Bad Art

I found this sign lying on the floor inside an old building I was shooting and it made me smile! A simple message, but really something to think about. Sometimes we photographers get so caught up in making the perfect photo, we don't take time to play, time to experiment, and time to grow.


I am currently reading a book that speaks to this issue, Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Here is a favorite quote from the book:


“Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception from others prevent you from doing your own work. “

So, I encourage you to play, have fun with your work, and don't be afraid to fail now and then, and to make a little bad Art. When it comes right down to it, the only person your Art needs to please is YOU! :) Photograph the people, places and things that have meaning to you. Enjoy the process for how it makes you feel, and the photos for what they say to you. Your vision of the world is unique, explore it, enjoy it!

Happy Shooting,

Kathleen

Heartsongs Revisited

This blog post started writing itself at 4 AM this morning while I was trying to sleep... I had all of these ideas dancing about in my head and just had to get up and start writing them down. It's probably partly because I stayed up late last night to participate in David DuChemin's first Twitter hang out, a fun and frenzied online meet up of photographers sharing their thoughts in 140 characters or less.

David always seems to be able to put into words what I feel about the photographic process, but he says it far more eloquently than I could even begin to. His books are packed with insight and advice to help photographers find and recognize their own vision, and to express that vision in their photographs. That's something I try and teach my students, especially those looking for the "Secret Recipe" to great photos. That recipe is inside you, the secret is to slow down, to really see, and to make the work your own. Put aside rules and self doubts, get out there and shoot and shoot and shoot, until the song in your heart is visible in your photos. This isn't a quick process, and failure is part of it, but you'll learn as much from your failures as you will from your successes.

Digital photography is a three part process. First, there is vision. No one sees the world just as you do, your vision is unique and is shaped by your life experiences. The second part of the process is capturing the image, how you compose, the equipment you use, and how you handle the light. The third component is your post-processing, how will you take that digital file, fine tune it and make it reflect your vision? All three of these elements come into play each and every time you make a photo. Think of this as your Rule of Thirds, instead of that other Rule of Thirds (don't get me started on compositional rules, lol).

I shot the photo at the top of this post last week on a shoot at the Olson House in Cushing. It's a place I have visited many times, I find it inspiring and I feel a strong connection to the house. I have made some images I liked there, but this photograph finally tells the story I wanted to tell. This is the image I had in my head, my vision. The light was softly diffused by early morning fog, and I used my 24-70mm lens to get the composition I wanted. I used my Nik filters in post-processing to take the image exactly where I wanted it. Each part of the process contributed to this final image, this heartsong.

So, grab your camera, get out there and make your own heartsongs. Send me a link to your photos, I'd love to see what you come up with.

Happy shooting!
Kathleen

Working it!

If you have taken one of my online photography classes or done any shooting with me, you know that I always advise photographers to work their subjects. By this I mean really looking at a subject, photographing it from different angles, using a variety of focal lengths and lenses, with different techniques, etc. I took my own advice while shooting a couple of lupine fields last week.

Lupine is a June flowering plant here in Maine, it grows wild along our roadsides and highways, as well as filling yards and gardens in many locations. My friend Zoe and I spent some time in a patch overlooking the sea here in Harpswell just before sunset. The warm light was beautiful and very flattering to the flowers.

 Another field I visited was on the side of the road in Cushing. This field had an amazing variety of colors, and the foggy overcast day was perfect for making flower photos. I started with a plain view of part of the field, nice but a little boring. So, I started playing with camera movement, and had lots of fun!

 Lupine is also a great subject for the Shooting Through technique. All you need to do is choose a long lens (I used my 70-200mm), set at the largest aperture your lens has. Position yourself so that you have plant material right up close to the end of the lens, and shoot through it, focusing on a flower in the distance. I love this technique.

I even photographed my friend Alan with this method!

So, get out there and work your subjects, and don't forget to have some fun while you are shooting! :)

Kathleen

Panning Practice

I love to play with motion with my camera. It's fun to set a long shutter speed and deliberately move the camera, or to shoot a moving subject with a long exposure. One of the most challenging techniques for playing around with motion is panning. A good pan has a relatively sharp subject, with a motion blurred colorful background. Panning can really adds a feeling of movement and speed to your photos.

