Winter in the city

I saw this as I was walking, and couldn't resist grabbing the shot!

Believe it or not, this was actually a regular city sidewalk, around midday on the weekend. I was surprised at how many places had no footprints yet. In retrospect, it would have been better if I had caught sight slightly sooner, to eliminate the road in the top left, but otherwise it's a nearly perfectly smooth snow path.

This was taken with my cell phone, the only camera I had with me at the time. Not bad!

Video cards, part 4

I have saved my favourite image for last!

Once again from the blue card, once again hand held. And yes, once again cropped! But that's pretty much where the similarities end. This card has a shiny silver heat sink on it. The fins of the heat sink produce a strong pattern which I left intentionally off-center. I love the way the silver reflects the blue of the card, making it looks even more metallic and cool. There's also a secondary pattern in the black chips running along the bottom of the image. They're blurry and hard to focus on, and yet they want attention, even as the fins demand to be the center of attention.

Which of the pictures from the past 4 days was your favourite?

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 200, aperture 2.8 and 1/15 exposure length, no flash.

Video cards, part 3

On to a fabulous blue video card! The colour of the card really changes the way you see the things on it. This was also hand held, as I needed to move the card around to be able to focus on the part I wanted most.

This one really is cropped! Yes! ME! I cropped a picture. I love this. It reminds me a bit of looking at the downtown of a city. The copper coil is clearly one of the most iconic buildings in Video City.

One more time, more light would have improved this image, although going with the city concept, perhaps this is a late-day view of downtown, as all of the daily denizens are emptying the buildings, darkening them as they go home.

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 200, aperture 2.8 and 1/13 exposure length, no flash.

Video cards, part 2

Day 2 brings us a fabulous red card! A brilliant background for contrast. I did use a tripod, but in an effort to allow in as much light as possible, it turns out I was on a bit of an unfortunate angle.

I knew in the drawer of treasures would be cards of all colours, and I was not disappointed! With this one, the white lines around the silver solder are strongest, but the paler red lines on the dark red of the card itself are also fascinating. I still can't decide whether cropping would have made it more powerful, or taken away the magic... So, you tell me! Here are 2 very different crops. Which of the 3 images do you like best?

I need a stronger macro lens. This should be sharper. That issue aside...

This wasn't the center of the original photo, so it's not perfectly focused. But it's still a very cool image!

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 2.8 and 1/25 exposure length, no flash.

Video cards, part 1

My boyfriend has a load of old computer parts, so I asked if there were any I could take pictures of - I wanted ones that he wasn't afraid I would damage, just in case! He offered up a whole drawer full of colourful cards, and over the next several days I will share a few of my favourite images with you.

As soon as I flipped to the back of this card, I knew what I wanted a picture of. This little section reminds me of a portrait on someone's wall, with a lovely silver frame.

I had to hand-hold the card for this one, because I was trying to get closer to the window (and natural light) than my table would allow. As a result, the card was at a slight angle, and the right is a smidge further from the camera than the left. It makes the "portrait" look crooked, but I'm pretty sure it's not. Next time, I will move all the furniture instead!

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 2.8 and 1/25 exposure length, no flash.

How I take pictures

In the past, I have told you about the cameras I use to take pictures for this blog. Today, I will tell you a little about the other factors that impact my photography.

My camera has a lovely display screen that I can shift and adjust. I use both it and the view finder, depending on the situation. The screen is a great help when I'm trying to get pictures from an odd angle, subtlely, or somewhere above my head. The view finder is a necessity when it's bright out. (If you are looking for a new point and shoot camera, get one that has a view finder if you can - you'll miss it if you don't have it, even as a casual photographer.)

