Tag Galaxy

Absolutely the cool Flickr visualization ever. Don’t click if you want to get anything else accomplished today.

Without Color

Title: Without Color by Me

Flowers are so wonderfully colorful that a photographer’s instinct (mine, at least) is to simply shoot the color. Bright, beautiful color.

But I think flowers in black and white have their charm as well – it takes the focus off of color and lets us appreciate the other aspects that might otherwise be missed – the shape, the form, the patterns, etc. Plus, the black and white tones have a beauty in their own right, don’t you think?

Late Afternoon Sun

Title: Late Afternoon Sun by Me

Bloody hell, it got hot today, in the 80’s and humid. Bleh.

Red, White & Blue

Title: Red, White & Blue by Me

Enjoy the long weekend everyone.

Lego Porn

Title: Lego Porn by Me

Sometimes a macro lens and a splash of color is all you need for a photo. Of course, it also helps if you’re an adult that never really grew out of his Lego fixation…

The Edge of Darkness

Title: The Edge of Darkness

One easy way to get silhouettes is to shoot into the late day sun, which is what I did here.

(Sorry)

I missed the last couple of days worth of posts here. No excuses really… it’s just that blogging is a labor of love, and I don’t always love it. Anyway, I’ve put up posts for Monday and Tuesday, and I’m back to my regular posting schedule.

Defying Gravity

Title: Defying Gravity by Me

Ducks are my favorite animal to shoot. Mostly, that’s because they’re among the few wild animals I can find around where I live and they let me get relatively close to them, but I also happen to think they’re cute (which puts me in some sort of minority).

Anyway, I think this shot illustrates that timing is everything. A fraction of a second after the shutter went, he was in the air, jumping into the water. But in this thin slice of time, he was maintaining an impossible pose over the edge.

Summer’s Coming Soon

Title: Summer’s Coming Soon by Me

This was actually shot in April, but it makes me think of summer – probably because the water is so blue. Sometimes there’s an advantage to shooting in the middle of the early afternoon, even though every photographer and every book you’ll read tells you not to because the light is supposedly terrible. In this case, the advantage is blue water reflecting a bright blue sky.

Repetition

Paul Indigo writes on Beyond the Obvious what’s probably the best tip any photographer needs to know:

So let me a share a few ’secrets’ about getting ‘once in a lifetime’ images again and again. It all comes down to luck. You were there and everything fell into place perfectly, just at that moment just as you pushed the shutter button. Look at many of the astounding photographs of our time and what do you think? Yes, that photographer was darn lucky to be there at that moment.

While I’d encourage you to read the whole post, this one part struck a chord with me personally:

After the shoot I reflect on the images I’ve taken and how they can be improved further. Often the key to getting those ‘once in a lifetime’ shots is to use the knowledge you gained the first time shoot and go back and do it all again, if you have the opportunity. And then go back again. And again. Always refining and pushing it further. Never settle for second best.

I’ve always said that the key to a great photo is luck, and I’ve previously tried to make the same point Paul made above (albeit less eloquently). Just being out there with your camera, a lot, separates good from mediocre photographers.

Personally, I’ve also found myself revisiting the same places and subjects over and over. Because every time I do, I’ve learned since the last time I was there, and learn something new from the experience of re-shooting it. It’s something that’s been very valuable to me as a learning tool over the years, and one I’d encourage others to try. Go back to the first place/subject you ever took a photo of, and take a new one – you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve changed since then. Then do it again a year from now, and again, and again.