Twelve weeks to better photography: week five

Well, it's a good thing for my blog that this photography lesson has taken place or else I'm pretty sure my blog would be marked "dormant" or "non-existant" to some. But I'll be back... sooner than later. Sorry for my lack of posting.

Week 5's lesson is all about composition. Putting aside all the technical stuff this week, the 'teacher' gave us some tips and "rules" to go by, in order to produce a good picture without a lot of editing. Sounds good to me, considering I don't know how to edit well and don't even own an editing program.

Tip #1 -- Keep it simple by eliminating distractions in your photo. You can remove distracting elements from your photos by physically moving them out of the scene, repositioning your subjects in a better location, taking a few steps forward for a close-up shot, or decreasing your depth of field.
Tip#2 -- Apply the Rule of Thirds. I love this tip and use it frequently when I take pictures. The rule of thirds capitalizes on the fact that our eyes are naturally drawn to a point about two-thirds of the way up (or over) on a photo.
Tip#3 -- Keep an Eye on the Horizon. Place the horizon about 2/3 of the way up on the photo to keep the focus on what is below it (such as land or water) OR position the horizon about 1/3 of the way up on the photo if you want the focus to be on what is above it (the sky.)
Tip#4 -- Frame your subject. Use elements in the foreground of your photo to frame the center of interest. Architectural elements (such as arches or fences) as well as those found in nature work well for this.
Tip#5 -- Fill the Frame. Another tip that I use frequently. In addition to eliminating distracting backgrounds (tip #1) it's also important to eliminate wasted space in your photos. Allow your subject to dominate the photo (fill the frame) to give it more prominence.
Tip#6 -- Try a New Perspective. Make sure to examine your subject from different angles - a new view can change the perspective of the whole photo.

This week's challenge was to take a picture and use at least one of those "tips" in your picture. So here we go:

In this picture, I used Tip #1 by keeping it simple. A few of the original pictures I took had trees in the background, so I asked the person flying the kite to move to an "tree-free" area so I could reshoot the picture. I think I also used Tip #2, even though it might not be exactly 2/3 over in the picture, it is still more dominant on one side of the picture than the other. And lastly, I used Tip #6. Instead of shooting this picture standing up, I laid on my back in order to get more clouds and less other distractions.

The end! Can't wait to everyone else's pictures too!

Twelve weeks to better photography: week four

I was half-tempted to skip this weeks lesson, because I hate using the flash and I thought even in the lesson that her pictures that she took with flash vs no flash actually looked better without. But, I decided to be a trooper and stick to it anyways. See Week 4's Lesson here.

Not much to talk about this week because she was mostly saying how you can properly use your flash as a "fill flash". Basically, a fill flash is your normal flash. But in scenarios where you already have ambient light, your flash is merely "filling in" the areas of your photo that may be shadowed or poorly lit.

I also couldn't go outside like she requested because A.) i've been sick and B.) it's been snowing and is freeeezing here. So I stuck to indoor pictures and took them of my fav little man. Anyhoo, on to my pictures...
{no flash... much better in my opinion}
{with flash... overexposed and see the shadow in the background? not cool.}

I re-read the lesson and noticed that she talked about moving your subject away from the wall and if they had to be in front of a wall putting them in front of a dark wall. So I guess I failed this week. haha, oh well. Always next week. :)

Twelve weeks to better photography: week three

Woohoo... chuggin' right along, aren't we?

Lesson three is all about light. I don't know anything about light, in terms of photography, other than I hate using the flash. This was a great lesson focusing on how to set your Custom White Balance. If you're anything like me, before you read this lesson you were like "custom what what?" So I was excited to learn something new this week... especially if it meant learning how to take pictures with better lighting without using the flash.

Basically if you set your camera to AWB your camera will select what it thinks is white. So in a room where there is not a lot of natural light and you are having to use artificial lighting, your pictures will come across orangey and have a yellow cast to them. This is where learning to set your white balance comes into play. White balance is simply a fancy way of setting the color temperature of your image. The human eye is very adept at compensating for color changes in light and allowing us to view light in a very large spectrum. Most film cameras handle white balance in the film itself and you simply purchase film to match the lighting situation. Camera sensors, however, are not quite as intelligent, and they must be told what color the light is for a given situation in order to compensate for that color. To help with this, digital cameras come with some pre-set white balance settings such as Auto (AWB), Daylight, and Tungsten, among others. Properly setting your white balance for your lighting situation will greatly increase the impact of your photos and decrease the amount of time you spend editing them.

This weeks challenge was to take 3 pictures. First one with the AWB setting, second with the Tungsten setting, then the third you would set your own custom white balance. And without further ado... here's my pictures:

{AWB setting}
{Tungsten setting}
{Custom White Balance}

A HUGE difference, right? It's not always the most convenient thing to carry around a big piece of white paper in order to set my custom white balance every time I'm out taking pictures, so that's why the camera has lots of different settings for you to choose from, instead of always defaulting to the auto white balance. But for the important pictures, you'll definitely see me sportin' a big piece of white paper. :)

I am seriously loving these lessons and seeing all of my other "classmates" pictures too! To see their pictures, go to "our host" Meredith's blog and see her post along with everyone else's!

A rainy day ... from Jaxon's eyes.

Dear Jesus, why does it rain? It is so dark and dreary outside. It makes Mommy tired and she just wants to sleep all day long.
I thought if I hid behind the curtain the sun would come out. Maybe it's playing hide & go seek?
I asked Mom if I could go and ride my trike outside yet and she said no. Something about catching pneumonia.
Dear Jesus, will you please send the sun tomorrow? I promise to be really good and eat all my veggies that Mommy tries to feed me.

Love, Jaxon

No phone zone.

I am typically not a huge fan of Oprah but I have watched a few of her recent episodes and at the end of each one she asks her audience and viewers at home if they have taken the "No Phone Zone" pledge yet. I have to admit that I used to text and drive a lot, but once Jaxon came along and rode with me I vowed to quit and I haven't since. Nothing is worth the risk... and having a Claims Adjuster for an insurance company as your Dad you get to hear lots of horror stories involving accidents and texting. No texting conversation is worth the risk. So here's the deal... on Oprah's website you can choose which 'level' you'd like to pledge.


Option 1: I will not text while I am driving

Option 2: I will not text while driving and will use only handsfree calling if I need to speak on the phone while I am driving.

Option 3: I will not text or use my phone while I am driving. If I need to use my phone, I will pull over to the side of the road.


Click here to take the pledge now!