I’ve had a pretty productive day, which is quite rare lately. After my walk this evening, I took some slices of lime and experimented with my 100mm macro lens.
Other angles -
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“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” -Ernst Haas
On my walk last night I ran across this interesting looking flower.
After posting to FaceBook/Instagram/Twitter, a couple of people were kind enough to tell me what kind of flower it is.
Passiflora, also known as the Passion Flower. (Wikipedia article)
Passion Flower Vine ( Passiflora caerulea )
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“If you see something that moves you, and then snap it, you keep a moment.” – Linda McCartney
Busy Monday. Just having some quick fun with my Tokina 100mm lens.
I had been wanting to practice panning and motion blur shots, so at the last minute, I decided I wanted to photograph the MS 150 start on Saturday morning (4/16). The MS 150 is a charity bike ride for Multiple Sclerosis that goes from Houston to Austin over a two day period. Hundreds of people on bikes is definitely good practice for panning.
2011 MS 150 – Start –- on Picasa
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“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” -Dorothea Lange
A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Macro lens. I've been wanting to do some Macro photography and the Tokina 100mm Macro is a great lens. This lens is not only a great macro lens, but a pretty good portrait lens as well. It has taken me a little while to get used to how the lens focuses and I still have a ways to go, but I have included a sampling of my shots below.
Additional Information
Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO Group on Flickr
Tokina’s AT-X 100mm f/2.8 PRO D Macro Lens; Close-Ups For Digital
Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO 1:1 Macro
Tokina AT X 100 AF PRO D - Macro lens 100mm f/2.8 - On Amazon
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“If you see something that moves you, and then snap it, you keep a moment.” - Linda McCartney
I have a pretty long commute to work each day. I have found that audio books and podcasts are a great way to spend that commute. I thought I would share the photography-related podcasts that I listen to.
Some video podcasts that I like to watch are below -- of course not while I'm driving.
I know there are more podcasts/video casts out there. I will update my list as I come across them.
Happy learning!
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“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” - Dorothea Lange
Announcements
Upcoming Events
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Topic – What is Raw Mode?
David did a great job of summarizing a tutorial/article on using RAW. The below has been taken from this article on Luminous Landscape.
What is Raw Mode?
When a digital camera makes an exposure the imaging chip (whether it's CCD or CMOS) records the amount of light that has hit each pixel, or photo site. This is recorded as a voltage level. The camera's analog to digital circuitry now changes this analog voltage signal into a digital representation. Depending on the camera's circuitry either 12 or 14 bits of data are recorded. Incidentally, if the camera records 12 bits of data then each pixel can handle 4,096 brightness levels (2^12), and if 14 bit then it can record 16,384 different brightness levels (2^14). (To my knowledge no current imaging chip records a true 16 bits worth of data).
Of course what happens after you've taken the photograph depends on whether you have the camera set to save images to the memory card as raw files or JPGs.
If you've saved the file in raw mode when it is subsequently loaded into a raw conversion program and then saved to a TIFF or .PSD format file it can be exported in 16 bit mode. The 12 or 14 bits recorded by the camera are then spread over the full 16 bit workspace. If you've saved the file in-camera as a JPG than it is converted by the camera's software to 8 bit mode and you will only ever have 256 brightness levels to work with.
I took away from this that unless you are going straight to print or web, you should refrain from saving and re-saving to JPEG files. The tutorial contains quite a bit more information on using RAW files, so I suggest giving the entire article a read.
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Additional Information & Links
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"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” -Aaron Siskind
This is my latest installment of photography-related links that I have found interesting in the last month.
My flickr photo picks for the month (ie Other People's Photos That I Like)
Links for the month
Inspirational Photo Links
Other Photography Link Collections
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"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams
I ran across an informative series from photographer Forest Chaput de Saintonge in a newsletter that I receive from the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. The topic is Creating Star Trail Images. Creating Star Trail Images (Part I) Creating Star Trail Images (Part II)
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Happy Learning!
High Dynamic Range Photography (HDR) is performed by taking two or more different exposures of the same scene and merging the photos to create a unique looking, evenly exposed photograph. Wikipedia defines HDR as a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods.
The main process is to set your camera to bracket your shots (my Nikon D90 brackets 3 shots). The bracket includes one regular + one underexposed + one overexposed shot. A tripod is pretty much required, unless you have a really stable surface to sit yout camera on. I then take the three shots and merge/process them in PhotoMatix Pro. I am sure, I am not doing everything correctly, but I like what I see so far. There is a lot still to learn. Below I have listed some of the resources that I have run across online.
Tutorials and Resources
Software
Inspiration
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Happy shooting!
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“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” - Ernst Haas
The March 2011 League City Photography Meet up took place on 3/3/11. Below are my notes.
Announcements
Theme for March ‘11 is Circles and Squares.
Upcoming Events
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Topic – Aperture
Mike did a great job defining and explaining Aperture. Below are the high points I took away.
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Additional Information & Links
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"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” -Aaron Siskind
This is my latest installment of photography-related links that I have found interesting in the last month.
My flickr photo picks for the month (ie Other People's Photos That I Like)
Links for the month
Inspirational Photo Links
Other Photography Link Collections
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"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams
Last weekend we took a quick trip to Galveston. We were lucky enough to make it to the seawall about 20 minutes before sunrise. After sunrise, we grabbed a coffee at Lasso a Latte and then jumped on the Bolivar Ferry. We drove around Bolivar for a little while then headed back to take a few shots of some of the architecture in Galveston.
All photos: Flickr Set | Picasa Set
It was a beautiful day for a trip to the beach.
