11:12 Your Daily Environment

Well folks, we only have one more week after this of the 12 Weeks to Better Photos series. This week, we are finally getting to the fun stuff! Today we get to showcase Your Daily Environment! I think that one of the things that I learned a lot when I was doing my 365 Project is that there are really great photo opportunities around you every day.

Whether you have a point and shoot or a fancy schmancy, take a minute to just look around you and look at things from a different perspective. You will be surprised at what great things are all around you. This week's assignment was to do one (or all) of the following:

1. Capture a small snippet of your life that usually goes unnoticed
2. Create a visual record of your day
3. Share your favorite photo(s) with us (and tell us about the emotional connection you have with it, whether or not it's technically perfect)

I used this opportunity to take a few photos of what I was doing one day last week.

First, I took a hike. I found this on the path.

Another treasure from my hike. 

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

Buttermilk Muffins. 

 Mr. Tough Guy, otherwise known as Mouse.

You thought you were never going to see him again..but here he is, Papa P in the flesh! 

It was fun just taking photos without a specific theme. I mean, really pretty much anything can be part of your daily environment! What did I learn? Well, I already knew this, but as you can see, I like taking close ups! I guess I still need to work on my portraits, landscapes and action photos!

I liked this assignment because I find it fun to see what other people have in their daily life that they take for granted, but I think is the coolest thing ever. It may be an animal (I saw my first porcupine in Canada a few years ago and was SO excited) or a food (remember that snake fruit in Cambodia? Normal to them, not normal to me!) or just a view from your window! 

Join up next week for the last lesson: Camera Accessories.

What would you take a photo of to describe/define YOUR daily environment? What do you find in your everyday life that you may consider mundane but may actually be pretty neat to others?

10:12 Landscapes

Landscape photography is something I feel more comfortable doing. The mountains don’t move. Okay, maybe they do, but at least it’s really slow. They don’t talk back either. They are calm and huge and fun to take photos of! However, there are several things you need to consider when taking landscape shots. As always, you need to think about the composition of your photo. Like we learned in week 5, you need to eliminate distractions, apply the rule of thirds, keep an eye on the horizon and try a new perspective from time to time. So, how can we do that when shooting landscapes?

The rule of thirds is easy; just make sure you are lining up a tree or a mountain or the sky in one of those quadrants, like we practiced. You can also use a natural line to create the rule as well as drawing the eye into what you want the viewer to focus on.

Trying a new perspective can be fun. Look at things from above or below in order to take a photo that everyone else has not already taken. Can you get a birds-eye view of something, instead of taking the shot from ground level?  

For those of you with a point and shoot, use the landscape mode, which is the little mountain icon, to shoot your photo. This will cause the camera to have an increase f/stop (remember that from week one?) which will cause the whole photo to be in focus. If you have a lower f/stop, only certain parts (foreground / background) will be in focus and with a landscape photo, you want the entire thing to be crystal clear. Remember, Ansel Adams shot photos at an f/64! If you are not using a point and shoot, remember, the higher the f/stop, the less light is being let in, so you may need to slow down your shutter speed or bump up your ISO if there is insufficient natural light.

Here’s the question we want to consider this week:

What does your view of the world look like?

The assignment was to share your view of the wide, wide world. We were reminded to select an f/stop around f/22, compose our photo with the entire scene in mind, and apply any of the following 10 tips:

1. Use a wide angle lens (if you have one)

2. Find a bird's eye view

3. Locate a focal point

4. Consider composition

5. Pay attention to the time of day

6. Play with shadows, silhouettes, and reflections

7. Use lines to lead the eye

8. Consider a city scene

9. Take a panoramic photo

10. Capture a nighttime scene

As you can see, in the first photo, I achieved a bird’s eye view of this landscape by climbing up to the top of another mountain. Maybe hiking is not your cup of tea; that’s okay. You can take the elevator to the top of the Empire State building and get the same result.

In this photo, you can see that the focal point is that mountain top, which I was trying to get to!

In this photo, I used the line of the river to draw your eye. I also tried to apply the rule of thirds, but I may have wanted to raise my camera just a bit in order to have a little more sky in the photo.

In this, the lines of the beach and the lines of the sun are good, although I should have maybe stood a little closer to the water to make more of an angle, rather than the flat line of the ocean.

This photo used the city as the landscape instead of using natural elements.

This photo shows you what a difference the time of day makes. In the earlier morning, the sun is not up enough, so the light is kind of grey, instead of being warmer. The colors of the trees and water are more pronounced when the sunlight is on them. The contrast of the blue sky instead of the washed out grey one makes for a more interesting photo.

What I learned: Take your time. Like I said before, the mountains are not moving very fast. You can afford to think about your shot and compose it right. Try standing in a few different places to get a better angle. Consider the time of day. As you saw in the last photo set, it makes a big difference. Go to the same place several times; you may be surprised at the differences each time.

Don’t forget to link up with Kate and to join us next week when we will be looking at Our Daily Environments. We only have two weeks left, but you can still join in the fun at any time!

Do you like taking landscape photos? Do you prefer city-scapes or natural landscapes?