Photo Tip Friday: Using Silhouettes in Photography, Part 2

by Mary Denman   @MaryDenman

Last week, I gave tips on how to use silhouettes in your photography. There will be a link at the bottom of today's post to view Part 1. 

Today, I'm going to go back over the same photos, but this time, listing: 

Time Value (Tv) - Shutter Speed
Aperture Value (Av) - Shutter Opening Size
ISO Value - Sensitivity of the Film

Why? So you can understand how to take these shots yourself. 

Let's get started. 

Photo Tip Friday: Using Silhouettes in Photography, Part 1

by Mary Denman     @MaryDenman

PHOTO 1: A church at sunset by Mary Denman Photography

There are so many ways to express or capture a feeling in particular moment. That's why I love the creativity of photography.


Today's technique can create wonderful mood in your shots. 

I want to teach you to use backlighting to create silhouettes.

Photo Tip Friday: Lighting - Part 1

by Mary Denman

Welcome back to Photo Tip Friday.

This week, I'm beginning a series on lighting in photography. 

Why? Because lighting is so important and is very dynamic. Especially sunlight. 

If you don't understand how lighting changes the mood of your photography, you may be missing out on some powerful shots. 

So this week is dedicated to helping you understand sunlight. 

Here's the big tip that you need to remember. 

The very best natural lighting is before 9:00 am and after 3:00 pm.
The light from 9:00 to 3:00 is known as devil lighting. 

Why? Because in the middle of the day, the strong sunlight creates stark shadows. You can use this in your photography, but it takes more work. And people don't photograph as well in the middle of the day unless they are completely in the shadows. But more on people photography in another post!

Mary Denman Photography

Let's get started.

In order to show you the effect of sunlight throughout the day, I took a picture of the same flower, from the same place, four different times during the day.  

This first picture was taken at 8:25 a.m.  

Notice how the iris almost looks like it's glowing? The long rays of the morning light illuminate the iris from behind since I was facing east for all of these shots. 

Mary Denman Photography

Then, I went back at noon. 

Notice that the shadows are much more stark? The stem has almost disappeared in the shadow from the iris. 

Mary Denman Photography

Then, I took a picture at 3:30 pm, once the sun was heading back down in the sky. By this point, the sun was behind me and so it illuminates the front of the iris.

Compare it to the noon shot. 

Mary Denman Photography

Finally, I took a photo at 7:00 pm when the sun had already set. There was no direct sunlight at all. This creates what is called a flat picture. 

Can you see the dramatic difference? You see almost no shadows, and it's harder to see the definition of the petals. 

The flower stands out from the background because it's white. But see how depth perception is flattened? 


To sum up: 

You can't always take pictures at the best time of day, but if you're aware of the effect light has on your photos, you can start trying to use the best lighting to improve your shots. 

And, the more you're aware of how lighting changes, the more you can learn to work with it. 


For bloggers: How could this flower inspire a blog post?

For cell phone users: Whether you're using a DSLR camera or a cell phone, you need to be aware of lighting. The newer a phone you have, the better quality optics you have and that means you'll be able to mimic a DSLR camera more closely. If your cell phone is older, you'll have to be more aware of lighting.

Cell phones read the lighting primarily where you focus. They aren't able to read the overall lighting as well as a camera. So, by knowing this, you can help your cell phone read the lighting where you want by telling it where to focus. In this case, it would be on the iris.




So, how has lighting been a challenge for you or when has it created a great shot? 

Which of these pictures do you like the best and why?

Hope this tips helps.

Keep on clicking. 

Mary



Tweetable: 

Photo Tip Friday: The Dynamics of Lighting in Photography (click to tweet)

Photo Tip Friday - Using Different Perspectives

Welcome to Photo Tip Friday!

Today I'm going to show you how a change of perspective can take one subject and make it look very different. 

Let's get started! 

Here are three shots of a Zinnia, a fairly common flower. 

Pink Zinnia

This is an overall shot of the pink beauty, isolated from others around it. The shot is off-centered. Greens in the background set off the flower's colors. 

