Working with low lighting

The past couple weeks I have been fiddling around with low lighting photography. I have always loved the look of it, but have never managed to take one that I was really happy with. So after doing a bit of research I decided to seriously give it a try, and am extremely happy with the results! A special thanks to my sister who was my guinea pig for this rather time consuming experiment,  and had to sit extremely still as I spent forever with changing my camera settings.

These first two here are my favourite. I had the shutter speed set to 1/4 of a second, and an ISO of 400, which worked out really well! Since the shutter speed was longer than normal and I do not have a tripod, it was a bit tricky to keep the pictures from becoming blurry, but it all worked out in the end.The light that you see is coming from a small window in our basement, and I especially love the way that the light caught perfectly in the details of her scarf.

 

And for this one I decided to try some black and white...

 



We also had some fun trying crazy things with the different settings. She turned her head once, not knowing I was taking a picture and it turned out pretty neat, in my opinion. I had my shutter speed set at 3 seconds at that time, with an ISO of 1600, and although its blurry and really doesn't follow any of the photography "rules" I just love the different feel that it has! Almost ethereal, with the way that you can see two faces...

 



So that's about all I have so far with this type of photography! An article that I found helpful can be found at http://www.discoverdigitalphotography.com/2014/low-key-photography-tips/ so check it out! And as always, feel free to post comments and suggestions, I would love to hear from you and get some advice!

What I am looking for.

So what I am looking for is pretty much a lens that is a bit of a step up from the kit lens that I currently have (which is an AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR) So here are a few things that I am hoping to find in a potential new one!

Focal Length Range
One of the main things that I am looking for is one with a bit of a better focal length range (or "zoom") because as the 18-55mm is great for lots of everyday things, there are many times where a bit more zoom would be extremely helpful. Whether its for photographing nature or people, or anything really, it's always nice not to be so tied down with not being able to get as close as you like without physically getting closer to the subject. On the Nikon website I found an article that used a brilliant visual representation of different focal lengths.

http://en.nikon.ca/Learn-And-Explore/Article/g3cu6o2o/understanding-focal-length.html

So as you can see, my 18-55mm lens has some zoom, but I am hoping to upgrade to one that has a maximum zoom of around 135mm to 200mm. Once you start getting to the higher focal lengths you need to start using a tripod in order to avoid shaky or blurry pictures, and since I am looking for a "walk- around" lens I am not going worry about spending extra for a maximum focal length that I will rarely use, seeing as I am not going to carry a tripod around with me.

VR Image Stabilizer

A must for any lens that I am thinking about buying, is that it has to have VR (Vibration Reduction) Image stabilizer. Almost all lenses do, but it is definitely a great thing to have when you are not using a tripod (which is pretty much all the time in my case!)

 I also need an AF-S lens, because my camera does not have a built in focus motor.

 

Metal mount vs Plastic

Another (minor) thing that I am looking for in a lens is a metal mount, rather than a plastic mount. What that means is that the part of the lens that attaches to the camera will be metal, and thus a good deal stronger and able to withstand small bumps and such. While researching through some lens reviews I came across literally dozens of stories about the horrors of plastic mounts, and how, in some cases, the smallest bump will make the lens literally break off of the camera. (Yikes!) So considering I would like to keep this lens for a while and hope to use it for travelling and such, it would probably be worth the price increase to get a metal mount rather than risk paying more money later to fix a plastic one.

 

And as for the price range... Well I'm not quite sure yet. I don't really want to set one until I have an absolute idea of what I am going for!

 

So obviously this post did not include all  of the important aspects to a lens, but its a start! I have currently reduced the amount of lenses that I may be interested in to 5, and I will definitely be looking into much closer detail in order to pick the one that's right for me!

Landscapes! and avoiding dull ones....

So today I am going to talk about landscape. The idea of doing landscape photography was never my favourite, because sometimes it seems like the picture just doesn't compare to the real thing. Plus all too often the image turns out looking flat and two dimensional.  But I decided to work on it first, mostly because of the beautiful fall colours that leave all too soon. So I did some research, and read some great articles that helped me to learn new tricks and techniques, which (I hope) worked! So here are the two techniques that I used the most in exploring landscapes:


1. Having a Focal Point
One thing that I overlooked all too often with landscape photography, is that you still need a main "subject" or focal point. This adds more depth to the picture, avoiding the flat, two dimensional look. So here are a few of my recent pics, my favourites are from a beautiful cloudy day last week. Focal point included! And, of course, the rule of thirds as well... although sometimes you just need to break that rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 Decided to have some fun with this next one and adjust the colour a bit:

 

 

 

2. Using Lines

Another technique is to use leading lines to guide the viewers through the picture, giving their eyes something to follow. In these pictures I used lines on roads. They are not my favourite photographs, but they do the trick!



 

 

 

And one of my favourite things about techniques, is that sometimes you can just break those rules and have fun with it!

 

 

So that concludes my exploration of landscape techniques, although I am certain I will use them again throughout this passion project. These pictures were actually a lot of fun to take, and I hope you enjoyed them as well. Till next time!

 

 

And check out these sweet articles that helped me out so much: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/08/29/dull-landscapes-simple-in-camera-tricks-to-add-depth-to-your-photos/

 

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-tips-for-shooting-landscapes-with-greater-impact/





 

Getting Started

Well I have lots of pictures piling up on my camera, so I guess nows the time to officially start!

One thing that I find extremely different about this passion project compared to the art blog I had last year, is that with photography its a lot more difficult to stick with a specific technique or idea at one time. One day I went out thinking that I was going to work on landscape, and I ended up doing portraits and sunsets as well, with all sorts of lighting stuff mixed in! It is definitely not a bad thing, I just need to maybe tweak my ways of thinking about my goals a bit... And its also a big part of photography I suppose, because if your inspired then your inspired, and you see different opportunities all over the place! Besides, I find the best pictures are always the "spur of the moment" ones anyways.
So I will hopefully get around to posting some pictures over the next few days (finally!)... So stay tuned! :)