Recipe for Beauty ~ Floral Friday

"Wild Gypsy Rose"

(1/80 sec.@ F/6.3, ISO 100, 125mm fl, 55-200mm Nikkor VR, handheld, bright shade)

I love nature. I love flowers. I love photographing them. But when someone asked me to pinpoint how to get the most beautiful floral photos the other day, I discovered I was at a loss. I hadn't really thought about it. Is my approach to flowers and nature different than my approach to other subjects? I had to mull that one over.

I don't yet have a macro lens, and I don't do a ton of still life so my florals are basically limited to outdoor, available light, golden hour, all weather shooting. I use my telephoto for the most part, giving a nice bokeh and selective focus. When I can, I like to get out just after the rain. But that doesn't always happen, and raindrops on every flower you photograph starts to feel cliche.

So I went out and shot just flowers the other morning. And paid attention to what works for me or makes me think there's a photo to be had. Here's what may help answer the question in the first paragraph. But of course your answers may be different...

1) I photograph flowers almost like you would a person. In fact I know several other readers/photographers that have said the very same thing. If you want to improve at portraits, try getting close-ups of a single flower. Find it's best side, the most flattering light, and make sure you get the colors accurate.

2) I stop labeling them as flowers, and approach them as complex shapes that need to be carefully composed around. I have even gone so far as to just look at grasses in the wind abstractly, and shot them to emphasize the idea of motion and nothing nature related.

3) I look for the one dominant color, pattern, cluster, or blossom to isolate somehow within the frame. Even in a giant cascade of flowers, one needs to stand out and anchor your composition for you. It needs to be the starting point for the eye to travel around the rest of the image.

4) It still needs to evoke a response of some kind. Deep red flowers are sensed as more dramatic, more romantic. Golden light can make a field of wildflowers seem dream-like, causing the viewer to remember running through them as a child. Pinks, and whites seem pure and sweet so diffused light and very soft focus can emphasize this to the viewer and feel inspiring. If something makes me stop in my tracks, I try to expound on that in the lens so that others have the same reaction.

That's just my first thoughts on this and as I think about it, my approach to many different subjects run along the same line, deviating only slightly. And to be honest, I just love the beauty found in nature so I photograph it. Plain and simple.

Thanks for following along at the blog all week gang! Hope it inspires you to get out there with your cameras. Have a super weekend! See you Monday!

Expect the Unexpected ~ Exploration Thursday!

"Marsh Light"

(1/50 sec.@ F/9, ISO 200, 40mm fl, late evening light)

Let me set up the scene. Sitting editing at my desk last night, supper ready, I look out my window for a moment and what do I see? The most massive clouds moving quickly across the sky. I look at the cloud anxiously. If I time this right, I can have dinner on the table in two seconds, hubby will walk through the door, my kit bag will be ready, and out the door I'll go after scarfing down said dinner... to chase the clouds. I hear the car pull in and is that a nervous twitch in my right eye? I can barely contain myself. I NEED to get pics of those clouds lit so gloriously in the lowering sun!

Faster than you can say "Bob's yer Uncle" we wolf down our donairs, and hubby and I fly out to the car yelling something to the kids about not blowing up the house or losing the dog and off we go. I remember that not far from the house is a new trail that leads to a cool walking bridge over the highway to the beach... the clouds will look great from there!

Move ahead a measly ten minutes. The clouds? Gone. They've rapidly become a smear of grey across the distant sky leaving a hazy blue and nothing else. Can you say "drat!" I walk deflated across said bridge and wonder if I'll just have to stand around for another hour and at least get some night shots of the light trails of hundreds of cars on the highway beneath us driving into the approaching night. But man I wanted those clouds.

If there's one thing I've learned pursuing photography for the last five years, it's been to never restrict yourself to what you think might be waiting for you. Always be ready for the possibility that instead of what you envisioned, there might be a surprise waiting for you. There have been days I thought I was heading out to shoot landscapes, and instead I got hung up on some cool details I spied at the side of the road en route. Went to shoot architecture, and shot dogs playing in puddles instead. So as I stood on the bridge, I turned to see the view from the east... and found marshes rising up on either side of the highway along the trails. And if they weren't bathed in the most lovely sunset light, grasses shining, water with golden ripples. And if I poked my lens through the rungs of the bridges rails, I could get the view unhindered and from 40ft up.

I walked away with a ton of shots. The reeds in the water made little paths that zigzagged through the frame, natural layers the eye could travel around, and the light kept deepening. You'd never know traffic was roaring past less than 30 feet away... and the whole time I was reminded that I need to expect the unexpected when I head out with my camera.

Have a great day folks! Thanks for the ramble and I hope you all find something unexpected to photograph this week too!

Knowing Your Tools ~ Wide Angle Wednesday!

"Lost and Found"

Who here loves to learn? I certainly do. Had a random conversation one day with several other photographers who have begun repeating a sentiment I'm hearing a lot lately. And it goes a lot like this - who needs workshops, teachers, and programs? Just get out there and shoot already.....

I get told this every time I mention a workshop I'd love to travel to, or a webinar I feel the urge to promote to others. People look at me like I'm insane and always state "you're there already, who needs to waste time on something like THAT?" And to a point, in order to discover who you are as a photographer you DO have to just pick up your camera everyday and pursue photography your own way, with your passion, and no one elses. I hear that.

