I Learned - Wide-angle Landscapes

I've just got back from holidays at Rainbow Beach and I fell in love with the wide-angle end of my kit lens (Canon 18-55).  Since getting my 50mm 1.8 I've put aside my kit lens, but I recently started using it again for still life photos as it can focus closer than the 50mm, but now I've rediscovered it for landscape photography. I love how much of the scene you can include, especially when there is an interesting sky and reflections or interest in the foreground. And I love how it stretches the perspective.

I've been reading "The Landscape Photography Workshop"and been getting some great tips.
I got so inspired I got out of my warm bed at 5am to go shoot some sunrise shots on the beach.
Lucky for me there was a lot of cloud cover and mist, just perfect in my opinion. It burnt off an hour or so later for another perfect day.
By the way I spotted some whales further out that were blowing and I even saw one breach. Although I heard later in the morning that the baby whale got stuck in the shark nets and had to be cut loose.




Sorry, I just had to put up two from that morning. I love how they are quite different looks even though they are facing in the same direction and are taken on the same morning.

ISO 200, f/16, SS 1/100, focal length 18mm

ISO 100, f/22, SS 2 secs, focal length 18mm

Michelle Johnson from Love that Shot recently wrote a post for iheartfaces on falling in love with your kit lens, read it here.

Constructive critiques welcome

By the way I'd like some advise, my grandmother recently gave me some money that we decided I could spend on camera gear. I have a Canon 1000D and a 50mm1.8, extension tube for macro, 18-55mm and 55-250mm. So I'm wondering if I should upgrade my body, I can get a 60D but not a 5D (full frame), or otherwise I have been considering a real macro lens or a prime wide angle lens. What's your opinions on the best way to go?

I Learned - Fun with Actions and Textures

Processed with Isabelle Lafrance Everyday Soulful Vintage action and My 2econd Skin Blush and Florabella Heirloom textures applied

I learned I love to play around with actions and textures to change the look of a photo, especially in still life work.
I recently bought Florabella's texture action and her texture III pack. I'm having so much fun with it. What I previously had trouble with was removing texture off areas. I found it easier to use a brush to remove the texture but then you also removed the tone, which could be very noticeable. Or you could use the lasso tool to select the area then apply a blur, but I found this so tedious.
I love that with the Florabella action you can remove the texture with the brush then the action adds the tone back, fully adjustable and also has other cool features like adding in a touch of sun warmth.
I took this photo of a Grevillea flower on Tuesday, but I wanted to soften and pretty it up a bit, so I ran Isabelle Lafrance Everyday Soulful Vintage action on it. Better, but I decided I wanted to add some more pink and texture to it. So I played around with a few and I loved the effect of My 2econd Skin's Blush and Florabella's Heirloom textures, I lowered their opacity and removed some texture and actually reduced the tone also as it cut out too much of the deep pink/red in the flower. I think it looks really dreamy and pretty now.
I also learned that my 18-55mm lens can focus much closer to my subject than my 50mm 1.8, so I've been using it more for still life photos where I want to get in close. 

My settings: ISO 400, f/5.6, SS 1/100
Shot with 18-55mm lens at focal length 55mm

Linking up with Click it up a Notch - I Learned

Constructive critiques welcome

I Learned - Flowers for the Soul

I learned that bringing in a pretty and fragrant bunch of spring flowers from the garden can be medicine for the soul. I've had a hard week with headaches, Tuesday night I even went to bed when my husband came home, earlier than my five year old. I don't normally get headaches and I'm hoping they'll go away soon. But a bunch of Freesias from my garden brightened my day, plus they gave me something pretty to photograph.

ISO 200, f/4.5, SS 1/125, focal length 80mm, Florabella Sonata texture applied

Shot with my 55-250 lens at a focal length of 80mm, so I could get bokeh in the background while still getting in the whole bouquet and vase.

