79 posts tagged “photography lesson”

I'm feeling all patriotic today and in honor of the 4th of July in the US; I would like to see some photos in red, white & blue.  The photos this week can be patriotic about your country or can have the colors of red, white & blue.  Use your imagination and have some fun. 

Photos must be taken during the run of this week's Photo Quest, by you and you can use any camera setting or any software to enhance your photos. 

Another week of great entires, thanks to Realworld, Country by Design, Karen, Canp' Stephel and Yancunyong.  Everyone had something different to post.  There were the great photos of Yan's friends having fun, Karen's adorable little dog, Country's beautiful home and her property and Cap'n's viola.  No two posts were alike.

Now for this week's winners.  1st place goes to Cap'n for her great pictures of her viola.  What fun use of light.  I have one of those headlamp thingies and I'm going to have to play around with it. 

2nd place goes to Karen for her lovely portrait of Cho Cho.  Karen you really nailed the ROT in this photo!  You captured such a lovely pose of your dog looking over her shoulder and the nice angle of the pose really made this photo interesting.  I took some photos of my dog yesterday and I can appreaciate how difficult this is!

3rd place goes to Realworld for the wonderful composite of the things he loves.  Nice work on this composite!

Here is a fun quest for this week.  Take a photo where you have set the camera shutter for 5 seconds.  If your camera doesn't have a 5 second setting, then find the setting that has the longest shutter speed...probably a low or night photo setting.

Tripod is recommended but you can use a table, chair, bench or what ever is handy to brace your camera. You can get an good tripod for around $40.00 at walmart and check out the pawn shops.  Raymond found a great on triopod at his local pawn shop.  Another place to shop is Craigs List, I've got some nice lenses there.  If you have a shutter delay setting, a remote shutter release or mirror up setting, try them out. With all these new setting consult your camera manual and make sure you understand how to use them correctly. 

Try shooting scenes that have people or things that are moving.  Then shoot one where everything is very still.  Use the lowest ISO you can manage.  If you have a polarizer filter use it to add darkness to the photo.  Don't set the lens down too far use f8 to f11 for the best results. 

Take photos of moving trains or cars at night.  How about a kids soccer game, or a track event.  Bees, butterflies, humming birds could be interesting subjects.  Waterfalls, the ocean waves, a sunset, all great subjects for this quest.

What white balance will complement this picture?  You might want to try a few different white balance setting.

Post as many pictures as you like, please tell us all the stuff you used...shutter speed, f stop, ISO, lens, tripod or no tripod.

I'm off to a jumping show on Saturday evening...I might be able to get some interesting photos there.  Most of all have fun!

I must have scared a lot of the regular photo quest members away this week with this quest on white balance.  Sorry didn't mean to have the quest be too hard.  I hope you took the time to see the photos posted and how changing the white balance can really alter the look of the photos.

1st places this week goes to Country By Design for posting all the different setting with white balance for the lovely flowers and the plants. 

2nd place goes to Yancunyong for the photos of the concert.  I disagree with you Yan as I like the second photo the best.  But I wasn't there was I?

Thanks goes out to our two participants this week for braving out this quest! 

First I want to say thanks so much for all the great photos that were posted this week!  Amazing job, you guys are getting so good you could have a gallery showing.  I hope you learned something about your camera and taking b & w photos.  Yan thinks it is better to shoot in b & w and not convert a color photo to b & w...what experience did you have?  I've always read that it is better to take in color and convert...but you know I'm going to shoot some photos in b & w and see which is better.

For this week's most outstanding photo...drum roll please...I had to pick LaidOutInLavendar...or Lav for short.  Her photo of the water under the bridge with the reflection of the bridge is mystical!  Taking the photo at the angle she used gives the picture a wonderful depth and your eye is drawn to the sweet spot in the upper right hand ROT spot.  You want to look through the bushes to see what is in that spot.  The refection in the water are just like a mirror.  Lav you continue to amaze and surprise me with your talent.

Now this was a hard pick this week for second place as the pictures were so good.  For second place, I choose Yan for his night time photos of Osaka.  Thanks for posting your camera setting and that you used a tripod and a 2 sec delay for the photos.  A lovely curved road or bridge on the right and the row of trees on the right leads the eye straight to the ROT spot on the upper left of the picture.  Very nice composition and the reflections in the water...icing on the cake!.

Now you all probably think I'm partial to water and reflections this week...not really we just had two extraordinary photos with reflections submitted to this week's quest.

