Shadows in Photography

Shadows in pictures can be very interesting and work in different ways to enhance your pictures, but they can also ruin pictures. The third picture down shows both, to me it ruins the picture but to the photographer it enhanced the photo. I think there must be a story or a purpose behind the photo. 

In photography class offered here at the high school we battled shadows. Many photos were usless because of diferent shadows blocking different things. The biggest problem with shadows I found was when I was trying capture an optical illusion. I also had problems with capturing portraits outside without shadows across the face or body. Shadows are difficult to work with.

Bokeh Photography

Bokeh photography looks extremely hard. I found in my research it is actually fairly easy to do! I found a tutorial on Bokeh photography at http://www.designzzz.com/ they simplify the steps into easy to follow steps. The tutorial says it is mainly all in the aperture settings, also to get this effect your camera will need to be adjusted manually. It is a little difficult to get used to when you first start adjusting it manually, but I found that I actually like useing the manual mode better then the atomatic mode now.

I like the effect Bokeh has on different pictures. It adds much more to the subject and a less distracting yet interesting background. Many photographs of people will have the Bokeh effect. It works really well with close up photos and with unique objects and styles.

Capturing Infants

Babies may seem like they are easy to capture good photos of. In reality they actually are really hard. Infants are the hardest unless you do not mind sleeping pictures. On the website Studioonashoestring.com has tips on photography infants. He states that he has been photographing infants for over twenty years and most parents do not like sleeping photos because they appear dead. Up until the Anne Geddes came out parents hated the idea of sleeping babies in photographs, they have changed a lot since then. Most baby photos are of sleeping babies.

As they state in their tips, babies will only feel comfortable in normal surrondings. They tend to sleep a lot when they are first born and the first month or so after that. So babies will only normally be awake if they are hungry, wet, or uncomfortable in any way, such as feeling abandoned. They say the easiest way to photograph them is to first make sure they are well fed, dry, and swaddled. As they grow older the needs will change. The website explains in detail the easiest ways to capture these different ages of infants and toddlers.

Fireworks

Fireworks may seem like an odd subject to blog about, but when attempting to capture fireworks with a camera it is harder then it appears to be. The hardest part is knowing when and where they will appear. The website geofflawerence.com, he offers many tips and a tutorial on capturing fireworks. The best tip I found that would be the most useful to me is finding an object in the distance to focus on. This provides a better focus on the fireworks when they appear. When capturing fireworks your camera's atomatic focus must be turned off because fireworks start in a small area and expand. The atomatic focus will zoom in and out trying to find a spot to focus on creating a blurry picture.

Most cameras have a shutter setting that you are able to adjust. With fireworks you are able to keep the shutter open longer because it is set against a black background. With the shutter open longer though, you will need a tri-pod for your camera to sit on or else the photo will be blurry from the movement. In the tutorial I mentioned, his tip to use a remote to open and close the shutter is a very good idea. When you press the button yourself the camera tends to move and create blur. Taking pictures of fireworks is fun but challenging.