Photography Learnings - Part 1

I need to get out and take more photos.  I don't want to keep posting different shots of the same subject, otherwise you (and I) will get bored of this blog.  Until then, I thought I would post some of the things I've been learning about photography recently.  I want to try to create awill try to post these hints and tips I've learned, and post some links to other articles that may explain what I discuss better. 

I am by no means an expert photographer, but what I post is what I am learning as I venture into the wonderful world of digital photography.  If anyone reading this can explain the topic I focus on little better, or has some links on the subject, or can even add their own thoughts on the topic, feel free to leave a comment.  Just remember to be nice; I am learning and don't claim to know everything. 

Get To Know Your Camera

This is probably one of the biggest tips I've read about recently.  Not every camera is the same, nor does it have the same setup.  It's wise to learn how to operate your camera correctly, otherwise your photos won't be as good or as creative as they could be.

It seems that most people, upon purchase of a new camera, are excited to take photos immediately.  They go out to a location where there is plenty of opportunity for stunning photos, or they prop up a common household item on the table, or use their friends and family as subjects, and begin clicking the shutter.  Once the photos are uploaded, the new photographer doesn't see the photos he/she thought had been taken (colours aren't accurate, someone has a tree growing out of his/her head, the dog started scratching his ear and there is a big blurry spot from that).  Granted, some shots might turn out great, but they could have been much better shots if the photographer knew how to change or use the features (or even know what the features are) on their camera.

I am guilty of this very thing.  I got my Pentax K200D a little over a year ago and was in love.  I looked briefly at the manual, but I wanted to get out shooting photos.  I have gone over to a photographer friend's home to get her help in taking photos (like practicing lighting or depth of field), and we've gone out to a park to take some photos.  However, at one point, I needed to set the white balance to a specific setting.  I didn't know how to do this.  On this particular day I was at my friend's home, and she was able to get on the internet and find an online copy of the manual for my camera.  By using the manual, she was able to discover how to set/change the white balance, so I was able to make the necessary adjustment. 

Sadly, I quickly forgot how to change/use this feature and never adjusted it again for some time.  Trust me when I say that I have now gone through the manual to see how to make this particular adjustment again, and I use it all the time (though I do admit that sometimes I forget to change it until AFTER I get home and realize I didn't make the changes while taking the photos).  But, I am still learning and I now make the changes a lot more than I used to.

While I am still new to photography, and will also admit that I need to go through my manual more and actualy take some photos using the particular features on my camera (this helps me learn and remember what to do for those specific features, and when to use them), I think learning about your own camera and how to operate it is one of the most important things a photographer can do.

If you have any thoughts on this topic (or links) and would care to contribute, please leave a comment.  Remember, be nice.  I want this series to be all about learning and helping photographers to grow in their learning and photography.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I took this photo last Sunday at church.  I've adjusted colour and contrast some using Photoshop Elements.

Controls

Just playing around with the macro setting on my camera.  These were taken after a recent photo shoot at a local park.  Neither shots have been edited.

Abstract

Today's photo was an experimental type shot I tried.  Can you guess what the photo is?  Let me know in the comments section what your guess is.

Bit o' Bokeh

These aren't great photos, I'll be the first to admit it.  But, they are from my first attempt at trying to do bokeh.  I definitely need to find my old tripod and make a better setup, but out of the several photos I shot in this session, these are probably the better two. 

I have three coloured bottles - blue, red, and yellow - and I tried shots using the different ones.  I was only satisfied with these two of the red bottle.  Mind you, I'm not completely satisfied with these shots, but like I said before, they are the better ones from what I took.  I also used some Christmas lights to try to get the bokeh effect.  In some shots, the lights had the effect a little bit, but the rest of the light was too visible.  I might try this when it's dark instead of having some light shining through the blinds. 

I've done some reading on this topic (bokeh), and it said it was pretty easy to do this type of photography, but at the same time, it takes a lot of practice to "perfect" it.  I'll keep trying though, because some of the photos of bokeh I've seen are amazing.

Just Grass

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend Michelle to a local park to take some photos.  This is one that I took that day - just some tall grass growing next to a little brook that ran off the lake.  This photo is untouched with regard to any editing.

Raindrops

It was raining again today, so when I waited for a time when it was more like a mist and headed out with a plastic bag around/over my camera with just the lens poking out of a hole I cut in the bag.  I wanted to try to capture raindrops on leaves, flowers, etc.  At some point I would like to try prettier rain shots, but this is what I have for now.  This is a leaf from a flower/plant in one of the front step window boxes.  I used the lens that came with the camera (18-55 mm) and used the macro setting on the camera.  Some day I would like to have a real macro lens so I can take really good macro photos!

The End of A Season

The end of flower season is pretty well upon us.  This is one of the few remaining purple cone flowers left in my mom's garden, and it's seen better days.  I still liked it though, and thought it worthy of photographing.

Another Autumn Photo

I love the beautiful colours of the trees.  God has done some mighty fine work!

It's Autumn

This is another photo from the park I went to yesterday to take pictures of the beautiful autumn leaves.  I think this is one of my favourite shots from the photo shoot.  I should try to get back to this same location next summer and take a duplicate photo of this scene just to have a different look (all green leaves).

