California Trip - Clouds in Dana Point

As I mentioned last week, California (at least the Southern part, from what I could tell) has a climate of extremes. This poses quite a few challenges when shooting.

Consider clouds. On the one hand, you'll never have to worry about harsh shadows or contrast. On the other, you end up with pictures like these:







As someone who loves bright colors, it's hard to get too excited about these. However, I did what I could. Here was what I was thinking when I took these:

The first two were framed by the red flowers. That added a pop of color. To achieve this look, find some flowers and get low. Try multiple angles - not everything works.

The third was a conscious choice to simply emphasize angles and lines. I was able to focus more on them than I would have had it been a sunny day. They "pop" here.

The last two involved focusing on "themes" - the first one was relaxation (the couches and casual feel), the second one was exercise (that hill was steep).

Overall, I preferred my pictures in the bright sun, but the lesson here is that you can't always choose your environment. Make the best of it!

Settings: Higher ISO than average (you'll need to experiment, but 400 worked well), middling f-stops (around 5.6), cloudy white balance, some tweaking in Aperture - mainly saturation settings.

Next time - some gratuitous macro work in Coronado. I couldn't resist!

California Trip - Daytime Shots - Dana Point and Coronado

California weather is definitely interesting. One minute, you have clouds and fog. The next minute, you have sun. I opted to shoot in both sets of conditions. Today, I'll cover my adventures with the sun and with harsh shadows.

Let's face it, I've never been great at handling the light. However, I think I'm improving. Here are what I consider my top shots during this trip:







The first two have several common elements: I set the ISO as low as I could, I used my wide angle lens, I used my polarizing filter, and I strived to make the water shots more interesting by including other elements of interest - in this case, the plants and colors. To shoot these, I "squatted" and stayed low.

The third picture's settings were the same, but I used the angles and curves as my areas of interest. I stayed on a gorgeous property and wanted to highlight the building in some manner.

For all of these three, I debated making them lighter (because I know they don't show too well on PCs), but I really liked the richness of the colors, so I left the pictures as is. The full-sized versions are the best way to view these, as a result.

The second three were situations where the sun was at its harshest. My polarizing lens really didn't save me for the first and third pictures, but it did for the second. My approach was to make the most of it, and to highlight the contrast as best as possible, without creating too many distractions. Hopefully, I achieved that goal.

Settings: White Balance - Sunny, Aperture Priority (f-stop of 6.3), wide angle lens.

Tweaks: Minor ones, mainly involving brightening some of the shadows, or increasing the exposure overall.

Next time - cloudy day shots (which pose a different set of challenges).

Dana Point, Day 1 - Day and Night

I couldn't wait to get off the plane and to the resort and the beach yesterday. I had packed every last piece of equipment I owned in my carry-on luggage, and was hoping it would be worth the effort. I knew that getting back into taking pictures after a fairly long hiatus would be an adventure.

It started out bumpy, admittedly. While I picked a great property with terrific views and nature, my pictures fell a bit flat. They felt cliche. I pushed through, though, because I wanted to see if anything would inspire me. Here's my best shot of the day:



I went back and forth on the treetops here - they're a bit cut off. I like them as is (it's a little off kilter and quirky), but I may want to reshoot and see if I change my mind. I love the simple lines, the dark sky, and the fact that I broke about 10 different photography rules.

It took a long time to get here! Here's where I started:





I'm drawn to the second one - it's simple, and it has some color. It makes a nice background somewhere. :)

The two darker ones were taken much later in the day than the two lighter ones. I like the shapes and curves of the first two. The third one was taken with a longer exposure, and that's what got me inspired to take my favorite one. My poor sister watched me as I took one 30 second shot after another.

I then went to the property, excited to take more long exposures. The results? Iffy. Take a look:





I loved the idea of taking long exposures of the pool, but yikes, was it tough in practice. There's an awful lot of noise in the last two - but I'll buy a noise correcting package and see if that will do the trick (look for that in a future post). These 30 second exposures were done without a tripod - I set down the camera in different areas of the pool and went for it. I'm sure everyone was wondering what I was doing. What was cool was that there was someone swimming while I was taking the third shot, but because of the long exposure, you don't see it.

I've packed my tripod, so I'm going to try different shots with it. My lesson is, though, that crisp and clean seem to do the trick for me. Either that, or quirky and crazy. Middle ground is not very "me".

Anyway, equipment used:

My standard DSLR, kit lens, and wide angle lens

ISO - 200 to 800 (if you click on the shots, Flickr will tell you)

White balance - mainly Tungsten for the night ones

Shutter speed - 25 to 30 second for the night ones, Aperture priority (so much faster speeds) for the daytime ones

Today, I'll attempt some tripod shots in the evening (I should have plenty of time), as opposed to just setting down the camera. I'm sure I'll see different results. If I can get one "shot of the day" every day, that will be fine with me. I'll also have my camera with me during the day, and will see if anything else inspires me. :)

Photo Safaris

I'll be the first to admit that work has prevented me from doing much with my photography, but I need that to change, if only a bit. Since I'm going on vacation soon, I'll make some progress in this area. But after having spent some time this morning talking with someone about photography, I've realized how much I've missed spending time with people who feel the same way I do. So, I've decided it's time for some photo safaris. They've really helped open my eyes as to options, techniques, and just plain fun. Here are examples of my work from past safaris:





The third one is significant to me, as that's when I was told that I needed to keep shooting and keep trying. The instructor had never seen anyone take that picture before - and she'd led the safari more than a few times.

Anyway, I miss experimenting, interacting with fellow hobbyists, and just enjoying myself. With that said, I'm considering the following safaris:

Fine Art Photography - I really want to learn more about this, what it means, and how it could apply to me.

Afternoon Light in Annapolis, MD - To learn how to take unique pictures of typically touristy areas

Panoramic Photography - This could really be interesting. I don't love Photoshop or anything, but I love landscapes and want to learn more.

Coming this week - trip updates, assuming my equipment, the weather, and my motivation cooperate. :)

Take me out to the Ball Game

I haven't critiqued my work in a while. Truth be told, I haven't HAD any new work in a while. Much of this is because I haven't traveled much, and I need a big push.

Last week, my team at work and I went to a baseball game at Nationals Park. I thought, what a good time to practice using my telephoto lens! Well, I was partially right.

First, I checked the ballpark rules. Fortunately, at 7 inches, my telephoto lens passed the test. Given that I didn't know where I would sit, I also packed my kit lens.

I sat in a front section, but far away from third base. Without my lens, it would have been hard to see much of the game. These were the types of shots I'd took:



What I liked:

1) There's some action here. I understood the game well enough to look for good moments.

2) Despite the sun, these pictures aren't too bright. This is thanks to one of my filters - a neutral density filter.

3) Most of my pictures did not have noticeable camera shake. This is definitely thanks to my telephoto lens - IS is the way to go.

4) I took several test shots to make sure my settings were what I'd wanted.

What I need to do better next time:

1) If I want to do this again, I need to sit in a seat where I get a better view. It was difficult to capture much of anything from where I was.

2) The pictures are a tad too dark. I shot in RAW, so that's easy to fix, but I should think about my settings a little more next time.

3) I had to crop almost everything. This goes back to sitting in a seat that gives me more flexibility.

My settings:

F-stop - 8. Shutter speed - 1/800. ISO = 200.

Next time: photo safaris of interest.