A curved bridge at Lord's Park

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A bridge in Elgin, Illinois

Sometimes it's worth it just to stop everything and take that shot. I was driving along and by the side of the road I noticed this little bridge with the concrete steps around it, with careful and tasteful landscaping around it. I thought...I wonder if I can get a shot of it without the buildings in the background? Now I'm thinking I should have taken longer shots to SHOW the buildings int he background.

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Botanic Garden path

This cobblestone path strikes me as surrounded on either side by lacy patterns of greenery and flowers.

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knot

For some reason the textures of the water in the background contrasted a lot with the coarseness of the roap, the smoothness of the metal it was wrapped around, and the wood of the pier.

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Sensory Garden

The sensory garden at the Botanic Garden is built around a big sycamore tree.  This picture shows one of the raised beds of lovely flowers of all types, scents and petal textures.

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Eyes

One might think "eyes" are easy to photograph. It's kind of like the idea of taking a picture of a white carnation. Sounds simple enough, right?

As far as "eyes" are concerned, there are all kinds of eyes out there, including potato eyes. Eyes by themselves are extremely expressive. I saw a post of very theatrical eyes of women that was by a photographer that does Maybelline ads. Mine aren't like that.

I was trying for something different with this experiment in photographing eyes, but you need some willing subjects.

Needless to say, my dog was mostly uncooperative.

I took these pictures of my husband's eyes with the 'portrait' setting on the Canon Rebel T1i, which softened the detail too much. Double click on all the photos to see the larger image.

My dog turned to me and his nose is so long that the camera focused on his nose.

These are my husband's eyes, taken with the macro setting, which provided much more detail.

This is a neighbor's long-haired dachsund with a muzzle on.  Why he needed a muzzle, I'll never know - he was the sweetest thing and wasn't aggressive at all.

And this is the dachsund's daddy. I was playing with black and white conversions on this one, the lines in his face are very interesting.

This is a neighbor right after she came home from work, perfectly willing to stand still for me for long enough to squeeze off a few snaps. Without the rest of her face, you can see her eyes are smiling.

This is a friend's Boxer. He always has the cutest expressions on his face.

Even without the rest of his face you can see his expression in his eyes.

The eyes truly are the window to the soul, and I took them on as my challenge this weekend. You can see more "eye" pictures from others in comments at this old post at the Digital Photography School.

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Mudge Bay, Kagawong, Canada

This one was taken on my way to Bridal Veil Falls.  It turns out the trip TO the falls yielded better pictures than the walk around the falls itself.  Bringing the camera everywhere is a must.

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English Garden

This is another Botanic Garden shot; I couldn't resist including it in the collection of snaps I have here.

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A cold wet nose!

A big wet nose and sad eyes; that's what this dog has. The challenge is capturing him when he's moving around so much. Pet portraits can present a definite challenge and take a long time to produce good snaps.

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Great Blue Heron

This magnificent bird makes it home right outside my window.  Because it was about to rain, it stood quite still for quite some time, giving me the opportunity to take some quick shots of it with my 300mm lens. 

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Canadian North American Indian woman

With some coaxing, I was able to get Gina to pose for this photo.  Asking people if you can take their photograph is not all that difficult.  What is necessary, though, and what I have to get more comfortable doing is to ask them to sign my model's release.

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The secretive Green Heron

This bird is small for a heron, but on close examination, its colors are extraordinary. Double click on the image to enlarge.  Once you've seen it, click on the 'back' button to bring you back here. This appears to be a juvenile green heron because of its brown and white streaked neck, slight crest, and light-tipped wing coverts.  The yellow markings around the bill and eye are also indicative of a juvenile, because the markings are less pronounced in the adult.  They average between 16 and 18 inches long, their wingspan is about 25 inches and they weigh about 8 or 9 ounces.  It's also called the green-backed heron.

This is a difficult bird to get pictures of because of its secretive nature.

This is a photo of the same bird with the colors punched up a little bit.

I stood outside this morning as it was about to rain with my rebel T1i camera and 300mm telephoto lens and managed to get some shots of this one before it started to rain.  I tried different aperture settings because the light wasn't very bright, due to the cloud cover.  ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/100.

I didn't punch up the color on this one, although I did in a few of the other shots I took.

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Gay Civil Union

This was taken in June at Millenium Park where 33 civilian unions were performed.

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Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpeckers are very quick, almost as quick as a White Breasted Nuthatch, Goldfinch, or even a Black-Capped Chickadee.  At times I wonder if the world appreciates these creatures as much as I do, and at others I don't care because I'm continuing to practice taking shots in different scenarios and gaining more and more experience.

This photo would be another exercise in contrasts, as the colors are vibrant, and the background somewhat muted.

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Color Contrasts

This white egret standing on the boat launch against the darker water seemed a striking contrast.  Waterbirds are everywhere here, but they are not always obvious.

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A door and a shadow

It may seem somewhat monochromatic, but this is the side of one of the deteriorating buildings in Canada.  I just love the textures of old structures and buildings like this.  Espanola had some very rural areas with farmhouses that were very old, dilapidated and abandoned.  Some were burned out as though there had been a fire.  Others were open, but dangerous to walk into, with graffiti scrawled all over the inside and outside.

It made me wonder about what the history was of those homes and barns.  Surely they each had a story.  Who owned them?  It was apparent that families once lived in them, what made the people leave?  Who owns them now, and why are the houses still standing?

This is the same image using Picnik to enhance the colors.