Tinker Belle

I took this shot yesterday of my cat, Tinker Belle.  I had been attempting to take some photos of tomoatoes, but I don't think they quite turned out.  I'll need to try when there is more light, since I took them when it was getting dark.

I know I should have adjusted it so her ears were in the shot, but I was trying to get her washing her paw.  I like how she has one eye opened and the other closed.

Off Shoot

This is a grove (?) of tree trunks on the hill beside my house.  I took the shot a couple of days ago around supper time.  The light was coming from the back right hand side.  I adjusted the white balance (I believe it was on cloudy because that's the kind of day it was) and snapped the shot. 

Using PSE, I converted the photo to black and white and adjusted the red, green, and blue colours.  This was just more or less a test shot because I was trying to figure out how to change the white balance on my camera.  I had learned awhile back but forgot; so when I found out how to do it again, I tried adjusting it.

I had hoped the photo would have had the trunks in the front more in focus, as well as the shoot of the other tree growing among them, but I guess I didn't have the camera set for that.  It's a learning curve - to make sure you adjust your camera settings, apertures, etc. and take several pictures (using the different settings).  I'm not overly disappointed with the photo though.

South Korea Part 2

This is another photo I took on the excursion my class of Korean English teacher's took me.  This was taken last spring with my Sony digital point and shoot camera.  I liked this tree, even though it didn't have any leaves on it; it seemed to have some character to it and I wanted to take a photo of it in front of the buildings.  My focus was not on the buildings, but the tree.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix the sign in the picture (it's way too bright/over exposed).  I might try my hand at removing the object - same with the person who is squatting and taking a photo...

South Korea

Today's photo comes from South Korea.  I spent a year there (2007-2008) teaching English.  In the spring of 2008, the Korean English teachers I taught took me on a little field trip to a somewhat nearby Buddist temple to visit.  Buddism is the largest religious sect in the country, and Christianity is the second largest (I'm Christian).

It was a nice outting, and the temple was located in a lovely spot which was quiet and serene.  When we went, it was close to Budda's birthday so there were little paper lanterns strung out along the paths leading up to the temple area.

I took this photo on my Sony digital point and shoot.  I touched up the colours in Photoshop Elements to make them look a little brighter.

In The Garden

When I got together with my friend Michelle this past Saturday to go on a photoshoot, she dropped off a book and some magazines for me to look through to help with Photoshop Elements.  She had version 6, so these reading materials deal with that.  I have version 7, but she said there isn't much difference between the two so I should be able to use them.

I finally got around to going through the book a little bit today.  Since I've been trying my hand at black & white conversion, I checked out the section on that.  Boy, was I doing it "wrong".  All I had been doing was clicking on the "convert to black and white" option (at the top of the screen under enhance) and then playing around with sliders for adjusting colour, contrast, brightness, etc.

I am much happier with the technique I tried today - and I learned something new as well (the technique).  I follwed the step-by-step instructions and came up with the photo you see in this post.  It's probably not the best shot, or b&w converstion, but I like it.

The book I was following is called the photoshop elements 6 book for digital photographers (no capitals used in the title) by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski.  It seems like a great book, and Michelle said it is an excellent tool to learn PSE.  She said it was expensive, but well worth having.  The magazines, which I haven't had a chance to look through much yet, are called Adobe Photoshop Elements Techniques.  I hope to get around to reading through those very soon.

Do you use Photoshop Elements (any version)?  If so, what's your favourite technique to use?

Seeing Red

On one of the photography forums I belong to, there was a challenge of taking photos of the colour red.  It didn't matter what the subject was - flowers, cars, books - you capture the image whatever was red.


I've heard it before that red and yellow (and I'm finding now darker purples) are difficult to photograph.  That's the issue I have here.  The photos I've posted here haven't been edited at all, but I did try.  All of these flowers are dahlias, from my mom's garden, and a two of them have a second colour in them.

In the first image, aside from getting a good shade/hue of red, the top of the flower seems blurry.  I don't know if it's because I wasn't focused on the area, or not, but it seems to all blend together.  This is also something I don't know how to fix.  I wonder if the problem could be fixed by adjusting the angle of the camera...

The next photo doesn't seem too bad, though I realize it's not entirely in focus.  I think what happened was that I got a little too close to the flower.  The camera did indicate it was in focus, but I wasn't using a tripod, so that could also contribute to the image not being totally in focus.

The third image looks too bright.  I played around with it in Photoshop Elements but still couldn't get the red to look the way it does in real life.  I know the photo's not the best composition either, but I was just mainly focusing on the red and trying to capture that and see how it would turn out.  I believe the type of dahlia in this photo is a semi-cactus variety, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

The last image is of another semi-cactus, or even a cactus dahlia (again, I'm not sure of the variety.  I'll have to ask my mom).  As you can see, there is yellow at the center that gradually turns to red.  I took this photo mainly for the red, but also because it has yellow in it, and as I've said above, yellow is another colour that is difficult to photograph.  On the actual flower, the red wasn't too bright or dark, but I wanted to see how it would turn out.  I think the image would have potential if I had maybe taken the photo horizontally instead of vertically so that I capture the entire image rather than having some of the petals cut out of the picture.

