hearts + beyond, beyond week 3

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Beyond Beyond--Week 2

This week in Beyond Beyond, Kim shared some information about f-stops (aperture size) and how that affects the depth of field (dof) in a photograph. Of course, there are many things that affect the dof of a photo, such as the distance to the subject (having the lens closer to the subject produces less depth of field), the distance between the subject and the background and the focal length of the lens (e.g. a 100 mm lens will produce less dof than a 35 mm lens). If there is one thing I do know about photography (and I still have so much to learn), it is how my camera settings and my position affects depth of field. Typically, I am trying control depth of field, so I almost always shoot in aperture priority on my camera. I don't find that I have a lot of reason to switch over to full manual most of the time and even if I am looking for blur--for example, in long exposures of moving water--I know how to do that in aperture priority as well. I will switch to full manual, sometimes, when I am using a flash indoors and want to drag the shutter to balance the flash with the ambient light. I don't struggle to understand the technicalities of the camera. That part comes relatively easy for me.

The things that I struggle with the most in photography is finding my style (figuring out how to get a unique and artful image that does not seem contrived or boring).

Kim challenged us to have a go with the aperture settings on our camera and also showed us her start-to-finish processing on a simple composition of a bowl of pine cones on a white chair--complete with adding textures and text. She gave us a sample image to try the steps on or if we prefer, she challenged us to do our own thing. I chose to use my own photographs, but took the lead from Kim on the simplicity of the compositions. I was using my 100mm macro lens, and knowing that lens, I knew I wanted the aperture opening rather small to get good sharpness in the subject (with the exception of the leaf. I was rather far from that subject were all taken at at least f/19). Being a macro lens, my 100mm has a fairly shallow dof from the get-go.

I followed many of Kim's processing steps--going from Lightroom, to Photoshop CS5. I added textures to a couple of the images and text to all of them, thinking about where to place the text and what fonts to use, etc.. I had not previously known how to preview fonts in the image, so I am very grateful for that time saving tip.

I do not add quotes to images very often, but when I do, I always enjoy the process.

100 mm, f/22, 1/15 sec. ISO 200

100 mm, f/32, 0.5 sec ISO 200

100mm, f/4.5, 1/350 sec, ISO 200

Texture Tuesday--Minus 43 eDition

. . . a little hydrangea in the snow . . . hydrangea flowers--especially dried ones--are a favorite subject of mine.

I used two layers of Kim's minus 43 texture--one with the soft light blend mode at 55% opacity and one with the multiply blend mode at 43% (one this layer I brushed the texture off the flower).

I added the texture layers after some tweaking in Lightroom and Radlab.

Beyond Beyond Week 1

I do not know how many exercises I skipped in Kim Klassen's original Beyond Layers class--a year long photography and creative inspiration class--but I do know that I skipped a lot more than I wanted. In any case,  I am back in her Beyond Beyond class for this year because I know itt will be worth it even if I do not do as many exercises as I want (and the format is changed to my liking ... one post a week!)

Our first challenge was to set up a scene (or pick a subject) and shoot it from many angles and view points. We were challenged not to move the subject at all and only move ourselves and the camera and change depth of field or focal point. I am not someone who does a whole lot of still-life photography. I do not really know how to set up scenes with multiple objects that 'work', so I tend toward singling out one item instead.

I had quite a bit of free time on Sunday so I looked around the house and tried thinking up something, fiddled with a couple little scenes, but I came up short. I ended up going back to the little heart box that my daughter gave me a few years ago. She made it in daycare for Mother's Day. I photograph it fairly often (especially around Valentine's day). I poured out the little dried roses that I had put in the box some time ago and sort of set something up. I did not move the objects once I started shooting (though I did want to). It was a worthwhile exercise even though I am not thrilled with any of the shots in particular.  My favorite part was putting it together in a collage . . . creating a collage was not something I had the first clue how to before Kim's Beyond Layers class.

Texture Tuesday

For Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

Birds--A Series of Squares

My mother feeds the birds at her home in Poughkeepsie, NY. While I was there for Christmas, there were a couple of snowstorms that came in, and the birds always knew it-- they loaded up on bird seed before and during the storms. I took a series of bird photos that I edited into square formats.

I am thinking about trying once again to feed birds in my own backyard. I have done it before, but usually failed to keep the feeders full!

Beyond Layers, Day 93, Tag Love

I had already purchased a bunch of regular old tags from Target.  I was not going to do this project--a prompt from Kim's Beyond Layers class--but in the end I could not resist.

I never thought I would care about tags, but I guess I need to remember how much I love the feel of paper. Also these were easy and fun to make. I had some leftover card stock paper and I just used my regular printer. They are simple but will just be a little added touch of something 'hand made' to the gifts I have for people.

Happy Holidays to all!