Water Under The Bridge.... Literally....

Besides photography, which is absolutely my first love and true passion, I do love to fish.  Lately, fishing has been less than stellar, and quite a disappointment actually, but that is where I get to spend some time taking photos that I wouldn't be taking if the fish were biting :)  Whenever my husband and I have time, we like to spend a few hours fishing.  Mobile and Baldwin County both provide a wealth of fishing opportunities in many locations, including the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile Bay, and many lakes and rivers within a 50 mile radius of our home.  Last year we caught so many fish that we actually spent just as much time cleaning them as we did catching them. (Well, him more than me...)  Mullet were in abundance both via cast net and, by nothing short of a fishing miracle, catching them with corn and bread on a fishing pole in a river runoff, under a bridge, in a place you would never think that schools of mullet would gather.  So, let's fast forward to this year, where fishing has been a challenge.  For whatever reason we seem to repel fish rather than attract them.  I don't think we are alone in this entirely.  Reading some of the local forums some others seem to be having some runs of bad luck as well.

You probably are thinking... what in the world does this have to do with photography???  Well, there is where you get to be creative.  For example, that river runoff, under a bridge, where the mullet apparently like corn on hook at the end of a cane pole.... that's where I first learned to slow the flow of water and create some pretty incredible images of a less than incredible place.  It will forever be the best set of pictures I have ever taken, in my mind, because it was when I first became aware of how camera speed truly impacts movement, and if you do things just right then things look pretty amazing.  Now, in reality, they won't be the best pictures in the world... of this I am certain... however, to me they are special because I learned some valuable lessons that day when I went there to fish and, well, the fish weren't there to eat.

Below are 3 pictures, taken with my camera phone, on one of our fishing expeditions.  Now, keep in mind, this is true back roads fishing.  Not where the average person heads to fish, but it's pretty close to home and, for the most part, a great little location when you just want to unwind at the end of the day and don't have a lot of daylight left to fish in.  At any rate, these 3 pictures give you an idea of what type of environment this is and how just uninviting and unappealing it is, on first glance.

Now, let's fast forward to the creativity part of this blog post and how you can turn something not so exciting into something pretty awesome in the photography world.  These pictures give you an indication of the setting we were in and just how unappealing it truly is.  Well, even the most seemingly unappealing places to photograph do offer a glimmer of hope under the right conditions.

I was in search of a location to practice slowing the flow of water and looking for something along the lines of a waterfall.  Well, in my recollection of this area, there were no waterfalls that I had seen or heard of.  Then I remembered our little fishing spot and how I had seen water flowing from one level to another, over some rocks, creating somewhat of a waterfall effect.  Throw in a few rainy days, high water levels in the rivers and just like that you have a waterfall effect.

By being creative and using a little imagination something that was nothing spectacular at first glance became something so much better under the right conditions.  Sometimes you just have to think outside of the box to get the shots you are looking for.

Sunsets on Mobile Bay

The sunsets on Mobile Bay during October and November can be absolutely beautiful.  The right combination of orange and red hue, clear skies, and relatively haze-free conditions during the last half hour of daylight can make for some great photo opportunities.

Photoshop, Lightroom and Post Processing...

There is a lot of talk about images being "Photoshopped" in the community when people view the final post processed images that are posted on my site and others.  When asked if a photo has been "Photoshopped" I will respond with a resounding YES!  Absolutely.  But, this is not for the reasons one might automatically assume.  Those who do not aspire to be professional photographers and just take pictures as a hobby, either with their camera phone, a point and shoot, or whatever their camera of choice is, probably won't have the same level of understanding of this concept as those completely immersed in the process.  Before I decided to take the plunge and learn about being a professional photographer and not just a hobbyist, I too was one of those that turned a cold shoulder toward using Photoshop and other like programs.  I used to take what I considered beautiful pictures with my camera phone and was quite content with that for many, many years.  Like others, I considered myself skilled in capturing the moment, and was content with what I saw on my screen.  Posted the picture to Facebook, got a few dozen likes and I was extremely pleased.  This became my goal, my ambition.  I knew that I always loved taking pictures.  Considered myself quite talented, even though I was only using a camera phone.  It wasn't until I acquired my first Canon that I realized just how much I didn't know about photos, quality of images, light, effects on the images, shadows, and getting the image just how I wanted it to look.  I never really had a reason to put any thought into it until I started submitting my "beautiful" pictures to websites where they sell stock images and vote on the quality of what you are submitting.  All of a sudden I realized that my pictures were far from being beautiful.  I began to get rejections from sites for what I felt were amazing photos.  I soon took to heart what they were telling me about my images... grainy, composition, lighting, etc.  I began to understand that I needed some help to make the images look how they needed to look, but my understanding of how to achieve this was lacking.  Sure, I could watch videos online and I could read articles on the internet, but what helped me was enrolling in some classes in a local college during the evening.  There I began to gain an understanding of the terminology, camera settings, light, composition, camera use, and POST PROCESSING...you know... "photoshopping."  You see, "photoshopping" isn't used for altering supermodels' imperfections and making them look like unrealistic versions of what everyone wishes they looked like.  Sure, it is used for this, but the everyday photographer isn't using these programs for that purpose.  My preferred program for post processing is Lightroom.  This program  has just the right amount of features to give my images the look that I am aiming to achieve.  I do not use Lightroom to drastically change a person's appearance.  I use it to enhance their natural beauty and shed more light on the person being photographed...literally.  I use it to brighten, sharpen and make the colors around the person brighter and more vivid, which adds a personal touch to the image without making the person in the image look like someone completely different than they are in everyday life. Each person is beautiful in his or her own way, and post processing just allows you to accent the person's best features and let their beauty shine through.

