I love that quote by Emerson. And the earth is laughing now, so thought I’d take a minute a do a tip of the day on photographing wildflowers. Not a lot of hard and fast rules here, but a few general things to think about when you are composing your images.
Shutter speed and aperture – IF it is a breezy day and the flowers are moving as you try to zoom in on them, a fast shutter speed (at least 1/200) will help to avoid motion blurring. Also play with your f-stops to decide when you want most everything in focus (use f-stops of 8 to 22), or just one flower with the background blurred (try f-stops of 2.8 to 5.6). There is a sample below from my rose bush using two different apertures to show this difference.
Photograph from different levels – Again it depends on the look you want, but as a general rule if you are photographing small flowers (like the poppies shown below) you will want to get down low so that the flowers become more prominent. If the background is not good you can even get down lower and get the bug’s eye view with sky behind the flowers. But if you want to get just one bloom completely in focus you will want to make sure that the camera is parallel to the bloom (like the close up of the rose which was shot from directly above the bloom). So move around the subject and play with what works best to capture the look YOU want.
Most importantly, leave no trace that you were there. Leave the flowers just as you found them, and try not to trample the plants around you just to get the shot. That way we can all enjoy them while they last, and have our images to enjoy once they disappear for the year. Enjoy!
Greater depth of field using small aperture (f-stop 1/16) Aperture wide open blurs background so flower is clearly the focus here.
I wanted the greater depth of field here so the mountains AND poppies were in focus, so I stopped down to f-22.
Sometimes a "Bugs Eye" view is best (there was a road and cars in the background that I didn't want to see)
I love extreme close ups! But try to keep the lens parallel to the subject on something like this.
One of my favorite subjects to photograph is dogs. I love dogs, and they always make me laugh. This guy was the perfect subject! Barkley is a Vizsla, and has the best expressions. I met him when I went to his home to photograph a newborn (I will share his image with the baby after my client sends out the birth announcements, but I would hate to spoil the fun for anyone that might wander in here and see it here before the announcement hits the mail, so for now this post is all Barkley). So since the session at the house was for the baby, I asked my client if she could bring Barkley to the studio when she came to see the newborn images so I could take a few images of Barkley just to humor me. So here a few from our little mini-session.
Here is my collection of photographs taken in January for my "photo a day" project... and yes, if you count these you will see that I missed five days so I should call it my ALOMOST a Photo A Day Project. Still, I'm proud for the days I DO grab my camera and take a few minutes just for myself to get some fun images. February images are well underway, and I will share a few as we go. For now, enjoy a look back to January:
My husband and I went for a hike today to see if there was water still flowing in Cave Creek today (after all our rain) and found that the creek was in fact flowing (but not as much as we both thought it would be). Anyway, it gave me my photo for the day... there were a couple water crossings during the hike, and at this one I just loved the colors of the rocks under the water (as I crossed the creek in my bare feet - since I didn't want to hike the rest of the trail in wet boots!). I know those of you that live where water is always flowing in the river beds and creeks may think this is pretty lame as creeks go, but in the desert any water is precious and a reason to celebrate. Can't wait for the spring wildflowers!
I love still life photos... just pick your objects, find the right lighting, arrange appropriately, and have fun. Today's subject comes courtesy of the local farmer's market. I bought a bunch of flowers and took them home and put them in a vase. Later in the day when I walked past the flowers and saw them against the backdrop of the art on the wall I decided to make this my photo of the day. Then to illustrate the point of using different backdrops to get a new look, I moved the vase outside against the sky, and also used the water in the pool as a third look. I did not do a studio set up since I wanted to illustrate what can be done without studio lights and backdrops. In a later blog I will do a studio still life and discuss studio lighting techniques. The lighting you choose - from soft, ambient light, to high-tech lights - is critical in determining the mood of the photograph. Play with your own still life images using different lighting and backdrops to see how the same subjects can look so different.
Flowers inside against art on the wall gives a soft romantic look...
Outside against the sky a totally new look...
And against the soft reflection of the pool a nice color contrast...
Stay tuned for more fun with still life photography!
I have been PRETTY good about my photo a day project, even though I don't post all of them here on the blog, but yesterday I got busy and forgot to get an image before we were suppose to meet some friends for dinner. So I took my camera with me to the restaurant and decided to play with a low light situation without flash. Using a very high ISO (1600) allowed me to still hand hold the camera (shutter speed was 1/30 with a wide open aperture) to capture this view of the provisions delivered to the table prior to the pizza. The pizza disappeared too fast to get a shot without everyone's hands in the way! So next time you find yourself in a low light situation, try using a higher ISO and refrain from using the dreaded pop-up flash!
By the way, yummy pizza at Pino Cafe at Mayo Blvd and Scottsdale Road if you are in the area! And yes, it is owned by a frenchman, go figure.
We have had some crazy weather for Arizona... no outside portraits in a few days, but still doing my photo a day project (gives me a reason to take a break from the boring bookkeeping I have been doing in preparation for taxes - yuck). Anyway, here are a couple from the last two days. My dog KC and I have a standing playdate every afternoon that I do not have a session, and the rain yesterday caused us to cancel the outside playtime. Habits are hard to break, so at 4:25 she went to the door and looked for Jake... I'm sure she would have been happy to play outside and just couldn't understand why her humans were not as thrilled about it. The other photo is from this morning. We were BETWEEN storms for a brief period, with round three on it's way, and I captured these cool clouds with a bit of blue showing before the gap closed up and the rains came again. We don't get to see these clouds often, so it was fun to capture them before they "disappeared".
"Rainy Day Blues"
"Between the storms"
"The best thing to do when it rains is to let it rain"
Hi! I'm Pam Spicer... I am the owner and Photographer for Spicer Photography located in far north Scottsdale, Arizona. My specialty is photographing children, families, high school seniors, pets, and executives. I am married to Jerry and we share our home with our golden retreiver KC. Thanks for checking out my blog! I hope you will check back often to see what's new at Spicer Photography. Oh, and it would be really cool if you tell someone else about my work and help spread the word. Thanks!
cherie commented on February 25th, 2010
Pam You captured him perfectly! Thanks :)