Showing posts with label photo tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photo tips. Show all posts

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Photographing Blooms Tips and Tricks



Hi everyone! Have you recovered from National Scrapbooking Day? I am making a point of finally getting to scrap with the new products I picked up in the last couple weeks. One that I am so anxious to use is Kristin's In Bloom! I love taking pictures of flowers and this is the perfect kit to show them off I think. I also thought that I'd drop off some tips on how to take the best shots of your flowers.



The best thing that you can do first and foremost is prepare and plan your shot. Don't just whip out your camera, center your flower in the shot and press that shutter button. Do something creative. Try a different angle. One thing that I've done in the past is shoot the flowers from the ground up. It gives your photo a different angle and usually gives you an uncluttered background to highlight that beautiful bloom. This works especially well with tulips. And if you can't get that low, try to get as low as you can and find an interesting backdrop rather than clutter. Something that offsets the beauty of the blooms.


Think too about the lighting. Personally I have found that shooting flowers during cloudy days really gets the true colour of the flower in the photo, and you can often avoid harsh shadows that mask some of the textures of the flower petals.

If you haven't done it before, try using your macro setting on your camera to get in really tight and shoot details of the pollen inside the flower, or maybe a small insect that is enjoying some nectar.

Consider too your depth of field when you are shooting. That can really make a bloom pop in a photo.

I hope you've enjoyed these little tips, and my couple of example shots from my visits to the Tulip Festival here in Ottawa. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Photo tips~ SNOW!

Hey there!
 With the latest dump of snow which was another foot...all that is on my mind is shoveling, making sure the kids are dressed when we go anywhere, what the roads are like, warming up the vehicle before we head out, more shoveling, and when is it going to get warm enough to go tobogganing!!??
 The last chance we had to go out on the hill apart from Sunday was 2 weeks ago, I took my camera (as I always do!) but when I got home I realized that I had a lot of editing to do to all the pictures I took, the snow looked 'greyish' the colours didn't pop again the white and the shadows were so dark!

 I did a little googling and experimenting with the info I gathered and I thought it might help some of you out as well!!
1. keep your camera as warm as you can! apparently your batteries last longer when they aren't cold!
2. set the white balance on your camera to HIGH! (this is what was causing the snow to look grey!)
3. use your flash!!! It will reduce the dark areas on your pictures!
4. use the action mode~ I should have thought of this the first time! would have reduced the blurry pictures i got!
Here are the pictures I took after I applied some of those tips! the only thing that was altered is a contrast boost on there jackets!



Hope those are helpful hints! And here are the kits that I am using in my layout!

Tis the Season for joy
and
The way you are

Have a great week!