Day 3 - Cacti!

Earlier this week, I resolved to spend twelve consecutive days discussing new, original work. So, I thought a little experiment would be in order. I decided to expand my horizons to cacti. Not as easy as I'd have liked for several reasons:

1) I love color. Cacti (or cactuses, whichever word you choose - both are correct) are not very pretty, in my opinion. After all, they aren't pink or blue. :)

2) It's harder for me to play with angles and shapes.

On the bright side:

1) They're very symmetrical, which I can appreciate.

2) They don't move, so there's less of a concern about camera shake (little flowers sway, even in a slight breeze)

My favorites:





The first one was great, because of the depth of field (ie strategic blurring), the fact that there is at least some color in the picture, and the overall angle.

The second one was a toss-up for me. I debated whether or not to crop it so I could center it, but I decided that I preferred this slightly off-center look. It's a symmetrical object depicted in a slightly "off" way.

The third one was interesting to me because I never would have guessed that this was a cactus. I also like the lighting effects in the bottom corner.

My tips for these:

1) Definitely play with the f-stop if you can. I used a higher one in the second picture to capture as much detail as I could.

2) Get as close as you can with these. Don't hesitate to crouch down (which I did). Make sure, though, your body and camera are as stable as possible if you're moving around.

3) Experiment with composition and framing. In other words, move the camera slightly to the right or the left. For the first two shots, it made a big difference.

As for me, I prefer flowers, but with some practice, I can take even better pictures of these plants. It just takes time, that's all.

Till tomorrow!

Contests

As you may know, I resolved to enter at least two contests a month. This month, I found three good ones - so I managed to exceed my goal. Here is what I chose this month:

1) Pixel Induced's Black and White Photo Competition. I submitted this:



2) SnapAlley's Up Close Contest. I submitted this:



3) Tamron's Fall into Winter Contest Four. I submitted this:



I realize this was taken with a point-and-shoot, but that's the point. I wanted to try my luck with it.

My Day 3 post is coming soon - stay tuned!

Day 2 - Leaves!

Earlier this week, I resolved to spend twelve consecutive days discussing new, original work. You may already know that I love flowers. Well, leaves are also a great subject to photograph. Several advantages over flowers:

1) Composition is easier, in my opinion. Macro shots of flowers require precision in framing. You can have much more fun with leaves. I'll illustrate below.

2) You're less vulnerable to the effects of camera shake - at least this is my experience. In other words, if you don't have a steady hand, you can still take great shots. Blurry flowers are not pretty. Blurry leaves, however, look like abstract art.

3) You don't necessarily need a macro lens. In fact, in quite a few cases, you can get away with a point-and-shoot. I'll cover a few exceptions.

Here are my favorite pictures from yesterday:







The first picture has pink in it. Pink is my favorite color. Need I say more? You don't need a macro lens to take this one, as an added bonus.

The second has this muted feel that I love. I think you can take a similar picture with a point-and-shoot, too.

The third - I love the raindrops. Note that this one would be hard to take without a macro lens, in my opinion. The details of the raindrops, especially zoomed in, would be harder to capture.

The fourth is nice because of the reflection. It's a bit bright, but I like the way it looks. This one doesn't require a macro lens, though it would make life easier because you can stand farther away.

The fifth one has a nice simple shape. I think it's really pretty.

The last one is interesting - I like the shape and the red in the corner. It's a unique look.

Some general tips for you:

1) Bump up your ISO settings if it's dark - 400 or 800. Switch to 100 or 200 if it's sunnier.

2) Automatic white balance should work.

3) As I always recommend, take many versions - but don't worry too much about the settings. Just move the camera around and be mindful of the ISO. The goal is to play with the angles and shapes. Taking nice pictures of leaves involves pretty shapes, angles, and textures. It's less technical than macro shots of flowers, in my opinion.

Till tomorrow!

Day 1 - Orchids!

After I got my camera back, the first thing I wanted to do was head to a garden and take pictures. I didn't want to do anything else. While taking my pictures, I came up with my 12 days of photography idea. This is therefore Day 1.

Anyway, I headed to the Botanical Gardens in DC with all of my camera gear in tow, including my backup camera. I was not going to take any chances. I had a brand new 4 GB memory card installed, and was ready to go.

