Be More Detailed Oriented

     Obviously, things like exposure and basic composition are very important in photography. But the little details in a photograph that are less obvious can also make or break a picture. Training the eye to spot those little details in camera while taking the photos instead of when looking back at them a few days later is a vital skill that can take a lot of time and effort to achieve. But when it is attained, it can make your photographs more mature (Peterson 220).

     Little details can be things like a distraction in the background, a slightly tilted horizon line, the subject blocking something in the background, and so on. It's important that photographers have an eye that will "pick up places where just a minor shift may lead to a major and positive change in the photograph's overall appeal" (Peterson 219). In the first image on the left, the horizon line wasn't quite straight. In the second image, the horizon line is rotated a tiny bit so that the whole composition looks straighter and more even.

     Another example of small yet important details are in these two photographs of snowflakes. In the first image, the snowflake is composed on the reflection of the cloudy sky, which doesn't provide a lot of contrast for the snowflake's detail to show up. In next image, I shifted the camera over slightly so that the snowflake would be on the reflection of the tree, which made the snowflake's detail sharper. I also used a vertical composition because it cut out the partial tree on the left, which was a distraction.

What other small changes can be made to a photograph that create a big impact? Let me know in the comments below!

Snowflakes up close and personal :)

It Was Framed!

     When people hang pictures on a wall, more often than not, they will use a frame. But what if photographers can frame their subjects in a photo? Could that be used in place of a frame on the wall? 

     Maybe not, but the technique of framing is still valuable in photography. It can enhance and draw attention to the subject. However, it's important that the frame won't be a distraction (Peterson 206). Basically, the frame should be simple enough that the subject is what the viewer's eye is drawn to.

The flames of the fire in this image draw
attention to the hot coal by surrounding it.

      Framing doesn't have to be so obvious either. Sometimes it can be more subtle, like a suggestion of a frame rather than a clearly cut out one. Doing this "is one of the simplest ways to create both depth and perspective in a composition" (Peterson 205). I used a large aperture and the snow on a fence to create this photo of a snowy swimming pool.

The out of focus snow in the foreground "hides" the swimming
pool, which creates an image that feels more private.

What other kinds of frames can you think of to include in your photography? Let me know in the comments!

An extra picture that shows the difference between a
subject that's framed and one that's not :)

Giving Images Their Soul

Light is the most crucial element of a picture. It gives images their soul. Light can greatly impact an image’s tone or mood, so if a picture’s soul can be saved by adding a little “spark” in post, then do it (Marcolina 132). So how exactly do you add light in post? Adding light can mean adding or accentuating a sunburst or lens flare, or even stimulating an old camera defect, such as adding a light leak along the edge of an image.

After reading about the different techniques of adding light, I decided to try it out on this picture:

Unedited

I shot this on a road trip a while back, and I didn’t think much of it when I took it. Snapping a photo in the backseat of a moving car, I was really surprised by the image quality and resolution. It didn’t turn out nearly as blurry as I thought it would. As Marcolina said, “Trust your instincts when you get the urge to take a picture; don’t always ask yourself the reason for doing it” (134). I’m glad I took this picture because it has become one of my favorites, especially after editing. 

Edited!

Not much was done in the alteration of this image. All I did was fix the little bit of misalignment and add lens flare with the PicsArt app. I added the lens flare with restraints so it looks sort of natural and does not come across as cheesy. You can see this effect in the upper middle of this picture.

What are some other situations in which you can add light (in editing of course)?

Marcolina, Dan. iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2011. Print.

Things Aren't Always Clear

     In everyday life, clarity is something that's emphasized. This is especially true in photography. Most of the time, photographers will look at a photo that is blurry and immediately toss it out. Usually, this is the right choice, but sometimes blur can make a photograph more artistic. Today I will be exploring and embracing blur in my photography.

     One way to capture motion is by using blur. Using "a slow shutter speed... we get a blurry, sweeping, brushstroke effect and a much more active image" (Peterson 268). To experiment with this idea, I moved my camera in the same direction as my brother while he jumped off of a swing. This made his hands in focus, while everything else is blurry and out of focus.

Since everything except his hands are blurred,
there is a sense of motion in this image.

     Using blur can also be a way to show creative expression (Peterson 268). In the image below, I set my camera to a slow shutter speed of 2.5 seconds to create light trails. This is tells more of a story than taking photos of the lights without moving the camera. 

The arches in this image seem to be drawing you in
closer to the depths of the photograph.

Do you think blur can be artistic? Will you try to use it in your photography? Let me know in the comments!

Blur in everyday life :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.