Post processing in landscape images, street scenes and anything that is not related to taking images of people is an entirely different story.  I absolutely believe that the use of Photoshop, Lightroom and other like programs is an amazing tool to express your creativity.  Anyone can take a picture of a sunrise or a sunset, a field of flowers, a waterfall, but use one of the post processing programs and the results can be absolutely stunning.  These programs allow you to put your own artistic spin on an image and leave the viewer in awe.  This is a huge plus and I can say with 100% honesty that each image I take has been retouched in one way or the other with the use of Lightroom.  Some more than others.  Actual photographs of people are touched up just for minor lighting issues mainly and to add that "pop" effect to the subject by adjusting their background.  This in my opinion is an important step in the process to get the customer products that they are happy with.

Below are some before and after images... you be the judge~ In the before and after images you can see that the subject is more brightly lit, cropped in more closely so that his face is more of the focus and not the overall picture.  The image is much better post processed and a better end result.

And this before and after... Again, the lighting of the subject in the image on the right is brighter and more focused on him.

And finally... images where you can let your creativity fly... turning ordinary into extraordinary....  

New and Improved Website...

Be sure to visit our new and improved website at www.sentimentsoflife.com .  New pricing options are now available, just in time for the holidays!

A few more night shots...

Well, night photos look different from camera to camera, available light, camera settings, and environmental conditions.  Just posting a few pics of some recent night photos that I took for fun, testing out settings on both of the cameras.  By far not the best I have done, but I love the colors and the effects, if nothing else :) I'll post something of substance over the weekend.  In the meantime... here you go~

Long Exposure Night Photography

Tonight was all about long exposures and night photography.  This is yet another area that I haven't experimented with, and the jury is still out on the results, but it was a fun first attempt at blurring the action  by using long exposures and slow camera speeds.  I spent a lot of time reading different techniques on how to do this, and I opted to go with shutter speed as my priority, with an aperture of F11 and an ISO of 100.  The shutter speed used was anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds... all with varying results, but I am posting some of the more interesting images of the bunch.  They won't win any awards for sure, but I did think that the images were interesting if nothing else.  Not too bad for a first run with it.  Now to find some other locations around town with more vibrant colors of light, more traffic to blur in the images and something a bit more challenging to see what comes of changing the settings and mixing things up a bit.  There are numerous ways to achieve the desired look that I was going for, and I am eager to go in a new direction with things on my next outing.  Until then....

Black and White - The More Forgiving Option~

As I continue on my quest to learn all that I can about taking photographs in different types of lighting, natural and artificial, indoors and outdoors, day and night, I am certain of several things:

1)  No two situations are the same and you have to make adjustments to your settings based on the current situation, whether in the same lighting situation or not.
2)  Shooting sporting events at night under artificial lights is not an ideal situation for less experienced photographers.  Although I am nearly convinced that this isn't ideal for any photographer, but those with a broader knowledge base and very expensive equipment might be able to master it a bit better.
3)  As mentioned in previous posts... photography is a lifelong learning experience.  Each day I will learn something new, and will continue to learn new things, as long as my mind remains open to new ideas, new adventures and new situations.

So, let's go over some of the photos that I took at a local USA Jags football game a few days ago.  Looking through the viewfinder I had a clear, crisp image with people and objects in focus.  Looking at the small screen on the back of the camera confirmed what I saw, and I thought... wow, these photos are going to be great!  Now, let's think about this for a minute....Sure, things look great on a 3.5 inch screen, but in reality when you put them on a 22 inch monitor and dive into your photo editing software it's a whole different ball game.  Things that were crammed into view on that tiny little screen have now become a harsh reality that things just aren't that great.  Actually, not even good.  Grainy, poorly focused, harshly lit pictures are what the reality on the editing screen reveals.  Faces and white objects were too brightly lit.  Adjusting the contrast and clarity did nothing to make me feel better about the images.  Highlights, shadows, exposure... same feelings.  This is where changing the photos to black and white and starting from a new angle on things comes in.  Now, I won't even pretend to think that the black and white images that I posted below are great.  Stating they are good would even be a stretch.  But, when faced with some of the poor lighting situations that can be encountered when shooting in different sources of light, sometimes you choose the lesser of the evils and are content with the better shot.  Black and white photography, in my opinion, is very forgiving and can make a bold statement in your photos, even turning those that are less than great into something you can be happier with.

I will continue my journey, absorbing every bit of information that I can, learning something new each day, learning from my mistakes and working toward being the professional photographer that I aspire to be.  In the meantime, the photos below are posted for supporting evidence that all lights are not created equal, and that black and white photography sometimes can salvage something from images that appeared to be discards.