Constructive critiques welcome
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I Relearned - Clipping Masks & PNG's

One of the prompts for Sundays Scavenger Hunt was collage. It had been a few months since I'd really used a collage template and clipping masks. I was a bit rusty and had to relearn some tricks. So I thought I'd share what I'd learned or relearned.
I'll be using my entry to Live Every Moment - Organic, as the example, here is the finished product.
I used The CoffeeShop Blog Frame no.12 that come's with an inbuilt texture to age the photo, or you can turn it off if you just want a plain frame.

I found clipping masks so confusing to begin with. Rita from The CoffeeShop Blog has a great tutorial here. The thing that I found the hardest was free transforming the image to fit the clipping mask, especially when it's really big and you can't even find a corner. Usually the instructions say to slide the image across onto the clipping mask. But this is what you end up with. You can't even see any apples the image is so large.

Well here's a little trick that saves heaps of time and headaches. Instead of opening your image and sliding it over, make sure your free transform tool/move is selected then click on the actual clipping mask or the clipping mask layer, then go up to file and select place then select your image, just like you were opening it.

This is the result.

So from here you can easily (1) grab a corner and adjust the image making sure to constrain proportions at the top of the screen, then when your pretty happy you can check the tick at the bottom (2), then I press Ctrl - G to group the image to the clipping mask, this is basically tucking it in.

The  image layer will become indented when it's grouped.
If there is a background layer turn it off and instead of flattening the image "merge visible" then save as a png if you want the frame to appear without a background like mine above.
NB. The CoffeeShop Frame no.12 doesn't come with a background, I added for show purposes.But it will still add a white background if you "flatten" your image so make sure you "merge visible" if you don't want a background.
The shortcuts are specific to PSE and windows, check what yours are if you use another program.
By the way I also learned how to take screen shots, windows key and s then select area.

So this is what I used for the collage prompt, Swedish Apple Tea Cake, YUM! 

So I used Paint the Moon Attic Treasures no.8 collage from the Simply Vintage Blog and Web Frames.
This comes with a white background that you can turn off and save the collage as a PNG.
But I used The CoffeeShop Blog Fabric Maker action, where I chose a colour from the top right photo and the action made the fabric (like an opaque texture) in that colour, which I then added above the white background.  Isn't that fantastic, and I think it adds a real homely look to the collage.
By the way I made my blog header with another frame collage from the Paint the Moon Simply Vintage Frames and I also used the fabric maker.

So who wants the recipe!
Beat 125g butter and 150ml sugar until soft and pale. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, add 250ml flour, 1tsp baking powder and 2 tbsp cream or milk. Place the mixture in a lined round baking tin.
At the same time or before cut up 2 red apples into 16 pieces each, 1/4 then 1/4 again. Roll these in a mixture of 2tbsp sugar and 1tsp cinnamon, then press into the cake mixture.
Bake 175C for 40 minutes.
Sorry if you don't use the metric system

**Since writing this I looked up what you do to constrain proportions for Photoshop too, this is to prevent the image getting stretched. So in Photoshop you hold down the shift key as you free transform the image. Don't do this in Elements though there you check the "constrain proportions" box but make sure it stays checked when you finish with each picture, sometimes if you adjust the picture a couple of times I find it can become unchecked.

Love the new button!

I Learned - I {Heart} my Telephoto Zoom Lens

There was a time not too long ago that I didn't like my 55-250mm lens. I wouldn't even take it with us if we were going on a two week holiday.
Lately I've found a new affection for it. You never know when you'll see a bird or animal you can't get really close to. Also I love using it to zoom in on a single flower in a tree.
Now I take my Telephoto lens with me whenever I go on a day trip with my camera. Actually I need to buy a new camera bag to be able to fit all my essential lenses in.
So I learned not to get too comfortable using just one lens, sometimes it's fun to mix it up a bit. I also found that I enjoy capturing photos of wildlife.
This is a Kookaburra an Australian Giant Kingfisher. 

Focal length 250mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/40

Couldn't resist putting up an other Australian native, a Koala, that I spotted along a walking track not far from our house last week. 

