Making art...

I am getting really antsy to start creating some artful photography!  I love all mediums of art but I must admit that portrait photography never struck me as being art.  I know that is a silly statement and there is art in capturing the moment, posing subjects or processing the final image and not everyone can do it let alone be great at it.  When I photograph a family, wedding or a single person I get excited when I get the shot that I want but to be honest at the end of the day I am not going to hang it on my wall (I sure hope my clients do though).   

What I am getting at is I want to really start diving into some landscape photography or taking pictures of random things and processing them to my hearts desire... and then I want to hang them on my wall, I want others to want to hang them on their wall!

In an effort to make time for myself to work on fine art photography I will be signing up for a fun landscape photography learning field trip in late summer and I am going to make a great effort to write down my ideas and get out there a photograph.  It feels nice to have these creative juices start flowing again, I knew they were in there somewhere and I must admit they took a little while longer to emerge than I expected.  

I will be sure to share my learning experience and of course my end product as I go.  This week I had the opportunity to visit the Chihuly Glass Museum in Tacoma so I made a point to shoot with art in mind and edit with art in mind.  Here is what I came up with ~ Enjoy!

Playing with HDR

When I worked in corporate America my fellow coworkers would often send me emails chalked full of images that were no better described than breathtaking.  I did some research on these images and learned HDR processing.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range Imaging and I just had to give it a try... I know I know you just want to know what it means. 

The process of creating an HDR image is to shoot the same image multiple times (three times or more) at different F stops (description), in a nut shell you will have one image way under exposed, one right on and one over exposed.  Using an HDR software (I use Photomatix you can find it here) you merge the three images together and with the tools included in the software you have the ability to adjust tone, contrast, saturation and much more to get the effect you are looking for.  I am not savvy at explaining the technical details of photography at all so take a look at this link for more detailed info (HDR described).

Here are some of my first HDR images I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them!  

Add one more to the shot...

I am getting more and more request for large family portraits these days, which is awesome of course but also a little nerve racking.  The thought of getting 5 people to all look at the camera and giddily smile is a walk in the park compared to groups of ten or more... let me tell you!  But as I do more of these I realize it really isn't all that bad and I have a few tricks to share with you all.  So when you meet up with the whole family this summer for a reunion and want to get that perfect family photo give these tricks a try.

1.  Get cozy!  Get the family positioned and be sure to squeeze in tight and relax.
2.  Stand above! - Get a stool or a bench for the photographer to stand on.
3. Play the blink game! - Tell everyone to blink or close their eyes, when you say stop they are to open wide and give you the best smile ever.  (snap a few shots real quick when you say stop)
4. Nail the first few shots! - Before you begin formally taking the picture take a few sample shots to make sure your lighting and focus are on point.  When shooting large groups I always notice that my first few shots are typically the best, everyone is engaged and smiling.  After a few seconds folks get restless and you can miss the opportunity.
5.  Have fun! - Get the family to say Cheese Burger or Donkey instead of just the plain old say cheese... it gets the crowd laughing and having fun and this especially helps with kids!
6. Relax! - Remember sometimes you just won't get every person looking directly in the camera (especially kids!) but pick out the shots that work the best and make them work.

I hope these tips help you out this summer!