11/1/12

Happy Thursday everyone! I can't believe its November just saying :) So I am thinking its about time I put some of my own pictures up. I have hesitated thus far just because they are so terrible. These pictures are not the best either, but I figure I probably need some kind of scale to see if I grow over the remainder of the semester. So this weekend I went up to zimmerman trail and just played around alittle up there.

 

I like this picture I think its different. I like the pine cone being in the middle. Maybe if I cropped out the outside where the ground shows through like Dave suggested it could be part of my final. I like it.

I liked this shot because the two tree kind of line the picture and they kind of give the perfect opening to look out over the city. I also really like the lighting and the clouds in this picture. With some cropping and editing I think this could also be part of my final. I like this too.

This is definately not my favorite. Its interesting, but I don't know how much I could work with it. I like the different perspective and how the city is in the background I just kind of find it ordinary nothing special. But I thought it was interesting see what you guys think.

I also decided to play around with my boots alittle I thought for my final it would be fun to throw my boots into a view landscapes just to add alittle creative flar. :) I like it becaue my boots symbolize a big part of my life. I mean you can see how worn they are I practically live in those things. It just sort of adds alittle piece of me into the picture. This picture is not very good though as Dave pointed out. The city is in focus fine, but the boots are out of focus. He said if I uped my aperature value I could have gotten both things in focus. So I plan on going back up tomorrow to try that same shot again. I like the sky in this shot too. I definately think I can work with this even if that means doing it over. I also messed around and took some photos of my horse Tyra. I know they aren't nature but I thought you may enjoy looking at them. She was feeling alittle frisky so there are some fun ones in there :)

 



10/11/12

So when I was working on this project I was going through the packing list for camera equipment and I realized I am not familar with telephoto lens at all. So I thought I would do alittle research since I own a telephoto lens and I'm going to yellowstone in 2 weeks. This unnamed author first explains that telephoto lens are mostly for enlarging distant figures, but he makes a point that they can also be used as a powerful artistic tool to affect the look of your subject. Telephoto lenses are special because they have a narrow angle of view, which means that both the relative size and distance is normalized when comparing near and far objects. You can also use the lens to bring items that are far away up closer. This allows you the photographer to stay a safe distance away and still get a great picture without disrupting the subject. The author also reminds that since the angle of view is so narrow you must be more selective as to what will be in your frame. The author also suggests some tips on using a telephoto lens on landscapes. He suggests using a telephoto lens when the desired picture contains layers like the mountains, trees, and fog in this picture.

The auhor's last point is that telephoto lenses don't have depth of field. This can be commonly mistaken becaue its said that telephoto lenses have very shallow depth of field. That was all this author had to say on telephotot lenses.

 

10/4/12

Well on Tuesday I had a moment of pure contentment. I was sitting in my beat up old chevy silverado with my best friend Gracie and we were eating mcdonalds and in the background a breath taking sunset. I know it sounds like nothing but for me in that simple moment all I felt was pure joy. I came to the conculsion today that the sunset had a big part in that joy and contentment. I would love to take some time and photograph sunsets. The unnamed author talks about how the first step with sunsets is preperation and planning to get the best pictures plus set up early. He mentions picking a spot where there are some clouds to add texture. He also suggests bracketing your exposures to have wide possibilities. This author uses an assortment of lenses depending on the frame. I guess that is just something I will have to get a feel for. He suggests not making the sun the center of your photo. He then goes on to say keep taking pictures after sunset to capture some great twilight pictures. Here are some of the authors examples for sunset pictures.

http://nature-photography-central.com/sunset_photos.html

9/27/12

I wanted to be prepared for yellowstone so I looked up some photography tips specific to yellowstone. The first went along with this picture.This picture is near firehole river while the trees were covered with snow.  It may not apply since there probably won't be awhole lot of snow, but its still good to know.

The author's tip here is to use exposures between +1 and +2. Keep trying different exposures until you get the right one. If you leave your camera on auto exposure it can often make the snow look grey. This next photo is of the iconic yellowstone bison. I am really hoping we see some of these guys.