Focal length 250mm, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/400

Linking up with I Learned @ Click it up a Notch
 Constructive critiques welcome

I Learned - My Photography Journey So Far

Portrait mode June 2010

So last week Courtney from Click it up a Notch asked us to say how long we'd been shooting in manual and to show a 'before and after'. I've only been shooting in manual for two months and it's not really a reflection of my photography journey, so I decided to address this more fully today.
We bought my current D SLR a Canon Rebel 1000D for a trip to Sweden June last year. It arrived a week before we left. Before that we had a Canon Power-Shot that I never warmed to and a Pentax film SLR that I bought in my early 20's that I loved but it had become a real pain to develop.  By the way I always shot in auto (portrait or landscape mode) with my film SLR, but I loved the depth of field I could get.
So in Sweden I shot in Portrait or Landscape mode mostly and came home with over 700 images.

It wasn't untill later in the year after a holiday at Rainbow Beach that I decided I'd had enough with auto and wanted to really use my camera. So I studied up on aperture and shutter speeds. I found lots of great information on the internet at sites like Digital Photography School. I spent hours pouring over my camera manual and the internet. In October/November I started shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority, and purchased a tripod.

Sunrise November 2010 Shutter Priority ISO 100, SS 1.6secs, camera set f/22

Around the same time I started learning how to use Photoshop Elements that had been sitting unused for several months, as I didn't know where to start. I found The CoffeeShop Blog which was so valuable in learning how to use this editing program. It was a long road though and I spent many nights trying to figure it out. It took me over an hour one night just to work out how to use the brush. Seems laughable now! My first edits were terrible and over the top but I think I've learned to tone it down and use it to compliment my photo not over power it.
So towards the end of the year I was getting really frustrated that the widest my kit lens would go was f/5 so in December I got a 50mm 1.8 lens. I loved the narrow depth of field. The first time I saw a photo with bokeh I did a little happy dance.

December 2010 Aperture priority ISO 200, f/1.8, camera set SS 1/250

I'd always wanted to do macro, but we couldn't afford a real macro lens so in March my husband bought me an extension tube. See my post here for more info.

Aperture Priority ISO 200, f/1.8, camera set SS 1/400

  Around the same time I started doing more still life and nature photography and I wanted to share these with people interested in photography. I think my friends and family on Facebook were more interested in cute photos of our family.
I asked around and couldn't find a solution. It never occurred to do a blog, to this day when I tell people I have a blog they say "What does that mean, what's a blog?"
But I found Click it up a Notch around that same time. When the May contest was on I said to my husband that I needed a blog. One weekend later I had my blog all set up, and the next Thursday I took part in my first I Learned.









So with my new blog I did a Month in Macro as my first project. I bought Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson to learn about metering and I started practicing shooting in manual on flowers, which was good because they couldn't run away.

June 2011 Manual mode ISO 400, f/5.6, SS 1/50 taken with extension tube

The Lessons I've Learned:

• Obviously all the technical aspects that goes into shooting in manual, aperture, shutter speed and metering. Plus all the stuff to do with setting up a blog.
• How much I love photography! But what I found most surprising was how rewarding I find still life and nature photography. To me it's photography for the love and sake of photography. I love challenging myself to photograph simple everyday things in an interesting way. I think that's why I've really enjoyed Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunts.
•  Just because my lens can open to 1.8 doesn't mean I should shoot wide open. I still love using my lens at 1.8 for the circular bokeh, but I've learnt to stop it down to at least 2.8 for portraits.
• Even though in the end it took me a long time to shoot in manual I'm glad I spent time in aperture and shutter priority as it meant I got a really good understanding of what they can do individually.
• I've learnt to use my manual focus more. I use it for my macro work but I've actually started using it for other still life work too. It means I can really see and control where my focus is falling. Auto focus gets it wrong sometimes, such as focusing just on what's closer. 
• I love playing with actions and textures to change the colours, feel or tone of a photo. I've learnt though to adjust the opacity, to turn on/off layers and to use layer masks. Also to use editing less to fix a photo and more to enhance it.
• I've really learnt to look for and at the light available. I still have to work on this but I really see how it changes the look of a shot
• I've learned that I still have so much more to learn but I'm loving the experience of learning more.

