Three Cheers For Inspiring Women!

Happy International Women's Day! Just a quick post today to share how all you ladies out there inspire me. Some of you because you're photographers, some because you're amazing moms, some because you are bravely battling illness, some because you've become incredible friends and mentors. I applaud all of you today! So the following is a list of blogs and websites that I highly recommend, all owned by amazing women! When you have a moment be sure to check them out!

Anne Mckinnell

The Pioneer Woman

This Journey

Jennifer Gilbert Photography

Commit To Fit

Esther Out Loud

Jasmine Star Photography

My Whimsical Little World

Canadian Women Photographers Network

This is just a handful of sites I visit regularly, and find inspiration from... what are your favorites?

Have a great weekend folks! Next week... images from Hamilton's own annual Spring Tide @Gage Park, it's on now until March 17th. If you need a shot of spring, keep your eyes peeled here at the blog.
Happy Rambling!

DOF ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Softly She Emerges"

Perhaps my favorite image from the trips I made to the Spring Show is my post for the day. This was the only open magnolia blossom on the branches in the displays, and when I saw it I knew it needed singled out in whatever shot I took. Isolated is perhaps a better term.

Used my trusty modest telephoto zoom, dialed her wide open to an F/4.5 to soften everything but the blossom, spot metered against her white flesh, and got off a series of shots. In the background were banana trees, bird cages, and other visitors but you'd never know it with the depth of field I chose.

Almost as important as what you are featuring in your shots, is what you choose to exclude from your shots. And this is one way of getting that. I am always aware of the background, constantly recomposing around the subject in order to get the best image with the perfect backdrop. My new favorite compositional word is "cohesive". Everything needs to work together.

Thanks for the short ramble folks! Have a good one!

Fill the Frame ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"SEA OF COLOR"

(1/80 sec.@ F/9, ISO 100, 62mm fl, 55-200mm telezoom, overcast diffused light)

Telephoto's are my favorite way to fill a frame with a subject. Naturally most people think telephoto and they automatically think distance photography. And obviously that's the main use. But my favorite subjects also look good through a telephoto, for a different reason.

As a tele lens brings everything closer, it compresses the percieved distance. This means I can not only get a closer view of the tulips at the Spring Bulb Show in Hamilton, but the lens allows me to get a very tight composition. Filling the frame with loads of color and giving wonderful depth of field even at an aperture of F/9. It ensures the main subject(s) still retains a ton of detail too. Makes for a very dramatic image. Puts the viewer right in the middle of the patch of tulips, as opposed to a more wide angle view, which would look more like the viewer standing before a patch of tulips, but certainly not in the midst. I actually wasn't too far away, and so the flowers look like they surround the lens, again thanks to the compression of the telephoto zoom I used.

It's one of my favorite tools to photograph flowers with. Have you tried it?

Thanks for letting me ramble on folks! And have a good one eh!

Bold Color ~ Floral Friday!

"Tropical Flare"

(1/80 sec.@ F/7.1, 50mm fl, ISO 125, 50mm prime lens, spot metering)

The Spring Bulb Show is on at the Tropical Greenhouse of Gage Park. So naturally I am using a photo from my visit this week. The greenhouse is bathed in bright wonderful colors. Heralding spring with tulips, daffodils, pansies, and even their tropical plants like the one above are bursting with color. You can't help but feel happy after a visit there.

Color lifts the spirits. It says life is vibrant. Fresh. Beautiful. Exciting.

Put something super colorful into your weekend. A bouquet of flowers on the table (and photograph them of course), go for a walk into the sunset (and photograph it obviously), or pull out your spring wardrobe (heck, photograph the mess that ensues from that one act alone! ha)... but put some color into your day and watch how everything just feels better.

I don't think it's a coincidence that our world was created with gazillions of amazing colors. I know it does me a world of good every time I look upon it all. How about you?

Thanks for the ramble folks as March Break comes to a close...have an amazing weekend folks! Get out there and capture some color!