Blog 3: Say Cheese!

        Welcome back! Its been about a week since my last post, but it was an extremely eventful week, so get ready.

     


        First, everyone go follow my instagram! This is my "portfolio". I choose a couple pictures from each unit and post them to display my work. I've already posted a bunch from my nature unit. Check it out! @efaphotography
(As you can see I don't have very many followers... also I follow back;))







        So, as you can probably tell, my first unit was nature, and I had a lot of fun with it. I chose it for my first unit because I am pretty comfortable with it. The history of my photography skills consists of me taking pictures when I am on vacation, so I thought it would be good to take pictures of things I was familiar with, but mess with the camera settings to apply what I have been researching.
        I know I said I had a lot of fun, and I did, but it was still really hard. I don't know if you've noticed, but when it's winter, (which it is right now) everything is dead. I walked around my yard and my neighborhood, but I couldn't find anything alive or that had color. I've been reading a lot of photography tips from Phoblographer and Digital Photography School who both say to get close to your subject. So, sure enough, I found myself crouching and crawling through trees and around my yard in order to get the perfect shot. Most of my pictures from this unit are close-ups, which is where I found the most success. Here are some of my favorites:

To get this picture, I had to climb through the branches of this tree. But, it was the last leaf on the tree, so it was definitely worth it. I was playing with the exposure on this one - the brightness of the snow in the background made it difficult to get a good exposure. This is considered to be over-exposed, but I like emphasis on the brightness of the snow. I also used a low aperture or f/stop, so the lens was wider which gives it a shallow depth of field. That's what makes the background blurry.


I really liked taking pictures of this bush. It has a beautiful green, and it was hard to find other plants that retained their colors. I tried focusing on the leaves and the ice, while making the background blurry. In the second one, the foreground is a bit blurry, the middle is in focus, and the background is blurry, but I like how it adds more dimension to the picture. I really like the brightness in the first one. Like I said, in winter everything is dead, so I tried to brighten up the mood by increasing the ISO, making it more sensitive to light.

        Here is another example of a low aperture setting. The focus is in the front, and the background is blurry. This tree was fun to photograph, since I could get it at so many angles. This angle was my favorite. 

        I know my nature unit was over last week, but when it started snowing today, I had to go out and take more pictures. Winter can feel dead, but when it snows it comes alive. Here are some pictures from today

       The falling  snowflakes were pretty big, so I tried to set my shutter speed really high to capture the flakes. I put my hand in the frame so the camera could focus on the foreground, and then moved it away before I snapped the pic. Here two of the many pictures I took:

        I didn't get the focus I was hoping for, but you can still see some of those flakes in the foreground. I still have a lot to learn before my action shot unit!

        All in all, the nature unit was a success. I think I made a lot of improvements and I feel much more comfortable with the settings on my camera. My next unit it still life. I've already started, and it is soooo much harder than nature. But, I'll save it for my next post! Talk to you later!