When you pan, you move your camera parallel to the subject, following it at the same speed and direction.Your motion needs to be smooth with no stops or hesitation. It's easiest if the subject is moving straight across in front of you, either left to right, or right to left. I usually do my pans at 1/30 sec- 1/60 sec and I don't use a tripod. It often takes some experimenting to get just the right speed, depending on the speed of your subject.  I've used panning to shoot car races, traffic, planes, snowmobiles and 4 wheelers. It does takes lots and lots of practice (and many deleted photos!), but when it works, the images are very cool. It's also lots of fun, and isn't that what photography should be?

I shot a barrel race competition last weekend, and knew as soon as the action started that it would be the perfect situation to practice my pans. The first few shots were pretty bad, but I soon got the right speed for the action in front of me, and I happily panned the competition for several hours. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the event.

I also shot some portraits of the riders, all in all a very fun day!

I hope you have some challenging fun with your camera today!

Happy shooting!
Kathleen

Patterns

 I’ve just finished shooting a patch of ostrich ferns near my house. Ferns fascinate me, I love the curves, the repeating lines and patterns, and all that green! They are one of my favorite photography subjects in the Spring. 

Patterns make great subjects! When you repeat a shape, color or line, you can add strength to an image and make it much more interesting. If you repeat it many times, it forms a pattern and brings a sense of order to  the photo. You don’t need a fern patch to find patterns in nature to photograph, they are everywhere!  

                     You can see repeating patterns in flowers.....

In webs.....

                                   In leaves and dew drops...

                                 Sand and water ripples.....

                                  On frosty surfaces...

...everywhere!  So, get out there are find some patterns. I'm heading back to the fern patch! :)

Happy Shooting!

Kathleen

Maine Photography Show

Last night I attended the opening reception for the Maine Photography Show. It's a wonderful exhibit, filled with so many beautiful photographs! I was thrilled to find out that one of my photos received a First Place prize. The win was especially sweet because the image was one of my Lensbaby flower photos. Having one of the images that makes my heart sing recognized made for a very special evening!

Happy Shooting,
Kathleen

Photographing Newborns

My first granddaughter was born a little over a week ago, we are thrilled to welcome Haylie to our family, where girls are a rarity! I am having a ball photographing her, but it is a challenge, so I thought I'd share some newborn baby photography tips with you along with my favorites from our first photo session.

The best time to photograph infants is during the first few weeks of life. They are quite sleepy and pliable then, and you can pose them in the cutest positions! The newborn stage passes quickly, babies change rapidly in the first few weeks.

Be sure the room you will be shooting in is very warm, little ones get chilled easily! Babies with full bellies are relaxed babies, so shooting shortly after a feeding will makes things easier. A warm baby with a full tummy is a happy baby!

Find a location with plenty of natural light.  It's soft and even, and perfect for photographing tiny babies. If you need to add light, use a soft gold reflector. Don't use flash, it is too harsh and firing the flash will disturb that sleeping baby.

I like to place the baby on a large pillow, or on a beanbag. I have a prop collection of blankets in soft neutral colors with great textures, and some fun hats to add a splash of color. I have found some wonderful handmade hats on Etsy.com, as well as other props such as angel wings and even a tutu! I'm waiting for Haylie to get a bit bigger before I add the tutu!

I like to use my 50mm f/1.4 lens for photographing tiny babies. I shoot pretty wide in regards to aperture, focusing on the eyes and letting the rest of the image fade to soft blur. I also use my Lensbaby lenses, especially with the soft focus optic.

Keep your compositions simple. Be sure to watch your backgrounds, if there are distractions, change your point of view to eliminate them, or substitute a different background. I used my diffuser as a background here.

Shoot lots and be patient! Compose your photo, and then wait for changes in expression and those wonderful sleepy smiles.  My granddaughter wasn't very sleepy when I did her first session last week, but it was wonderful to catch some shots of her with her eyes open! She also had a mind of her own about some of the poses, so I went with what she was comfortable with.

Take your time, be flexible. You may need to stop shooting while baby has a little snack or a diaper change.

If Mom and dad are willing to pose, get some shots of them with the baby, they will treasure those images in the years to come!

Try converting some of your images to black and white for a classic look. I use Nik's Silver Efex Pro for my conversions, so simple to use and I love the results (you can save 15% at Nik with my student discount code, kclemons).

I cannot wait for Haylie's next session! :)

Happy shooting,

Kathleen