This photograph captures the entire flower and from a perspective we would see it with our naked eye. 

If we move in closer and take a picture, the center stands out more, allowing you to see the flowers inside the flower.  

But this shot crops part of the flower off. 

Why? To focus more attention on the center. 

How often have you looked at a Zinnia from the side? 

Probably not too often. Look at the layers upon layers of petals.  

This perspective creates a completely different look and feel to the flower. 

Zinnia 

Here is a very different perspective. 

Notice the sky in the photo?

I got down on my knees and got under this Zinnia. Then, I took the shot looking back up. 

Why? Just to get a different perspective. 











When something catches your eye this week, I want you to take multiple shots. 

Move around your subject. 

Get down on your knees (if you can!). 

Look straight down on your subject. 

Try to be creative. 

Hope this tip helps! 

Keep on clicking!

Mary

Photo Tip Friday - Shooting in Low Light, Part 1

Welcome back!

Today's tip is about taking shots in dim lighting.

This week is part 1 and we're going to cover photography in an outdoor setting.
Next week, we'll cover indoor shots.

Taking photographs in low light can be challenging. I'm sure you've taken a shot outside which looked cool when you pulled out your camera. But once you took the shot, it was too dark to be worth much.

So then you turned on the flash.

Either it didn't help at all (because the subject matter was too far away) or it washed out the shot (because the subject matter was too close).

And, you came away disappointed. Well, let's try and remedy that.

A quick reminder.

Time Value        = how long the shutter is open to let light in
Aperture Value = what size the aperture (shutter) is: 
                                f/5.6 lets in more light, f/22 lets in less
ISO                     = "speed" of the film: sunlight uses 100 
                                                              candlelight uses 1600 or higher

Let's go over some photos. You'll notice I put the Time, Aperture Value (Av) and ISO on each photograph. This is to help you learn these terms so you can start to experiment on your own!

Mary Denman Photography

Here's a nice, warm fire. Flames are never the same in any picture. Writers say they dance for a reason.

The flash wouldn't have resulted in the warm red and orange tones you see here. So I held the camera for 1/4 of a second. If you look closely, it's not crystal clear. But for me for this shot, that's okay. This is a "family" shot.

Mary Denman Photography

We were sitting around the fire with our kids. And here's one of them now.

Notice the difference in the ISO I used? When I was focusing in tight on the flames in the shot above, I used a lower ISO of 200 because fire burns so bright.

But in the second shot, I used a faster ISO of 800.

Why? I had to take into account both the very intense light of the flames and the reflected light on his face.

ISO 200 in this shot would have washed out the flames and struggled to capture enough light to see his face.

How do I know this? Because I've washed out a few pictures....

But digital gives you a great chance to learn quickly!

Mary Denman Photography

Okay. I love storms. I've wanted to get a shot of lightning for quite a while. Last summer, we had a massive storm come through and I took this shot from my front door. On a tripod. Even so, I, my lens and my foyer ended up soaked. But it was worth it.  


This shot required a lot of patience. Lightning is so fast and bright, that you can't just "snap" a shot when you see it. Notice I left the shutter open for 4 seconds. Knowing I had to leave it open for so long, I made the Aperture f/22 which means the shutter opening is smaller and lets in less light. 

I played around until I found that ISO 1600 worked well. 

Mary's Cheat Sheet: Take more than one shot! 

Please know that I probably took 30 photos during that storm to get 4 or 5 that were really good. Digital is free for taking shots, so take plenty, sort out later! 

Mary Denman Photography

This is an urban, nighttime photograph. 

The sun had been below the horizon for a while. But the city lights and the spot lights on the falls made for a tricky picture situation. And, I wanted the water to be milky which meant I had to leave the shutter open longer.

I didn't have my tripod, so I used the rail of the bridge as my stabilizer. 

Mary Denman Photography

I even used the railing as my "tripod" to get this picture of the bridge itself. 

Notice the people on the bridge are a little blurry? That's because of how long the shutter was open. I like the sense of movement they bring to the photo. 





Remember for low light, outside shots, you'll need to play with your settings to get the right combination. Go outside tonight if you have time and play around with your camera. Experience is the best teacher. 

