Composition

I had everyone that attended photography group write down a web address. Click on the link below to see it.....

Composition.

It is a really good lesson, so read up and study the examples.

I hope everyone is having fun with their assignments.

October Assignment 2: Favorite Things-Some Old Examples from Kellie

Still Life Photography has long been a favorite for me, so here are some old studies I did that might give some inspiration. Obviously, I used Photoshop to help tell my stories by making these washed out for a vintage feel as well as adding the blurred vignetting. I'm going to redo this assignment afresh for the group with different objects and without the special effects, but I like these and think they fit in with what Jeri is trying to help us to accomplish.

Assignment TWO (October)

We had a great group today! Thanks to everyone that came.

There are two assignments this month.

#1. Take an object. Photograph it 12 times. Get creative and make each shot different! Use different angles and experiment with your composition. (eta- You can move the object. Turning it over for example....not moving it to a new location.)

Post your favorite THREE here if you would like.

#2. This assignment is about you and creating an storytelling image. Photograph 3 to5 things that describe who you are, or things that you love. Use light to help you create a mood or feeling. (edit....You can photograph 3-5 different things: my examples might include raspberry lemonade, ballet shoes, and a big stack of lip glosses. OR- You can focus on the story telling element of this assignment: Kellie's first photograph is a great example. That image tells us a little bit more about Kellie and what she loves. Post your favorite pictures on the blog, but limit it to 3-5.)

Try completing these sentences to get some ideas.....

I love __________.
I could spend a whole day _________________.
I can not live without _____________.
My favorite ___________ is ____________.

Now go figure out how to photograph it!

Great work last month everyone. You can still post assignment #1 if you did not have a chance.

We discussed composition today, and a little on f-stops and shutter speeds. I will do a composition post soon.

Jen's #1

Window #1
Soft window light/Close to window/ Light and Shadow on face.

This is the set up. I have a sliding glass door that gets unobstructed sunlight in the afternoon. The images were taken in the early evening, starting after 6pm.

1/13 F5.o ISO 400 38mm

1/13 F5.o ISO 400 31mm

Window #2
Small window/ small amount of light/ Can you make it work?

This window in my kids back bedroom is a good size, but the leafy canopy allows for minimal light coming in.

I found that as I shot pictures here and outside under the trees the catchlights were less pronounced; more like twinkling lights than a bright ray.

1/80 F5.0 ISO 400 31mm

1/15 F5.6 ISO 400 46mm

1/20 F5.o ISO 400 39mm

Window #3
Big window/create flat lighting (no shadows on your subject)

This image was taken in my dining room with the sliding glass door as the "big window" around 4:30pm.

1/80 F5.6 ISO 100 50mm

Outside
Move outside/ get your subject in the shade/ Look for catchlights in the eyes.

Our trip to Clark's Elioak Farm afford me a photo session with my kiddos. While I wish they had cooperated just a little better. I was able to get some shots I liked. I chalk it up to shooting OVER 200 images in less than 2 hours than their willingness to have a camera pointed at them. Here is one of Owen. Help me answer the question...

Black and White
or
Color?

This was taken on the shady side of the wooden Pirates Ship.







1/30 F6.3 ISO 100 33mm

Photography Group Tomorrow...

10:00 at the Church.

Bring an object if you want to begin your assignment during the group tomorrow. Any object!

See you there!

Kellie Assignment One

For most of these, I was using my f/1.4 50 mm lens. The light at my windows is poor, thus my aperture was wide open and my DOF is so shallow that the focus really is off in almost every photo of Evan. The other thing going on was that I had my focus points set differently than I usually do from playing around at the retreat, and I was not going to ask Evan to redo the whole thing. I am, however, quite pleased with the light and composition in most of them. Please learn from my mistake and take the time to go over your camera with a fine-toothed comb before every shoot to make sure it is set up exactly the way you want.


Window # 1: Light and Shadow
ISO 200 f/1.4, 1/60 sec.
This is approaching what is called classic Rembrandt Lighting. It is at slightly more than a 45 degree angle to the window, and is characterized by the triangle of light on the right cheek and the line just to the right of the center of the nose. One of my big challenges shooting with Ev is his glasses. It was hard to use the window because of reflection, but without his glasses, his eye tends to cross. I would try to clone out some of the reflection in the glasses here during post-processing.









Window #2 Small Window-Can You Make it Work: ISO 200 f/1.8, 1/80 sec
You can see by the numbers that there was actually more reflected light at my small window than at my large one, but it had the nice effect of focusing the light, so I went with it. By shooting from this angle, I can minimize the effect of the crossed eye. Again, you see that only a bit of the near eye is sharp and none of the far eye. I am okay with this effect, but it is a very personal thing.

