Green-Eyed Girl, TAB Day 14
Okay. Long story short – I did a little dance with the green-eyed monster this week. I’m not one that usually wastes a lot of time on jealousy, so it kind of took me by surprise. In essence, a friend of mine had some professional portraits taken, and they were…well, amazing!!! My first gut reaction was “WTF? Why can’t *I* do that?” (take those kind of photos, that is), and it left me feeling like somewhat of a failure. So me being me, I analyzed.
I had brown eyes as a child, but over time they’re becoming greenish.
“Well, it’s because I haven’t learned how to yet!!! Plus this photographer likely doesn’t have two challenging kids, a spouse, and a household to run. He’s young and hip, has a studio with fancy equipment, and all the time in the world to dedicate to getting good. I’d like to see what he can do in my situation – give him a point-and-shoot in one hand and a squalling baby in the other and let’s see what his photos look like then!” *le sigh*
After my righteous indignation wore off, I made a decision to step up my photographic efforts – at least every once in a while. And so, with the help of my “domestic assistant” to mind the kidlets, I got serious with my “serious” camera. As I mentioned earlier, much of what I learned about photography in school twenty-plus years ago is obsolete, and I am having to reteach myself pretty much everything – from digital camera operation to photo processing on the computer. So, I dug out my instruction booklet and started playing around with the manual settings, and this is what I came up with. First stop, one of my early assignments in school – “white”.
I’ve always admired those white-dress-in-a-window photos.
But with not-so-interesting windows, I focused more on details.
With two boys, it amazes me that this dress is still white. 😉
I decided to take out my macro lens and play with f-stops and focus.
I ran out of white things to snap, so I grabbed the lavender. Mmm.
Clearly, I still have much to learn, but at least I feel like I’ve genuinely started now. Take that, jealousy!!!
There have been so many amazing photos submitted to The August Break group on Flickr, I am always a little surprised (and a lot thrilled) when mine get positive feedback. If any TAB-ers are reading this, I want to take this opportunity to thank you so much for your kind words and your inspirational photos. Keep up the great work!
(P.S. I actually took these photos a day-and-a-half ago, but hadn’t had time to even look at them until today, so I’m using them for today’s post. That still counts, right? 😉 )
15 Replies to “Green-Eyed Girl, TAB Day 14”
For me, the biggest change i have found in my photography has been to learn lighting. Not just how to use natural light, but how to use flash and strobes. This has moved me further along than anything else. We really need to do a photo day and play with this kind of stuff.
My favorite thing to do right now is instead of hunting for an image, is to hunt for great light, and make an image.
Your pics look great kate. Keep it up.
Aw, thanks Keith. Yes, I would love to steal your knowledge…er, learn from you. 😉 K
I think your photos are beautiful! The “White Dress in a Window,” and the Lavender are my favorites, but I also love the detail in the shoelace. I cannot tell you how much I identify with what Keith said in his comment. I find myself almost always looking for light now. I don’t use flash very often at all. It is the natural light I am after. For example, today it has been cloudy and rainy, and I have a beautiful blue hydrangea that is just begging to be photographed, and it’s killing me!!! Tomorrow is supposed to be better, and I can’t wait!
Thanks, Lisa! I get the light thing too – it’s just hard to take advantage most of the time with two kids in tow! Sometimes, I just have to shoot what I see when I get the chance, which is getting frustrating and challenging. One day…
😉 K
Kate,
Here is something to try for lighting. Find a place in your home with a big window that gets indirect sunlight. It should be in a room with no other windows, or blinds/curtains you can close or block out. You want to ensure that the window is by far the strongest light source in the room.
Find a person or thing to photograph and set it up so that the light from the window illuminates it strongly. Meter for the light on the object coming from the window and shoot INTO your house away from any other subject/furniture that is being lit by the window.
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Depending on the strength of the light from outside, the part of the room that is not being lit by the window should go almost Black, and just the object will be lit.
This is a great way to practice a single light source and it is awesome for portaits as the light is super soft as long as your subject is placed close to the Window.
Good to try when you are stuck at home.
Keith
So, out of curiosity, do you meter with a hand-held + grey-card, or do you just use your camera? =) K
I meter in camera. No gray cards needed. Basically, set your camera to spot meter and let it expose for the lit subject only, not everything in the frame.
Does that make sense?
Yup.
Thanks.
=) K
Hi – I’ve popped here from the August Break. There is so much great photography around that I’m pretty sure almost everyone is hit now and again by that feeling. Actually, it applies to every creative medium I’m sure. The trick is to not let it derail you , and like you’ve done, let it give you a push to learn more and improve.
Thanks for making you way over, Rhiannon! Yes, I believe we have found the key…perhaps we should write a self-help book and get ridiculously famous now?
😉 K
i love this dress…where is it from…i used to have one like this when i was a teenager…wore it all the time…gosh that was the ’70’s. you know i never followed my desire to photograph then…the first camera i used was a broken one my dad gave me…with the brown leather case. oh that was after my 2 little box cameras! then i had a 110 i used quite a bit. but i’ve just fell into it again…and i felt i could never be like all those ‘incredible’ photographers out there…but you know what…i have my own style, and i love it and that’s all i need. i also think it’s the image we capture more than following the rules and having a perfect shot.
for what it’s worth, i take my kids down the road almost daily for a walk, the little guy usually falls asleep and the others ride their bikes…or whine lol. but this is where i capture nearly 99% of my shots…i think shooting outside is a great way to experiment with light, i always get comments about the light in my photos…but iknow nothing technical…i think it’s just the practice outside, i also did tons of macro flowers. and now i’m finding overcast days are wonderful to shoot with, because it’s a flat light you don’t have to worry about shadows at all….it’s beautiful for portraits.
I found the dress a long time ago, but have no memory from where – sorry. =/
And I agree whole-heartedly about having one’s own style and vision – there are a million people who can follow the rules…why be one of them? 😉
I love that you drag your kids out to grab photos – I was beginning to feel a little hemmed-in by my yard, lovely as it is. Though being forced to photograph the same thing every day challenges you to see things in a new way, getting out-and-about is a great way to get in lots of practice! Keep up the great work, Shelle, and thanks for popping by!
=) K
One more thought based on the last post here.
I think finding your own style is the most important part of photography. If you can do that, you are already half way home.
If you love your images and they make you happy, perfect. Nothing more needs saying.
I have been on some photo workshops and get critiques from the Mentors at the end of each day. They are always positive and inspiring. You can take the advise or not.
The best thing I have ever heard from these workshops was that
“every rule is meant to be broken”
but also
“you need to understand the rules in order to break them”.
When I look at Kates photo’s I can see that just through years of taking pictures and looking at other pictures, she is already following certain rules of photography.
Her images have a specific subject. The subject is in focus. She has isolated the subject. Her backgrounds are clean. She looks for complementary colors. She directs the viewers interest.
Without these “rules”, Kate’s images would not be nearly as compelling.
Kate could stay exactly the way she is now and remain a great photographer, or she could continue to challenge herself (which she is doing), continue to refine her style, and continue to learn new techniques and then break them.
Keith
Now, now, Keith.
No need to get defensive.
😉 teeheehee
I truly appreciate all of the advice you have given me and am always up for the challenge of learning something new. It just may be at a snail’s pace, as it’s hard to focus on taking a photo when your baby is running off in the other direction, usually towards a busy street or rabid dog or something…
=P
K
Oh, I did not mean to sound defensive.
The rabid dog is probably Wednesday 🙂