To Cap It Off

Death On The Nile? It's Time To Fez Up

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It's not every day you get the chance to photograph a fez, but let me tell you there's a special hurdle that you need to overcome when you shoot a red object. I often find it is the one colour that is hardest to capture, because it tends to get saturated when you shoot from close quarters - as I always do.

I thought about posting some shots of Akubra hats taken at the Royal Melbourne Show, but I preferred to take on a real challenge for this post. The rarity of a fez in this part of the world was one factor governing my choice. And of course the second was the fact that the red velvet of the headgear was always going to make me think my way through the problem.

I shot this outdoors, late on Thursday evening, in fading light. These shots were taken at 1/20th of a second, F5.6 and ISO 800 and I was lucky that the black tassels were the perfect foil for the fabric of the cap.

In particular, I was really pleased with the first shot. I reckon the composition really makes you look twice to figure out what I've shot. Also, the fact that it's asymmetrical is probably a bonus.

But purely from a photographic perspective, the second shot (below) is more balanced in terms of subject matter and colours. The positioning also favoured me because the black tassels are glistening more in the fading light than they were in the first shot.

Tell me, which of the two frames do you prefer? (And yes, you can tell me I'm talking through my hat if you think so!)


Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Hats".

Who Wants To Be A Milliner

These Hat Stores Are Brimming With Ideas

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Tell you what. Next year I might take a month off at Spring Racing Carnival and design hats - and sell them, too. As you can see by these hat boxes, everyone who is serious about being seen at the races needs to have a hat. We're talking big money, too , but that's the price you pay if you want instant cred. And once you've got the hat your heart desires, just make sure it's clamped securely to your head, because it's very breezy at this time of year.