Noam Sheba

Author: noams

  • Culture

    Photo of beautiful Menorahs on a shelf.
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    For the culture prompt, I photographed these menorahs that my family keeps in our home. 2 of which were hand made by my father using a 3D printed mold and a cement filling. I wanted to focus on something that represents my Jewish and Israeli identity without having to stage an elaborate photo, because these are objects that are genuinely part of my everyday surroundings. I liked the contrast between the dark stone and small gold details, along with the repeated spaces for the candles, which immediately make their purpose recognizable. To me, culture is not just something you celebrate on certain holidays. It is also represented by the objects, traditions, and symbols that quietly stay around you throughout your life.

  • Reflection

    photo of my hand in the fancy mirror frame
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    For reflection, I photographed myself through my mom’s old mirror, which she brought with her from Israel and which my family has had for over thirty years. Instead of taking a normal mirror picture, I only included my arms and hands in the reflection, which makes the image a little more unusual and forces you to notice the mirror itself. I especially wanted to capture the detailed wooden frame and the repeating shapes around it because those are details I have seen countless times without really stopping to appreciate them. There is also something fitting about using an object from my mom’s past for a photo about reflection. I’m literally seeing part of myself through something that has been part of my family’s life since long before I was born.

  • Flowers

    Photo of a bright pink flower
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    For this photo blog, I decided to interpret the “Flowers” storytelling prompt literally by taking a close-up of a bright pink, in-focus flower blossoming. I wanted the flower to pop off the background, so I used depth of field to let it take center stage, drawing attention to the petals and other details in the middle of the flower. I believe I fulfilled the assignment’s objective of photographing flowers that tell a story by depicting how even the simplest things in nature can be emotional and full of life. The bright colors and soft light truly help portray this image as calming but vibrant, like springtime, growth, and blossoming.

    I took this picture of a flower in my very own backyard. It took the plant forever to bloom, so when I actually saw it blossom, it felt that much more significant to me. That is part of what inspired me to take a picture of it. What I enjoyed most about taking this picture was the amount of detail you really start to see within flowers when you take the time to slow down and really observe them. Flowers are something we see so often, yet when I took this picture, it made me appreciate how unique they are and how expressive they can be. Another thing I enjoyed was the blurred background, which gave the photo a dreamlike quality and made the flower feel alone and the main focus of the frame.

  • Geometry

    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    For this photo blog assignment, I based my piece on the “Geometry” composition prompt. I took pictures of the repeated shapes found in my mom’s old mirror frame, which she brought from Israel over thirty years ago. All the cutouts on the frame display a repeating pattern of geometric shapes that I noticed when I inspected it with my camera. The intention of this composition was to creatively incorporate geometry into a photograph. I wanted to convey that symmetry and repetition can help shape an average household object into something unique to look at. Which I achieved by zooming in on the shapes’ centers to emphasize them as the photo’s subjects. The sentimental value of this photo made it more special to me. The mirror has been in my family for so many years that taking a photo of it felt like documenting a piece of my family’s history and culture. Before this assignment, I never noticed the detailed cutouts on the frame, but after taking this picture, I found myself appreciating the small patterns we tend to pass by in life. I also enjoyed how bringing the background into focus made the cutouts pop out more and allowed for the photo to feel soft yet focused.

  • Tell a Lie

    Photo of strobe lights
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    This photograph is based on the challenge “Tell a Lie”. I used long exposure and light movement to make this photograph look as if a glowing shape were floating in mid-air. The photo was taken by holding a light in front of the camera and moving it around while the shutter was set to a longer exposure, but it looks as if there could actually be a portal or a computer-generated object floating in the room. I enjoyed how using bright red lights and blurring gave this photograph a sense of mystery and made it look otherworldly without editing. What I enjoyed about this assignment was playing with how a camera can capture something we may not actually see with our own eyes. At first glance, it could seem as if this photo was digitally edited or isn’t even real, but it was achieved naturally through movement and patience. This helped me realize how photography can alter light and movement to change reality and transform an ordinary space into something creative.

