Fall - Past and Present

While I love summer weather, I have an appreciation for fall and what it offers - change, color, and a time to assess.

That said, last year, I took pictures like these:







While I really like them - especially the one with the orange leaves against the blue sky - I need to try something different this year. I need pictures that are more original and artistic.

Popular Photography's latest issue saves the day, as always. A few interesting ideas that I must try:

1) Abstracts - taking advantage of the wind or of camera movement to incorporate some strategic blurring. I'm very excited about this, because I love the element of the unexpected.

2) Reflections with a twist - longer exposures (but not too long, so I won't need a tripod) - to add an "eerie" effect to my work.

I don't like the colder weather, I admit, but being able to have new material is really appealing. To make sure I take full advantage, I'll have to do a dress rehearsal in the next week or so.

Next time - a twist on some of my California shots.

Deals and Discounts - Should I Bite?

I've contemplated buying Photoshop CS5 on and off for a while. I always figured it would be good to have in my arsenal. But, I always change my mind. What would I do with it? Well, I'd probably tweak a few pictures. These are examples:



I'd take the people out of this picture.



Or brighten this picture (and make the sky blue)



Or remove the cars from this picture.

Anyway, I got a discount card in the mail. Anyone who owns a recent version of Elements for Windows or the Mac can upgrade to a full-fledged version of CS5 for $299. That's a really good deal.

But is it? Not if I'm not going to use it. As some of you know, I spend some time in Aperture, but that's about it. I use it to fix pictures such as this one:



This one was unusable before I worked on it in Aperture. Beyond that, though, I hate editing images.

Unless someone convinces me that CS5 meets MY needs, I don't care how inexpensive it is, or what the discounts are. I find this interesting, because I sell software services for a living. I use exercises like this to get in the heads of my customers. Understanding their needs and what motivates them to buy (which might not always be logical) ensures I'm not throwing deals and discounts at people. My customers are consumers, after all.

Anyway, I've decided to pass on this. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in more details about the promotion. Have a great weekend!

A Celebration of Color, Day 2 - Orange and Yellow

Hi everyone!

I have to say, this series is cheering me up, already. So, without further ado, here are my orange and yellow selections:













First, I was shocked to learn that I had almost no yellow pictures. I wasn't expecting that at all. I don't like orange, but I had more orange ones. Very odd. On my next macro photo shoot, I need to add to my inventory of yellows.

Anyway, thoughts and tips on each picture:

1) This is an interesting picture - it's received very good reviews. For this, I really had to focus on depth of field. I used a very low f-stop to ensure that the background would blur. I wanted the subject to be the full flower. Make sure you are not in bright sunlight when you are taking something like this - you'd lose the intricate details of the flower.

2) This is one of my all-time favorites - it's absolutely gorgeous. This was on a sunny, fall day. I stood under a tree such that some sunlight could stream in, but not too much. I used a relatively large f-stop (f/10) to capture as many sharp leaves as I could. A lower f-stop would have resulted in "strategic blurring", but that's not the look I wanted that day.

3) Speaking of strategic blurring, I actually took this in northern Syria - not the place where you'd expect to see an orange flower. This picture is a great example of how a simple houseplant can look very pretty. This was taken on my aunt's balcony, and I made sure it wasn't too sunny (Syria is very sunny in the summer) by waiting until later that day.

4) Some yellow! Had I a chance to take this picture again, I would have done two things: 1) Made it sharper by holding more still and 2) Either used a lower f-stop to make the background even more blurry or 2) Moved around to avoid this background altogether. It's distracting. I took this several years ago, though, so this was a nice trip down memory lane.

5) This could have been a disaster! The light level was very low, and it was crowded that day. I did not have much time to set up or take this picture. The ISO was bumped ALL the way up - 1600 - and the f-stop was a middling 5.6. A higher f-stop would have removed some of the blurring, but honestly, the light was so low and my "holding still" skills so low that I wouldn't have gotten a shot at all. Also, I made sure the white balance was Tungsten for color fidelity.

