Jodie's Gift to you: Photography 101

 

Wow, the Christmas holidays are over and we are about to begin a brand new year...isn't that exciting???

Since I'm not as brilliant as Santa and I cannot "gift" ALL of you with goodies this holiday season...please let me give you a tip of sorts...maybe a gift that will last a lifetime! ;)

This is something that I've been wanting to share with you for some time now and I've finally had time to sit at the computer and compose this post...just for you!!!

Many of you have asked me if I have taken a photography class or two. The answer to that is...No, I have not. I don't even know the terminology nor even half of what my Nikon D60 is capable of.

What I DO know is that you don't have to have the best and most expensive camera on the market to capture the most wonderful photos. Many "point and shoot" cameras today are significantly comparable to the digital SLR's out there and if one were to look at comparable photos taken by each, it would be a slim chance to tell the difference.

A good shot really is in the eye of the beholder...let me explain.

There IS a difference of looking through the eye view finder and the live preview display. I prefer looking through the eye view finder (just like using the older cameras in the past). Today's cameras have the fancy LCD screen and video and all of the bells and whistles. That's all fine and dandy but I want you to take one little test for me...

Take your camera, focus on something and snap a picture looking through the eye view finder (the old fashion way).  Staying in the same spot without moving, now focus on the LCD screen  and snap a picture of the same object. Review the two and I can guarantee that they will be different and chances are, the photo taken through the eye view finder (the old fashion way) will be much better than the one taken through the LCD screen.

That was easy right? Let me share a little more with you, one of which is my PET PEEVE...the flash.

If I could just rip it off my camera, I'd be so happy! haha Seriously though, if I set my camera on "Auto", the flash would come up every time I'd snap a picture. So therefore, I have my camera set on "Auto" but I always (& I mean always) have my flash turned OFF. Most cameras have this option, you just need to set it that way. Let's look at the difference...

Flash ON...

Look at the nasty shadows and the "unnatural" coloring of the flowers and the birds. Plus, the detail of the lace is just smothered by the white flash.

Flash OFF...

Much better. The natural light is just shining through, just as if you were looking right at it. The colors are more subtle and not overcast with black shadows. You can really notice that when you look at the yellow and red roses. And the lace? Oh it looks much more realistic and lovely.

So by all means, bring your goodies to be photographed to a window that has natural light coming in. Direct light may not be too good as you may have to place your body in a way that your back is towards the window making sure you are not casting any shadows. When you have time, just play with the angles and practice.

Believe me, I may take MANY photos of one object just to get that PERFECT photo. And if anyone tells you that they can do it in one shot every time, I want to see them do it!  ;)

Now that we have the "flash issue" out of the way...let's move on to Cropping...

Scroll up and let's take another look at the photo above. Looks good right? Well yes, but can you see the details? If I were to post a photo for you on my blog, I would want you to feel as if you could just reach out and touch it. So therefore, I'm going to bring it a little closer to you...

How's that? Aren't these paper roses just so crispy clear? That is what my eyes were focused on and the little birds in their nest were just lagniappe, but I love the little blur of them.

This is the same photo, totally set on "auto focus", looking through the eye view finder and cropped to capture the focal point of the photo. (let me remind you that these photos, nor ANY photos on my blog are NOT digitally enhance through Photo Shop or any other photo enhancing program unless I add a border or change it to black and white)

So let's take another look at Cropping. It can be done from your camera right after the photo is taken (if your camera has that option) or it should be available on the program that downloads your photos on your computer.

Original Photo:

I was focusing on the large pink bird on the left with the two baby birds in their nest. After looking at the photo, I realized that I captured a lot of "unwanted" objects in my photo such as the half of  a bird at the very bottom and the yellow bird in the top right just sticks out and draws my eye to it. Don't want that...

Cropped Photo:

Now we can see the detail in the bird's feathers and look at the detail in the straw...wow!

Let's look at a few more...

Original Photo:

Nice photo but the distraction of the placemat edges are a no-no in a nice looking photo. Pretend we are going to make greeting cards with these photos...would you buy this one if it were on the cover? NO!

Cropped Photo:

Instead of having a bunch of "stuff" to look at, we focused on a particular part of the plate. Look at the detail of the lace and the abundant color of the yellow roses and purple birds. Better?

Oh but there is so much more to this plate of goodies to focus on. This is the bird at the top...

oooooh...how about these pink roses at the bottom right? My fav!

Out of ONE photo, we created 3 beautiful photos just by cropping. How cool is that? Aren't these three photos more appealing than the original? Aren't these three worthy of a greeting card??? ;)

Okay, let's try one more...

Original Photo:

Pretty photo of all of the vivid colors but...I'm not fond of the sticks that are showing to hold up the bird on the right.

Cropped Photo:

It's okay...but...something is still not right. I am really not fond of the bird on the left either.

Yes...this is the one! This is the same photo as the first photo of this post.  Now we are able to see it up close and full of detail.

Note:

By NO means am I a professional and by NO means am I out to think I know more than anybody else. I DO know that I just love reading tips from other generous bloggers that have helped me in some shape or form and I just felt like passing on the love to you today ;)

One more tip...if you "care" about your photos, I highly suggest that you put a watermark on them to prevent others from claiming your photo as their own. At times, I'm sure the thief can even crop your watermark out but at least you know you tried your best to prevent the theft as you have the original to show for it. It's just a suggestion, to each his own. Besides, I find a watermark adds an elegance to any photo and I feel my photos look naked without it.

I hope I was able to make photography a little more fun and a lot less intimidating for you. I love to blog hop and sometimes I find myself lost in the photos more than "reading" the post itself! And sometimes, the photos draw me in and I enjoy reading the post so much more!!

Thank you for following me all the way through, it was fun for me to do this. I hope that throughout the coming year, I will be able to post about more of my little creativity tips that may in some way help someone else out there. Blogging is truly inspirational and I feel I'm being very greedy if I don't share the love!

My Rule:

There should be NO GREEDY PEOPLE in blog land...don't you agree? ;)

Happy New Year!!!