nature up close

I've been trying out close ups.  Luckily when I saw this butterfly, I had my camera in my pocket, and was able to capture about 12 shots.

Another time when I had my camera in my pocket.  I've always thought the Japanese Cutleaf Maple was a beautiful tree, and the breeze stopped just in time as I clicked away.

Reminder

This is a friendly reminder that June 3rd will be the camera club's last meeting, unless any interested parties join up again (and I sincerely hope that you do!).  Mackenzie is sadly leaving us for great adventures in the southwest, so we need some new blood to infuse into our group.  Please spread the word to your friends, and if you are planning to, don't forget to sign up for the summer session of the camera club here!

If you can't or aren't planning to sign up for the camera club again, I will miss you and thank you for these very fun and memorable few months' of sharing our shared love of photography!

More Sun Flare

On the way home from the photo walk, I couldn't help but notice how much more agreeable the light was for sun flare and silhouette, mostly because it was lower in the sky and was casting a beautiful, warm glow on everything. So I stopped at the Base Lodge of the Quechee Club and captured the sun filtering through the leaves of a flowering tree, with my aperture set at f/22.

I wish I had done one with a lower f/stop as well, but I was enjoying the star shape so much I didn't stop to think of it.  Good thing there is plenty of sunlight left!

Photo Walk: Silhouette and Sun Flare

Mackenzie and I had a very nice time practicing our technique on backlit subjects Tuesday night.  We discussed metering and how to expose for a subject properly if the background is brighter than the subject's face.  After that we went inside to practice silhouettes against a window (where the light would be directly behind our subject rather than above, as it as outside).  Finally, we talked a bit about sun flare, and practiced on the wind chimes outside.  To achieve sun flare, one must put the sun directly behind a subject, with a bit of light peeking out around it.  The higher the f/stop (meaning the larger the number), the more star-like the sun flare will appear.

f/22

f/3.5

I think having my UV filter on my lens added to the light spots that appear in both photos.  If I had thought of it, I would have removed it, although I don't mind the appearance of them in the shot!

Late Afternoon Light

Afternoon and early morning light gets progressively kinder the closer you are to sunrise and sunset.  In these photos, Hannah was in direct sun, around 3:30 pm, but I overexposed them to compensate for the shadows on her face and just dealt with the consequences of blown out highlights.

It's a matter of preference as far as lighting styles.  Brightness works for me.  You have to figure out what works for you!

Tricky Lighting: Backlit

I took these with my 50mm lens at approximately 6 pm in full sun.  It helps that the sun was lower to the horizon, but my subjects still had nowhere to hide.  I turned their backs to the sun, had my meter exposing for their faces, and recovered blown out highlights and lightened their faces in Lightroom after the fact.  

This is why metering is worth learning!

Tips For Better Bokeh

This is a really great, easy-to-understand explanation on bokeh, one of my favorite photographic tools.  Enjoy!

http://www.lightroompresets.com/blogs/pretty-presets-blog/6162048-bokeh-tips-and-tricks

Mother's Day

I played with light yesterday and it was a lot of fun! I hadn't yet figured out metering on my camera yet so these are without any adjustments.

Tricky Lighting: Full Sun

Full sun is not a photographer's friend, but Saturday afternoon I had Emmy all to myself, a green field, a kite., and my camera.  Any shots captured would be worth the inherent flaws.

Yes, she was squinty and the shadows were harsh, but the photos feel worth it.  Don't miss the moment because of tricky lighting!  Embrace the full sun!

May 6th Meeting Recap

Tonight the camera club met and discussed portrait photography and how to take successful portraits.  That led to an interesting discussion on lighting, with Becky using photographs to illustrate various light situations, which led to an inevitable conversation on meter.  We found a useful metering mode cheat sheet and decided that for the month of May, we will attempt to better understand METERING and try taking photographs in creative lighting situations such as back lit, silhouettes, etc.  Here is a backlighting tutorial that you may find helpful.

Excellent portraits submitted by everyone!  It was wonderful to see a large array of subjects, compositions, and lighting!  Can't wait to see what you come up with this month!

3 Steps To Taking A Better Portrait

1.  Lighting.  The usual rule of thumb is for you to turn your subject so the light is reflecting in his/her eyes, creating catchlight and lessening your chance of your subject having "dead" or "panda" eyes, such as in my post here.  This is not always the case if you are trying to achieve a certain effect, but it is a good place to start.  If you are taking photos outside on a bright day, there should be plenty of light around, but still be aware of your positioning and maintain even, indirect light. 

2.  Focus.  You can only do this in certain modes, but by choosing your focal point, you are in charge of your shot.  This will give you the most precise and accurate focus, which is important in portraits, especially with shallow depth of field.  Keep your composition and rule of thirds in mind.

3.  Composition.  Rule of thirds, filling your frame, negative space, framing your subject, leading lines, perspective, and depth of field are just some of the elements of composition, but once you have your light and focus correct, they are what can take a picture and elevate it to a photograph.

There are so many ways to manipulate light, focus, and composition to make a photograph a work of art, but this is a great launching point from which to grow!

Don't forget you can sign up for my portraiture workshop coming up in July!

Make The Light Work For You

Remember that in a perfect world your subject will be facing your light source (unless otherwise desired) and will be posed in even, indirect light.  Sometimes, though, you have to make the light work for you.

A great example of how important metering can be!

portraits