6) My worst shot of the bunch. How to fix? Fill flash would have been a start. In this case, though, I would have tried to find the light. Other options are to lower the ISO speed (from 200 to 100) to let in more light, as well as some strategic post-processing. However, brighter light would have made the biggest difference. This picture could have been perfect - it's wonderfully composed. Oh well, at least I have a new project in mind!

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!

Curves, Levels, and Fall

This is the last day where I will cover image editing (I hope). I've found the process interesting and illuminating, and I think the changes I've made will help me with my productivity. The intent of this blog is to help me grow, and it's definitely done that.

On to Curves and Levels. I have to admit, I had no idea what either of them did. I'm still not an expert, of course, but I've gained some perspective. I loaded some fall pictures that I hadn't processed yet into my trial of Aperture 3. I then read the documentation about Levels and Curves.

I came to the conclusion that Levels is the way to go 90% of the time. Curves is best suited for pictures that need heavy editing, or have serious issues with shadows and highlights. And, frankly, the Auto settings for Levels were really all I needed, most of the time. Here are some examples of pictures taken on a cloudy day:



The issue with cloudy days is that although sun glare and harsh highlights are not an issue, the pictures tend to have low levels of contrast, and low levels of color. To me, the originals of these pictures looked faded, initially. I fixed all of them in Aperture (mainly using Levels - Curves didn't make a difference). They don't sparkle like some of my previous pictures, but that's the point - it's a nice change of pace. The originals, though, well, I wasn't a fan. :) I like these edits far better. The level of detail is terrific. I'm really pleased, if you couldn't tell. :)

The first and third ones benefited the most from Aperture, by the way. The last picture was almost brown, before I added red tones to it. The first one was very muted.

Also, note the placement of the watermarks - now, I don't need Elements to do this for me. Everything can be done within one tool. Admittedly, Photoshop is still the premiere tool, but it doesn't suit my strengths or lifestyle. I'm quite happy.

I don't know about you, but I want to cover something else for a change. :) I will do just that. Till tomorrow!

The Dangers of Urban Life, Part 2

Yesterday, I discussed (at length) obstructions that can ruin pictures, as well as what to do. Today, I'm going to elaborate with a few examples. I'll post some "befores" and some "afters". I want you to see that with some quick and careful thinking, you can really make the most of your pictures. I'll also post a few that I saw as a lost cause.

Exhibit 1:

What's funny about this picture is that the original had not one, but two cars in it. However, once compressed and uploaded to Flickr, they disappeared. I therefore didn't need to do anything. If I were to sell this, though, I'd clone out the cars, because they're very visible. The cloning process for this picture would take about five minutes in Photoshop Elements. Simply open the tool, sample the area, and then move the cursor over the offending objects (cars, in this case). There you go!

Exhibit 2:

Note the shadow in the bottom corner, as well as the front of the car on the side. Very easy to crop out, with this result:

Now, the focus is just on the beautiful tree. The extraneous is gone, without resorting to the time-consuming cloning process.

Exhibit 3:

Note the cars on the left. Cropping won't work, and cloning is a nightmare here, so find another angle. In this case, I went to the tree behind this one, faced it, grabbed my wide-angle lens, and got:

Much better! No cars, no distractions!
So, to summarize, clone as a last resort. Often, while you're out there, you can move closer or move around. Use your viewfinder to spot these issues early. Then, correct them. Cropping is your next best bet. Any tool will allow you to do it easily.

Some hopeless causes:

The first one (picture): Too many large and distracting signs. If this were a gorgeous shot, I'd clone out the big one on the left, but I decided it wasn't worth it.

The second one: Pretty, but not worth the effort to clone out the poles and signs. There were many pictures that look nicer than this.

The last one: For the record, this was taken for demonstration purposes. :) But cloning out this car would not be worth it. I took 100 other shots, and they were all serviceable. :)

To summarize this two-part post, move around, take your time, take many pictures and options, and post-process ONLY if you really feel it's worth it.

Till late tomorrow, everyone!

The Dangers of Urban Life

I live in an area of town that is classified as "walkable". This is another way to describe what it really is, which is "crowded" and "urban".

