Helene Center for the Visual Arts, Graceland University.
Updated January 26.
Information for participants in the Graceland University photography class. If you aren’t in the class but have the text, feel free to follow along with the readings and do the assignments on your own.
Grain Elevator, Lamoni, IA
Any time you can mix warm and cool light (in terms of color temperature) you have the possibility of an interesting photo. I was attracted to the cool, blue sky (almost an hour after sunset) and the warm orange light on the grain elevator.
Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel, Colorado
One way to make your subject “pop” is to isolate it against a soft blurry background.
Trumpet, f/4
One of the wonders of exposure is that dozens of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO combinations can provide exactly the same exposure (the overall lightness or darkness of an image), but very different artistic “looks”. Experienced photographers know which exposure combination to choose to get the image they want. Inexperienced photographers who leave the camera on program mode are turning all of the artistic decisions over to a computer chip.
"The Strip", Las Vegas
With long shutter speeds, you can capture the passage of time in a way that your “instant snapshot eyes” can’t. Your eyes and brain are capturing a rapid series of individual images and turning them into motion, while a still camera can capture one very long image. You can create images with a camera that your unaided eyes can’t create.
Hallie
When shooting portraits, turning the face upside down to change the usual perspective can give the face a dramatic new look. We are used to seeing people right side up with the eyes higher in the photo than the nose, lips and chin. Putting the eyes at the bottom of the photo changes the look of the face. Most people are surprised at the difference in how they look when photographed from this angle.
The header photo (posted Dec 27) is a Great Gray Owl photographed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at Whitefish Point.
Amazon’s usual price on Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies is $19.79, but Amazon has been offering a $3.00 off coupon for the last couple of days, bringing the price down to $16.79. I don’t know how long this coupon offer will last. When you get to Amazon . . .
Silent Night, Moraine Park
Snow glistens in the last light of dusk.
Distant clouds glow with the fading light from the sun, long since set.
A chill fills the calm night air.
Stars twinkle in the deepening winter sky.
The crunch, crunch, crunch of footsteps on the gravel path.
Lights come on in the distance. Warm and inviting.
Home. Family. Friends. Dinner and the opening of gifts.
The voices of carolers drift across the valley:
“Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright. . . .”
Christmas!
The photo in the header of this blog (as of Dec 24) is the Spanish Peaks above the little town of LaVeta Colorado. As a small boy growing up in Colorado, a view of the Spanish Peaks greeted me every morning from our living room window.
Umbrella, flash, and flash bracket on a tripod.
Photographers are always looking for ways to soften the light when doing portraits. The light from an accessory flash can be quite harsh so there are a wide range of modifiers to soften the light for more pleasing portraits. Here are my three favorites.
Sky Dog
It’s the time of year when a jolly old elf squeezes down countless chimneys, reindeer fly, and most anything else can happen. I’m sure you believe dogs can fly!
Originally posted Nov. 14, updated Dec. 22.
Looking for the best photo gifts for a photographer? You’ve come to the right place. It is the time of year that I get asked a lot of questions from people who are buying gifts for photographers, or from photographers wanting to drop hints (“photographer” means anyone who likes to take pictures).
AlienBees Studio Lights
For the best combination of quality and price, it is hard to beat AlienBees studio lights. I’ve been using AlienBees in my studio (and on location) for 5 years, and like so many other photographers, I’ve been singing their praises. It would be hard to find the same quality for less money.
Christmas Angel
In this “found photo”, I wanted to capture the light shining on the angel, but also the light shining through the angel’s somewhat translucent right wing. The challenge was to find an exposure that wouldn’t totally burn out the left side while catching the light coming through the wing.
Golden Brook. Photo © Tony Sweet
I’ve been reading two excellent nature photography books by Tony Sweet. They are published by Stackpole Books who recruits first class photographers to write an excellent and ongoing series of photography books. I’ve been giving high praise to Stackpole’s photography books for years and I now have two more to add to the list.
Gorillapod
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list in order of approximate cost from $4 to $80. All of these items can be found at my photography store (powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s terrific ordering, shipping, guarantee, and service).
My photography book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, received a great review from yet another professional photographer, Jennifer Blakeley. She is the most recent pro to give my book high praise. She wrote the following:
Window Light Portrait
There is a reason photographers like soft window light. It is great for all kinds of subjects, like the young woman above and the photo of a 2 week old infant in a prior post.
California Poppies
Flowers photos are often taken from eye level (human eye level), but flowers usually look best when taken from the flower’s eye level. But some flowers, under the right conditions, look best when the camera is right on the ground and looking up.
Window Light Portrait
Photographers take advantage of window light to create portraits, and long before photography, painters were making good use of window light. It can be beautiful light.
Jet on the Track
Most photos are taken from eye level, so you can give your photos a dramatically different look by putting your camera on the ground.
I am surprised and disappointed in Adobe with their announced intention to require users of Photoshop to buy version CS5 in order to upgrade to version CS6 when it becomes available. If you don’t buy CS5 for about $150, when CS6 comes out it will cost you about $650. It is time to write to Adobe and protest. Why?
Adobe Software
UPDATE – Nov 28, 2011. Elements 10 is now selling for $48 (and change), still the best price for Elements in a long, long time and cheaper than the upgrade version.
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UPDATE – 9:48 PM, Nov 25, 2011: When I checked the price of Lightroom 3 around noon today, it was $99 (almost half off the usual price) so I posted the information below. I checked a few minutes ago and Lightroom 3 has jumped up to $159. That is still $30 less than it was earlier this week ($189). I hope you were able to take advantage of the great Lightroom price while it lasted. Elements is still available at the great $45 price. I have no idea how long these prices will last.
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Photoshop Elements 10 has dropped in price from $79 to $49 and Adobe Lightroom 3 has dropped this week from $189 to $99, the best price I have seen on Lightroom in months. I have no idea how long these prices will last.
You can find these prices at my Photography Store, powered by Amazon.com.
You can read about this software in this article.
Two Light Studio Portrait
It doesn’t take a lot of lights to create a portrait. The portrait above was created with two studio lights. This is how the photo was created.
Bryce Canyon at Sunrise
Bryce Canyon in southern Utah is one of the most spectacular places on the planet and I finally found a chance to stop there on a trip to California. It was late April and I was hoping for snow. I arrived about sunset (with no snow on the ground) and I had to leave the next morning after only a few hours of shooting time. Mother Nature must have smiled. There was a dusting of snow overnight.
Looking for photo gifts for a photographer (or suggestions for your own wish list)? You’ve come to the right place. It is the time of year that I get asked a lot of questions from people who are buying gifts for photographers, or from photographers wanting to drop hints (“photographer” means anyone who likes to take pictures). “What is the best book for . . . ?” “What are the best point and shoot cameras?” “Is there any really good image editing software for less than $100?”
Updated Dec. 23, 2011.
This time each year I put together a collection of articles recommending the best photo gear, books, software, and photo labs. Here’s the list of linked articles.
Sale prices on Lexar memory cards (and other items) and free shipping! Lexar is one of my two favorite brands for memory cards due to their high reliability. Adorama is one of my primary sources for photo gear.
