National Arboretum, Raymond-Style

I mentioned that I went back to the National Arboretum over the weekend. This time, I took a friend with me. I took this friend in particular for several reasons:

1) Raymond and I approach pictures in a completely different way. While I like the pretty, fluffy, and floral, like this:



or this:



Raymond spent his time looking for the interesting, and "edgy". Some examples of what he did:

1) He played with the perspective of the brick wall, focusing on it instead of the flowers - in contrast with what I did above.

2) He zeroed in on the details - tree branches, tree stumps, small leaves. I took a more sweeping approach, and stuck to it.

3) He took his time. I tend to move fast and often. He is much more patient. He'll try again and again to get his shot. I'll try a few times and move on.

This may sound obvious, but trust me, his pictures looked nothing like mine. Frankly, that's the fun part about photography - it's highly subjective and unique.

Tomorrow - my landscape photography, past and present.

National Arboretum, Take Two

I'd mentioned that I'd planned to do a reshoot of these gorgeous gardens. I took a friend with me, Raymond. This week, I'll cover the following:

1) My photos

2) His photos

3) Some musings regarding my work

4) My next steps

So, this wasn't the easiest shoot for several reasons:

1) Wind - the slightest breeze makes the flowers blurry. It's a very precise movement, and dealing with this, well, it's not really my strength.

2) Light - Raymond and I adjusted our settings numerous times, even in the same section of the gardens. I should also say that some post-processing was required of my pictures.

3) Crowds - I felt that I could have been trampled on - more than once.

Having said that, here are some examples of my work:











As you can see, it was a really nice day, and the azaleas were gorgeous. I tried to capture a lush, luxurious kind of feeling. You can see how I used trees and other things (like the wall) to frame my work. I love spring!

A few notes:

1) ISO varied from 100-400 on my camera, 80-400 on Raymond's. When we were in the shade, it was very difficult to get a precise shot without bumping it up. You want to be very good at changing this - very quickly.

2) I had to work around the people. I changed angles, got low, and moved around as much as I could. I can't even imagine what this would have been like with a tripod - though I admit the pictures would have been somewhat crisper, for sure.

3) I took what I thought was pretty. Some pictures didn't remotely resemble my vision. Much of this has to do with the fact that the camera lens is not like the human eye. We perceive and process colors and lighting in a very different way. I'm not an expert in the world of physics (or whatever this would fall under), so I made sure to take a lot of pictures and not worry about it.

3) I definitely fell victim to the flowers, the breeze, and the blur effect. For this reason, I don't think these pictures look good when blown up to anything larger than a 5 by 7 picture. It's very strange, because look at this example of a greenhouse macro that I did:



I'm confused. Macro photography is much more precise and subject to camera shake. I'm going to go into this topic later in the week. Specifically, am I too critical or picky? What does this mean for my landscape photography? I'm not being negative, I'm just wondering. I've done some research, and plan to write about this in detail.

Overall, it was a great exercise, and I had fun with my friend - who had some really interesting successes, himself. I'll share them tomorrow.

DC Photo Shoot - National Arboretum

On Friday, I mentioned some tips for a combination hiking and photography outing. Little did I know that those tips were useful yesterday!

I headed out to the National Arboretum for the Ikebana International Annual Spring Flower Show at the National Arboretum in DC. I'll cover the flower show tomorrow, as it warrants its own topic. I actually took some of my own advice! I packed light, avoided harsh sunlight, and I looked for inspiration along the way.

That said, it wasn't easy. Take a look at some of these shots:







You see, I researched the flower festival and its details, but not so much the park itself. These are some pictures of azaleas, before the peak. Luckily, I packed light - I was hiking up and down the trails trying to find something that would work.

Having said that, I think these are nice and simple. They're not stunning, and I would never enter them in a contest, but they are pretty. I enjoy looking at them. And that's fine with me.

I used my kit lens - ISO 100 and automatic white balance. Any camera will work.