A couple of you have commented about my photography lately--indicating that you wish I was close by so I could give you photography lessons. Well, that totally humbles and honors me since I am NOT a real photographer. However, I would love to share with you what little I know. It won't take long. smile
So let's start with equipment--
Cameras are so awesome these days--I think you can start with a simple point and shoot (p & s--when I first saw this term used in other blogs, I had to look it up on Google to see what it stood for) digital camera and capture some great shots. If you can afford a digital SLR, then that is awesome--both Nikon and Canon make some great ones--find people on the web whose pictures you love and try to find out what they use. Personally, I have an entry level Canon D-SLR and I love it. However, I bought a $99 lens that transformed it in my way of thinking. (Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens-this is a *prime lens)
I did also invest in a Canon Powershot S-90 which is an amazing little camera--not inexpensive though. But forget all that, let's just talk about using whatever camera you have available.
I wrote a post recently entitled Run to the Light. Natural light is everything in most pictures. Of course, sometimes, you deliberately want low light and you will shoot at different times of day. I love long shadows so I try to shoot early morning or late afternoon. I have been blessed to get some pretty decent shots midday though.
I also try to think "outside the box" and take pictures from all different angles. I am not as agile and limber as I used to be, so crawling around on the ground is not something I can easily do anymore. I still try at times but the time spent trying to "get up" does not help make this worthy of my time. If you can do it, then more power to you and your shots.
The Bible encourages us to "fix" our minds on things that are good and profitable and lovely--namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as I actively set my mind on Him each day, I do this with the things that are truly important to me. Because of that, I almost always have both my cameras with me. It is rare when I don't have one or both with me. You can't take a great picture without your camera.
Planning is the name of the game--this is a mindset. Several months ago when one of our neighbors brought us dinner on some incredible cobalt-blue colored pottery, I seized the opportunity, before I returned it to her, to grab some pretty gala apples from the fruit bowl, shine them up, place them in the dish on the floor in front of my dining room window where the morning light was streaming in.
All the while, I was dreaming and thinking--"Oh, I bet Pioneer Woman will have a photography contest featuring Americana in July so I need to be prepared." There are links to this picture and one other that I've had featured on her site under the PHOTOGRAPHY section on my sidebar.
Sure enough, she did and sure enough, I was prepared--I had it all ready to upload to Flickr and to place on her photography assignments page. And the picture was featured--mission accomplished. What did it get me? Nothing ....... but a lot of fun and satisfaction that I had set out to do something and accomplished it.
You also have to take the time to do it. This is when cooperative family members or friends really make a difference. If they support you in your craziness, it can really help. I couldn't tell you how many times my husband has sat in our car waiting on me while I run around a church to take pictures from all different directions and angles. Of course, I do this with landscapes, etc. also. And just so I won't have to go repent for lying, I really don't "run."
A little rabbit trail--I just love little rabbit trails--I have a friend--years ago when I first met her (she had two little boys, I had three), she would call and ask me to go some place with her--taking the kids to a hiking trail--you name it--. I would tell her, "Girl, I can't, I have all this housework, laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking etc. to do. And, in awe, I would ask her how she possibly had time to get everything done and still have time to go "play." She would say, "Well, I just run around each morning til I get it all done." Well, silly me, I really thought she meant "run," so I started "running" to get my housework done.
She moved away from the city we both lived in and we were separated for some twenty years or so. When we were reunited a few years ago, I told her how I had adapted her housekeeping technique of "running" to get everything done. She died laughing and said, "Oh, I didn't mean that literally. I just meant I kept at it until I got it done." Live and learn, huh?!
So now that we are in the sunset years of our lives, when she uses that "term," we both end up belly laughing. It is not even an option now.
So back to photography!
This post is turning out to be longer than I had planned so I think I will save the "post-processing information" until tomorrow.
In the meantime, your homework today is to go take some pictures, preferably with long shadows and excellent light. It can be most anything--set up an arrangement of some old antique things you love, a fruit bowl, almost anything can make a beautiful picture.
And if you'll meet me back here tomorrow, I will explain how I post-process, an integral part to really good photography, at least for wanna-bes like me. Some think it is cheating. I figure the image I am now is not the same as the one God started with--He had a lot of post-processing to perform on me (and is not through with me yet, thank goodness). So I post-process with joy and thanksgiving. Hope to see you tomorrow.
I took the picture above almost twenty years ago--she just turned twenty--and just scanned it tonight. I did some really fast editing on it just to give you a little glimpse of what I will write about tomorrow.
Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional photographer. I am just an aspiring photographer who loves to share with others what little knowledge I have. I am NOT getting paid in any form (monetarily or otherwise) by anyone to promote any product/products.
*prime lens
Last but certainly the most important thing of the day--Happy Birthday, to our precious first-born, Jeffrey David. Dad and I love you with all of our hearts.
