I know, three posts today, all on topic. What in the world is the world coming to? Well, you don’t know yet if this third one is on topic yet, but I can assure you, since I already know pretty much what I am going to stay that it is indeed on topic: photography, specifically natural lighting and photography. Since I don’t have the kind of intense zoom that allows for amazing closeups from a football field away, I have been trying to remind myself to play with angles and light more. (Speaking of which, this sentence is to remind me to show you the prism photo and the beer shot). I have been both happy and unhappy with my results, so I am still learning, but I have noticed a couple of things worth sharing.
Number one: avoid the light. I have sliding glass doors off my living room, and we keep the vertical window blinds open over there, so we can see the children when they are outside (and also so they don’t get torn down with all the running in and out, but that’s neither here nor there) and invariably, the first shot of any great sequence is ruined as I grab the camera and aim at the child in front of that glass door. The result is a great silhouette, but since I am usually trying to get their facial expression, that doesn’t work real well for me.
Number two: embrace the light. OTOH, if you are shooting objects, or even people when your primary purpose isn’t to capture a moment in time, you can use the effects of light to great advantage. I’m sure we’ve all seen photos with strong horizontal shadowing cause by blinds, and such pictures are particularly striking when presented in black and white. But what about the waffle weave of light produced by woven bamboo shades? While I don’t have this type of window treatment myself, what I am seeing in my mind’s eye is that the shadows would give a flat surface an almost 3-D effect, somewhat like the one you get when sunlight shines through shallow water.
Number three: channel the light. Roller shades are a photographer’s friend. Natural light is the best light for capturing colors and faces, but in addition to creating unwanted silhouettes as noted above, it can also wash the color right out of a scene and cause faces to appear to flat and expressionless. Pull down a roller shade to soften the light and fire away. You’ll get true colors and vivid faces, and that’s a winning combination.
have I commented here about the lack of rain this year? It did rain last night quite a bit, but it’s too late for the irises. They never did bloom this spring, and they have been singed like this since early in the season. I don’t know if you can tell in the upper corner, how light and dry the soil is.
I decided to snap this as a diamond instead of a square for visual appeal. I know Marilyn meant diamond rings and not flower beds, but still, diamonds are diamonds, right?
Here is another picture from today. It is Lake Waccamaw. It was pretty grey today, as you can see. I’m pretty proud of myself. Instead of just putting the camera to my face and clicking, I put some thought into things. I
- put the camera on landscape
- thought about the rule of thirds
- paid a little attention to framing
- leaned against a tree to brace myself
- attempted to keep the horizon level
Well, ok. I did all that for the second shot, which you see above. The first shot, I just clickety-clicked, and it’s the thumbnail below.
Technorati Tags: Lake Waccamaw
I played a bit with my camera last night. I took 2 shots. The first, using the “night scene” setting was a wash. You can see it in the thumbnail. The shutter speed was 1 second, and it’s a blurry mess. The keeper shot was made with the “night snapshot” setting, and I am quite pleased with it. The shutter speed was a fairly quick 1/8 second. I feel it adequately captured the branches against the night sky. The lines remind me very much of a nerve plexus, thus the name. The only reason for the pic is that the tree caught me eye. I must see it 20 times a day, but yesterday, it was time. I don’t know how much detail you’ll be able to see once I get the photo uploaded, but the original is full of detail.
Technorati Tags: night snapshot
You may notice that this post is filed under Ambient Light, and I am choosing this category for shots taken outdoors that do not include people–pictures taken just because what I saw struck my photo-eye.
I moved outside my comfort zone quite a bit with this photo
-from the house to the outdoors
-from people or things I control to something outside my realm of influence
I stepped outside yesterday and the light pole just grabbed my attention. It was the juxtaposition of round and linear, the individual pieces that made the whole that snagged my eye. To get the picture, I literally laid down in the front yard to get the angle I wanted. (My kids thought that was pretty funny.) In spite of the greyness, this picture was taken about 11:30 am. The only editing I did was to rotate the photo so it was oriented properly.
Technorati Tags: Ambient Light, outdoor photography
