Photography- Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography is a type of photography that uses the different aspects of the earth to capture wonderful photographs. The book, The Kodak Library of Creative Photography: Extend your Range, says, Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times it can be very small. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features of landscapes. 

There are many different ways to take Landscape Photographs. The way I took mine was that I was outside before school and I positioned my camera in a way that you could see the clouds and the sunset in the photograph. I really liked how it turned out and someday I want to start a collection of these types of photographs because they are my favorite type of photograph so far.

How do you think I did? Leave it in the comments.

Tresidder, Jack, et al. The Kodak library of creative photography: extend your range. Kodak, 1985.

Photography- Portraits

In my free time, I love to take pictures especially Portraits. Portrait Photography is one the most common forms of photography. What portrait photographers do is to focus on the person’s face. They try to give the most focus on the face of the person because this will also be the focus of the photograph.

When I took a portrait photograph, on the left, it was of my sister. I used our backyard to take it on a sunny day. There were lots of flowers in the background, and my sister wasn't in the direct center of the photo, but it did not take away any attention from my sister because of the filters i used to enhance the photo. My second photograph, on the left, had may trees and bushes in the background but I kept my sister centered and the photo turned out beautiful.

The book, had some tips of taking a great picture. They also had some tips on how to control the color contrast.  In the book, The Kodak Library of Creative Photography: Extend your Range it says,"A graphic simplification of an outdoor half-length portrait was achieved, by using the different color contrasts to create a better resolution with the photograph" (Tresidder 69) . This has really helped me get a different and better view on portrait taking.  I used to think it was supposed to be a boring picture with an awkward stiff smile, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Overall, this book has helped me use whatever camera I have and make the most of it. What I loved the most about taking these pictures is that I could do anything I wanted with the picture. I loved that there were no rules!

Have you ever taken a portrait photo? Describe it.

Tresidder, Jack, The Kodak library of creative photography: extend your range. Kodak, 1985.

Wildlife Photography

Hi everyone! In my previous post, I broke down aperture, shutter and ISO settings so that proper exposure can be easier to attain. In this blog post, I will be talking about some steps that are necessary for amazing wildlife photographs.

In The Magic of Digital Nature Photography by Rob Sheppard, there are some ideas for where you will most likely encounter some sort of wildlife. Sheppard states that Parks and Zoos are helpful for beginners for getting good shots, because "many wild birds coexist with people at a certain locations and become acclimated to that contact" (Sheppard, 137). National Parks also have wildlife which are accustomed to crowds, because "these animals know they are safe, graze, go through mating calls, and other behavior not far from the main roads" (Sheppard, 137). Here, it's especially important to treat the animals with respect and know where it is safe to take photographs. If you don't want to go outside for very long, "set up a bird feeder outside of your home to meet and photograph the resident and small mammals of your area. You can place feeders near windows so you can photograph from inside" (Sheppard, 137). Nature centers are also good places to go because they have blinds, boardwalks, trails, and more for taking photographs.

Within the places listed in the previous paragraph, you can look for food, water, edges, regular paths and perches. Where there is food, you may be able to find some animals feeding, or if you wait a little, then you may find an animal approaching the food to eat. "In areas where water is scarce, a water hole is an animal magnet" (Sheppard, 138). Even in water abundant places, animals most likely be by the water source. Scientists have seen that most wildlife is found along the edges of habitats, because they use edges for movement, safety and feeding, Animals are also habitual, so they take the same paths over and over again. If you follow animals on a certain path at a certain time of day, then you can most likely encounter them in the same place at the same time the next day. The same concept applies to birds and perches. Birds visit and use the same perches over and over again, similarly to animals using the same paths.

It's important to know the behavior of your subject when you are taking photographs of wildlife, because within context of certain factors, each animal behaves a certain way. Animals have an "invisible circle of attention around them. If you are outside of that circle, they are relaxed and go about their normal business. If you get near that circle ... they become more alert and stop doing whatever they were doing" (Sheppard, 140). Animals also use their best senses differently to stay alert for danger. A mammal has poor eyesight, but have amazing hearing and smell, so they pay attention to different sounds and smells. Birds have amazing eyesight, so they are more visually aware of their surroundings.