July 2011 Manual Mode ISO 400, f/3.5, SS 1/500

EDIT: I forgot to include probably the most important thing I've learned and that's why manual is better than aperture priority. So aperture priority lets you set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. This works fine if you are shooting an evenly toned scene, with lots of mid tones, and it has even lighting, or front lighting. The camera will often choose the wrong shutter speed though if its very light (think snow), dark, or has back lighting or dramatic lighting.
Also aperture priority won't let you do creative exposures, such as purposely overexposing, or underexposing to bring out the colours such as with reflections, unless you use exposure compensation, but I think it's much more fun to have total control over it.

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Constructive critiques Welcome
Sorry about the long post

I Learned - Sometimes you just need a bit of luck

I wrote this for last week, I forgot that the July contest was on. But we were all sick last week and now my son has a miserable ear infection and is on antibiotics, so I'm just going to post it this week.

Now I've noticed you've changed things a bit this week. I've been shooting in manual for less than two months. At first I thought it was impossible for me to do manual at the same time as managing my extension tube for macro, but I started practicing with flowers, that couldn't run away. This is one of my first shots in manual in early June.

My 2econd Skin Milk and Honey texture applied

Settings: ISO 400, f/5.6, SS 1/50sec
I've found the biggest change during that time is my familiarity with the dials and metering. I love the freedom of manual, being able to capture the image you had envisaged.

So on to  my current manual photo (remember this was written last week). 
Just the other day I was thinking that I hadn't taken any shots of bees or insects lately. Yesterday I saw a bee buzzing around outside my window, so I ran for my camera.
I set my aperture and ISO and metered off the bushes he was buzzing around.  As I use an extension tube I have to focus manually and can't zoom in on my subject. So I just plunged my head and camera into the bushes and tried to find the bee. When I thought it was in focus I managed to shoot off one frame before he buzzed off and then left our garden.
I was so happy when I zoomed in on the bee in the view finder. I love that the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze his body but slow enough to show movement in his wings.
I also love that I thought to meter off something else for a moving target.
So I learned that sometimes you just need a bit of luck and possibly a bit of photography knowledge ;-).

Processed with Isabelle Lafrance Soulful Delightful Daylight action

Settings ISO 400, f/7.1, SS 1/640 sec.
Taken with my 50mm 1.8 together with an extension tube EF25 II.

By the way this shot hasn't been cropped. While you can't zoom with my set up you can use the focusing ring to effectively increase or decrease the size of the subject in the view finder. I quite often manually set the focus ring then sway in and out from the subject until I see it in focus.
If you're interested check out my post on extension tubes here.
I also posted some dew drop shots I took with my extension tube in July here.

Linking up with Click it up a Notch

Constructive critique welcome

I Learned - Car Light Trails

Because the prompt for Sunday's Scavenger Hunt was head lights I decided to try photographing car light trails in the city last Saturday. So I set up on a covered walk way over a road. I would have liked to try some on ground level but it was raining off and on. And actually there were some drunk people loitering around down there, so no. I used my 55-250mm lens so I could zoom in and out. I used a tripod and set the 2 second timer on my camera so I would minimise camera shake. Even my son jumping around next to me made some movement in some shots. I metered off the sky, and adjusted my shutter speed as it got darker. Photo settings ISO 100, f/22, SS 25 secs. I did take shorter shutter speeds at the beginning as the sun was setting producing shorter trails. There also wasn't as much traffic then. I should have tried some wider apertures as it got darker but it was cold and we had to get our son fed and back home to bed. So something for next time. I liked the city lights but I'd like to set up somewhere darker next time with less distraction from the actual trails, or try some city lights bokeh.
All photos processed with The CoffeeShop Blog Cross Processing action.