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“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” - Dorothea Lange
A couple of weekends ago, we visited Forbidden Gardens (Twitter | Facebook) in Katy, Texas. I had found out from the League City Photography Meetup Group that this wonderful place was going to be closing soon to make way for the Grand Parkway expansion. The group went on Saturday, 2-5-11. I was still recovering from the flu that day, but we were lucky enough to go the next day. It was a beautiful day!
All photos: Flickr Set | Picasa Set
It is a shame this cool place is going away :(
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“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” - Berenice Abbott
I had the privilege of photographing the first Houston SQL Saturday (#57). The event took place at the Bammel Church of Christ which was a great venue, BTW.
My Full Picasa set for SQL Saturday #57
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"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” -Aaron Siskind
This is my latest installment of photography-related links that I have found interesting in the last month.
My flickr photo picks for the month (ie Other People's Photos That I Like)
Links for the month
These links are also listed as a category on my weekly installment of links on RhondaTipton.Net.
Other Photography Link Collections
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"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams
I attended a weekend photography conference last weekend. This conference is called RMSP Weekends and it is put on by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. I highly recommend checking it out if it comes to your area as I feel I learned a ton!
The sessions I attended for Day Two
The notes I took
Composition: Designing A Great Photo
Instructor: Tony Rizzuto
When photography bugs (bees, butterflies, etc) - do so early in the morning, before they become active.
Bright tones are active (warm), Dark tones are passive (cool)
Eyes always need to be sharp
Fill the frame - move closer or zoom in
Focal Length
Lines
An odd number of objects in a scene is better than even. (3 objects rather than 2 or 4)
Negative Space - area of the photo where your subject is not
Rule of Thirds - Left = comfort, Right = Tension
Perspective
Power points
Balance - calming, easy to look at. Imbalance creates tension.
A-Symmetrical balance - equal weight, different places in the frame
Rhythm/repetition
Color - Red = active, Blue = calm
Recommended Photographers
Main goals of Composition
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Photographing People
Instructor: Tony Rizzuto
2 types of people photography
Elements of a portrait - eyes, light, expression, background, fill frame, directness
Elements of an environmental portrait - quality of light, background, fill frame, clarity of idea/story
12-35mm wide-angle lens is ideal for an environmental portrait
50-100mm lens is ideal for a portrait
telephoto lens (70-300) - compresses space, so it takes in less background
I attended a weekend photography conference last weekend. This conference is called RMSP Weekends and it is put on by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. I highly recommend checking it out if it comes to your area as I feel I learned a ton!
The sessions I attended for Day One
The notes I took
Understanding Exposure
Tim Cooper - Tim Cooper Photography
Reflected Meter
Middle Grey - Average Reflectance
Camera automatically turns white into a gray and black into a gray
Meter Types
Exposure Meter is usually at the bottom or on the side of the frame
Auto-Bracketing (used for HDR)
Checking Exposure
Zone III - VII = 5 stops of latitude
Aperture priority mode - may need to use the exposure compensation dial in addition to all the normal setup. Need to try using Manual Mode as the norm
Biggest take-away: EXPOSE FOR YOUR MID-TONES AND CHECK OUR HIGHLIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Processing Your Images With Adobe LightRoom
Tim Cooper - Tim Cooper Photography
Library Module
Shortcuts
Library filter
keywording
Apply During Import
Note: This instructor strongly suggests putting LightRoom catalog and all photos on a large, external hard drive so you can work with them on any machine that has LR installed. Backup that device onto two other HD's. Something to consider.
Space bar, blows up a photo on the screen
Crop tool not only crops a photo, but you can apply a print size to it as well. (ie, 5x7, 8x10, etc)
Saving "Develop" presets.
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Lighting: Creating Mood and Dimension
Brightness is defined as the amount of light in a scene
ISO,shutter speed and aperture affect the amount of light
Contrast is defined as the difference in brightness between the highlights and the shadows.
Really dark shadows (no detail) - blocked out
Really bright highlights (no detail) - blown out
The human eye can see 15 stops of brightness in a scene
stop = change in brightness (x2) => 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc
B&W negatives contain 10 stops
Contrast is created by 3 things: the direction of the light source, the size of the light source and the distance of the light source.
Types of light
Larger the light source, the lower the contrast
Farther the light source is, the higher the contrast. So while the Sun is very large, it is very far away, making it high contrast.
Tools for Modifying Contrast
Flash and direction - bounce the flash (wall, ceiling, floor)
Using Fill Flash
TTL - Through The Lens
White Balance
NOTE: Since the daylight WB makes no correction to color, it is great for sunset, sunrise and night photography.
NOTE: To get a starburst effect, close down to f/16
Caucasian skin tone is 1 stop brighter than normal.
Recommended flash - SB-600
Recommended gear - Gary Fong Puffer Pop up Flash Diffuser
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See next post for Day Two
I purchased a Holga camera recently because I have been loving what I see coming from this camera online.
A Holga is basically a medium format toy camera. To me, the biggest learning curve besides loading film (which I have not done in a long time) is the lack of instant gratification. My husband laughs at me when I immediately look at the back of the camera after taking a shot, forgetting I have to wait to see what it looks like. I chalk it up to teaching me not to “chimp”.
I used up the first roll of film and sent it off to Dwayne’s Photo and got it back a couple of days ago. I have to say I was not expecting anything usable, but I think I got a couple of okay shots out of the 12 exposures.
I am hoping for a few more with the next roll. :-)
Additional Information
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“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.” -W. Eugene Smith
The kind people at Your Photo Tips allowed me to do a guest post for them. Feel free to head on over and check it out. Photography-Related Apps for the iPhone
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“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” -Ansel Adams