I took pictures of not only orchids, but cacti, various plants, and leaves. I'll cover those in the next few days. I wanted to start with the orchids because my mom LOVES them, and I love my mom. I wanted to post everything for her as soon as possible.

I have to say, it was HARD! Several reasons:

1) The area where the orchids were was very hot, even for me. (I think 75 degrees is frigid)

2) People were everywhere, and were constantly bumping into me.

3) I made the mistake of working out hard earlier today, and I was convinced my arms were going to fall off.

Admittedly, only 2) really had an impact on my pictures. When using a macro lens, the slightest movement can make a picture blurry. The crowds were therefore an added challenge for me.

I did well, though - I think. I'm always second-guessing myself. In fact, I deleted several pictures after I'd posted them! Here are my favorites:







These are my favorites for many reasons, but mainly because they seem "artistic" to me. The first and second pictures look like watercolors - the first bright, the second muted. The third picture looks like it has little hands, and I feel like the picture pops (click on it to see the larger version). The fourth has great colors, and the last one reminds me of Hawaii. I'm not sure why.

A few technical notes:

1) I took at least six or seven versions of these pictures. I needed to account for plant motion (which causes blur), setting changes (mainly ISO speeds and f-stops), and different angles. This was really useful, as I had many choices.

2) I climbed on quite a few benches to take these pictures. Fortunately, no one stopped me. A lot of the orchids were either high up or far.

3) Post-processing was necessary for each and every one of these. For some, I just cropped. For others, I had to change the exposure, as they were too dark or too light. With others, I changed the brightness, decreased the highlights, changed the brightness, increased the saturation, and increased the vibrancy. In other words, this was a very very VERY resource-intensive process.

What if you have an SLR, or if you don't have a macro lens? You can still take pretty pictures, but you'll lose the ability to take very close closeups, if that makes sense. I saw many people who didn't have the same capability, and a few of them asked me about my lens. If you are serious about macro photography, there's no way around it. However, if you want to take pretty pictures from a bit farther away (I was inches from these flowers), then keep my technical notes in mind - they still apply to you.

Till tomorrow!

Twelve Days of Photography - Introduction

I took some terrific pictures this afternoon, and I had a great day. I realized that the next twelve days will probably be the least hectic for a very, very long time. I've therefore decided to spend the next twelve days taking pictures and only discussing NEW work - no recycling of past pictures. I'll pick a theme each day, go over my lessons learned, and treat this as a DC photojournalistic adventure.

I'm really excited about this idea. My first post will be in a few hours - I'm compiling and organizing my pictures as I type this. Till then!

My Camera's Back!

A few weeks ago, I told the sad story of how I accidentally messed up my camera. I had assumed I wouldn't see it again until at least mid-January. Well, guess what? Penn Camera called me yesterday and let me know it was ready. And it's perfect! They cleaned it, and made adjustments, too!

I can't tell you how excited I am to have my camera back. Over the last few weeks, I discussed my backup plan, my adventures with my newly acquired point-and-shoot, and various other musings. Now that my beloved camera is back at home, here are my plans:

1) I really missed being able to take artistic shots, especially macro shots. I'm planning to head down to some exhibits in the next few days to take more pictures like these:



My skills have improved dramatically, so I'm hopeful I'll be able to take new and original pretty pictures. :)

2) My winter landscape photo shoot went better than I'd expected. I need to find other dark, depressing landscapes to photograph.

3) The sunsets this time of year are GORGEOUS. I need to capitalize on that, somehow. I'm not sure how or when I'll be able to do that, but I plan to, for sure. :)

I'm hoping to get started on these initiatives tomorrow. Till then!

This Morning on GMA

I love GMA. It's my morning habit (for as long as it takes to get ready for work, anyway). Today, a segment aired where Joe McNally provided some tips and tricks geared towards those who managed to get a camera for Christmas. I listened closely - it's always good to learn. Some highlights:

1) Although the camera is a machine which does most of the work for you, you still need to know your camera and learn how to use it.