 

The author's tip for photographing these big guys is to use a telephoto lens. A 100-400mm lens is what he says is best. He talks about how you should stay at least 25 yards away because even though the bison seem very docile they can get irritaed and become aggressive. The next picture is of a grizzly. I have always wanted to see one of these big guys up close and I sincerly hope we get to in october.

Here the author suggests giving yourself alot of space in the frame when shooting these guys so it gives room for movement. so either the animal in this case a bear to move into your shot or to look your way. And of course he talks about keeping a safe distance. This next photo is referring to gysers and steam. This photo is from the midway geyser basin bridge and I am really looking forward to seeing this place again I remember it being very beautiful.

The suggestion here is to use a slow shutter speed to make the river and steam take on a smooth look and it definately enhances the movement of the picture. He also suggests a neutral density filter to make a silky effect on the picture even in bright light. This last photo is of a waterfall on grassy lake trail.

Here he talks about adding a person in your shots to add an extra element of interest. It adds personality to the picture and the gaze of the person can direct your eye to the main element in your picture. I know we have talked about all these tips before in the reading and in class, but it was nice and helpful to apply them to things I will be seeing in yellowstone. I am really excited to go and take some great pictures. :)

9/20/12

Believe it or not I am a total beach bum. I surf and scuba well pretty much anything water related I am interested in. So since I love water so much I thought maybe learning alittle more about underwater photography would really benefit me. I love the ocean and all the beauty it holds and I would love to do some underwater work. When I was researching underwater photography I ran across Jett Britnell. He is a world reknown photographer that specializes in underwater work. He is an travel editor for Northwest Dive News. His work is used in several dive magazines and can be seen all over the world. Him and his wife Kathryn are actually a photojournalism team. They work together traveling the world and taking under water pictures together. He gives a few tips like to get close to your subject preferably 12 inches or less. Your flash should be kept on at all times. Make sure your subjects eyes are in focus. Also use a higher ISO and shoot from a lower angle. He really does take some amazing pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

9/13/12

One of the things in life I am most passionate about is horses. Horses are the sole reason I am in montana. So since this is what means most to me in life I found it fitting to find some photos of horses. Plus it would defiantely benefit me to learn alittle more about photographing the creatures I intend to base my life around and use that to further my career. So when I looked up well known horse photographers I stumbled across Susan Sexton.

Although she passed away in 2009 her work still lives on. She started out on her photo journey early in life, but when she turned 16 she moved into her own mobile home with a photo lab and went on the road to become a horse photographer. She started by shooting any horses she could find, but later on in life found she liked to photograph dressage.

So she moved down to the east coast and made a living off comercial photography. Her photos can be found in several well known equine magazines such as Dressage Today and Sport Horse Illustrated. Later on in life though she left the commercial side of her horse photography life and tried to focus more on the art side of her photography.

The photos she takes of horses are different and very interesting in my opinion. She has interesting perspective and uses angles to capture amazing photos.

I liked this photo becuse it really shows the horse's emotion through the eyes. Most horse people would not answer eyes when you ask them what the horse's most beautiful feature is, but Susan saw the beauty in this horse's eyes and she produced a beautiful picture because of that.

I was very impressed with Susan's story and I really enjoyed her pictures. I feel like although these pictures are not your average horse pictures they are beautiful and they gave me new perspective on how to photograph a horse.

http://susanthephotographer.com/blog/

9/6/12

I love this picture its so gorgeous! I find it interesting that Mr. Adams did most of his work in black and white. When I think of nature pictures I thought the color was what made them so beautiful, but this pictures clearly changed my mind. Its subtle but definately beautiful! The interesting part of this article is that this paticular picture was found by a man at a garage sale in Los Angeles California. Only later did he find out his garage sale painting was worth 200 million dollars. Talk about lucky :) http://epoycebu.blogspot.com/2010/07/heres-interesting-story-you-might-want.html