For the third place picture this week I choose Country by Design for her series of landscapes in the rain.  My favorite of the series is the b & w of the wheat field with the fense post on the right.  Very calm and peaceful photo.

Thanks again to all that posted photos, wonderful work this week!

For this week's Photo Quest give me your blue photos!  What does blue mean to you?  Does it mean the down emotion of sadness, or the joy of a blue sky?  Put a blue filter on your camera or use a blue filter in your photo software.  Either take a photo of something blue or something that makes you blue or add blue to a photo.  Add a blue background or a mid layer witha fill of blue with an opicition of 10%.  Do a black and white photo and paint the dubject blue.  No time limit on when the photo was taken, I prefer that it be during the quest time line but not a requirement.

Pleas tell us about your photo and how you feel about blue.  If you have the time and interest please post your camera information, ISO, shutter speed, flash/no flash, etc. 

Any questions?  Just post to this quest or email me.  Have a great week!

WPB

Thanks to all that posted this week, there were so very creative photos!  I hope I commented on each one.  If you are a member of the Photo Quest please leave comments on each week's quest.  We are all here to learn from each other and to have some fun!

For this week's winners, here goes 1st place has to be Spike who actually followed the directions from the American Photo magazine.  I really want to try this too check out Spike's photo it is very cool.

2nd place goes to Cap'n Stephel for Lake Bubba.  Personally I think she won because the host (that is me WPG) has a cat named Bubba...I think she is bias!

If you didn't have a chance to post your work with photos for this week's quest and layers feel free to post them when you have time.  Take care and have a wonderful week.

All the photos were wonderful and thanks so much for positing them.  I so appreciate your participation in my little photography blog.  Seeing your photos and reading about how and where you took them gives so much joy to my heart.  It is so much fun to see photos from Japan, the south, Colorado, DC, and Missouri wow the photo quest is my eye to the world, thanks to you! 

I'm doing the quest awards a little differently, so here goes and let me know what you think. 

Most unique frame goes to Yancunyong, for his photo titled "Sakura tunnel @Takasegawa, Kyoto".  Amazing work and by displaying this photo in black and white the viewer's eye is drawn right into the bridge.  If Yan posted this photo in color I'm sure the cherry blossoms would have detracted from the beautifully framed bridge.  Outstanding work Jan!

For best double or triple frame within a photo the award goes to Maju for her photo titled Swans.  Not only is her photo beautifully composed, she used several elements in her framing.  I feel like asking you to find them all but I can't stand it so I'm going to name them.

1.  The lovely tree branch that is in the forefront of the photo and slightly blurred.

2.  The bank of the pond that is behind the swans

3.  The wonderful circle of light on the pond

4.  I might have this discription right but the little clumps of aquatic plants that surround the swans form a frame

Maju this photo is amazing, thanks for posting.

For this quest the photo must be taken during the run of the quest.  The subject matter is open but do not use any enhancement software...you can adjust brightness and darkness only.  Take a photo where you have framed the subject with other elements in the view.

Some simple frames are to  use a doorway or a window to frame a subject.  You can frame a subject by using shadows, tree limbs, buildings, mountains, clouds etc.  The purpose of framing your subject is to add interest and depth to your photo.  The stronger the lines of your frame the more dramatic the effect.  Also consider using diagonal lines are they are most dramatic and add visual interest to a photo.

Here is a photo I took of the Santa Catalina Mountains, I used the tree branches to frame Push Ridge (highlighed mountain peak) and draw your eye to that part of the mountain.

IMGP0879-PuchRidge copy

4 comments

Above all have some fun with this quest and I hope your learn something new about yourself, your camera and photography.

Of all the Photo Quest that I've posted I believe this might have been the hardest!  Many times we take photos of ordinary things that become extraordinary because of how we compose, light, color and enhance the photo.  This Photo Quest is a great example of how you photographers accomplished this task. 

First place this week goes to Spike for the red poppy (red means stop and pay attention) on a black and white field. This photo took my breath away.  Spike placed the red poppy in the sweet spot, ROT then further drew the viewer's eye to the red poppy by taking the color out of the background...magic!  The emotion and the color of the red poppy is right out in front.

Second place goes to Yancunyong for his photo set of his camera strap (red Pentax letters), the lovely red in the Tower of the Sun (red is hot) and the red arrow for direction (pay attention red).

Thank you all for posting photos and broadening my vision of red!