  • Angles

    Blurry cool photo of car temperature dial
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    My photo that I took for this assignment was for the “Angles” composition challenge. I chose to take an extreme close-up shot of the side of my car’s temperature dial. Tilting the camera low rather than shooting straight on and using a shallow depth of field made the picture more dramatic and added detail. Having the edges out of focus also draws your eye to the center dial. I felt as if this made my everyday object feel more filmic and added more interest. What I enjoyed most about this assignment was realizing how angles can change a photograph’s mood. When you see an object such as a car dashboard, you usually think nothing of it. But by changing the angle, it made it seem somewhat futuristic. I realized that photography will not always be about finding interesting things to photograph. It is sometimes about finding new and different ways to look at things.

  • Serenity

    A beautiful dark sunset photo with the silhouette of a tree and wire post.
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO400

    For my serene photo, I attempted to capture a calm sunset that I captured in my backyard. There are soft colors in the sky during the sunset, and everything else (trees, rooftops, wires) is a dark silhouette. Everything looks so calm and still. Nothing looks rushed or crazy. Everything seems serene…slow motion almost.

    The assignment was to capture what serenity means to you. Serenity means chilling around my backyard. When I was taking this photo, I realized that we take serene moments for granted. Especially ones that happen right in your own house. It can be such a simple thing as looking up at the sky that can make you feel like you’re living for a reason. For me spending time in my own yard just observing the birds and bees around me can improve my day. And if you take the time to look up, you start to look less at what’s behind you, and more on whats in front of you.

  • Aging

    A photo of a blossoming lemon tree in a quaint backyard.
    50mm 1/200 f4.5 ISO160

    For this photo, I wanted to convey aging by taking a picture of the lemon tree in my backyard. My family has had this tree since we moved into our house, so I’ve watched it grow up throughout the years. It now has fruit on it, but you can see where it’s aged in certain areas. Some of the branches are drooping and uneven, which shows the wear on the tree. Overall, that was what attracted me to the tree. Aging shows that something is continuing to grow, but it’s also been worn down. The purpose of this assignment was to photograph the concept of aging. I wanted to take this in a more literal sense by taking a photo with a story behind it. Ever since I can remember, this tree has been in our backyard growing. When I took this photo, I realized that aging isn’t just about old age. It’s about everything that something has gone through in that time. And this tree and I have been through plenty of memories!

  • Shadow

    50mm 1/64 f4.5 ISO160

    The objective of this assignment was to create a narrative using only shadow without featuring the object casting it. For this photograph, the large shadow covering most of the frame is simply that of a normal door frame. I thought it was interesting how something so mundane could create something so theatrical and emotive when framed on its own. It casts across the wooden surface in a way that feels constructed or purposeful, when in reality it was created from something ordinary and unnoticeable. I became aware of how many cool shadows are around us that we don’t take the time to notice while taking this photo. Light moves through the simplest of spaces and can create shapes and shadows that go unnoticed that feel like movie stills. By allowing the shadow to fill most of the frame and keeping my lighting low, I wanted the photograph to feel somber yet strong. This was a cool assignment that forced me to slow down and look at mundane objects in a different way. It showed me that normal light and shadows can create a story if you take the time to really see them.

  • Negative Space

    50mm 1/16 f4.5 ISO160

    The objective of this photograph was to demonstrate that negative space can actually improve upon composition by allowing the subject room to breathe. Rather than centering my lemon tree within the frame, I positioned it off to the side and allowed plenty of sky and length of fence to fill up most of the photograph. Notice how that open space isn’t wasted; it actually causes your eye to focus more on the vibrant lemons and bumpy leaves because they provide a burst of interest against the tranquil and neutral backdrop. Your eye enjoys having space to wander when looking at this photograph, whereas if it was filled with more tree it would feel cluttered. I learned while shooting this photograph that sometimes simple is better. The fence and sky act as a subtle backdrop that amplifies the color/details of the lemons. If my entire viewfinder was filled with branches and leaves the photo would have felt busy and cluttered. I feel like I have more control over the composition when I give the tree some breathing room. This assignment taught me that “negative” space is truly a part of the photograph.