It is the last day of March already, and I haven't shared too many of my images from my "Photo A Day" project, so here they are (in no particular order) for the entire month of March. It has been a fun project so far... hope you enjoy the images, and then get out there yourself and use your camera to focus in on some details of your day!
Categorized In: arizona | cave creek | commercial | phoenix | photographer | photography | portraits | scottsdale
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.
Categorized In: arizona | commercial | photographer | photography | portraits | scottsdale
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"
Categorized In: arizona | pet | photographer | portraits | scottsdale
Since your eye goes to the brightest area of a photo, it is important to not let anything be brighter than your subject. Here is an example to help illustrate this point. This cute little subject was in front of a pond and the reflection from the sky was very bright… so in the first image your eye goes to that bright spot in the lower left corner (as well as the blown out area of her hair) rather than to her face. To help in this situation I moved to my left thus moving that bright spot out of the background. I do know that when working with children you have to work quickly and there are times when the mood and expression is right and you grab the shot before you have a chance to fully assess the background. Yes, it is possible to fix the first photo in Photoshop, but if you can learn to look for these “hotspots” in your camera as you are composing the picture it will save a LOT of post-production time when working on the images.
Bright areas in image distracts from the subject:
Moving a bit to the left helped move the hotspot out of the picture to improve the photo:
Categorized In: arizona | children | children's photographer | photograph | portraits | scottsdale
Every holiday season brings memories of the past as well as wishes for the future. In these moments of thoughtful reflection we learn acceptance for life’s trials while we give thanks for the beauty that surrounds us.
It can also be a time of stress and frantic activity. This is especially true at time of year for most portrait photographers, as we rush to meet the holiday deadlines of our clients. But even amid the hustle and stress I think it is important to go out of our way to extend random acts of kindness toward strangers whenever possible. It could be something as simple as holding the door for someone, or a smile and a kind word. Even just taking the time to say THANKS to someone for something they have done for you.
So at this time of year I give thanks to all of my clients for the trust they have given me to capture their memories. I hope all of you enjoy this time with friends and family, and take a moment to extend a random act of kindness toward a stranger today. Thanks again to all my wonderful clients, friends and family. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Categorized In: arizona | family | photography | portraits | scottsdale
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!
