long time to shed his defenses, but eventually the two of them grew extraordinarily close. Aleksandr finds himself laughing at Foma’s crude humor and feeling pangs of loss when they’re apart. He feels often that he needs Foma just as much as Foma needs him.

Vladimir Kazimirovich Mikhaylov - The first time Aleksandr touched Foma’s cold skin, he saw Vladimir’s eyes in his brain. The secrets of Project Kudzu spilled into his skull quickly and violently. A dam splitting open. The water crashing through. It’s no secret that Kudzu terrifies him, but this fear sparks a bravery that flickers large and bright. He won’t let anything happen to Foma. He won’t let Kudzu take him away from him. Aleksandr has all the tools to expose Kudzu, and he would if he weren’t so afraid of exposing Foma to the world.

Kim Seung-gi - The circumstances of their friendship are his doing entirely. In his first few months as a Muscovite, he was hungry and freezing. He saw her in a vision, saw her composure, saw what she could do to help him. He bridged contact and she aided him instinctively, giving him food and survival tips. She’s the one who suggested he sell his writings to the police. The two became fast friends and much later, business partners. As far as he can tell, she has no idea about his retrocognition and he intends to keep it that way.

Raisa Mikhailovna Nazarowicz - Aleksandr saw Raisa coming to Moscow in a vision and couldn’t contain himself. It was all he could think about for the weeks leading up until it happened. Her books had been some of his favorite methods of escapism, and it’d be a lie to say that he wasn’t madly in love with her work. Though Aleksandr hasn’t formally met Raisa yet, he follows her in his visions. Honestly he feels guilty and a bit dirty for it, but it fills his heart with excitement to know that they share the same city. He’s worried about the day they meet because he’s certain his composure will betray him.

Rashid Javed Bashir - Aleksandr didn’t know Rashid when he saw him being killed. Grotesquely. A few minutes after his vision, he befriended Rashid in a bar and felt his heart sink. The guy is so nice. He’s so genuinely good. Aleksandr doesn’t know when his vision will come true, or what can be done to prevent it, or if it can be prevented, but he feels it incumbent upon himself to try.

[[ More Connections ]]

ETC

Aleksandr loves his family and wants the best for them. Each month, he sends a hefty check back home; with the money, his family has been able to purchase three sheepdogs, a larger barn, and more lavish home. Aleksandr also visits every other weekend and often shepherds the herd with his two sisters. When he returns to Moscow, he brings back all kinds of goat cheese; smothered in honey, blended with chives, with lavender. He has it with his toast each morning.

Aleksandr is wealthy, but you wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at him. He’s very modest in his wealthiness and gives a large portion of his paycheck to charity. Nevertheless, his home is large and well-furnished. He’s humble, but he still appreciates comfort.

Though he keeps his vila status as a highly-guarded secret, that doesn’t keep him from caring very deeply about the discrimination that vilas face in Moscow. Much of his journalism has to do with painting a sympathetic image of vilas and exposing crimes against them.

He hates museums. He feels that they’re just glorified cemeteries. Though objectively Aleksandr understands the appeal of appreciating old works of art, they just reek of death to him.

In his free time, Aleksandr likes to learn languages and paint. Aleksandr’s has two rooms in his home dedicated to painting, completely filled with canvases and expensive materials.