Square Format

I enjoyed a day of photography a few weeks ago, capturing a series with rare Oregon sunshine on a corregated metal building.  I loved the play of light, the uniformity of the ripples, and the shadow at the seam.  I thought it was something about the seam and the rule of thirds, but I could never get it right.  Then this week, Katrina at Kat Eye View of the World was talking about square formats.  It works with the symmetry of the ripples.  Thanks, Kat!

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Week 3 - Familiar Subject Photo shoot

My most familiar photography subjects are sports and, lucky for me, my daughter had a game on Saturday!  Sports is a little different than landscapes or still-life.  There is minimal opportunity for intentional composition.   

When I arrived at the game, I sat on the floor near mid-court.  I was hoping to get the girls dribbling on a fast break so that I could minimize the number of people in the background.    In my zeal, I snapped this photo of a shot.  Oops!  The bright light from the window just wasn't going to work!  Still it was kind of cool so I made a note to play with it at

home. 

I cropped slightly to remove the feet on the left and right side of the image.  Also there was a poster in the upper right corner that needed to go.  I did try to straighten a bit, but couldn't get both the white line on the wall and the basketball goal to look straight at the same time and gave up.  There was still a bit too much color, so I darkened a bit and drew down the color saturation.  I did leave just a little color - I like the warmth of the wood floor, but didn't like the attention being drawn to the scoreboard lights.    

The next photo is my daughter.  The original takes in too much of the court, but she is looking close to the camera.  Unfortunately the gym light is poor and this is as close as I can get with my prime lens.  Cropping

to focus on Megan helps a lot.  My depth of field is a little greater than I would prefer, but still enough to allow the girls in the background to be slightly less distracting.  

As part of the class, we've been talking about camera capability.  This photo was taken with no flash - I don't want to blind the girls with my hobby. 

ISO 1600

F2.0

1/250

No Flash

If she was moving I would expect significant blur at that shutter speed.  I was lucky that she stood relatively still for several seconds.   

This photo journal prompt included a question, "When did you lose a sense of time?"  Interestingly, I went from this basketball game to an orchid show where I wandered around taking shots of flowers.  I left, bored, after 30 minutes.    At the game, I had the excitement of the competition, the engagement of the players, and the extra challenge of lighting and timing. 

Julie's Eyes

As part of my photo class, one of the assignments is to look at your archive of favorite photos for common themes.  But as I look through my favorites, I need to break things apart just a little more.  First are my sports photos.  Some of these are about lucky timing, but they are more than the average snapshot.  I get a thrill of being able to make the most awkward 8 year old look like a superstar!  I love catching the precise moment of action with clarity.  And I love to see the girl's pride at the end of the season when they realize that they ARE an athlete!

There is another group of sports photos that are more about moments than action.  They might catch a  coaching moment.  Maybe a success.  Maybe a connection with a teammate or parent.  Maybe just a moment of determination.  These pictures have a story.  They become part of our family lore and are the subject of laughter for years to come. 

For example, this shot of my daughter and her soccer coach.  In a mid-game adjustment, Megan had been asked to defend the best player on the other team man to man instead of playing her normal position.  She had never been coached in one on one defense.  And the other girl was impossible to stop.  Megan knew that she was letting down her team.  Poor girl!  After a quarter of play, she lost it and was consoled by her coach.  This photo provided a nice reason for us to explain that she was asked to do that job because she was the best on her team and that her coach knew it was impossible to stop the other team.  Her pain immediately turned to pride.  

 

As I develop my photo skill, I have been challenged to take in more landscape and portrait photography.  As I look through my inspiration file, I can tell that this work is less settled.  These favorites are all over the map.  Some of the standout themes include night shots (something that I've barely played with), great color in nature, and brief moments.  I'll have to watch my class work for more themes in this cluster of my work!

Light Adjustments

This week's exercise is on light adjustments.  I didn't do a new series for this lesson, but I'll use a photo series that I did at Christmas.  The subjet is my daughter's lavalamp.   

In spite of the darkness of the background, this photo was taken in mid-day ambient light.  The exposure was set to -5 stops to avoid overexposing the bottom of the lamp.  f 1.4, 1/250 s, 50mm, ISO 200, taken with a makeshift tripod.  In retrospec, I should have gone to f5. 

I like the color of this image.  I did darken it up slightly in post-processing.  There is still a bit of brown in the background, so I could go further. 

This is definitely out of my normal lighting.  Usually, I'm on ambient lighting for outdoor sports.  I rarely play with exposure in that setting, but here is the best to date.  This one is overexposed, using the bright shadows for contrast.  

Why to Photo?

Again, This blog is connected to my class - Find your eye - http://www.kateyeview.com/p/find-your-eye-e-course.html
The class is coordinated through Wishstudio - http://wishstudio.com/

Today's exercise is to answer the questions:  Why do I take photos? What draws me to photography? What are my motivations?

This one is pretty easy for me.  I take pictures to connect with others.  I take pictures to freeze memories and remember the fun that we had.  Best photos from school, family, and sports events are posted for sharing.  Picasa Line

As I develop my skill, I've added a couple of more reasons.  I take pictures as trade - For instance, I'll take pictures of my girls batting coach's softball team for trade in batting lessons.  And now I take satisfaction in knowing that my photos are well above average.  I love going into friends houses and seeing my work on their walls - maybe sometime as simple as a smiling snapshot from a sleepover or in one cast, a wedding portrait.

I like the positives that photography brings to my life.  Bad photos are easily shared, skipped, and forgotten.  But the good ones are mentioned or framed. The good ones are displayed.  Good portraits bring memories of loved ones and happy times.  Good ones lend color to my walls.  Good ones take me on a mini vacation to a good place. 

And while I'm shooting, the time falls away.  There are options with no right or wrong.  Just the series of moments where I know that I got something worthwhile.   

This photo was from a foggy morning shoot with my daughter.  I love the combination of color and fog. 
I always see this beautiful image of a fall day along the river.  But when I'm just done admiring the reflections, I notice my daughter, taking her own photo and I'm transported back to a wonderful morning together.  Perfect.

Find You Eye - Exercise Week 1 - Different lighting

I am taking an online photoclass - Find your Eye by a friend, Katrina Sloma.  Photos to my blog will be focused around class assignments for a few weeks.  

http://www.kateyeview.com/p/find-your-eye-e-course.html

The first exercise is around different lighting.  The task:  Take a series of photos of the same object with various different lighting types, noticing which versions I prefer. 



Room lighting only - a fixture with three florescent bulbs located above the chair



Again, the overhead light, but I added a front flash - horrible shadow on the wall - YUCK!

Window lighting only with the exposure set to -2 stops.  This is my favorite.  I like the backlight outline on the slats of the chair and the shine off of the top curve.  The overall darkness gives a sense of drama.  Too bad I had the window so close.  The glare and color compete with the chair.

Same natural light, but with the exposure adjustment back to zero.  This one is so flooded with light that the backlight shines just don't have the same effect.

Natural backlight plus a flash bounced off of the right wall.  Yucky shadows.

Light only from the room door.  The light and shadows aren't horrible, but I really should have used a tripod! 



My 11 year old daughter and I enjoyed a beautiful photo walk this morning.  We went down to the river.  The morning fog was burning off.  We took images of the fall follage, the fog on the river, and the ducks.  I especially liked this image - a beautiful picture of a group of ducks swimming across the river with the reflection of the fall foliage.  This is exactly the type of photo that I would like.  And there is my daughter, enjoying the same scene with her own vision.  I'll keep this photo as a reminder to share what I love with the people that I love. 

BTW, here is the picture that she was capturing...