Linking up with Click it up a Notch - I learned

Constructive critique welcomed

There's been some interest in my settings so I thought I might just explain why I chose these settings. If this is self explanatory just ignore me!
So I started when the sun was just setting and to get the longest shutter speed (= long trails) I set my ISO to 100 (less sensitivity) and aperture to 22 (smaller opening = less light). The added bonus of f/22 is the star bursts, which I wouldn't get at a wider aperture.
When there was still quite a bit of light around my SS was 1.3 secs, I metered off the sky to get the correct exposure. As the cars were only going 60km/hr tops I got really short trails and there wasn't much traffic. As it got darker I kept metering off the sky and adjusting my SS to slower numbers.
Now if I was at a motor way the cars are going really fast so it would be unnecessary to go as slow as 25 secs only a few seconds would probably do.  The longer the SS the more chance of camera shake even on a tripod.
And if I didn't want the star burst I would widen my aperture.
So my settings aren't creatively the correct settings for car trails just what I came up with in my setting to get pleasingly long trails.

I Learned - Silhouettes

I did these silhouettes last week but this week I learned a nifty trick for editing them.
When I photographed these silhouettes we were on holidays on the beach. :-) And I might add it was the first time I'd taken silhouettes intentionally, I love manual mode!
I tried to pick a place with few distractions in the background. The sun sets behind the dunes but there are lots of trees and erosion so in most places the dunes are a sheer drop. There is one spot that the ground drops off behind the dunes and I could also stand on the beach side of the dune. Some of the other shots we took on the beach.
I manually exposed for the sky. I tried to direct their poses so that they were as clean and separate as possible. So they didn't look like black blobs.Then I focused on them.
In editing I increased the saturation and temperature until I got the colours that I liked. Then I moved the black slider in the histogram (adjustment layer-levels) till the silhouettes were black. But I actually learned a new trick this week that you can use the burn tool (as a layer, see my note below) to selectively colour in the silhouettes leaving the background untouched. This was a bit fiddly but with some images, like the one with the reflections on the beach it kept the image from becoming too dark.
My husband and I had a debate about the trolley photo. I thought the white insides of the trolley wheels were distracting, see the original here, Day 7. But he thought darkening it made it look unnaturally dark, what do you think??
NB. Since originally posting this I received a comment (thank you) about the destructive nature of dodge and burn. See this post about non-destructive dodge and burn as a layer, which is how I did it. I always work on a copy and 'save as' to protect my original too. Sorry about the confusion. There are also great free actions that do this layer for you, so you just paint on with black or white. See here and here.

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Constructive Critiques welcome

I Learned - Creative Over-exposure

In Tom Ang's book "Digital Photography Masterclass" he speaks about using over-exposure as a photography technique to produce transparency and delicacy. He features a high key beach scene. I've always been intrigued by the look of it and wanted to try it out.
This week we went to the beach and I took some over-exposed shots on the beach.
I overexposed by +1 enough to put my darks at the mid-tones. I love how it makes the image light and airy.
 Settings for both shots f/9, 1/250, ISO 100.

 

What I learned:

• I love the over-exposed look for beach shots
• Back or side lighting worked best
• The reflections were important
• I'd love to try again in summer on a crowded beach with bright colours, it was difficult to over-expose the foreground without losing the detail in the background.

Constructive critiques welcome

Click it up a Notch - I Learned

I learned this week that I don't have to include a face in a portrait. Actually the photo can convey a stronger emotion by not including a face, as all the viewers attention is focused on other details.
I usually stretch and strain to get a shot of my son's face when he's involved in a task instead of finding other viewpoints and focus points to convey a message.
I love shots of children and parents or grandparents holding hands. So I decided to try my hand at a shot like this.  I wanted to contrast my son's small soft hand in my husband large hand. I also love that you can see his wedding ring.

I forgot to include my settings, f/1.8, 1/400, ISO 400, I know I had room to increase my aperture, see my comment below, or decrease my ISO.
Constructive critique welcome.

So Courtney from Click it up a Notch suggested that I try this in B&W.  I liked it with a warmer B&W. What do you think?

Peach Tea action by Paint the Moon