I figure the hardest thing about being a photographer would be the originality part. Well for me anyways. I think it stems back to the time when I was told as a child to color inside the lines! Damn teachers! Lol!
I went with Jake this morning to my grandma’s house. She’s got some really rustic stuff out there and I showed him around. With my Grandma’s approval of course. Afterwards he showed me a little around CS5. I’m movin on up! Ya, tried to put a texture on the next pic. No go. Have no idea what I’m doing! Ahhhh….what’s new though?
What a wonderful day of learning what I’m interested in! Yay for fun learning! We talked about the business of going into business for yourself. I’m have a degree in Business, but it has to be so scary to take that plunge! I’m good taking pics of my kiddo’s and friends just for fun. I would LOVE to try my hand at newborn photography though! Just for fun of course. I could never charge anyone for what I’m doing :)!
Later in the day we went over to Honey (my mom) and Grandpa’s house. Last weekend my mom was watering the plants in their courtyard when a bird flew out of one and nearly scared her half to death. I took half of the batch a couple of days ago and picked up the rest today since she never came back. I’m pretty sure they are quail eggs (thanks boss), but not sure they will ever hatch. Poor guys!
I’m really working hard to try to improve but there are so many ways, I’m not sure where to start. Still constantly thinking of composition and light. I had to restrain myself until the end of the day to take photo’s hehe.
I asked Jake today what was the best advice about photography he had ever been given was. Now I want to hear from you. Tell me what turned that lightbulb on for you!
Miss Morgan's 365 Photo Project 
Apr 11, 2011 @ 09:17:53
So I’ve been thinking about our talk. I’m not sure I ever got one ‘best’ piece of advice? It’s really learning to put it all together. But…yep there’s a but…in regards to portraiture, yes, I have a definite. Learn to see the light.
You can’t take pictures without light. And you can only take average pictures without creative light. I fully ‘see’ my finished product before I ever push the shutter. But that doesn’t mean my visions become a reality 🙂 I take a lot of pictures that look good in my head, but just never pan out in the end. But I try!
Find a subject and place them in one location when the sun is low. Now take 6 or 8 photos of them facing a slightly different direction each time. Now, when you go back and review them, really study them. Don’t just look at how much light got in their eyes or on their face. Look at the creative shadows. As well as the bad shadows that were caused. Look at the background. Look at the detail in the shadows.
I think the biggest hurdle, once you understand the principles, is simply knowing what you want to accomplish. There is no right or wrong way if you are accomplishing your goal. Sure, there may be a better way, but who’s to say? Art is subjective. Again, this is assuming you know and apply all the basic principles. If you are just taking pictures without a purpose, then that’s what you’ll get. If you want them to tell a story, then you have to make it up first.
Apr 11, 2011 @ 12:09:13
Thank you Jake! Im sure I as well as others will benifit from what you just said. For me, the making the story advice stuck out like a sore thumb. Ive been going out to take photo’s without a purpose. Well, okay not really, the purpose was to get to know my camera better. But when you said make a story and use the light my brain took off! It’s like Im creating a scene in my mind for all the different things I want to say about different people. And the best part…wait for it…light is included!!! Not just posing or place, but shadows and sun spots and time of day! Yay!
Now if I can just talk those people into being my subject :)!
Apr 11, 2011 @ 09:18:46
Oh…and thank you so much for taking the time to show me around! And thank you, Grandma!!
Apr 11, 2011 @ 10:40:13
Love your pics! What camera do you use?
Apr 11, 2011 @ 12:01:18
Thanks for stopping by. A Canon Rebel T1i.
Apr 11, 2011 @ 14:21:31
Well I just think the pictures are pretty :).
Apr 12, 2011 @ 04:14:04
I really like this series of shots. Wonderful!
It’s difficult to come up with one specific piece of advice, but the thing that finally popped out at me is something a photographer I have great respect for said to me early on when I was embarrassed to say what type of camera I was using. He said (and I’m sure you’ve heard this a bazillion times): “It’s not the camera. It’s the photographer. You have an eye for this. Don’t worry about the camera.”
I’m not worried about the camera. However, I wouldn’t mind jumping into the DSLR pool now that I’ve started learning more about how things work.
Apr 13, 2011 @ 19:07:26
I’ve been thinking about this and here’s my thoughts.
Take your time, really look at what your are about to capture. I know it’s easy to just shoot shoot shoot but then, that’s what a P&S is for right? 😛 It’s amazing how much more vivid, meaningful, detailed (I can go on and on) when you take your time to study the subject. One step to the right might make all the difference! I often circle my subject over and over, looking at different angles, visualizing what my end result is in my head. I suppose if it was a portrait (haven’t really done any…yet) the person may look at you a little funny…hehehe. 😛
I think you are doing an awesome job and totally commend you for posting, you are much braver than I ever was as it took me years to finally get enough nerve to post! 😛 Keep shooting, keep posting and of course, most importantly, keep having fun!!!
Robin, about camera’s, as (I believe) Chase Jarvis said, “The best camera is the one you have with you.” I strongly believe this, I have taken some really stunning photos with my iPhone and yes it is the person behind the shutter not the shutter!
Apr 14, 2011 @ 14:54:00
Wow, you’ve been given a lot of great comments on this! I like David’s last sentiment that the “best camera is the one you have with you”. David and I had sort of a “competition” with our cell phones last year to take the best pictures, and we came up with some really creative stuff! We didn’t have the best lighting or lenses, but having to be creative with our resources ended up pushing us to take photos from angles or in light we wouldn’t have thought of before.
I love the composition of that first shot and the colors of the wheelbarrow, by the way.
Apr 19, 2011 @ 13:12:13
These are some really great shots, I’ve been catching up on your blog today! 🙂
I came across this website (http://lostandtaken.com/) for textures. Its got quite a lot of them and they seem to be pretty high quality. I’ve had fun applying some of the Lomo ones to my pictures the last couple days. After reading about your experiments on that flower I thought you might like to browse these too. I have the best luck setting the texture layer to ‘screen’ if I want it to lighten the photo or to ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’ for adding some darkness to the photo. Of course, they’re all different so nothing is the same twice!