So, overall, today's photoshoot was just experimental and I didn't pay too much attention to compostion this time.  I did take some photos of some of the other dahlias that weren't red, but those will be used another time. 

I have so much to learn in photography; I want to become a fantastic photographer and need lots of practice.  One thing I learned from this shoot is that even when you are experimenting with trying to capture different colours (or colours difficult to photograph), taking pictures of only certain items, things that start with a particular letter - whatever experiment or assignment you are working on, you should still aim to take a good photograph.  You should still try to capture the best image you can, because you never know when you'll get the photograph!

Obviously I have a long way to go before I can be deemed an excellent photographer, but I am enjoying the process - even if I don't get very good shots.  Every time I take a photograph, it's a learning experience and a chance to practice (or try to remember) what I've learned already.

If you know how to take great shots (or fix them in PSE) of the colours red and yellow, or can direct me to an article, please leave me a comment.

My question for you:  What do you have the most difficulty photographing?

Downtown Melbourne

This shot is taken while I was in Melbourne during the summer (well, summer for me, winter for Melbourne).  I went with a friend to teh Melbourne Aquarium and other excursions this particular day, and passing by one of the windows on the way to the shark exhibit, I decided to take a photo of what I saw.

The tall building on the left (of the 2 tall ones) is the Eureka Tower (my group went there another day though, not the day I visited the aquarium).  I believe there are 90 floors, and on the 88th they have an observation room - well, technically the entire 88th floor is the observation room and you can look out over the entire city, and then some.  There is also a steel mesh cage that goes out about 10 metres from the building, but it's quite windy up there so I didn't venture out in it - my fear of heights kicked in.  I was quite content with staying inside.  It was bad enough that it took me awhile to get close to the windows (which are floor to ceiling) to look out and take pictures.

I made no adjustments on this shot.  I figure the colours look quite nice because of the aquarium's tinted windows.  If I were to make adjustments, I would probably lighten the lower lefthand corner somewhat.  I used my Pentax K200D and the normal 18-55mm lens that came with it, and zoomed in on my subject.

Desert Scene

Keeping on the desert theme from my trip to Egypt in February, 2008, This is a limestone rock formation that is found in the White Desert.  There are tons of these in that area, and they are really amazing to see.  We actually slept overnight, camped out, in the White Desert (not at this particular location), which was an amazing experience in and of itself.

We had a couple of guides with us, and they cooked us a meal over the campfire (delicious).  Our sleeping quarters consisted of a thin mattress on top of blankets on the sand, five or six camel hair blankets (nice and warm), plus two or three layers of clothing.  We had a large piece of fabric of some sort to help shield wind, and this was put up against the jeep we had travelled in to get to the desert.

It was so amazing to see millions of stars in the night sky (and a few shooting stars too); where I live, a city, you see a lot but nowhere near what you see in the middle of the desert in total darkness.  It's so amazing to gaze upon the galaxy and know that we are just a tiny part of it.  God is so amazing in His creation!

For this picture, I left it intact (no cropping), and auto adjusted the colours and contrast.  Again, it was taken with my point and shoot, and not my Pentax K200D (since I didn't own that camera at the time).

What is one place you would like to visit in the world - whether or not you would like to go there on a photography excursion?

Learning Curve

Today's image is definitely not my best.  I took this enroute to the Black Desert in Egypt, February 2008.  I had a point and shoot digital camera with me, and I was attempting to fill the frame with the image, which I thought was nice.  However, what I failed to notice was the horizon was not even.  It looks as though I was on a hill instead of flat ground.

I adjusted the contrast and colour on this shot, but I am unsure if I like the sky or if I would rather it be a little lighter.  I've had some say the sky is great the way it is, and others suggest I change it (I had thought it looked fake, those who thought I should change it agreed).  I will say the clouds are not touched at all and appear the same way (looking a teeny bit blurry to me) in the original photo.  Also, I did no cropping of this image at all.

So, this is one of those shots (for me) that I will have to use as a learning tool - remember to check the background, the horizon, etc. to make sure it is not slanting one way or the other (unless of course you are on the side of a hill or mountain and that's the way it is supposed to be).  Also, I will learn that a blue sky does not necessarily mean that you should darken the shade so that it looks nearly fake (or really fake)...unless that is, of course, what you are after.  In this picture, I definitely wasn't after a fake look.

I had debated on whether or not to post this image on my blog.  I decided that since this is a learning place for me (to look back on over time and see improvements I've made), and maybe a place where I can post links and advice from others to help other photographers as well as  myself, then maybe I should post it - a what not to do piece of advice or what have you.

So, learn from my mistake - check your backgrounds when you are taking photos! 

Also, if you know how I can adjust this image (if it's possible) so the horizon is straight, please let me know in the comment section!

Colour Version

I wanted to include the colour version of the photo I posted yesterday, more for a comparison than anything. 

Let me know what you think!

I'll post something else later today as well.