Photography

[Richard Selin]

David has shown me some encouragement with regard to photography, so here goes. Show us your photos. If you want a critique, please ask and I will do my best. I will also try to give some instructional tips.

My background: amateur photographer for many years. I have completed 7/8 of a photography certificate through Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and have completed Summer Intensive, Professional Studies, and Advanced Intensive Programs at Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

To get us started, I am in LA right now and did some street photography today. A lot of the photos were literally "from the hip", no viewfinder, with a little bit of motion swing occasionally to make things interesting. This tends to make your photos more dynamic and liberates you from the tyranny of the LCD screen or viewfinder. The easiest way to do it is to just start walking and snap the shutter (a lot!).

Set your camera to Aperture Priority or Manual (if you know how to make manual exposure adjustments). Choose a smaller aperture (f/8 or so) and focus at infinity. Choose a wide focal length, as wide as you can get. This will help keep everything in focus. Also, the wider the lens angle, the closer you can get to your subject. Don't be afraid if things blur a bit from motion or otherwise. Keep everything "loose". You will be amazed with the results as you get shots at rotated angles and from a "down low" perspective. Keep checking your shots on the screen and if you see something you like you can use the viewfinder or screen and work on the composition or exposure. Or, just keep the camera down low and move it around the subject to get different compositions. Don't be afraid to point up or down, although be aware that a wide angle lens will distort straight lines that are not parallel to the lens, i.e., if you tilt the camera up at a building you will get strong converging vertical lines that may or may not be pleasing to the eye.

For reference, my shutter speeds ranged from 1/30 to 1/125 s. At 1/30 s for sure you will get some motion blur, either from the camera or people moving.

The goal here is to experiment, mix it up (both "composed" and "from the hip" shots), let go of your preconceived notions of seeing and taking a photograph, and have some fun with the results! There will be a lot of misses, but the hits will make up for it, so take lots of photos. It will sure make for more interesting vacation photos!

The following are a sample and are meant to inspire you.