Then, when you want to know what to do when you see a gorgeous sunset, or fireworks, you'll be better prepared.

Hope this tip helps! 

Keep on clicking.

Mary

Photo Tip Friday - Using Silhouettes - Part 1

Today's Tip is about Using Silhouettes Part 1

Welcome back! 

What I love about photography is that there are so many ways to take pictures. 
So many ways to express or capture a feeling in particular moment. 

And today's photography technique especially creates wonderful mood in shots. 


Let's get started.  


What's the first thing you notice about this and the next photograph?

Maybe the similar colors? 

If that's your answer, you'd be correct. 
So why is that?

Both of these shots were taken at sunset. 

With the light coming from behind the church and behind the Grand Tetons, the foreground of each shot is almost completely blacked out, creating the silhouette effect. 

And, in the second shot, notice I also used the reflection technique to advantage?

Here is one of my personal all-time favorite shots. 

Why? Those are my kids. We were at an aquarium and they were just watching the fish. I stood across the room, waited for everyone else to move out of the shot and I snapped away. 

Notice I said I waited. Not all shots happen the second you think of them, or notice the potential for a good shot. I got far enough back and just waited. Other people were walking through, but this picture was worth capturing.

Here's another use of silhouette.  

This is a sunrise shot and the silhouette is the bird. It's a seagull. You can't see the feathers or eyes of the bird, or even the color. But you can certainly feel the movement of the bird soaring. 

This is also the same morning. What I did was let the brilliance of the rising sun "wash out" the shot, causing the water to sparkle and the board walk to become very dark. 

Again, this is creating the silhouette effect. 

The strong lines of the man-made deck stand in stark contrast to the soft light of the sun and waves. 

To me, the sun feels warm. It's almost like being there again. 







So, to create a silhouette, you need to have the subject backlit. 
In other words, have the light behind the object you're shooting. 

The subject can be an object - the church, deck or mountains. Or people. 

And you'll also notice that these are tricky lighting situations. 
Either dimming light or direct bright light (the sun). 
That requires a bit of technical explanation and I'll go into that next week in part 2. I'll teach you how to set your camera using the manual function or how to trick a point and shoot into taking these shots. 

Which of these shots do you like best? As always, if you have a shot you want me to look at, leave me a link! 


Go grab your camera!

Hope this tip helps. 

Keep on clicking!
   
Mary

Past Posts:

Using Reflections, Part 1, Part 2

What's That Dial (on your camera) For? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Discussing Some Photos (using the learned information)

Clink on the links above to go to those pages!

If you want to know more about a particular topic, leave me a comment and I will try to include it in an upcoming post!

Photo Tip Friday - Finding Reflections - Part 2

Welcome back!

Last week we discussed using water for reflections. (You can read that post here.)

This week, I want to continue talking about reflections. But I want you to look for them in places other than water. 

Ready? Let's get started!

Here is the first photo. Yes, it's a grand piano. With a lovely pianist playing for her very appreciative grandparents. I could have taken a picture of them by themselves. But I love the feel of this shot. You can see their faces, the pianist and her hands on the keyboard! How cool is that?

So what do you think of this? It may take a moment to see what's really going on. I took a shot in the open lid of the grand. Then I flipped the photo. You're looking at the reflection of the church on the inside of the top of the piano.

Look for reflections in any shiny surface!

Of course mirrors work well, but my take is a little different. I love using car mirrors to document our trips! In this shot, notice that the side mirror is in focus but the scenery is whizzing by. That's on purpose. I love the feel of motion this shot creates.

I just relax remembering that ride through the mountains.

But don't just try one angle. This shot is using the same mirror with a completely different feel. You can still tell we're on the road. (Yes, I'm the passenger....) But I focused closely on the mirror to get a great photo of the tunnel we had just left.

Nothing like seeing dark tunnels of time in our lives in the rear view mirror.

And lastly, here is a self portrait...in a Christmas ornament.

I told you to look for any shiny or reflective surface. Play around with it. Try different angles.