 But.... I personally believe in fully knowing the tools I have at my disposal as well. And I mean KNOWING my tools, understanding what I can accomplish with what I have, and maybe what my needs will be in the future as I grow. My husband can tell you that. Tools are what get you the final result. I shot the interior of the garage this morning for my motivation challenge. He had tools laying everywhere, ready to build something. He knows exactly how to use them all to his advantage, but he had to learn about them first. And I can honestly say I still don't know everything about my own tools of photography, and never will. And if there are ways out there to learn more, and things that will show me to be better with my camera, my lenses, my business, my vision then I'm sorry, but I'll be taking it all in. Why do some folks make it seem like being taught means lowering ourselves? Now yes, some workshops are designed to take your hard earned money and try to distract you with new shiny things so it seems as if you made a great investment in learning... but not every opportunity is built that way, and not everyone is out there to con you. You just have to wisely do your homework.

I never have a ton of money for the big traveling workshops anyways, but if I did, I would find one that combined a dream come true location with talented seasoned instructors. And of the smaller and more inexpensive seminars and teaching webinars I've signed up for, I've come away with more knowledge about photography than I had going in.

Things like A) knowing your reciprocals saves your work at a shoot happening in constantly changing light when your meter swings back and forth on you,

B) knowing how to read a histogram properly so that every shot has skin tones looking amazing, C) finding out that every time you add a flash you double your Fstop, and D) that your website and your blog need to be cohesive, yet fill different needs at the same time.

All these things were things I didn't know, till someone more in the know told me. And they've improved my photography because of it.

Don't let anyone tell you you're past learning. Devour information coming your way... then instead of sitting on it, grab your camera, call your web designer, or whatever it is you just figured out you need to improve your approach to photography and get out there and prove you can do it!

Thanks for the preachy little ramble folks! Feel free to sign in and leave a comment too. And have a super day.

Satisfied With Simplicity ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Summer Greens"

(1/60 sec.@ F/8, ISO 160, 110mm fl, Nikkor 55-200mm zoom VR, early morning light)

I greet my workday feeling.... refreshed. The first morning of my personal challenge to be creative and photograph something, anything, not work related has me ready for my day. Did it require fancy filters? Did I need all my gear? Did I have to travel across the city? Did I search high and low for gritty, dramatic, newsworthy subjects? Quite simply, in a word, no.

In fact, the theme I kept in mind while wandering about the neighbourhood was simplicity. I wanted to stop looking for any over the top wowness (such a fun word to type by the way) and go back to what makes photography enjoyable for me. Simple color filling the frame. Directional lines, giving the basic feeling of movement and nothing more. Patterns found in nature, streamlined and dressed down. A simple beauty.

I kept it simple, and came back with a few surprises. How easy it was to feel satisfied so early in the day. Perhaps I've been complicating things for too long? Regardless, the simple act of wandering about for an hour this morning leaves me ready to start more serious work knowing that I do not have to go to great lengths to be happy with my photography.

The ornamental grasses in their prime leaning towards the morning sun have had very little altered from my original Raw file. I quickly used curves in PSPx2 to emphasize true shadow and highlights, and sharpened slightly. A slight crop was included. It was that simple.

Wonder what I'll spot tomorrow morning? What did you guys get today? Send me a link so I can see! Thanks for the ramble gang! Have a good one!

Daily Creativity ~ Mono Monday!

"Overshadowed"

(1/400 sec.@ F/11, ISO 100, 27mm fl, 18-55mm kit zoom, early morning bright light)

It's Mono Monday and I find myself dragging my proverbial feet... what to post, and what to say? I find I'm still in actual work mode this week and am having trouble stepping into "creative mode" from "working photographer mode". Not that I'm complaining, I love that I'm starting to see photography work coming my way. But, as it seems to come in waves, I find less and less time for "me" photography once again. And to be fair, I don't want to just post any ol' shot, or discuss any ol' topic on the blog simply because I have to. I want to post because I have something exciting to share with all of you or something new I've learned.

So here's what's going to happen this week. Even though I will be spending most of my day "in the office" editing, and when I say office I mean my lovely dining room/studio turned workspace 5 days out of seven, I will actually be started my day very early each morning shooting for just an hour. Random locations, random subjects, random weather. But it'll be for the sheer joy of photography. And those shots will go straight to the blog the same morning with perhaps some slight processing but nothing elaborate. It'll be the motivation to enjoy the rest of the day as well, knowing I've made time to be creative just for me. And in turn, my work related photography will be at it's best as well! Just thinking it makes me feel refreshed already...

I am reading a book right now called "The Practice of Contemplative Photography" by Andy Karr and Michael Wood. The entire book is a challenge to leave behind the conventional ways we label things we see through the lens, and to begin to look more creatively at the things around us. I'll be attempting to do just that every morning for one hour in my own neighbourhood. To broaden my perspective of what is subject worthy material. And to give myself the boost I need when working the rest of the day on more methodical projects. Those of you that feel drained when you can't get to your creative outlet in due time know exactly what I'm talking about!

So! Wonder what I'll wander across tomorrow? Stay tuned to find out...