Shoot Around

One fun excercise I enjoy is finding a subject and shooting around it with different backgrounds and camera settings. By doing this, then analyzing the results, you develop your ability to pre-visualize a photo and use the camera, light, subject and background to make it happen.

Back out at the Reunion Demolition site, I came upon some variety of sunflower growing in the parking lot. For all kinds of reasons, a flower at this place is a contrasting element, so it became a photo subject.

Here is a basic walk-up snapshot of the pretty flower and ugly demolition in progress.

Canon 5D, 24mm, f10, 1/200, iso100, -2/3 exposure to accommodate for the big dark spot in the middle.

Next up, shallow depth of field to knock the background into blurry goodness. I played with this on in LightRoom quite a bit to for some funky colors, just 'cuz I liked it.

Canon 5D, 32mm, f2.8, 1/1600, iso100

Now how about a family portrait with a nice cloudy sky background? hmmmm...

Canon 5D, 45mm, f5, 1/1600, iso 100

OK, and a close up?

Canon 5D, 65mm, f5, 1/500, iso 100

I'm really liking the blue sky in the background contrasting the yellow, so wide angle it is...

Canon 5D, f5, 1/1600, iso100

Sooooo, find something interesting and have some fun shooting it. Change settings, change angles, look for backgrounds... you will definitely learn something in the process if you take a little time to look at the results....

Happy Shooting,

don j.

Backyard news...

OK, so this is a bit of a divergence from photo talk, but there are photos...

My lovely wife is an avid gardener, and she has turned our back yard into an oasis of flowers, veggies and general beauty.  A mockingbird family took up residence in a trumpet vine, with two baby birds until yesterday.  Now there is one baby, and he has abandoned the nest, maybe a bit early.  The mother bird is none too happy to have a goofy photographer snapping away... 

Seriously, total snapshots, but great scrapbook material (one of my wife's other hobbies).

Mom bird looks down at baby bird...  If I had been thinking, I should have put this together into one shot.  

Mom bird glares at photographer...

In other news, a huge Tomato Hornworm is making a mess of the tomato plants.  Seriously making a mess of them.  These things make bigger poop than mice, and they devour the plants down to the stems.  They also do not die easily.

It was getting dark, and I had the camera out so I decided to play with the flash in the evening light. By hand-holding the flash off of the camera, you can have the light coming from other directions. This looks much better than direct on-the-camera flash.

Sooo..  get out and shoot some, even if it is in your back yard.  Use the time to practice a technique or just document what's around you.  I'm not old yet, but I do know that having photos to remember places, people and experiences will be a great joy in the future.

Happy Shooting,

don j.