2) Group photography - this can be one of the most difficult types, especially if children are involved. You have to direct the group, get everyone in line, make sure everyone's eyes are open, etc. The best way to handle this is to tell everyone exactly what you want them to do, and take many many pictures. This way, you can guarantee that everyone will look good in at least one of them. I can relate to this - here's one that turned out very well:



I directed everyone to stand like this and smile. My sister, my brother-in-law, and my niece definitely do a great job of taking direction! :)

3) Get close to the subjects - here's a good one:



Any closer, and my sister probably would have slapped me. But, you get the point. :)

4) If you're shooting landscapes, find some visual interest in the foreground. I'm actually not very good at this. I tend to go for sweeping, beautiful landscapes. Or lots of colors, like here:



5) Move the camera around - funny - I do this ALL the time. I'm the one you'll find lying on her stomach, standing on a bench, squatting, or crawling somewhere. Here's an example:



I stood on the base of a statue to get high enough, and to be able to capture the entire section of the building. Had I stayed on the ground, the top half would have been cut off.

6) Remember that you can still be spontaneous. In fact, it's easier - you can take many, many candid shots without having to wait for several days for the film to develop (like in the "old" days). This served me well in New York:



My subjects were moving around A LOT. They were playing around, and I grabbed my camera and started shooting. Some of the pictures were blurry, but this one was really good (in my opinion).

All in all, I follow most of these tips anyway, but I really want to improve my landscape photography. Where and how would you like to improve? Which of these tips will you try?

Till tomorrow!

Life Without my DSLR, Part 3 - Central Park with Hala

As some of you know, portraiture is not my strength. Because I have a family who likes pictures, though, I'm giving this my best effort. What complicates the situation is not having my DSLR with me.

However, I think I'm progressing. I took my sister to Central Park, and decided to experiment over there. Her clothes definitely helped - blue coat - to serve as a contrast. Some examples of my favorites:





Very minor surgery was required:

First picture - minor exposure change - it was a bit bright

Second picture - cropping to focus on my sister, as opposed to the background

Third picture - horizon tool, because it was a little "slanty"

My sister was a terrific subject. I'd asked her to give me a little variety so that not every picture was "straight on", and she definitely delivered. Cliche or not, she looks great! She definitely brightened up a dreary day.

Till next week! Happy holidays!

Life Without my DSLR, Part 2 - Rockefeller Center at Night

I'm sorry for not posting yesterday, but I'm making it up to you with TWO posts tonight. I'll therefore wrap up my NYC trip.

This was the most challenging aspect of the trip, for several reasons:

1) Rockefeller Center is PACKED with people - I had to make sure that I didn't include recognizable faces in the pictures, aside from those of my sister and her friend. Otherwise, I'd need a model release for everyone.

2) Bright lights - normally a blessing, but not while in a huge crowd during the holiday season. How would I know what exposure to use? Or white balance? Honestly, it was a nightmare.

3) The tree - how would I take non-cheesy pictures of it?

Well, I'm not sure I answered all of these questions too well, but here are some results:





And, here's the surgery I had to perform on all of these:

Picture 1 - white balance change in Aperture, cropping, but with the goal of preserving the detail on the left,

Picture 2 - cropping (to zero in on their great faces)

Picture 3 - none - I wanted to capture the crowds, the greenery, and the lights. This is ultimate New York. After numerous takes, I found a version that did not include recognizable faces. Hopefully, this picture isn't TOO cheesy. :)

I experimented with the following:

1) White balance - Tungsten and Normal

2) Cropping - to remove extraneous details and faces

3) Flash - I'm not a fan, but it worked for me in the second picture. Had I not taken multiple versions, though, I wouldn't have known what was best.

My favorite picture is the second one - it focuses in on my subjects, but provides background interest. Had I not experimented as indicated above, though, this picture wouldn't have happened. I'm therefore grateful to my very patient subjects.

Would this have been easier with my DSLR? Only for post-processing. I actually appreciated having a nice, light camera so that I could rush around, jump on benches, and do what I had to do to get the right shot. If I had all of my camera gear, I would have fidgeted with all of the lenses, as opposed to enjoying the moment with my loved ones.

Next post - coming up!

Life Without my DSLR, Part 1 - NYC Daytime Landscapes

Let me just start by saying that I missed my poor camera every moment of this trip. Don't get me wrong, the Canon point-and-shoot I purchased is great. It's just that I had a few issues with it:

1) The flash kept popping up, which was annoying - but I figured out how to keep it off.

2) The settings were not fun to modify (white balance, ISO, etc.) - it just wasn't as easy.

3) I missed the ability to use my specialized lenses. I particularly hated not being able to use an F-stop greater than 4.5.

4) Not having the option to shoot in RAW really threw me.

Having said that, there were a few advantages:

1) I didn't hurt my back or shoulders as a result of lugging around my heavy gear.