You can add such interest to your photos by looking for reflections.

I've taken reflections using cars, puddles, granite, marble. If it's shiny, I'll try it!

Which shot do you like best? How have you used a reflection in a shot? Leave me a link and I'll go check it out!

Hope this tip helps!

Keep on clicking!

Prior posts:

Using Water for Reflections

What's That Dial (on your camera) For? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Discussing Some Photos (using the learned information)

Clink on the links above to go to those pages!

Photo Tip Friday - Using Reflections in Water

Welcome back to Photo Tip Friday! 

Today, I'm going to talk about using water reflections to create interesting photographs.

Here's the first shot. Notice the hint of the buildings in the top of the frame and the actual reflection of them in the water? The spire shone beautifully in the setting sun. And that light made the reflection in the water very distinct. But there were ducks out that evening. I thought they added a little interest to the shot as their wake cut across the spire. 

Here's a fall photo. Notice the towering trees reflected in the water? The leaves form perspective in this shot. And the ripples add interest. Notice I caught the ripples in an area that was mostly blue? It made them stand out more that way. 

The leaves in the foreground add a great pop of color and help your eye figure out what the perspective is since the trees are upside down.

Again, I'm using the surface of the water as a means to show the gorgeous, October blue skies and the colorful foliage of fall in the mountains. 

Here's a picture of nothing but the colors of the sun and sky reflected on the surface of our neighborhood pool.

It definitely has an abstract feel to it. 

You can also use the water to reflect people. Here is a swimmer doing the breast stroke. Although the water behind the swimmer is very turbulent, the water ahead of him shows his reflection very well.  

I framed the shot to get both him and his reflection instead of cutting off the reflection.



In all of these shots, there is a common element besides the water. It's essential in every one of them. Can you see it?  

Study the shots. 

Yes, there's water. But what else? 

Light. Lots of light. 

You can get a silhouette of a reflection when there isn't much light. But to get a complete reflection? You need lots of light. 

So, give it a try. Go find a puddle of water somewhere and see what you can see. 

Which is your favorite shot of these? 

Let me know. And if you have photos for me to look at for you, please leave a comment with a link and I'll be happy to pop by!

Hope this tip helps. 

Keep on clicking. 

Mary

Photo Tip Friday - Let's Discuss Some Photos

Welcome back to Photo Tip Friday.

The last 3 posts taught you about what the letters on your camera's dial mean.

You can read Part 1here, which covers an overview.
You can read Part 2 here, which covers Aperture Values.
You can read Part 3 here, which covers ISO and Time Values.

Today, we're going to start pulling it all together.

I'm going to show you some shots I took last autumn at a waterfall in North Carolina. I'm showing you shots that I wouldn't normally put up on my site. The reason? These aren't the best shots of the waterfall. But they are really powerful for illustrating how to use ISO, Aperture and Time to create a better shot.

And, if you're like me at all, you tend to compare yourself to others. I want to show you that while I have some shots I love and am proud of, not all pictures are created equal. You may need to take quite a few shots to get a few you love.

So, let's get started.

As you can see from this shot, the sky is a beautiful blue and the trees are in full fall color. In order to get this color, I shot the time at  an aperture of 2.8 which means the shutter was wide open and so lots of light could get in. This meant that the speed of the shutter had to be fast to not be overexposed. The shutter was open for 1/200th of a second.

And the color is great. But here's the problem. The area in the shadows around the fall is really dark. Too dark. And the water isn't "milky" smooth.

The camera "stopped" the water.

I got great color, but it isn't quite what I wanted.

So, I tried again.

Notice how different my settings were.

I maintained an ISO of 100 since it was bright outside.

But this time, I knew I wanted to make the water milky so I had to be able to leave the shutter open longer.

This meant I had to go to aperture f/22 which means the shutter opening was smaller. That meant I could then leave it open longer (time value) and not have the entire shot be washed out.

This time, the shutter was open for 1 second. (Yes, I was using a tripod.) Notice how smooth the water looks. But do notice the sky isn't as deeply blue and the foliage isn't as intense either.