I wouldn't have it any other way, except where photography is concerned. You see, there are a lot of mature trees near me, as well as big houses. These trees look beautiful in the fall. I set out to photograph a few, and here are some examples:

These pictures were all taken in busy, populated neighborhoods. These were some of the "hits". The misses included pictures with multiple obstructions, including:

1) Cars (some of which were moving)
2) People (some of whom were accompanied by scary dogs)
3) Street signs
4) Trash cans
5) Power lines - these are the worst. They completely ruin a picture.

So, how do you capture good pictures under these circumstances? A few preventative tips:
1) Try shooting from different angles. In many cases, by moving a few feet, I was able to sidestep many of these issues.
2) Multiple lenses. Getting in front or around something may shorten the distance between the object and you. My wide-angle lens really saved me - I used it for all of the pictures in this post. A zoom lens is also somewhat helpful.
3) Time and patience. Trying different angles and different lenses isn't something you can do quickly. If you can't plan your outing in advance, then you will absolutely need to slow down.

What if you've already taken the pictures, and it's too late? Some post-processing tips to consider:
1) Cloning (a Photoshop term, I'm not referring to sheep or goats). Cloning involves "stamping out" some of the distractions in the photograph. As an example, this picture had signs in it:

This requires a great deal of time and precision. Only do it if you really have to. The more distractions you have, the longer it takes.
2) Cropping - this can be your best friend. This picture had a wide swath of street and sidewalk, which were useless to me:

Caution - make sure you have enough "picture" left when you do this. If you find that you're cropping out too many details, then you should scrap the picture.
I can't emphasize how important this is. As a result, I'm going to cover more examples tomorrow. I strongly feel that anyone can take pictures like these!

In the meantime, feel free to ask questions. :)
Till tomorrow! I may be posting late, due to a work trip. I'll do my best. :)

My Weekend - (No) Hits and (Some) Misses

My plan for the weekend was:

1) Embassy walk
2) C&O Canal walk
3) Twilight shots

The amusing part was that I'd actually planned 2) - I'd signed up and everything. However, 1) and 3), as well as a friend, distracted me so much that 2) didn't happen.
How did I do? Not so well. The Embassy walk was uninspiring. I wasn't drawn to anything I saw. I realized later it was because I'd seen all of this before, and my focus was to look for something exciting. Well, it wasn't there.

On the bright side, I continued to walk towards Georgetown and found a good place to take fall shots when the leaves turn. 

Yup, I sure wasn't feeling creative on Saturday! But these things happen. What WAS good was the following:

1) This spot overlooked a nice bridge where the view, at the right time, would be terrific
2) I practiced using my macro lens as a telephoto lens, and decided that perhaps my telephoto lens would be better for this
3) I finally figured out which filters went with which lenses, out of necessity
4) I learned that dropping my fantastic circular polarizer wasn't the end of the world

In all seriousness, the next adventure was the twilight shots. Let's just say that that adventure wasn't a success at all. I was at my friend's place, and took pictures from the balcony. The results required more editing in Aperture than I wanted to do. I later realized that if I'd been 45 to 90 degrees from the sunset, I could have had better results. 

It's important to note that I didn't find this a waste of time at all. In fact, it's important to practice for the big moments and the nice shots - like this one that I took last year, which is a little obvious, but at least in my opinion, really pretty:

Till tomorrow!

What I Like About You, Fall

I really dislike any season other than summer. I think the beach, the sun, the heat, the humidity, and everything that goes along with those things is heaven. I will probably complain every day until next summer. I'm just one of those people.

However, some positives:

A later sunrise and an earlier sunset - for photos such as this one, which I took at 7 am a few years ago:



Let me tell you, it was nice to not have to wake up early to take this.

Obviously, the leaves and all of the colors. Here's one shot I've always liked:



Or this one, with more foliage:



But, I need to do a few things differently this year:

1) Get some inspiration by leaving town. To that end, I'm spending the night in the Shenandoahs later this month.

2) Take pictures of something other than just leaves - I need to add some visual interest. I love cliches, don't get me wrong, but I want to take some risks this year. Maybe I'll break out that telephoto lens again, or try some macro shots. Or lie on the ground and take pictures from that angle. I won't know until I try.

3) Go on multiple outings, not just one. I suppose this means my weekends are shot. :)

What about you? How will you embrace fall?

Until tomorrow!