a1 Photo Tips

As I write this, we have had about a week of snow here. Lots of it, too. Today the weather is turning mild again and all that snow is quickly melting.

Depending on your point of view, you may welcome the snow or you may swear at it.

If you are a child, you may enjoy making snow angels, building snow castles, and having playful snowball fights with your friends.

And if you like skiing, you immediately put on your cross-country skis and go out on a tour in the forest.

From a photographic wiewpoint - how do you interpret the snow?

The main thing about snow is that it simplifies. The snow covers the ground and hides all manner of details there beneath a uniform white blanket. Then, those features that are visible above the snow stand out in graphic contrast against this snowy white background.

You can take advantage of this and make pictures which would be hard to get when the ground is bare.

Take the picture above here, by AMagill, for example. The snow has isolated a circular piece of green grass beneath each tree, plus it has gently powdered the leaves of the trees with white frosting.

This is an excellent example of how you can use snow for effect - it simplifies and also produces interesting patterns.

The two pictures below show off other great examples of how to use snow as a form-generating element in a composition.

In the image to the left, by Per Ola Wiberg, the thick blanket of snow on the bare branches of the tree form an intricate lace-like pattern.

The other picture, by foto3116, shows a landscape of spruce and pine trees, thickly padded with snow. Again, note how the snow simplifies and sculptures the features of the landscape. The sunlight, coming in from the right, also contributes to bringing out the stark features of the scene.

Those were all pictures of trees, for some reason (guess it has to do with the strong effects of snow on the looks of trees). So, here come some other snow-scapes:
Note that you don’t even need to go out of doors to get a good snow shot!

In the image here, by clairity, the scene outside is beautifully captured through a window with many small panes, rendering the snowscape outside like an array of tiny pieces.

Note also how the tree-trunk on the left frames the picture.

Read more about framing here.

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The lower photograph, by motumboe, is a nice night-shot featuring a city street in winter clothing.

Note how the dark foreground pulls your attention further into the scene. And maybe you wonder what is beyond that gate on the right? At least I do.

One little technical detail I should mention is this:
When you take pictures with lots of snow in them, the light metering system of your digicam may get fooled. By default, it is set to render a scene with medium tones (neither black or white, but something in-between) correctly.

When faced with an almost white subject, the light meter will therefore try to render it darker than it really is - and underexpose the scene, making the snow look a dull grey.

What is the remedy? You can for instance pre-set the camera to “over-expose” the scene. Usually there will be some knob, or something in a menu, that lets you do that. Try setting it to about +1 or so, and check the result.

Oh yes - you can make pictures of people with snow on them, too! — as shown in this head-shot by frischmilch.

Although the winter is now approaching, at the time I write this; my mind is focused on the beauty of a summer garden. That for me is a way of escaping the wintertime blues! So here goes - some flower photo tips: (The great lily photo is made by Per Ola Wiberg.)

Whenever people see me taking photos of flowers on a cloudy day, they seem puzzled. “Why don’t you take those photos on a sunny day?” is a commonly asked question.

In fact, my experience in photography has taught me that sunny days are best reserved for picnics in the park or going for a swim; they aren’t the best for photos! Cloudy skies give me an opportunity to work magic with my camera.

If you take photographs in full sunlight, the light has a tendency to “bounce” off the petals and leaves of the flowers. This will result in shadows that are not going to show your subject in its best light! Full sun is not conducive to great photos, no matter how nice it feels on your face. If you choose a day where there is some cloud or it is overcast, the flowers can be more evenly lit and harsh shadows are eliminated.

Getting Those Beautiful Photos On a Sunny Day

1. Have some patience. Look for a cloudy or overcast day.
The best photographs are taken on cloudy or overcast days, so it may be wise to wait that little bit longer for the perfect day to achieve the ultimate photos of your flowers. On a partly cloudy day, simply wait for some clouds to block the sun and then take the picture. Take care that you have adjusted the exposure to accommodate the reduction in light intensity.

2. Choose the right time of day.
You can avoid overly bright sunlight by giving the camera a rest around noon. Obviously, this is when the sun is at its strongest, giving off a harsh unforgiving light.

Beautiful pictures can be taken early in the morning, with the dew from the previous night still on the petals and leaves, or you may choose to make use of the softer light that comes in the late afternoon prior to sunset to achieve those beautiful pictures.

Example: see the image here of White Coneflowers? I made that one around sunset, one day in August.

3. “Do-It-Yourself” cloudy day.
It is not always practical to wait until a cloudy day happens. If this is the case with you, make your own cloudy day! You can create softer lighting conditions through the use of material that will diffuse the light through partial blocking of the sunlight. It needn’t cost the earth, either – a bed sheet or t-shirt, drop sheet or white garbage bag will do the trick. When such a material is held between your subject and the sun, there will be enough diffusion to make all the difference to your photo. You may like to experiment a little, by taking photos with and without the diffuser, comparing the two. A portable diffuser can be easily and inexpensively made, using a wire coat hanger fashioned into a square over which a white garbage bag is stretched.

4. Make your own solar eclipse.
Sometimes, the only thing for it is to completely block out the sun’s rays. For example, if your background is too “busy” with colour and/or texture, it will detract from the subject. When you darken the background, it has the effect of drawing more attention to the flowers, which in turn helps you to focus on the subject, rather than being “dazzled” by the background. You can achieve this by obtaining some opaque material such as cardboard. Place this so that it creates a shadow on the ground. Your subject will “jump” out from the background!

5. Use the sun to your advantage.
There will be times when you want to have sunlight in your photographs. This is especially so when the flower you want to photograph is in shade and to do it justice requires more light. To do this, you can use a shiny material to cause a reflection of the light on to the flower, creating an instant impact. Examples of materials to use include a mirror, foil, white cardboard or if you want to achieve a “warmer” look, you may choose to use copper or gold coloured foil.

6. To create drama, add backlight.
Many beginner-level photography books will emphasize the importance of keeping the sun at your back. This is good advice, but it is worth considering doing the opposite for a dramatic effect. To give the flowers an added “glow”, take your photo with the sun as a backlight. Put your face to the sun and the sun behind the flowers. You can achieve all sorts of interesting effects this way, from a “stained glass” look to a silhouette. Translucent flowers such as pansies, poppies and anemones (see example here by “tanakawho“!) work really well with this effect.

7. Remember - the most important thing is to have fun.
Photography should be enjoyable. Have some fun experimenting with different diffusers, trying different positions and even some “new” techniques. You may even “invent” a technique!

More Flower Photo Tips

Behold this picture of a mountain goat, standing in a seemingly impossible position!

You may ask: “How on earth did it get there?” and “How is it ever going to get down safely!?”

According to the photographer, the goat was licking on the rock and kept doing that for hours.

Note how the animal is positioned in the image so that we clearly see the sheer drop beneath it, yet we are left wondering how it could get to this spot.

Now to the fame part: This picture (by “wildphotons“) is uploaded to Flickr.com by the photographer. Someone then submitted the photograph to Digg.com - and it got “Digged” several hundred times!

When something gets digged so many times, it makes it to the first page of Digg.com for at least a couple of hours, and is then seen by maybe hundreds of thousands of people. So indeed this mountain goat got instant fame - for a couple of hours…

Digg.com is one of the 300 most visited sites on the entire Internet, according to Alexa.

You too can try your luck on getting attention for your most eye-catching pictures by following this formula:

1. Upload picture to your account on Flickr
2. Have it submitted to Digg
3. Wait and see what happens…

Don’t even bother with this unless your picture is really spectacular and something of a conversation piece. The Digg audience is only interested in really entertaining, off-the-wall stuff.

Good Luck!