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

[Amaryllis]

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

[hlthe2b]

1. Truly beautiful!

[Dream Girl]

2. These are beautiful...lucky kids to have such a life...

[BusyBeingBest]

3. She's very talented.

[Leghorn21]

4. These photos are SPEC

TACULAR!!!

Thank you for posting, Amaryllis!!

[abqtommy]

5. Thanks! I need more magic in my pics bookmarks!

[emmaverybo]

6. Magical.

[malaise]

7. Absolutely beautiful

Thanks

[Arkansas Granny]

8. How lovely.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Lovely, but also a bit Thomas Kincaide with photgraphy

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]

29. Lots of shallow depth of field. Ones with dogs may have been done with the Brenitzer technique

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]

31. What I was noticing in most of her photographs

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

[burrowowl]

10. Sweet!

[yewberry]

11. They are beautiful.

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.

[brer cat]

12. Those are stunning.

Thanks for sharing, Amaryllis.

[Scarsdale]

13. Cute kids.

Great photos with the animals. Thanks for posting.

[tblue37]

43. I love that huge dog! nt

[tiredtoo]

14. Great pictures

Thanks for sharing them.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Like a breath of fresh air. This lady is really good with light and depth of field.

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

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

[AJT]

16. Gorgeous.

[Luciferous]

17. Beautiful! My favorite is the one on the dock.

[NotHardly]

18. She has a 'great eye' and understanding of light and shadow

[BlueIdaho]

21. Not to mention

A great touch with Photoshop.

[Amaryllis]

22. I wondered about that; not being adept at either photoshop or photography.

[BlueIdaho]

24. Photoshop

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. Just curious as to what suggests photoshop to you

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]

36. Good at Post-Processing?

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]

39. These images aren't manipulated - they are lovingly enhanced.

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]

41. What you said "...my opinion that these images have been lovingly enhanced to make them what the

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]

40. I know the concept of post-processing

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]

42. No image straight out of any camera

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]

44. but...but...but all the greats

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.

[BlueIdaho]

45. 👍🏻

[druidity33]

48. I use Photoshop all the time...

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.

[murielm99]

19. Beautiful.

[magicarpet]

20. Just gorgeous....

Perfect timing - light, shadow, fog, reflections, children, animals.....

[Marie Marie]

23. Those are incredible.

[democrank]

25. Breathtakingly beautiful

Those children.....

[Srkdqltr]

26. Stunning.

[secondwind]

27. I've seen these photos before. They are unbelievable!

[lunatica]

28. She's a good photographer and an excellent artist

[Karadeniz]

30. Love reminders that we all share common human desires, children, family, beauty, nature.

[Amaryllis]

38. I love that she is Russian. Nice to see "Russian" in a headline that is about something positive

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!

[smirkymonkey]

32. Beautiful photos!

I love Bored Panda. One of my favorite sites besides DU.

[Demovictory9]

34. she's an excellent photographer. so talented.

[sheshe2]

35. Stunning.

[gristy]

37. Yes, I've seen her work before. But there are some new ones here.

She really knows what she is doing!

[spanone]

46. ⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️⭐️K&R⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️

[mcar]

47. These are magical

[MFM008]

49. Terrific pictures

A real sense of freedom.

[pazzyanne]

50. Chiaroscuro from a camera.

I would never have thought it could be done. Amazing and beautiful.

[Botany]

51. The picture of the boy on his sled in the snow is pure magic

thanx for posting.

[bitterross]

52. Thank you.

Those are such charming and adorable pictures. They brightened my day.

[PatSeg]

53. Those are extraordinary!

[ElementaryPenguin]

54. Stunningly beautiful!

Thanks so much for sharing these.

[Nitram]

55. Wonderful photos.