The ender.. but just in time to send her! 6/8/11

     When I first heard we had to pick a theme for our last project I immediately had my mind set on some type of nature pictures.  After much deliberation,  I came to the resolution that it would be neat to take pictures in the woods of my backyard.  As soon as summer comes around, we are selling our house, and our next home might not have as good of a naturalistic backyard as our current place.  In saying that, I figured it would create some nice memories to shoot in my backyard.
     I prepared myself in many ways. Firstly, I limbered up by doing some leg stretches in order for me to crouch down and get some mad "dirty" angles that would blow people's minds.  You would be surprised what positions a person's body can ravel into as long as they do a few mornin' stretches.  Secondly, I cleared my card and made sure I had plenty of space on it to take as many photos necessary per object to get the best results in the pictures. And thirdly, I marched into my backyard and started observing objects that I feel were unique and could be documented differently than your average photo of a piece of wood in the woods.
     In saying all of this, the photos below are the end result of my strategies and motivation in creating these still objects that can be passed down from generation to generation as long as Y2K doesn't actually happen.   I don't think it will so, we are good to go in passing information onto the next generation. . . . "knock on wood."

Rule of Thirds:

     As I started searching through the forest in my backyard, I knew from the beginning that I wanted the first object I shot to be on the left lower side of my whole picture frame.  I stumbled across this mangled dandelion and I chose to shoot that one, instead of a perfect one cause I knew I could personally relate to that torn apart dandelion.  No one is perfect and I especially am not. Therefore, I figured why "church it up" and try and find a normal, perfect looking dandelion; when I can shoot this odd looking one that most definitely has just as much character. 

How/Reason: 

     I shot this photo with a wider aperture for the reason to create a small depth of field. I wanted a smaller depth of field so that the main focus was on the dandelion, which it is.  I had my aperture as low as it could go at 5.6.  There wasn't a ton of light outside so it also helped let light in by having a larger aperture.  To make it even a little brighter, I had my ISO at 500 and my shutter speed was at a below average speed of 1/125.  

Editing:  I bumped the contrast all the way up to make the back ground become a little darker in order for the dandelion to pop out better.  I then turned the vibrance down a hair and put the saturation up a little.  With doing that, it almost balances the colors out but it still tweaks the colors a little bit and I like its affect. 

Leading Lines: 

      In my back yard there are kind of two levels.  There is a lower level where its kind of swampy and there is also a little pond with rocks around it.  For the next level, you can walk up some rock steps and then you'll be in more of a little forest area.  I found a good leading lines picture right after I walked up the steps, I saw this branch and I got eye level on the ground and saw that it was directed straight towards this purple flower.  Therefore, if I took the picture where that stick lead straight to the flower then that just strengthens the photo and points directly to the main focus of the picture.  

How/Reason:

     I wanted to shoot this photo with a little smaller aperture just so that at least half of the stick (leading into the flower) was in focus.  That way people could follow the stick easier to the flower without having the stick mostly blurred and just the flower in focus.  I think picture works better with a smaller aperture just for the fact that there is a leading line to the main focus of the picture.  In order to compensate with the scarcity of light let into the lens, from the small aperture, I had to bump my ISO (to 6400) quite a bit higher so that it was more sensitive to the little light left in the day.  A combination of a higher ISO and a slower shutter speed of 1/40 made up for the lost light into the camera from the smaller aperture of 25. 

Editing: As far as the editing goes, I bumped the contrast to darken necessary areas.  After I bumped the contrast, the photo was a hair to dark so I adjusted the exposure to the lighting I thought was kosher.   After that,  I put a little vignette on it to pull more of the focus to the center of the picture which is the flower and stick.





Natural Framing:
    This was probably the hardest picture for me to develop.  It took me quite a long time to find the right features to make a natural frame around an object.  I found many natural frames throughout my backyard but whenever I found one, there was never a really important object to capture in between those frames.  Finally I came across this tree with a a bigger branch/stump leaning against it.  I looked through it and there was a pine cone.  That was the perfect object for me to shoot.  Not only is it framed by the outside bigger trees, but it is also somewhat framed by the two little pieces of sticks within the outside frame. Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool so I decided to roll with it. 

How/Reason:

     As far as the details go in shooting this picture; it was actually a little more difficult than I thought it would be.  There wasn't much light within the natural framing therefore, I had to keep my ISO at 6400 to have it even come close to being bright enough.  The reason I had to have my ISO so high was because I wanted to leave my aperture at about 14.  I didn't want my aperture to be to large or else the picture would of had a small depth of field than I desired.   I then had to put my shutter speed as low as I could without there becoming any blur from my shaky hands. All of those things combined together equals the picture right below. 