I shoot the highest quality photo my camera can - the largest number of pixels, largest size. Memory cards (my camera takes ordinary SD) can hold a huge number of images now, even of a large size, so there is no reason to restrict yourself by taking smaller images. I've seen advice in the past that for "everyday" pictures, you should use a smaller or lower quality to save space... and while that may have mattered when memory cards only held 256MB, I bought a 32GB, class 10 card on Boxing Day for $20 or $30, from a reliable name. That's probably way larger than I'll ever need, but for the price, it was worth it.

I shoot in full colour the majority of the time - as an early instructor told us again and again, you can take things away in post-processing, but you can't put them in.

I also tend to take multiple shots of the same thing. Again, memory cards have huge capacities, so I make tweaks to viewing angle, settings, or even just take several to make sure at least one is in focus.

I also take a camera just about everywhere I go. Of course, my phone has a camera, but I find that one highly unsatisfying most of the time. However, in a pinch, at least I have something. When I can, I will take one of my regular cameras - the point-and-shoot comes with me to work every day, and often accompanies me on small outings. The larger SX10 comes with me on even the shortest of car trips, and on many other outings as well. It's just about the only camera I use if I'm taking pictures at home.

Shiny, wavy, pattern

I think this object is pretty cool in "real life". And I think it makes for a great photo too!

The pattern is the repeating waves in the metal. I've thought that was neat since the first time I saw it, but with all the warped and partial reflections on the curves, I think it's even more interesting! And looking at the bottom of the waves, you can almost wonder if they are bending in towards the camera, or away from it.

So, what do you think the object is?

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 4.5 and 1/160 exposure length, no flash.

Snow in a tree

This picture was taken through a not-very-clean window, which affects the sides a bit, but I found a clear enough spot for the important part of the image. However, because of the angle of the tree branch, there was no where else to go to capture this image. I'm amazed by how much snow is balanced on such a thin branch, and I've been eyeing this image for days!

For this image, I tried to take some advice from yesterday's post about cropping, as well as from a book I've been reading where the author talks about cutting out the clutter. This image would be more powerful without the trees in the back, but that just wasn't an option. However, I did zoom in (instead of cropping after) to clear away all the rest of this particular tree's branches - and I think it is a better picture than if I had left it all in there!

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 5.0 and 1/1000 exposure length, no flash.

Cropping

As you know if you've been reading this blog at all, I tend to post my images more or less "as taken". Here's a great example of what you can do with cropping, and a reminder that we shouldn't be afraid of cutting out the noise! You don't have to get it perfect the first time.

http://brianmatiash.com/2012/01/20/on-aggressive-cropping/

DPS: Weekly challenge

The Digital Photography School apparently does a weekly challenge, and this week's challenge is...

Patterns

They refer to this post from a couple of days earlier as the inspiration for the subject. Those are some pretty awesome pictures!! If you don't want to share your images with all of DPS (they tell you how in the post), feel free to share them with the tiny group that is me, by commenting here!

Disappearing act

Whoops, sorry for disappearing for a few days!

This came from the same set up as the last picture with the green bubble wrap.

The background is neutral, it's just the wall. What I wanted here was to capture the colour diffusing in to the glass. It's just plain tap water and my assistant was dripping in grenadine. It didn't really come out the way I thought it would, so the pictures weren't as neat as I was hoping, but I do still like this one. The bottom of the red is sort of what I had in mind, and I do like the thin string of red towards the water's surface.

Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 4.0 and 1/80 exposure length, no flash.

Two-for-one

Today is a two-for-one! Using the same physical set up, I took two quite different pictures, and I want to show them both.

The other day, I shared a link to a video of a man Wimp.com called the MacGyver of Photography. I didn't try to recreate what he did there, but it got me thinking about different ways of getting interesting looks. As with yesterday's post, can you guess what this is??

This is a glass of ordinary tap water. I focused the camera on the bubbles on the near side of the glass, and in behind the glass was a piece of green bubble wrap. I really like the way the sides of the glass warp the bubbles in the wrap.

