Spring 2011 Basics of Digital Photography

Spring 2011 Basics of Digital Photography, a group on Flickr.

Another Class has ended. The unique photographic styles of the class are well documented in our group postings.

Another Class Ended

Yesterday we ended our Basics of Digital Photography spring class at the La Plata campus.
As usual, it's a bitter sweet ending to an otherwise awarding and fun 11 weeks. As with every class we had a wide variety of personalities and talents. I hope I have given you the knowledge to improve on your craft and to take it to the next level. You have the tools, you understand the basics of your craft, now all you need is opportunity and initiative.

Just a couple of things to pass on:

1. This morning the Digital Photography School published an article on photographing the moon and adding copyright watermarks. This article can be found at: http://digital-photography-school.com/moon-photography-made-simple
2. The Landscape Powerpoint is posted at: http://www.slideshare.net/joelk/week-8-landscape-pictures-for-slideshare

Don't forget I will still be available on Flickr, so please critique my photos. I will let you know if and when I organize a travel study course on photography.

Happy shooting, Joel

Week 3 Lens And Focal Lenghts

This is week three's presentation.

Week 3 Lens And Focal Lenghts

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The bald eagle story at the county landfill in Charles County

When I first started my photography hobby I was always interested in taking wildlife photographs. To me, the long hikes in the woods to new exciting destinations was always remembered mostly for the photographic opportunities of the local wildlife. The day or week in the woods was only successful if I came back with hard-to-get photographs of bears, deer, elks, moose or eagles. It was the challenge of the hunt.

The art of wildlife photography is the combination persistence, patience, knowledge of the habitat, camera and photography knowledge and most of all - luck. Last week when I was making a dump run to the local landfill, I came upon a opportunity to capture some bold eagle photos. Luckily, I had my camera with me in the passenger seat as I drove on the dirt road to the location for dropping off trash. The drive took me past recent landfills with a host of birds sitting and flying around. Most of the birds were the common seagulls. However, mixed up in these groups of birds were eagles and hawks. With the bald eagle being a symbolic figure I have always tried to get photos to proudly display in my portfolio. So, as I sit in my truck full of trash, I took my camera out and started shooting the bald eagles that were closest to the truck. I should have got out and walked around but something told me that walking around in a county landfill taking photos is not such a good thing.

When I used to take photographs of wildlife I found on my excursions into the wilderness always as a story behind the photo. Typically it might be the story like the one of the two goats that raided my tent all night long on Mt. Anderson in the Olympic National Part in Washington State. Or it could be the story of the moose at Chimney Pond in Baxter State Park, Maine, that followed me around where ever I went for two days. Both of those stories still live in my memory because of the wildlife photographs I took and treasured.

But this story, "the bald eagle story at the county landfill in Charles County", would be much different. It would not involve long hikes or memories of tents, hot chocolate watching the sun set over the mountains. No, this story is of these majestic bald eagles driven to the land fill by their most primitive instincts - scavengers.

Maybe this photograph of the bald eagle will become another story for me to tell 20 years from now! The story behind the photograph of the day I went to the landfill and was rewarded with some opportunities to take shots of eagles as they prey on our waste. Not as exciting as goats invading my tent, or my pet moose following me around but still a memory captured forever in a photograph.

Fireworks at Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving and fireworks!

Well, yes! If your in Myrtle Beach S.C.

Apparently, Broadway at the Beach has fireworks frequently. While visiting last year during the same timeframe I didn't have a camera. This year even though I was prepared with camera and tripod I experienced several technical problems. First, I didn't have a remote shutter release (forgetting it at home in my other camera bag). Second, the fireworks only lasted 3 minutes and they were not as colorful as remembered. Three minutes of fireworks is not a lot of time to experiment and choose. Finally, I didn't scope out a good enough place to sit my tripod that had an interesting foreground or backdrop element for my fireworks.

I can't stress the importance of having a good foreground and backdrop for your fireworks. Anyone can take photos of fireworks, but composing the scene with an interesting element can make the real difference. Thinking I had a good background, once the fireworks started the crowd gathered in front of my camera and smothered it. First it was a few people, then there was a crowd. I was forced to start shooting into the sky and avoiding the foreground elements that I had planned on using. Good thing I went with my 28-200 zoom lens and not the 35mm prime. With only 3 minutes of fireworks, I would have wasted valuable time switching lens.

I found that holding the shutter for about 2 seconds seemed to work the best. I basically just took photos every 2 seconds I hoped for the best. It is difficult to anticipate the fireworks. I left my ISO at 200, my aperture at f10 and focused in a distance where I estimated the fireworks would be exploding. Once I had that all set, I just experimented with different shutter speeds.

Close-up Photography

Let's have fun with this week's assignment. The assignment is on slide 39 of the PPT presentation. Basically, take a photo using the Macro Mode or AV setting on your camera. The technique is close-up so choose subjects like flowers, leaves, insects, coins, stams, jewery and even regular household items. In any case, be creative! That's what makes close-up photography fun.

Next Monday is the last day of class. It's been fun!


Check out this Week's Presentation:

Close-up Photography

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Week 8 Landscape Pictures

Week 8 we talked about Landscape Photography, Editing photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements, including ; 8 steps of image editing and using the clone tool to fix blemishes in photos. Finally, we imported a RAW image into Elements and discussed the extra features available with RAW files. Below you will find the Week 8 presentation and the assignment. Good Shooting!

Week 8 Landscape Pictures For Slideshare

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