     

Large Depth of Field:
     For awhile, I was having a difficult time trying to find something to shoot with a large depth of field for the majority of the photo.  I walked around for quite some time and I walked past this old chair in the woods several times also.  After walking past it one last time, I realized that that chair has a purpose there and its been there for a long time so it deserves to be in a photograph.  Thats not the only reason I wanted to shoot that chair.  As I stared at that chair for awhile, I realized that thats the type of chair/location I want to sit in when I'm about to send it to the next world.  It's very peaceful and reassuring being able to sit out in nature and reflect on how many blessing's oneself truly has. It's an important place to be and I want to be there. 


How/Reason:
     I wanted to show the full aspect and idea of this photo so I wanted a very large depth of field.  Therefore,  I had a smaller aperture (22) just so everything was mostly in focus, which made our depth of field greater.  I wanted to show the trees behind the chair shooting up into the the sky.  I like in this photo how all the trees shoot up and that there is a little opening through the trees where you can see the gloomy skies.  Once again I had to compensate for smaller aperture with a higher ISO of 6400 and a shutter speed of 1/40. 

Editing:  On this photo, I bumped the contrast up again and then I also turned down the clarity a hair to make the opening through the trees a little more misty.  Then I turned down the black to get the photo a little brighter.  I then added a vignette on it to darken the corners to fit how dark some of the trees were.

Limited Depth of Field:
      The beauty of being able to get close up to your picture is that it often times allows you not to show its true location and backyard.  For example, this picture was in my backyard but it was on my deck in a flower pot.  I wanted to get close enough just so the background of the main focus was green rather than seeing some of the deck.  I really like this photo because of all of the little water drops on the flower.  It's amazing how much water can balance on that flower.  When shooting this, I wanted the back round of the main focus to darker so I under exposed the picture a hair. Even though I underexposed it, the flower was till a bright enough color to pop out and almost shining.  I really like how the flower is luminous while the background is darker.  It allows for the flower to 100 percent of the focus. 


How/Reason:
      The reason a small depth of field fits this picture is because it makes the small little water drops on the flower stand out better.  And in this picture, since I wanted the background darker, it was necessary for a small depth of field so that the back ground would be more black verse green.
I had to have my aperture very large in order for this to happen so it was at 5.6. And since I still wanted the picture to be fairly dark I had to compensate for all that light coming in from my aperture by having a faster shutter speed of 1/500.  After I did that, the picture was almost to dark so I had to move the ISO to 2500. 
     

Editing:  Since I wanted the background darker in this picture,  I bumped the contrast all the way up.  I then wanted the water droplets to stand out a hair more so I sharpened them by moving the clarity up just a little bit. I then bumped my black up a little more and thats about it. 

Balance:

       When I was searching for a picture that could possible reflect balance, I was thinking of two possible things.  I was either going to find a photo that had a meaning to it that reflected balance within myself or I was going to find a photo that literally required stability balance in some shape or form.  After searching for awhile, I realized that just being out in nature and just slowing down from the everyday things in life was a good balance for me.  It's a good balance because often times I am in a rush to do this, to do that, run around here, and by taking photos out in the nature, it allows me to reflect how many good things I have in life and how many good people I'm always surrounded by.  At the same time I was getting a personal balance from taking photos, I stumbled across this spider web over a little pond area and it had a piece of dandelion barely dangling from it.  I thought more and more about it and realized how much balance it takes a spider to build a web like this one.  He has to have tremendous stability balance in order to complete a master piece like this one.  Everything is perfect just the way he wants to make it, making it possible to catch his prey or undesirable items. 

How/Reason: 

     I chose to desaturate this photo to create a picture with uncertainty but clear enough to make out whats going on.  I wanted this photo to look interesting and considering I shot it with the mind set of  a small depth of field so it would allow only some of the web to be in focus as well as the piece of the dandelion caught in the web.  I like how it turned out and how its kind of unknowing and it sparks curiosity in any onlookers.  As far as the mechanics behind the photo goes; I had my aperture (5.6) open quite a bit to develop that small depth of field.  It was a dark area to start with so I also had to have my ISO higher (5000) in order for the web to even be able to show up.  I then just kept my shutter speed at a pretty standard speed of 1/125.

