Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Low Light

While completing my photo assignment I had difficulty getting good shots in low light. I was lucky to get any thing to show up at all. I later found that, though I reduced my shutter speed , I didn't slow it down enough.

To further understand how to work with low light I read some articles on Google. One article elaborates about how, the flash is the biggest solution to low light digital photography. However the problem with this is that not all situations can benefit from using the flash. Not only does it interfere with your “moment” socially and artistically, but the flash can flatten out your digital images.

I personally experienced the disadvantages of my flash during my project. The flash completely took any contrast out of the composition, which really flattened the photo.

Next the author explains and lists some methods he uses to work with low light, when a flash in not useful. He breaks it down in one clear and helpful list.

" 1. Crank ISO as high as it will go
2. Shoot RAW if possible
3. Use aperature-priority with the lowest f-stop on the fastest lens I have (f1.8 or lower if you can).
4. If that still caases my shutter speeds to be too low to hand-hold, then I might even set exposure compoensation down a stop, which will increase the speed a little, and then I’ll push the exposure in post (preferablly in RAW).
5. Lastly, I’ll use various forms of noise reduction to help on the grain/noise front.

Shooting Raw didn't really occur to me before reading this article, by doing so you can easily use photo editing software to enhance you image and reduce noise.

This is just one more tidbit of info I will utilize while taking future photos.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I read an article about food photography that i found quite interesting and funny. Turns out you gotta be pretty in tune with photography and the subject in order to get a good shot. I'm thinking when starting the article "OKAY" a cheese burger can't be to hard to capture, heck its not gonna run away from you if spooked. In the first sentence it read "Taking pictures of food is one of the most difficult skills a photographer can master." I was still not convinced, but then it followed with examples of ways it is such a difficult process. It gave examples such as; photographers must acquire knowledge of light, camera angles and the nature of the food being photographed. If any one of these elements, along with others, is miscalculated it could make the food look much less appealing. I gave that some thought and it all became more clear. When going into McDonalds the pictures of the food looks so tasty, but when you receive your order; the gift wrapped burger just doesn't look or taste like the picture on the menu conveys. Hmmm, that's weird, I gotta give credit to those McD's photographers. They are like the Great Houdini's of photography.

4 picture ideas

I a total nubie when it come to photography, but I'm exited to get started on my first photo assignment. For this reason I'm going to try to keep my subject matter simple, and use these assignments to explore. I don't think I'll be breaking new ground in the photo world for a while. For my wide depth of Field shot I would like to simply take a shot of a chain link fence or some sort of repetitive patterned subject, trying to make it look like it goes on for eternity.

For my next narrow depth of field shot I would like to get a good shot of my roommates puppy. He is letting me live with him for free for the month so I would like to give him some sort of thank you gift. This seems like a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

Next for my long exposure shot I was planning on either taking a photo of the canal behind my house as random debris float by, or if that turns out to be dull I would like to take some evening shots of cars driving by down town.

Lastly for my short exposure shot I was thinking of catching an object or person in motion. This will be good practice for ski season, when I'm capturing skiers or boarders doing there thing.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Stenciling like banksy

    I've been playing around with photoshop a bit over the past couple years and have picked up on some fun effects. One I would like to share is how to make stencils for use in spray art or air brushing (The real airbrushing, not computerized). 
First you open up the portrait you would like to paint in photo shop. Crop out your model, or image you choose to paint from the background. I prefer using the magic wand tool. Next, on the top tool bar click on image. Then scroll down to adjustments from the adjustments tool bar find curves. A graph should pop up with a input and output options. Enter around 140 for input and 170 for out put. This should alter the image so that the light areas and dark areas are over emphasized.
    Next go back to the image adjustments bar and choose threshold. In the threshold input box enter around 94 or so. (The number might be very depending on the lighting in the photo, just play around with it until you find your desired effect) 
    From this point you are almost done. Next take your paint brush tool to touch up any blurry spots. Once all your lines look sharp using you paint brush bridge any islands of black so that they are not lost in the stencil cutting process.  At this point you have your stencil ready to print.
    Print your stencil, glue it to some cardboard or tagboard and go to work in it with a razor knife. Upon completing these steps you stencil is complete. All that is left is to line it up on your canvas and spray paint over it using light even strokes. 
    Remove stencil and WOW! you have a life like two color image.  

Note: For best results start the process with a sharp image, that has dramatic light and dark lighting effects.

Exposure

After listening during tuesdays class and reading the section on Exposure in my Nature Photography book I have come to the conclusion that I don't understand what is going on. I have absolutely zero experience with cameras (bought my first point and shoot  couple months ago) and feel like I'm learning a new language. For this reason I think it would be best to meet with Dave and get a bit of tutoring before I go on and write a blog pertaining to exposure. Hopefully my future blog Exposure II will be more insightful. 

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Super Telephoto lens

If I were to buy a super telephoto lens I think I would get a 500mm. It would work well with a camera with full frame sensor features, which is the route I would like to go. It also is a bit lighter and most important to me, a but cheaper than the 600mm. Unfortunately I don't have an extra few thousand dollars laying around, and if I did I think I'd end up blowing it on a snowmobile. By going this route I will be able to access much more interesting secluded scenes for landscape shots. Most wildlife in the area probably won't stick around, but I won't have the proper lens to tightly frame them any way.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

First 3 chapters

After reading the first 3 chapters of Nature Photography, by Tim Fitzharris I have taken a lot in. I started out the book with no photographic experience, Though I stall am yet to take a picture using any skills or knowledge taught through the book, I feel when the time comes I will have at least the general knowledge of what kind of equipment I will need to take professional grade shots. Now if I could just figure out how to fully take advantage of the features of these over praiced idems! Though I found the text insightful, My favorite aspect of the book is the photos. There are some beautiful shots on every page, which makes me hate by business textbooks even more so. To be fair I really don't think I could get through to many accounting chapters if they were riddled with distracting photos on every page.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Asa Gilmore

So I once met this dude who's photography blew my mind. Well Actually our parents have a short lived marriage together. Any way I still check up him through his blogs and websites now and then. It's interesting to see how his body of work changes and grows in the time between my check ups.
The artist's name I speak of is Asa Gilmore, he works in a wide range of mediums incorporating graphic design, web design, photography, and videography. His commercial projects have included corporate identity, album covers, aerial videography. He also has built numerous websites and done commercial photography as well. Most of his work is very edgy and unique. His ability to create a perfectly lit scene, or capture the natural light within a frame is what truly sets him apart from others in my mind. I would suggest looking him up some time at asagilmore.com.