When taking the photograph, it's important to know how to approach the animal, so it's best to know some stalking techniques. Make sure to be prepared by having the appropriate lens, proper focal length, etc. so that you can instantly take the photograph when you are in position to take a photograph. It's best to move slowly without sudden movements. "Your movement needs to be like that of a non-predatory animal, like a deer or a cow" (Sheppard, 142). Also, predators move in a straight line, so when you are approaching the animal, don't move in a straight line. Don't stare at your subject or point your lens directly toward the animal, because only a predator will do so. Observe the animal's attention as you are moving towards it, because if it looks down or away, you can move closer and quickly. Watching your silhouette is also important because the human silhouette is easily recognizable. Blending into the surroundings will help. Since all animals are sensitive to sound, it's best to keep noise to a minimum.

These pictures were taken at Coulon, a lake near The Landing. Here, the most prevalent animals are birds. Knowing that birds are more visually aware, it was important that I didn't point my lense to the bird, or that I stared at it. In the first photograph, the bird was aware that I had already been taking photos of it, so I had to lower my lens to not seem like a predator. In the second photograph, the bird looked forward, so it was easier to get closer to it and take photographs of it. The part that made taking these photographs easier was that this bird, and many others living at Coulon, are already accustomed to human activity in their habitat.

Overall, what wildlife subject has been easiest for you to take? What has made it the easiest?

Bibliography: Sheppard, Rob. The Magic of Digital Nature Photography. New York: Lark, 2007. Print.

Photography- Lead in Lines

Back again with another photo, but with the lead in lines! This photo shows branches going a different way with ice on the top of it. The main focal point should be on the lower branches where it's more focused creating V, followed up with another focus in the back with a Y and V shape. There's not much to say because this photo explains itself with all the symmetrical lines.

Technical Details of Photography Part 2

Hi everyone! Previously, I talked about how to use the histogram, which is an aspect of the technical details of photography. In this blog post, I will wrap up the technical talk by explaining suitable aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings for nature photography, which can be difficult to grasp with all the numbers.

I can speak for myself when I say that fractions and decimals make everything difficult when they come into play in and outside of math, but sadly, they appear in photography for aperture. Rob Sheppard's definition of aperture in The Magic of Digital Nature Photography is "a variable opening inside the lens that controls the amount of light coming through" (Sheppard, 52). Aperture is measured in f/stops, in which the numbers are fractions. If you understand the concept that larger denominators make the fractions smaller and small denominators make the fractions bigger, then aperture and shutter speed will be easier to grasp. In aperture, large numbers like f/16, are small apertures while small numbers like f/5.6 or f/2.8 are large apertures. Small apertures have a smaller amount of light coming in the lens, while large apertures have more light entering the lens. Aperture also affects the depth of field. According to Sheppard, "depth of field increases as you choose f/stops toward the f/22 end, and it decreases as you move toward f/2" (Sheppard, 52).

Fractions also have to make shutter speed more difficult to understand at first as well. Shutter speed influences the light coming into the lens, like aperture does, but in a different way. According to Sheppard, "shutter speed affects how long the light is allowed to come through the camera and strike the sensor" (Sheppard, 53). Shutter speed is measured in seconds and is also a fraction but can be seen as a single number, like 125. 1/125 second is twice as much as 1/250 second, so 1/125 second lets in light twice as much. Faster shutter speeds, like 1/250, will stop action in a scene but slower shutter speeds will blur a moving subject. When taking photographs without a tripod and/or having fast moving subjects, it's best to have a faster shutter speed so that the movement of your arms isn't seen as blurs in the photograph. Depending on the program/mode your camera is on, your shutter speeds may need to differ. In addition, there are different minimum shutter speeds depending on what kind of lens you are using on your camera. In the case of my camera, in which the lens is under the four thirds category and is a wide-angle lens and is 18mm and wider, my minimum would be 1/30 second. If you would like to set your own shutter speed and aperture, it's best to use the Manual Exposure setting on your camera to take better pictures in accordance to the setting.

Rob Sheppard's definition of ISO is "an international standard for film from the International Organization of Standards (ISO was chosen as a simple letter designation for certain standards, like the speed of film, it is technically not an acronym)" (Sheppard, 56). Different ISO settings have their own sensitivity to light. For example, a low ISO setting, like 100, is less sensitive to light than 400. ISO values of 100 or less give the best results with better sharpness, color, tonality, and low grain/noise, but it also means a slower shutter speed. Nature photographers with APS-C or Four Thirds cameras will use ISO 100 or less for better results, while DSLR's will use ISO settings up to 400.