Window #3 Flat Light: ISO 200 f/1.6, 1/80 sec
I love this pose and will definitely try to recreate it. I don't like that there wasn't enough light to show Ev's green eyes, but overall I'm pleased with how it shows his personality.








Flat Light, Take 2: Giving up on my dark, shaded windows. I have good window light in one room for about 2 hours in the morning. That's it. So...
This is in the open door, and the camera is set at f/1.8, 1/250 sec. Big difference. Thus, for this one, I could have gotten enough DOF to make this completely in focus, but Ev had reached the end of his modeling tolerance, so I took what I could get.



Outside, Open Shade: f/2.8, 1/1250 sec. That's not a typo. This was in the Arizona sun under the wan shade of a few Paloverde trees. This was taken with a 70-200 zoom lens from about 15 feet away. The shade is a bit dappled, but I was satisfied with the fact that his eyes and most of his face were evenly lit.
This is my sweet new nephew. He's hasn't known me long enough to run screaming when he sees me coming with my camera.

kj assignment #1

Hopefully this post will make others feel okay to post their photos.... or maybe I'm the only one who has photos that don't look like Jeri took them. The first photo is an outdoor photo, probably around noon. It was taken under the shade of a tree. It was taken with a long zoom lens. All my photos were taken on the auto selection with the flash off. I'm still having problems figuring out how to use the controls on my camera to adjust aperture settings on aperture only mode. I don't have the settings right now for the camera - I downloaded them quickly without looking up the settings on the camera, and I don't have photo editing software on my computer. I'll try to upload them to Shutterfly and post settings later - I think I've seen the photo setting info on the files I have at that service.



The second photo was taken around 5pm inside. The kiddies are laying on the ground a few feet from a large window that was open. I am standing over them with the 50mm zoom lens on the camera. This is my desperate attempt to safely shoot a toddler and a newborn. I guess this would be the diffuse indoor light assignment.

This photo is my indoor with shadow picture. I can't remember the time of day. The window is a few feet to her left.

Grrrr.... I cannot find dark places in my house. The light floods in everywhere - even in the one or two interior rooms without an actual window. Then the light comes from under the door. Anyway, this is my attempt in a dark bathroom with a door open... I needed a tripod and some more patient subjects.

a little tip

I am going to post a few tips now and then. Here is one.

When you download your pictures to the computer make sure you are downloading at 300 dpi.

300 dpi is PRINT quality.
72 dpi is web viewing quality.

When I save for the web I go into Image>Image Size> change the dpi to 72 and change the pixels on the longest side to 500 px. (This is in photoshop) Sometimes I sharpen with an Unsharp mask. You can really over do sharpening. If you see white halos then tone it down (a lot). With unsharp mask for the WEB, I usually use amount: 300%- 330%, radius: 0.2 pixels, threshold: 0. Play around and see what you like.

REMEMBER to print your photos for photography group! What? You haven't taken them?! Get shooting! =)

Tuesday, October 21 at 10:00 is the next group. We will be at the church.

Black and White Conversions

I love this article on dPS that goes step by step through a black and white conversion. (I will be posting tons of links from that site!)

Black and White




Read about Aperture


Read about Shutter Speed


Read about ISO

Vanessa's Assignment #1

#1 Soft window light / light & shadow on face.

50mm lens, 1/100 speed, 1.8, 400 ISO.
Taken about 12 feet from large window at 6pm, lying down on the upstairs landing. Now that I look at it here the shadows are not very pronounced. I could have had her tilted a little more to the side for more drama. I made some PS enhancements for contrast.


#2 Small window / small light / can you make it work?
1/40, 1.8, ISO 100 (I forgot to change the ISO but it worked out).
I used a room with the blind drawn almost all the way at 6pm, and sat her on a dark blanket. It looks lighter in this color photo that it actually was because I turned the lights on after. The color version was very drab. The B&W brings out the contrast much better.


#3 Big window / flat light / no shadows.
1/400, 2.0, ISO 100.
I cheated here. Had her crouch just inside the doorway, because my kids hate posing, so I take what I can get.


#4 Outside / shade.
1/200, 1.8, ISO 100. Taken at 6pm on shaded porch.
So you wouldn't know it from the pictures, but my children are actually happy people! I encouraged them to be serious for the shots so that the eyes were bigger and could catch more light. I'll try HAPPY ones next time :)

Since I won't be able to be at Photo group to talk to our fabulous "teacher" I have a question - pretty basic. I have trouble getting both eyes focused and it ruins so many of my fav shots, especially when they are in CONSTANT motion. See picture below (untouched). Tips? Thanks :)