Category Archives: Photography

Photography

Composing tight in the viewfinder

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One of the tough choices when peering into the viewfinder is deciding how much of the scene we see is important.

The striking colors and graphic nature of a cheerleader’s decorated back “caught my eye” while I was on campus. I don’t know if they used the image but I liked it enough to make a picture.

It’s often overwhelming.

If you stood in front of the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls (insert your choice of natural wonder or manmade structure), you’re likely seeing something massive.

Our eyes function like a camera but we have a brain attached to them.

The camera requires “us” to decide, to choose.

If we can’t decide, we end up sticking a wide angle lens and taking everything in.

Then when we print the image the size of a 5 x 7, we are expectedly disappointed at the loss of impact in our final image.
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Photography

Congratulations UCR graduates Class of 2011

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Enthusiasm from friends and family members are always great to capture at such happy events like a graduation.

At any commencement or graduation ceremony these days, what do you think outnumbers the number of people in attendance?

Cameras.

Just about everyone present has a cellphone and we all know every phone has a built-in camera.

Digital cameras have made self-portraits so much easier and more fun.

During Sunday’s commencement ceremony for the College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences at UC Riverside, it was great to see so many folks capturing this important milestone for themselves.

 

I saw the entire gamut: Canon 5D Mark2s, Nikon DSLRs, iPhones, Blackberries, iPads, and even disposable film cameras.

Some of the audience actually had better equipment than me.

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Photography

Capturing pictures of kids at play indoors

Maya Guerrero gets a hug from one of her students on their last day of class meeting.

When Maya Guerrero, center director of Circle City Music Together needed some promotional stills, she invited me and my cameras into one of her classes.

Even without making a reconnaissance trip, I had some notion of what to expect.

Most studios whether it’s for ballet, dance or even a martial arts dojo have at least one large mirror the size of an entire wall. Continue reading Capturing pictures of kids at play indoors →

Photography

Capturing carnival ambience

At dusk, the sun may have set but the sky still has traces of light. Since the window is extremely small, you have to shoot fast and bracket your exosures.

When I left off on my previos post on friendly faces at the carnival, I had mentioned ambience.

Once the sun sets, the carnival looks very different especially during that very brief window when the sun has set but there is still a lot of light left in the sky.

Objects in the vicinity of lights stand out while the rest of scene recedes and lose their prominence.

Colored lights start to stand out.

But to get those color saturated, you have to guess a little with your exposure.

With any digital camera where you can adjust shutter speeds manually, all you need is a tripod.

A cable release helps but you can always use the self timer.

The idea is to not shake the camera during long exposures.

Bracket Exposures for Success

I used my Manfrotto superclamp to mount my Canon 40D to a railing at the top of the giant slide. I knew a tripod would have been impractical in that tight space. 2 seconds f22 ISO 200.

Bracket your exposures by changing the shutter speeds instead of the aperture especially if you want to try your hand at HDR (High Dynamic Range).
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