In the first photograph, I my camera set to the ISO setting of 400, a shutter speed of 1/320 (because I was carrying my camera), and an aperture of f/5.6. Because of the higher ISO setting, my camera was more sensitive to the light coming into the lens, which made the photograph over exposed and the colors are really washed out. In the second photograph, I changed the ISO setting to 100, which made a big difference in how the light affected the exposure and color in the photograph. We can see that the light entry is more controlled, which helped see the colors better in the photograph and it's not so overexposed. In both photographs, the small aperture affected the depth of field, so we only see a thin line in the background of what was farther away, rather than an outline of some sort.

To wrap all of this up, what aperture, shutter speed, and/or ISO setting has been the most helpful to you for nature photography? Which have you found more difficult?

Bibliography: Sheppard, Rob. The Magic of Digital Nature Photography. New York: Lark, 2007. Print.

Technical Details of Photography Part 1

Hi everyone! When we think about photography, we always think about what's in the photograph and the artistic side of photography, but we never think about the technical details of photography; with the features on the camera we're using, aperture, shutter speed, etc. In this blog post, we will talk a bit about how to evaluate a photograph's exposure through the histogram.

According to The Magic of Digital Nature Photography by Robert Sheppard, the histogram is a "graph of the tonalities that your sensor records from the scene" (Sheppard, 51). It is a better interpretation of the exposure of your photographs than the LCD monitor. The left side of the histogram represents the shadows and the amount of black in the scene, while the right side represents the highlights and the amount of white in the scene.

There are certain details you can look out for when you are looking as to whether your photograph is properly exposed or not. When there is a gap or cliff at the right side of the histogram, then the exposure isn't completely optimal. When you look for a gap or a cliff enough times, then it becomes instinctive, and allows you to use the histogram to look out for certain things:

1.) Clipping - "if a histogram hill stops at a steep cliff at the right side, detail is clipped. This means there are additional tones and colors that could be captured, but are not because the detail is 'clipped' off" (Sheppard, 52). When this happens, you have reached your sensor's capacities and highlights are blown out.

2.) Gaps - you want to avoid gaps on the right side of the photograph because it shows that you have gaps in the tonal details of the photograph.

3.) Tonalities - It's important to watch where main tonalities fall because you don't want all of the tonalities in dark subjects to fall on the left side of the histogram. It would give less "noise" and better color if you add exposure to the photograph. You can increase exposure by adjusting aperture and shutter speed, which I will talk about in a different blog post.

Now, here are some examples of proper and improper exposure:

This picture was taken when doing a fall photo shoot with my friend, Carissa. When evaluating the histogram for the photograph, I saw that the photograph was underexposed, because the bulk of the graph is more towards the left side and the hill on the right side doesn't gradually decrease. If it would have proper exposure, then the hill would be towards the center and the cliff on the right side wouldn't be there. When we look back at the photograph, we can see that the leaves of the tree are dark, which can give a hint that there could be an exposure problem.

An example of proper exposure is the photograph of my friend, Carissa, swinging with trees in the background. When looking at the histogram, the hill is in the center, which tells us that the light is more evenly distributed, rather than the light or darkness going towards one side of the photograph. When we look back to the photograph, we can see that there aren't any areas where it is too dark, but there aren't any parts where the sun is blinding anything.

To wrap this up, have you ever used the histogram before? What are some tips that you have to create proper exposure for a good histogram?

Works Cited: Sheppard, Rob. The Magic of Digital Nature Photography. New York: Lark, 2007. Print.

Landscapes - Important Elements to Consider

Hi everyone! In my last blog post, I observed a close-up picture of a flower and some of the techniques that were used and could be used to improve the photograph. In this blog post, I'm going to focus on landscapes and some of the important elements to consider when taking a landscape photograph.