2) I could take candid pictures and be subtle about it (especially where my sister was concerned).

So, what do the pictures look like? Not bad, considering the season. Here are some examples:



The second picture (without the ducks) is the winter version of:



Let's face it, I like the fall picture far, far better. But, I didn't mind the winter ones, especially the ones with ice.

Some observations:

1) I needed to tweak the ISO to 200, but I kept the white balance to Auto. Shade didn't work very well.

2) I needed to darken every single shot in Aperture.

3) I found these pictures very gloomy, but the park was hardly colorful that day, so it fit the mood.

4) I could see myself using this camera for daytime shots such as these - simple landscapes. This isn't the case for my other NYC shots, though, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So to summarize, I did the best I could by modifying as many settings as possible to ensure I had the best results.

Parts 2 and 3 will cover my lessons learned with taking pictures using this camera at night, and taking shots of my sister during the day and at night. Till tomorrow!

Point-and-Shoot Adventure

Most of you know that my camera is off in repair-land and that I bought a point-and-shoot, but haven't used it yet. Well, my time has come. My sister and I are going to NYC on Monday, and I have some big plans:

1) Take pictures of her - practice makes perfect

2) Experiment with the camera to see what it can and can't do

3) Remind myself that I CAN take good pictures with a point-and-shoot. Examples:





I'm on a 4 hour bus trip. I plan to spend the entire time getting to know my camera. After all, I should practice what I preach!

Have a great weekend! Till Wednesday!

White Balance

All week, I've reviewed key technical terms and how they apply to your cameras and day-to-day pictures. The last major term is called white balance. Fortunately, it's quite easy to apply in practice - and extremely important if you aren't shooting in RAW.

A technical definition is "a setting that compensates for the differences in color temperature of the surrounding light". (these technical definitions have made me laugh all week)

In English, it's a feature that defines what the color white looks like in specific lighting conditions, which impacts the appearance of all other colors. The wrong white balance setting can have an amusing impact on your pictures. Have your pictures ever been:

1) Too blue? (raising my own hand)

2) Too brown/beige? (raising my own hand)

3) Too gold/yellow? (raising both hands)

The first happens when it's a normal day, and you accidentally have your white balance setting to Tungsten or Fluorescent. The second happens when it's a normal day, and your setting is Cloudy or Shade. The third scenario, the most common, is when you are indoors and you have the setting on AWB, the default. There are many other combinations of mishaps, but these seem fairly common. The rule of thumb is, if your picture is too "warm" or too "cool", you need to fix your white balance settings.

You may ask, so AWB isn't good enough? Isn't the camera smart enough? The answer is, only if it's a nice and reasonably sunny day.

Otherwise, I recommend you take the time to modify the settings according to your surroundings. They're self-explanatory, fortunately, except for Tungsten, which basically means indoors with the lights on. Shade is shade, Daylight is daylight, etc. As for Custom, I've never used it, but it involves using a white piece of paper to customize the setting. The camera knows what to do with the other colors. I've never used it.

What about RAW files? If you're shooting in RAW, sure, it's easy to correct, but for everyone else, it's a hassle to fix. At the same time, I'm a fan of getting it right the first time, like I did here (white balance setting - Daylight):



The results are worth the effort, trust me!

Till tomorrow!

ISO - not the Classified Ads

The past few days, I've covered various technical basics. My goal is to explain how they can be useful for any camera, for any photographer. Today's topic is ISO.

A technical definition for ISO is "ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of photographic negative materials". I don't know about you, but I'd prefer the English explanation, which is:

Higher ISO -> better pictures in low light (because the image sensor is more sensitive)

Lower ISO -> higher image quality, but only in optimal light situations

ISO that is too high -> pictures with high amounts of noise, which may render them unusable

Examples:

Higher ISO speeds:



The first one was taken at ISO 800. I was using a macro lens, so this enabled me to take clean, precise pictures without worrying about camera shake. The second one, however, was taken with a wide-angle lens. The ISO was set at a very high 1600. The quality of this image is lower, but it's for effect - I wanted to show the drama of the storm that day.

Medium ISO speeds:

  

These were taken at ISO 400, with a wide-angle lens. In both cases, it was fairly dark inside, so I experimented with 800 and 400. I preferred these. I didn't want them to look artificially bright.