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A Canadian Sunset

Is a sunset photo worthy of submitting for a contest?  Aren't there more unique things to capture than a sunset? Sunsets can be stunning and there is a lot that can be done in digital editing programs to pump up the richness and intensity of the colors.  This one was slightly enhanced in Aperture.

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A beautiful face

This is a wonderful face for a portrait; full of character and lines.  It was taken inside a bar in the afternoon, while the patrons were playing pool.  He and his wife raise potbellied pigs in Espanola, Canada.  The dramatic natural light is coming in through the window, but the inside was dark.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it ended up being one of my favorite photos taken from that trip.

What makes a great portrait?  It's a combination of things; and sometimes it's about breaking the rules.  Some suggest a noncompeting background, and if there are more than one person in the photo, it's suggested that they should have clothing that matches, or is in the same color family.  I've seen some stunning photos of large families where they wear blue jeans and black turtlenecks.  I saw one photograph of a group of related women, where they all wore black and white.

Good lighting is a bonus, because nobody wants to do a lot of work editing the photos when they're done.  Composition and the rule of thirds should be held in mind.  Try to capture an emotioin, crop it in close, and maybe use a telephoto lens so that the background is blurred.

But it depends on what you're looking to achieve.

I am surprised at my results sometimes because I tend to snap in a haphazard sort of a way.  My feeling is that many times a photographer is rushed because of a lot of activity such as a wedding or a reception, and you must be able to put something together that is stunning with little time beforehand to plan it out.  The ideal situation, though, is to know about the challenges in advance and to plan for them.

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Birds can help you improve

Might sound crazy, but taking photographs of birds is very helpful in terms of taking the shot before it gets away.  A photographer's response time needs to be fast and quick when taking pictures of birds, particularly when he's after a clear crisp shot.  A photographer needs a quick response time in many situations-in sports photography, with children, during weddings, receptions, events, with animal portraits, etc.  Birds are very quick to move and flit about, and it's for that reason that birds have helped me with my photos across-the-board.  This particular photo is a black-capped chickadee.

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The right moment

The right moment, the right light, the right angle, you have a snapshot of a captured moment.  Priceless.  Previously I talked about the Potowatomie Park Pavilion and how when standing at Boy Scout Island in the morning, the lighting wasn't the best to take a shot of the Pavilion.  This shot was taken that same morning at Ferson's Creek Park. 

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It's World Photography Day!

Today is the day that those interested in photography can celebrate it.  Photos trigger memories that may have been tucked away indefinitely.  At the World Photo Today website, they invite everyone to register on their site and share photos from August 19th to August 25th.  From their website, they also invite people to facebook, twitter and Flickr.

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The right light

Lighting is important when snapping shots; the right light makes all the difference in the world as you can see with these two photographs of the same exact structure. I went out in the early morning and took a shot of this structure and then later that same afternoon. The morning shot shows the structure backlit, the afternoon shot shows the sun almost directly opposite.

This is the aternoon snap. Notice how more clearly you can see the detail of the structure.

These shots of the pavilion were taken from Boy Scout Island. This snap was taken from a slight angle.

This is the morning shot.  Because it is backlit, you cannot see much detail of the structure.

The right light cast on your subject will make your images pop, but it takes some thoughtful consideration and planning to be there at the right time of day.

When taking images in a dark church, knowledge of how to compensate for poor lighting is a must.

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Hello, Alaska!

Someone or some people from Alaska always seem to be able to find me online and come over and take a peek. I appreciate that I have fans, but...this almost feels like stalking. Well hello, Alaskans, whoever you are! Come on down and leave a comment!

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You don't need expensive stuff

Photography magazines and websites are always advertising that latest expensive invention that will take your photographer to the highest level. The problem is, that sales technique is just WRONG.

If you're an amateur photographer, or even a professional photographer without a lot of money, you don't need it. Photography websites and magazines that feature expensive equipment are in it to make money. The manufacturers pay to advertise, and that's their selling point; buy our camera/lens/tripod/whatever, and you'll be a great photographer! Photography websites are completely missing the boat and are actually offending and turning away the average consumer. The majority of people today with a camera don't give two rips about expensive equipment. Websites and magazines about photography pimp extremely expensive lenses and other gear that most people don't dare to dream of having because none of it will never be in the budget.

I mean come on. Do you have $10,000 laying around for a telephoto lens?

My photography and the average person's photography is photography on-the-cheap. Great photographs, contrary to what seems to be popular belief, do not need expensive equipment, they are produced with creativity; an eye for composition; a technical skill for getting the right lighting on the front end; and the ability to make technical adjustments to turn mediocre shots into great ones after the shoot. You just have to be there at the right time to get that great shot. This is something that Nick Stubbs at All Things Photography taught me, and it was revolutionary for me because I always thought that great photography was out of my reach.

In reality, it's in everyone's reach. You just have to keep practicing.

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Summertime offers snapping ops galore!

Just about everywhere you turn, there is the possibility for another great shot. And if you don't seize that moment, it will be gone in an instant, but not to worry, another opportunity for a great shot is right around the corner!

The dog days of summer are getting shorter as the tires are rapidly squealing toward shorter fall days, but there are still many opportunities for snapping shots and improving on image-taking and image post production to correct white balance, etc.

White balance and color correction can easily be corrected in free programs such as Irfanview or Gimp. It's worth the time to evaluate and rank your photos and adding keywords, so they will be easier to find later. It's also very much worth the time to experiment with software until you find the one that gets the best results.

Photoshop may be the industry standard, but for the budding photographer like me with not a lot of money, photoshop just isn't an option. It takes time to learn, is not an intuitive program, and it's expensive.

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