One element that I focused on for landscape pictures is distractions. When it comes to photography, one little distraction can damage the photograph, which makes it a reason to check the edges of the composition before taking the photograph to get rid of the distractions. According to Rob Sheppard in The Magic of Digital Nature Photography, "The best that can be said for distractions is to look for them and get rid of them. even a very beautiful scene can be damaged by something that sneaks into the corner of the composition that obviously does not belong there... Distractions are most common at the edges of the composition - another good reason to check edges - but they can be anywhere" (Sheppard, 106). Sheppard's advice teaches us that we should check the edges of the composition on our camera for distractions to get rid of them before taking the picture. Doing this will allow for the photograph to be undamaged by anything that doesn't belong in the landscape.

The pictures above were taken in a park along the Soos Creek Trail. In the first picture above, the sign on the right hand side was in the picture, but doesn't quite belong in the picture. The amount of shadow distracts from the general landscape as well. These would be examples of two distractions that make the photograph not very appealing. However, on the second picture, the sign is gone and there are less shadows which makes the photograph more appealing and gives more focus on the general landscape, rather than a small detail of the picture.

Another element I focused on was vertical versus horizontal pictures. Horizontal pictures help grasp a greater part of landscape right in front of you. Nature itself is filled with horizontal landscapes and cameras are designed to create horizontal photographs. On the other hand, vertical photographs show the aspects of nature which aren't horizontal. They demonstrate things that you may not see in a horizontal image. In The Magic of Digital Nature Photography, Rob Sheppard informs us "Cameras, for the most part, are designed for horizontally-oriented photographs. As well, landscapes are pretty much horizontal parts of our world. It follows that horizontals are important to landscape photography. They parallel the horizon; they fit the scene spreading out in front of you; and they fit the way we see most landscapes... [Turning your camera to its side and taking vertical landscape photographs] helps you see new things in the world, and may even allow you to discover some new magic in your scenes that is not revealed in a standard horizontal image" (Sheppard, 106). This demonstrates that landscapes don't have a set angle at which you take the photograph. Horizontals may be appropriate in some cases because meaning and tone comes from the whole landscape. When there are many distractions and the meaning and tone come from a more specific subject, verticals are more appropriate.

The first photograph, although zoomed in, was taken horizontally, because the trees and grass made up a better landscape as a whole, and looked more appealing when including all three of the triangular trees. The tone comes from all of the landscape, rather than one part of it. The second photograph, while also zoomed in, was taken vertically, because the main meaning and tone comes from the tree itself - with the odd shape of it branches - rather than the landscape it's in as a whole. This allows us to see how a vertical picture or a horizontal picture sets the mood or the tone within the landscape picture.

The last element I focused on was lighting. Although lighting is put in the chapter about flowers, I decided to focus on lighting anyways, as it is an important part in any photograph and plays a role in the mood, tone and meaning of the landscape paragraph. In nature photography, there are different "types" of lighting. 

~ Backlight is when "you shoot toward the sun or bright area in the sky" (Sheppard, 69). The pros of back light is that it creates drama within the photograph because of the different areas of shadow and light, it "separates elements of a scene because of the highlights and shadows," the leaves and flowers glow, and the light creates a sparkle, a great texture and gives more depth if it's high enough to wrap over the subject (Sheppard, 70). 

~ Side Light is where the light "hits your subject from the side." The pros for side light is that it "makes natural objects ... look exceptionally solid and dimensional," and that the texture has a life like look to it (Sheppard, 72).

~ Front Light is "light that hits the front of your subject and throws shadows to the rear of that subject." The pros of front light is that colors are very well lit, color patterns are brought out, underlying patterns and colors are seen better because of the lack of texture, and two dimensional shapes of objects are emphasized (Sheppard, 72).

~ Top light is when the light comes from above the subject. This doesn't have any pros, so it's best for nature photographers to avoid this type of light. It brings up too much blue and can be flat and dull (Sheppard, 72).

In the first picture above, I used back light. Back light can be a bit troublesome in certain circumstances, as seen in the picture. In this case, the sun was very bright and "in your face," which made the photograph over exposed and created a shadow in the center of the photograph, which doesn't make the photograph appealing. In the second photograph, I used side light. In this photograph, the fact that the sunlight came from the side allowed for there to be more texture, makes the trees to look more dimensional, and emphasizes the life that is still left in this part of the landscape, like the grass and the remaining leaves.

To end this off, how do you deal with distractions in photographs? Do you prefer vertical pictures or horizontal pictures? What lighting do you like to use best?

Bibliography: Sheppard, Rob. The Magic of Digital Nature Photography. New York: Lark, 2007. Print.