The Analog Look of Film

If you were able to read my previous blog, you saw that I wrote about grunge and covered the basics of that particular photography style. And as for this third blog post, I have decided to continue along those lines and attempt to create film-resembling photographs. There is just something about the look of film that catches my interest. These types of images tend to give off the glowy impressions that they were taken out of an old photo album (Marcolina 72). I’m not exactly sure why this aged, vintage look appeals to me. Perhaps it is the soft, dark edges, the raw grain, or the enchanting light leaks. Whatever it is, let’s move on and get into film looks.

On a recent trip back from Leavenworth with my family, we made a little pit stop and unintentionally came across a waterfall. The pictures I took on my phone were mediocre. The photo quality was not great and although I’m sure I did not touch the zoom settings, the pictures turned out a little grainy. I figured I might as well embrace the graininess and edit it accordingly. I cursorily flipped through iPhone Obsessed and found the perfect editing style for the situation—film. “By adding a film look you can give an image instant credibility along with a touch of nostalgia and an overall warm feeling” (72). The way I see film is that it resembles a thin sheet of finely grained wood. If you were to merge a digital picture with a film-like veneer, you would result with some unique and interesting images.

 

Although film looks are usually applied to shots with a single subject (both close-up and medium shots), I decided to try this technique on a few nature shots. The book did not provide a definite set of steps to follow in order to achieve the film look, so I just edited the pictures to how I found fit. First, I tuned the images to add color and saturation. I lightened and opened up shadows. Then, I added sharpness and strengthened the warm, yellow tone. Finally, I applied vintage and a grainy film.

Do you have any critiques on the pictures, and what is your opinion on film looks?

Marcolina, Dan. iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2011. Print.

Looking Through the Eyes of a Painter

     If I had to name one thing that can make the difference between a mediocre photograph and a great one, it would be the background. A subject awkwardly placed in front of the background, clutter, and too much going on can all make the photograph confusing, which makes people not want to look at the image. 

     This can be avoided by learning to see what Bryan Peterson calls the empty canvas. In the same way a painter starts with a blank slate, photographers should look for the blank canvas before taking a picture (Peterson 82). This means that paying attention to the background and placing the subject with consideration of the background should be a priority.

     For my first attempt at photographing a blank canvas, I used a strand of Christmas lights against the sky, because "on sunny days you can always turn your attention to the empty canvas of the... blue sky above, and shoot any number of subjects against it" (Peterson 83). The sky on the right creates a clean background for the lights.

The diagonal line the lights create between the sky 
and the roof adds to the strength of the composition.

     But blank canvases don't have to be so generic. Anything can be an empty canvas if the photo is composed correctly. In this image I used a person's hand as the empty background and a small teacup as the subject. This created a simple yet compelling photograph.

A hand worked as the blank canvas because it didn't
cause any distractions from the subject.

What else can be used as a blank canvas? Do you agree that the background is just as important as the subject? Let me know in the comments!

Bonus picture of using the ground as a blank canvas :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.

Grunge It Up

Editing photos is not something I often do in my spare time. And just for the record, I have a very minimal understanding on this topic. (I don’t think applying text, stickers, and one-touch filters to a photo counts as much editing.) Now that I think about it, the only times I’ve actually had to use an editing app were when the pictures were either overexposed (too bright) or underexposed (too dark).

Photography has always been an interest of mine, but I have never fully committed to it. I would get into the habit of regularly taking pictures for a couple of months, but then I’d get discouraged and stop once I see all of these amazing professional-looking photos on social media. I would get bored and search for something else to do in my free time. But things will be different this time around. I’m determined to stick to this hobby for a while longer and become better at taking and editing photos.

I will start off my editing experiment with grunge photography. Grunge is a term I see used here and there, but it is not something I am very familiar with. According to iPhone Obsessed, these types of photos are often scratched, blotched, and/or desaturated (Marcolina 28). These photos generally have a sense of nostalgia or loneliness to them and involve a lot of post-processing and heavily editing. 

Here is the original photo before any editing:

In this case, I wanted to accentuate the sad and depressing tone that is sometimes associated with rain. Using the Snapseed app, I did some basic editing to try to mute some of the colors. I straightened the picture at about a +2° angle and cropped it accordingly to center the subject. Then I added vintage and a grainy film to the image.

Marcolina says, “Try going crazy with layers over layers, type and texture, saturation, blurring, and sharpening and see what happens” (Marcolina 36). I took this little piece of advice and made a second attempt at grunge. I took the edited picture I made with Snapseed and put it through another app called Pixlr. I did as Marcolina advised and experimented with different effects and filters. At the end, I added scratches, blur, a rustic frame, and a few subtle vintage filters. 

Here are the edited photos (left-Snapseed, right-Pixlr):

    

Grunge photography is one way to tell a story. How do you narrate yours through pictures and images?

Marcolina, Dan. iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2011. Print.