Low ISO speeds:



In both cases, I had good amounts of light and wanted the best pictures possible. They were taken at 100 and 200.

My advice:

1) Try different ISO settings so you can see the impact yourself

2) Do not go above 800, unless you're doing so for special effects

3) My default for a bright and sunny day is 100

I hope this helps! Till tomorrow!

Fun with Shutter Speed

Yesterday, I began this series with an explanation of aperture. I admit, it's not the easiest concept to explain, but applying it in practice is fairly straightforward. Shutter speed, however, is the opposite - easy to explain, a little more difficult to apply. What do I mean by that?

Well, let's start with what it is, and some examples. A technical definition is "the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open". It's expressed in seconds or fractions of a second.

Sounds reasonable. How do we apply this? I'll explain a few scenarios:

1) Fast shutter speed for definition and freezing moving objects (faster than 1/250 to 1/4000 and beyond):



This shutter speed (taken with a point-and-shoot) is 1/1000. If you look closely, the waves are highly defined - they're not blurred. It looks as though I froze time (or something like that). You would also use a similar speed for sports events or any situation where things are moving quickly and you want to capture everything.

2) Slow shutter speed for dramatic effect/strategic blurring (more than one second):



This is a 30 second shutter speed. The clouds and the reflections are very dramatic. At a faster shutter speed, the picture would have been frozen - like this:



The shutter speed here was a fraction of a second, so everything looks more crisp.

But wait, it gets more confusing:

3) On the slow side - better for low light (1/15 and slower):



It was dark out, and I was using my macro lens. I chose a setting of 1/15 to compensate for the low light. As I have mentioned in the past, I kept the ISO relatively high as well to avoid blurring.

4) On the fast side - good light for sharp landscape shots (1/80 to around 1/125):



I used 1/80. The light was good, and the detail is good, too.

And now, for the most confusing part:

Aperture and shutter speed are related to each other. If you select the wrong shutter speed, you can under- or over-expose your photos. I can only be so technical, so instead of addressing this manually (using the M setting), I decide what I want to control - one or the other - and I set my camera according to that. The camera adjusts based on my selection. This link provides a more technical treatment of the topic, but the best advice is:

1) Shoot with different settings to see for yourself, keeping the above guidelines in mind

or

2) Decide what you want to capture and how - and modify that setting. (lots of detail, fast shutter speed or high f-stop - blurring, low f-stop or slow speed, etc.) Use the above pictures as a general guide.

I'm in favor of 1), as it's really the best way to see this in action. Plus, multiple versions of the same shot can be equally interesting.

Tomorrow, I'll throw in another variable - ISO.

Till tomorrow!

Aperture - it's not just a Product

I was watching GMA in bed this morning (I've been sick), and a photographer came on. He talked about holiday photos and getting great shots. One key point he mentioned was "know your camera".

I struggled with this initially (years ago) - I'm not technical, and those details aren't really all that interesting to me. However, for the sake of my photography, I really did need to understand several key concepts. Therefore, I will be discussing the following over the next few days:

1) Aperture

2) Shutter speed

3) ISO

4) White balance

If you know how to adjust these on your camera (whether it be point-and-shoot, or otherwise), then you'll be in good shape.

I'll start with Aperture. A technical definition for it is "the diameter of the lens opening. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film / image sensor. Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture)."

Huh? I'm sure my engineering-educated customers could jump in and help us, but for the rest of us:

The smaller the aperture, the higher the F-stop. In English, this means that your picture will have more elements that are sharp and clear. Example:



This is a relatively high F-stop - around 10 and 11, respectively. I chose this picture to 1) Keep my mind off of this cold weather and 2) Because of the leaves. You'll notice that all of the elements are in equal focus, regardless of the distance. Compare this with other equally colorful pictures:



Notice that the butterfly and its surrounding flowers are in sharp focus. Everything else (especially the leaves) is strategically blurred. This is a relatively low F-stop of 2.8. The same points are valid for the second picture - the left side is in focus, to draw attention to the colorful details. The right side is blurred.

Some of your point-and-shoots give you the ability to adjust your aperture settings. You might not be able to by much, but even the smallest bit can make a difference for you. If you can, you'll want to take the same picture using different settings. This way, YOU can see the difference - and you won't have to just take my word for it. :)

So, to summarize - the higher the F-stop number on your camera, the more focused objects in your pictures.

Till tomorrow!