On the flip side is this one. Instead of focusing on the air bubbles on the glass, I forced the camera to look past that, and focus instead on the bubble wrap at the back. The air bubbles look virtually superimposed on the wrap. (And this time there's a neat, slightly different kind of warping happening at the top from the surface of the water. I should have been using a tripod instead of hand-held!)

I really like both pictures, and I love how such a small change makes such a big difference in the picture.

Fill the view

A great little tip I read the other day was to fill the view with whatever it is you're shooting. You don't necessarily need - and often don't want - a lot of other background. So here's a great macro shot that does just that!

I love the way the individual fibres stand out, and how the whole image is just filled with that rich red. Can you guess what this is? That's part of the fun and magic of this type of picture!

Stuck in a rut?

Tiffinbox has a great suggestion, not only to break out of a rut, but also to stretch your skills. And you never know what you might learn doing one kind of photography that will actually (and unexpectedly!) be transferable to another type.

http://tiffinbox.org/in-a-rut-photograph-something-different/

Impatient

An ongoing problem for me is that I'm not very patient. I don't usually take the time I need to properly compose my pictures. I focus on my subject, and generally forget about the background, and that always ends up disappointing me. Maybe someday I'll learn!

Totem poles are quite large, so to capture any detail, you have to do it in parts. That's fine. I liked the detail on this totem then and I do now. It's striking. What I don't like is my oversight with regards to the background. This mural would make a wonderful background... if I had positioned myself so that the left wing covered that window. I should also have take this a little brighter and a little darker, for comparison. Brighter might have completely washed out the bird's throat and the mural, and darker might have overly dulled the lower figure, but it would be nice to see.

It's not really a bad picture, but I'm adding the "bad-pic" tag anyway, since it seems to be the one I've adopted to mean "I can learn something specific from this picture" - which would be way too long for a tag.


Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 800, aperture 4.0 and 1/250 exposure length.

Christmas boat

1) Yeah, yeah, holidays are over, blah blah. Too bad, you get another picture anyway! :-)
2) My boyfriend roundly chastised me for leaving the tripod in the vehicle. I apologize in advance for that fact, because it did have a negative impact on the picture, although I believe I took this one propped on some kind of pillar or post.

The moment I saw this boat, I loved it! They did such a great job with the lights. What I was trying to capture here: The boat's lights as well as the reflection. I don't believe the reflection would ever be perfect, as this is on the ocean, so the water is never perfectly still. And it takes so very little movement for light to "smear". As much as I like the lights though, my favourite part of this image is actually the boat just in front of it, to the right in the image. It's reflection on the water is quite crisp. I did slightly crop this picture, to cut out a distracting boat to one side, but that was the extent of post-processing.

So, how to get this picture better? A tripod is a given, but because it was on moving water, a long exposure isn't the solution for a sharp picture. I would still need a faster shutter speed. A high ISO and large aperture would be in order, I think. Sadly, I was too tired to try playing with the settings that evening, I just wanted to enjoy the view and the nice smells, so I let the camera do it's thing and I will simply try to learn from what it did.


Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, ISO 400, aperture 3.2 and 0.8 second exposure length.

Black and White photo webinar

Are you looking for help with your black & white photography? How about signing up for a free 1 hour webinar?

Black & White: Craft & Vision, presented by Harold Davis and hosted by O'Reilly publishers.
Thursday, January 19, 2012, 10am Pacific time, 1pm Eastern.
Sign up here

I'll be there! Will you?

Rain drops

Okay, I admit it, I didn't take this one for the purpose I ended up liking it for.

My reason for taking this picture was because I liked the little things growing on top of this support. That part of the picture is less than spectacular, even aside from the fact that the colours are too dull. What I find wonderful about this picture is all the little splashes where the rain was hitting the water in the bay. 

Now if only there was something with some colour to liven up the picture.

Tree in a... tree?

My favourite thing about taking my camera everywhere and looking at everything as a potential photograph, is that it has made me more aware of my surroundings.

