March 29th, 2008, posted in Nature Photography, Still Photography
Still life is a good option to explore photography. It gives you a great variety of options on subject and techniques. You can explore every object you want from flowers to your watch to shoes, wine glasses or even cell phones. Here the good part is you need not wait for the right time, as soon as you get the light right you can go ahead and shoot. The first thing is to get your end result visualized in your mind so that you can accordingly conceptualize it. It can differ from an old Victorian interior idea to a modern sheek concept. You can experiment with a soft box, but simple easy to get light options are good idea as well. You can start by trying out with a torches placed in the correct angle to supply light.
It is important to get the background accurate; you could use a colorful table cloth, textured paper, or even a plane wall. White background is in so you can get that to work for you.
Still life photography gives you the space to understand your exposure, by experimenting with your shutter speed and aperture. It is important to get the color of your subject properly. Over or under exposure will kill the color so you should get the exposure correctly.
Still life also helps you develop sensible lighting which in turn will help in outdoor shots too. Try different backgrounds with the same subject and try positioning the subject in different positions. Try to avoid harsh shadows, if you need the shadow then get single side lighting. Avoid the clichés and explore wider options.
March 14th, 2008, posted in Landscape Photography, Nature Photography
Nature photography as beautiful as it can be and can be equally pains taking. In nature photography the most important thing is to get the light right and also to be at the right place at the right time. If the photograph needs to look picture perfect then the lighting should be perfect and for this a little bit of attention should be paid to the weather updates. It is not a very good idea to start on a day with overcast. As the situation cannot be constructed one should always play according to nature and work with it. Most photographers would vouch for a time around the sunrise or sunset to get perfect pictures. This time is called the golden hours for photographers, but this can also be tricky as the horizon will be well illuminated with not too much light in the foreground but this problem can be solved in certain cases with adding a water body in the picture which more often than not provides the amount of light needed as it reflects the light from the sky. Other most convenient way is to just wait for the right time to get enough light on the foreground. Or have a silhouette for a foreground which can bring more character and texture to the composition.
It is always advisable to carry a tripod for nature photography. This will not only give good results but also more space to experiment. If a tripod isn’t available then you can always rest the camera on the nearest rock or anything sturdy enough. While having to take waterfalls and a slow shutter blur is required then a tripod is a must. If the light is too much and wouldn’t allow a slower shutter for a blur that’s when a ND filter comes handy. A Neutral Density filter reduces the amount of light overall and of all wavelengths. This allows a slow shutter helping acquire get the desired effect. The same tip can be used if you want a blur in the fields.
The composition becomes inevitably the thing of concern after light. It is always advisable to imagine a frame and then shoot, with a digital camera one can always experiment and derive the best composition. It is good to have an object to one side of the frame which will provide more definition to the picture as well as make it aesthetically sound. A tree, a rock or if in the countryside even a house, if in water then a boat. A well contemplated effort can work wonders, one can have the viewer to visualize according to what the photographer wants by emphasizing on the object and letting the viewers eye to travel along the picture.
Black and white is also a very good option; most people fail to realize the power of Black and white photography as against color. For nature photography especially the tonal variations of BW can bring about the most wonderful effect to a picture, one because our normal eyes see in color and a BW will be different and refreshing. Another thing in BWs is that it can reduce distractions and focus on the subject. A subject that has been used to the max along with a landscape in BW is abandoned cars, trees and ruins. One can always move out of clichés and experiment. Clouds make great subjects as well with BW.
The key word is to experiment and trial and error method to get great pictures, worthwhile and different. It’s a good idea to also mock already existing works and learn what works best for you.
