Think Inside the Box
Posted on January 9, 2011
I get a lot of questions about how I improved my photography skills so quickly and a lot of the time I’ve answered, “Oh, I don’t know,” or “I’ve spent a LOT of time on everything related to photography in the past year.” Well, duh. Of course I have, but I’m betting those who have asked me that question were looking for something a little more concrete and helpful. Heh.
So, for all you peeps who want a little more insight into my crazy ways of photography and life, I’ll tell you the top things I think have given me a little edge.
- Doing a 365 project-one photo (or more) a day for a year. Seriously, committing to practice every.single.day. works pretty well in helping you learn what is and isn’t working with your photos.
- Bringing my camera EVERYWHERE
with me, and I do mean EVERYWHERE. Having a great case or bag, or at least some padding in your carrier of choice for your camera is helpful, just so you don’t whack it into stuff and end up with a broken one you can’t use.
- Getting off the “auto/green box” setting and onto the manual setting and shooting in RAW format. Then learning how the combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed all work together. As well as learning about all the functions my camera had to offer that I wasn’t taking advantage of previously. I read the “Dummies” book for my camera along with the manual that came with it, with my camera in-hand so I could actually see what the books were referring to at the same time. And, shooting in RAW really gives you an edge when playing with editing after the shooting has ended.
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Thinking inside the box. And, for me, this is a really big one and when I started seeing the world differently on many levels, even those not related to photography. I’ve always thought of myself as a perceptive, attention-to-details kind of girl, but I feel that “seeing the photos” all around me, in my everyday life, has really upped my game in this department. Now I see photos everywhere, in even the most mundane of situations-at the grocery store, “Hey don’t those stacks of egg cartons make an interesting pattern…” at the park-”Look at the way those shadows are falling on the fence..” and even on the grayest of Northwest days, “Cool! Wouldn’t the texture, and the darks and lights of those rain clouds look cool in black and white…” I can’t help myself these days and I get really upset if I ever do happen to be without my camera and I miss “the perfect shot.”
As I stated above, I did do a lot of other things that helped me grow with my skills in the past year, but the 4 above items are really at the core of my learning and are fairly accessible to anyone with a camera (since even a lot of inexpensive point and shoot cameras will let you take control of some of the settings these days). As always, if you have any questions, let me know! Happy shooting! 
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Before & After-A Little Tutorial|Redmond, WA Photographer
Posted on January 8, 2011
It’s been a long time since my last post and an even longer time since my last “Wicked Awesome Tutorial” post. I’m sorry I’ve left you all hanging for so long-life got busy, sicknesses, birthdays and holidays happened, but now I’m back and will hopefully be able to stick to a better schedule with my blogging! On to the good stuff!
This is a photo of Sam from exactly a year ago. I’ve loved this photo of him since I took it, but felt like it was missing that “something” to make it a really great photo. Now that I’ve learned some of these “tricks” I thought I might start sharing them with those of you who are interested in a “behind the scenes” look at the magic that is post-processing.
The top is way I posted it on FB originally-with no editing at all-SOOC (for those non-photo geeks among us, straight out of the camera ). The bottom is literally a 30 second “fix” in Adobe Lightroom 3. Now, I’m sure everyone has their own tastes in photos, so I don’t think I need to tell you exactly what to do with your own photos, but I will give you the low down on what I did with this one after I explain a few little things.
So, those of you who think that “editing” photos makes them somehow less “real” to the truth of the subject or something, I say “Slow down cowboys and cowgirls!!” I was once a non-believer like you. Until I read more and began to realize that there has always been and will always be manipulation of photographs and digital images. In the past it was done with lots of smelly chemicals in a dark room and now, it’s done on computers in Photoshop and the aptly named Lightroom. Now, I do not advocate completely losing the integrity of a photo by changing the fundamental make-up (especially in news and journalistic photography) of the image. But, making a few adjustments to say, make your subject stand out, take a dirt spot off your kid’s face or enhance the colors you see on your screen-why not?
Especially since, as you may or may not know, your camera is deciding (almost) all of those things for you right now. Surprised? I was too. I didn’t realize, at first, that my camera was doing it’s best to pick what it thought was 18% gray and go from there to make the colors “correct” in my photographs. I also didn’t know it was choosing how bright and how deep the blacks would be without my consent. I felt a little betrayed-so I decided to get even and do it MY way from now on! Ok, not really, it just sounded so dramatic and cool. Heh.
Sooo, what this all boils down to is if you have your hot little hands on any kind of editing program, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gimp, Picasa or Piknic, you should be able to control those things pretty easily. These days, I use my own “Preset” I made in Lightroom on every single photo I take. Then tweak individual photos after running it. Basically, my “Preset” is mad e up of a series of adjustments I found myself doing on almost all of my photos upon upload. But, now I can just tell Lightroom to apply the preset and I don’t have to go tweak every individual photo every time I upload (because that takes a LOT of time!!)
Here’s a rundown of what I adjust on (almost) all of my photos in Lightroom before moving on to any other editing:
-First I check my highlights in the histogram and adjust (if needed-but I try to nail exposure so I don’t need to) by adjusting the exposure or using the recovery bar.
-I up the blacks in the photo by at least 2, but usually more like 4 or 6. I just feel like it gives a photo so much more depth.
-I up the clarity, vibrance and saturation, just a tad to bring out the colors the way I saw them when I shot, instead of the sometimes flat looking photo that is on my screen.
-Then I play with the “curve” a bit. I usually brighten up the lights and darken up the darks some and up the contrast, since again, all of these things tend to bring out more detail.
-Lastly, I sharpen the photo depending on what I’m using it for (computer, printing etc.) and sometimes add a tiny vignette if the photo “needs” it.
Now, these controls may have different names or ways to adjust them depending on what program you’re using, but if you play around a bit (and use the internet to search for help-I have found so many great tutorials that way!), you’ll probably figure out how to do these things relatively quickly. I realize this may be beyond what some of you want to or have time to do, but for those that want to add a little oomph to your favorite photos, try out some of the things I listed, or even just one and see for yourself the difference it can make.
As always, let me know if you have any questions I can answer for you!
So, you think my camera takes nice pictures?
Posted on August 4, 2010
Well, guess what peeps?! YOUR camera can take nice pictures too! And, I’m (hopefully) going to let you in on a few tricks to make it a little easier to figure out, starting with this post. Most of this info will be geared toward those with DSLR’s since the settings on most point and shoots don’t allow for as much customization. But, I will try to come up with some good stuff for anyone-even you cell phone photographers out there.
Go out there and practice, noting what happens to your photos in each setting-you can usually see these later, on your computer when you upload them, so you don’t have to try to remember every single one.
Come back when you’ve done this and report your findings! I will use your comments to customize the next “tip & tricks” post based on what most people are having trouble with or doing well with.
Happy shooting!!