In post photo processing, you can edit the color. I'm not going into that today. But you can't make the water milky in the first shot in post processing. 

And these shots have not been edited.

So start learning what's most important in the shot at the time you take it.

HELPFUL HINT: Shooting waterfalls in direct sunlight is difficult.  

On to the next examples.

Notice the low aperture of 2.8 which allows a lot of light in and.

So the shutter speed of 1/40 of a second is slower but still doesn't get the milky effect I wanted.

This time, I raised the aperture to f/11 and slowed the shutter speed more for a time of 1/3 of a second.

It gave me the milky effect I wanted, but again, the sky is more washed out than I wanted.

I haven't edited these shots.

Since I wasn't getting the effect I wanted, I decided to try a different angle.

I like this shot. And as you can see, though, I haven't cropped it so you can see the man on the left. Notice he's a little blurry.

Why?

Because I had the shutter open for 1/3 of a second to get the milky water effect. But the man moved and he's a tad blurry.

Finally, braving the extremely cold water, I headed directly toward the fall. Then, I got up against the rocks, with water swirling. Then I closed in on the bottom of fall and the water right in front of me. I love the uniqueness of this shot.

No one else there that day got this shot. None of them were silly enough like me to head into the cold water. But I'm happy with my shot.




So, which do you like best?

Any questions? :)

Hope these tips help.

Keep on clicking!

Mary

Photo Tip Friday

Today's Tip: Take your camera with you and use it!

While today's tip may be obvious, it needs to be said.

We think of taking pictures of landscapes, people and birthday parties. But what about your daily life?

You might think of what I'm suggesting as photo journalism. Or a sort of photo diary of your life.

So when can carrying your camera come in handy while out? I'm glad you asked.

This past Dec., my husband and I went to go pick up our son from his first semester of college. We arrived on campus after his final swimming workout. Since all the other students were gone and the cafeteria was closed, the university had arranged with a local eatery to feed the swimmers.

We didn't know when we arrived that the guys were ready for food. But when they told us of the arrangement, we headed in to get them some well earned breakfast.

Thankfully, I had my camera on hand. We had a great time with our son and another swimmer we were giving a ride to the airport. Just looking at the photos makes me smile. They had stacks of French toast, pancakes and lots of syrup.

Here, you can see the place radiated with an ambiance that comes from years of use and little updating.

Without a camera on hand, I couldn't have documented that morning in the diner with our son. Even seeing the pictures gives me that feeling of happiness that he has done well his first semester and was coming home for Christmas.






So, take your camera with you and document unexpected events that occur.

Do you have any special photos that bring you a smile when you see them? Please share if you do.

Hope this tip helps!

Keep on clicking!

Mary

Photo Tip Friday

Part One - Strong Lines in Nature

Today's photo tip is learning how to use strong lines to create unique shots.

Let's get started.

The shot to the right is of an extremely interesting log that is covered in a beautiful striped fungi. Notice the strong vertical line that I used to show off this log? It's not completely centered, but it does run vertically. And it catches your eye.

Don't feel it has to run straight through the center of the frame. But do use vertical lines.

But let's look at a different use of lines.

This hosta leaf doesn't have straight lines. They're curved. So to make this photograph stronger, I made sure to focus fairly closely. I don't have any edges showing because that would introduce other lines that would be distracting.

Close in on your lines to take a better shot.

 And now to some winter shots.

These are icicles. They lend themselves to vertical lines.

Aren't they just beautiful?

These next two shots involve frozen rain on some small branches.

I felt this shot was most powerful taken horizontally. And notice this branch is straight as compared to the next shot which is a curved branch covered in ice.





Try different angles with any subject. While both of these photos are taken horizontally, they have a different feel to them.

And as a parting shot, notice how simple this picture is. I got down low and looked up, using the deep blue, clear sky as a simple background to set off the twig and the single drop of ice.

This shot uses both a vertical and horizontal element to strong effect.

So start looking for strong lines that stand out in nature, and see what gorgeous pictures you can take.

Go grab your camera and experiment.

Hope this tip helps!

Keep on clicking!