This is, in fact, a tree growing inside a tree stump. The current living tree is fairly large (you can just see a bit of it's root snaking out the bottom left of the old stump), so that should give you some sense of how large the old stump is. At a guess, I would say it was at least 2 feet tall. Clearly, as it decomposed it made for a rich environment for the new sapling to flourish in. I can't be certain, but I'm going to guess that the younger tree is not of the same type as the older stump. TOO COOL!

As for the picture itself, I intentionally didn't try to capture the whole tree. To get far enough back to see it all would have meant losing all the brilliant detail that was my focus. I love the bits of pale green moss or lichen that are growing on the outside of the stump, and the contrast in the colours between the new tree and old stump. I also like the contrasts on the ground, between the rich green leaves (IN JANUARY!!!) and the brown needles and leaves carpeting the ground.

MacGyver of photography

Wimp.com called this guy the MacGyver of photography, and I'm inclined to agree! The picture at the end is fabulous! (Just ignore the bad hair.)

http://wimp.com/macgyverphotography/

Shoe planters

The picture itself is... okay, not spectacular, but the circumstances make it great.

First of all, this was taken on Dec 27, and I just don't usually get to see living greenery outside at that time of year! Lovely! I love the splash of red against the otherwise grey-brown surroundings - in fact, it was a drizzly, rainy day, so everything was rather grey, and then there were these bright red shoes! I love that they are a matched pair, but are on the wrong sides of each other for putting them on.

What's your most creative recycling of an item?

Famous Photo

A couple of months ago, a new world-record was set for the highest price paid for a photograph at auction. (As an aside, this sale pales in comparison to the $140 million paid for a Pollock Jackson painting, in 2006.) The following photograph was sold for $4.33 million.

http://www.thisweekinphoto.com/2011/the-worlds-most-expensive-photograph/

What do you think? Is it worth $4.33 million? To my tastes, no. It's a nice enough picture, but I don't find there to be anything spectacular about it. Regardless, the article linked to above is quite interesting and not very long. The author also gives an example of a photograph that he thinks would be worth more - and it's a very stunning image!

Read on!

Almost a stereotype

It's a very wet, drizzly day. The people I'm with are heading back to our vehicle fairly quickly, but I keep falling behind to grab this shot or that, and then having to run to catch up. This is one shot that I had to run for, but I'm really glad I stopped to take it!

I didn't alter any of the settings for this picture. Auto white balance, 0 exposure bias, aperture 4.0 and 1/60 exposure length. I did crop out the top left of the picture in order to remove some noise and focus in on what I really like about this picture. And while in a hurry, cold and getting wet, I still managed to get the exact shot I wanted - The water drops on the branch are in focus, while the building roof in behind makes a wonderful, fuzzy red background. With more time (and a tripod) I think I could have made the drops even sharper, but overall, I'm pleased with this picture.

First of the new year!

There's nothing outrageously special about this picture, but I love it.

Yes, he's centered, I made no attempt at rule of thirds or whatever else. I like the context he is given by the paddock in front and the fence and trees in behind. It was quite bright out for his pale body, so I did change the exposure bias (as Flickr calls it, I'm sure it has many different names) to a -1. It makes the rest of the picture maybe a tad dark, but I think it really brings out the variations in his coat. I like that he's just looking slightly towards the camera, but otherwise it's a full side view, so you get a good look at him. Lovely!

My plan for the blog for 2012... I'm thrilled I managed to get a post in for every single day of December, even though I was traveling which sometimes made it quite difficult - and quite late! (The one for Dec 31 wasn't quite as late in the day as it seems, since I'm currently in an earlier time zone, but didn't change the time for the blog.) My rough goal for this year is to continue to post daily, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I miss a day here or there. I hope to post about 5 pictures per week, with the other two days consisting of tips, links to other websites or tutorials or things like the 30 Day Challenge. If you ever have any suggestions or ideas for things you'd like to see, let me know in the comments on any post!