Editing: On this picture, I bumped the contrast as well as the clarity to get some more detail in the web. I then cropped some of the bottom of the photo off.

Creative Viewpoint:
       
How/Reason:
       Even though some of the reflection of the pond already resembled some silver light, I wanted to darken the bushes to the right of the photo even more so that the photo resembled silver and black; therefore, I desaturated the photo. Like I already state above, I was above the pond probably about a good 10 feet total including my body height.  This angle created an excellent reflection viewpoint.  And since it was drizzling rain at the same time, it was a perfect opportunity to get the photo I was looking for I was far enough away from the pond that my large aperture didn't affect my depth of field at all, it was only large for the fact to let more light in.  I needed more light just for the fact that it was getting later in the day and my natural light was fading fast, therefore, my ISO was at 1000.  After both of those settings were set, I once again just had my shutter speed at 1/125.

Editing:

Simplicity:

      As I was out in the woods, I thought this tree would represent simplicity nicely in more ways than one.  The reason this photo is simple is because there is no distracting objects in the background.  The main focus is clear and simple and doesn't require any explanation to why it is the main focus. Yes... I could of taken this picture with whole tree from the bottom, but then there would of been brush around the base of the picture and it would of been more distracting.  I really like how there are some mellow clouds around the tree also.  It gives the tree definition and once again reassures the simplicity of the photo.  

How/Reason:

     Ok, so for this picture I wanted the tree to be completely black and the sky blown out a little bit.  Therefore, I shot this picture over exposed and that made the sky very white initially and then the tree was pretty much black.  When I look at this picture, I think of authority.  The tree is in power and it most definitely proves it with its great vastness.  In order to get this picture over exposed, I had to have my shutter speed go slower than it should of been in taking a standard shot of the sky.  

Editing: As far editing went, I bumped  the contrast all the way to somewhat compensate for the over exposure of the photo. I then bumped the blacks some to make the tree become darker.  I then used recovery to bring some darkened detail into the clouds and sky. Thats about it.

Own Choice:

     I took all of these photos after it rained, therefore, a few of the good photos that turned out were the ones with little droplets on it. I like this photo a lot because of how dark the background is, yet the (main focus) the leaf with little droplets is still lighted.  The photo was initially a little to green so I adjusted the colors so the photo was a little more subtle and not as annoying color wise.  I turned the vibrance down a hair just for the fact of not having the greens as bright. I then cropped it more of a vertical stand so that that back green stem leads into the leaf. 

How/Reason:  

     Since this picture was my choice, I am going to be completely honest and say I had no mindset in taking this photo. I will describe how I took it and what position I was in though.  I saw this leaf, I crouched down into an almost fetal position, and then I got my camera close enough to the object as I could where the droplets would still be in focus.  After all of that, I held my breath for stabilization and then took the shot. After that, the animal fell down and dinner was served.. Shoot I got carried away. Wrong blog.. but the whole shooting process still applies to this photo.  Anyways, I shot this photo with a 1/100 shutter speed with my aperture at 5.6. Since I had a lot of light already coming in from my large aperture, I kept my ISO at 640. 

Editing:  The editing on this picture, I kept pretty simple.  I bumped the contrast and then the clarity a hair to make the droplets of water a little more sharp.  I then cropped it so that it was more of a vertically featured photo.  After that, I turned down the vibrance a little bit just so the green leaves weren't so bright of a green. 

Own Choice: 

     This photo is pretty cool.  I like it because it is a little different than my usual style of really small depth of field.  I wanted to change it up on this one and get a good amount of leaves in focus to show how many of them there are and that all of them are full of water droplets.  This picture reminds me of a luscious healthy rain forest.  Its very green, moist and full of life. 

How/Reason:

     For this picture I was searching through the woods in my backyard just kind of wondering around looking for something that really sparked my attention.  After I didn't find something right aways and I was in a dense part of the forest I saw these groups of leaves with water on them and I figured I would give them whirl with my camera and see how they turned out.  To my surprise, when I got it on the computer, I actually really liked them.  In order to get this picture to turn out the way it did, I had my shutter speed at 1/200 with my aperture pretty large at 5.6.  It was a little dark in that area so I had my ISO at 1250. 

     

     

I got my inspiration from this guy right here. His work is really good and  al lot of his nature shots are  different style than mine and I would like to learn his style of photos some day also. They are pretty cool. Check him out... take note.  http://ethanmeleg.blogspot.com/