Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Birthday

Bugs


All taken last Sunday, near Berga.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Portraits: Common Mistakes

Okay, so here's the deal. Last Saturday I allowed someone else to use my camera for a while. With all due respect to this person, allow me to point out common mistakes in the pictures that were taken.
1. Someone else is in the picture but not really in it. Or in this case, their butt is in the picture. Not attractive people, not attractive. Also, the background is distracting, and the placing of the subject is off- it is neither in the exact center nor is it quite enough to the side that the eyes are drawn to him.

2. The subject is so near that you can clearly see all his defects, such as pimples or bags under his eyes. Also, part of the head is cut off. It is better to get all the head in and then a bit of space over it, or a lot of space- it depends on the feeling you want to convey and on the setting. Practice will help you get it right.


3. Not enough background- or not any! This kind of picture can be overwhelming to look at. You need to make sure that there is a background. If it's too cluttery, use a lower aperture so that it will be blurry and not distract from the person's face. Backgrounds like plain walls, the sea, the beach, grass and trees are all good ones when you want the picture to be focused on the person and not anything else.



4. You can't see the person's face. In fact, almost the only thing you can see in this picture is the boy's arm and elbow- not particularly attractive from a photographic nor from a more documental point of view. You are not evoking any memories or emotions by photographing a person's elbow. Now, there are cases in which it is fine not to show the person's face- but these are rarer than not, and the more practice you get as a photographer, the more quickly you will recognize these moments.

5. The subject is blurry. This has an easy solution: higher ISO, more light, or half a second more when clicking the shutter to ensure that your camera correctly identified your main subject and focused on it. There is nothing else really wrong with the picture, sure, it could use more light; but it otherwise looks fine. Since it is so easy to solve this problem, please make sure to do so!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

One of Those Little Things

... that makes you feel a little better when you're down.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Flower & Moth


Sometimes, all you need to do is be at the right place at the right time- and be lucky enough that you didn't scare the little bug away. It helps if your camera doesn't make noise, you don't make noise, you don't touch the bug and you are quick in choosing the right settings.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

More About Light- and Roses

This is the same rose. But can you see how much the type of light and exposure can change the mood and the feeling that the two pictures convey?

Admittedly, I changed the brightness and contrast on my computer, but the basic photo was very similar to the final product. I took the picture just as the sun was shining very brightly on the rose, and with the lowest exposure (-2) to take attention away from the background (the bricks) and onto the rose. I find the result very intriguing.



This other picture is very pretty also, but it is more similar to what other photographers commonly take. It is less unique, although still nice. The placing of the rose on the side, rather than the center, and the low aperture used help to make it stand out a little more.

Friday, May 8, 2009

A rose by any other name

... would smell as sweet.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

No Comments

Another One Of Those Vainilla Posts

Okay, so I know this one was not particularly in focus, but it was too funny to leave out.

And for some strange reason, I really like this one.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Light

Photography is all about light. Get the wrong kind of light and your picture is ruined. Be it too dark or too light, the truth is that light is the greatest protagonist of your image.

That is why you must make sure to get the right kind of light.

The right kind of light is not always the same. Depending on the kind of mood you want to create, the subject and many other factors, you will want one kind of light or another. If you want to highlight the sunset, for example, you will want to underexpose, but if it's already dusk, you may need to overexpose to compensate.

Shadows are important to consider. If the light is very strong, contrary to popular belief, you won't get good portraits. Either the person will be squinting back at you, or harsh shadows hide half of his or her face.

For obvious reasons, you wouldn't take a picture of a person at night.
And then there's the best kind of light- at least, in my opinion. The kind of light you get more or less an hour before sunset or an hour after sunset. Soft and pretty.
I think it makes for a very cheerful kind of picture. You judge:

This is a picture I took about twenty minutes ago of my dog. The moment I saw the way the sunlight looked as it illuminated the grass, I knew that it was perfect. The hardest part about taking this picture was getting the dog to stay still. I tried to have him sit, to no avail, and got several shots of his antics (see below), before finally taking this picture.



Note: More about exposure coming soon.

Monday, May 4, 2009

And Whiskers On Kittens II



Today's subject of choice: Vainilla, the sweetest cat (I'm being ironic, of course). This little one brought home another mouse. Which reminds me, that I sure have come a long way from those blurry pictures, although to my defense I was just trying to get a half decent picture and I was in a rush, since the cat was playing with the poor little thing all over the yard.

Nonetheless, I think it is a good exercise for all of us to go over our photographs, not just the latest ones that we finally saved onto our computer, but also older ones, analyzing what we did right, what we did wrong, and what we could have done to improve the picture. That is the best way to learn.

For instance, take this picture:



Had I had the patience to wait about half a second more, I would have caught the little child with the hand in the air, which is the signal that they managed to build the entire tower. It is a much more representative moment of the castellers, which is the cultural custom depicted. The tower is not quite in the center, and the building in the back subtracts attention from the people.

However, I also think that I did well in using the 'vivid' settings rather than, for example, black and white, which would have looked much less full of life. I also did well in capturing a sequence of their building the human tower, as I can see as I look through my pictures several moments and stages of the building. Finally, I also think I was right in adding a lot of sky at the top of the picture and in taking a vertical picture, which is much better for the picture.

What do I learn from this picture, though?

I have learned that when there are elements in the back that could distract rather than add to the attractiveness of the picture, I should use a low aperture. I have learned that I must try and have patience so that I can capture the peak of action, and not almost. The way to do this is to press the button halfway and then, in the precise instant that I want the picture, press all the way down, except when using flash, which usually takes longer. And also, I have learned to be more careful about placing subjects: be it in the middle, or at the side (my personal favorite), just not somewhere in between that is not quite defined.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Latest favorites