You Need a Contrast Filter

     I've always been drawn to cameras and photography, but it was only two and a half years ago that it really became a hobby. Since then I've learned how to use manual mode, read a ridiculous number of photography books, taken a Photo 1 class, signed up for a Photo 2 class, and had one of my photographs on the Seattle Times website. Now, I want to take my photography to the next level and make meaningful and deliberate compositions.
    
     For a long time, contrast was never something I looked for when taking pictures. If I took a photo with good contrast, it was always a happy accident instead of a conscious choice. That's why I decided to focus on creating contrast in my first blog post.

     To create contrast in this photo, I used one red apple in a basket of green apples. Since red and green are complimentary colors, the green apples made the red apple stand out. Most of the time, the eye is drawn to the part of the photo with the most contrast. Then it's assumed that that area is the subject of the image, which is correct (Peterson, 130).

Without the red apple, this image would have very little contrast,
which would make it a sub-par photograph.

     Next, I used a single red leaf in a completely green composition, because "the use of a dominant color or tone is a great way to exaggerate the main subject" (Peterson, 142). By using green fabric and green apples, the one red leaf was the only spot where the color changed, so naturally our eyes go to that point first.

The contrasting color of the leaf against the other parts
of the photo make the image more interesting.

     Another way this photograph has contrast is in the distinct textures in the composition. The apples are smooth, while the leaf has jagged edges. This difference draws attention to the leaf.

     Do you think contrast a vital part of photography, or is it better to focus on other aspects in your pictures? Is color or texture contrast more important? Let me know in the comments below!

And here's a bonus picture,
just for fun :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.

Capturing the Mobile Moment

*DISCLAIMER: The book I am reading is called iPhone Obsessed. However, I do not own an iPhone. The pictures below were taken with an Android (more specifically, a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge).

What is the mobile moment? It is the circumstances that would cause me to pull out my phone and snap a quick photo. For me, this could be anything, really, from great lighting to the natural and authentic moment of a human or animal. The mobile moment usually occurs when you least expect it to and is the moment that brings together a memorable image.

I take a lot of pictures with my phone. However, most of them are not worth sharing. Like many others, I know the fundamentals of phone photography, such as making sure the subject is in focus and fits within the frame of the screen. Easy enough, right? But here’s where it gets a little overwhelming—I begin to consider other features into my shots like framing, perspective, lighting, and exposure. I, personally, have a tendency to overthink the elements of a shot rather than just simply taking the photo, resulting in many passed opportunities.

Photographer and author Dan Marcolina would agree that this is a mistake many amateurs, like myself, make. He suggests snapping the shot and then thinking about it afterwards. There is always the option of editing it later. The perfect photo opportunity can be gone in an instant. Marcolina says it’s often the unconscious reaction to a moment that makes the most honest and impactful picture. Although the first impression will usually work best, he recommends following up with a more conscious set of angles (Marcolina 4). Marcolina’s advice has really changed the way I take pictures. Below are some unedited photos I’ve recently taken of my dogs. The top photo was taken just moments before she jumped off the bench and chased after a squirrel, and the photo on the bottom was taken of my dog mid-yawn. Had I spent time overthinking the shots, I never would’ve captured these moments.

Both pictures were achieved by applying the Rule of Thirds, which is basically breaking an image down into thirds (using both horizontal and vertical lines) so that you are left with nine parts. To make this easier, I simply went into my camera settings and turned on the grid lines. For the photo on top, I positioned the edge of the bench to one of the horizontal lines, balancing out the image and making for a more aesthetically-pleasing shot. As for the photo on the bottom, I aligned my dog’s head along a vertical line, purposely making her off center and therefore allowing me to expose more of the background.

In iPhone Obsessed, Marcolina stresses the importance of framing. “What to include in the frame and what not to include: It is that decision that really defines why still images can be more powerful than seeing the whole scene as in video” (Marcolina 2). Things to consider when quickly deciding your framing include the angle and position of the shot. What is the angle of the shot? Is it high or low? Will the shot be more dynamic if it’s taken horizontally, vertically, or squared? For both of the pictures above, I decided to take them in landscape and at eye level. This gives the viewer a sense of first person, as though he or she is experiencing the moment from his or her own perspective.

With a tap of a screen, phone photography is a hobby anyone can get into. The simplicity and practicality of a smartphone make shooting photos much easier than it would be with a bulky digital camera. This first blog was just about capturing and framing the mobile moment. I look forward to reading and discovering more tips and tricks. Over the course of the next couple of blogs, I will be trying various photography and editing techniques such as grunge, HDR (high dynamic range), and adding light. 

Any thoughts on the pictures? What are your “mobile moments”, and where do you get your inspiration from?

Marcolina, Dan. iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2011. Print.