Archive for July, 2011

Welcome back to my project 52. In case you are new to my blog this is a creative journey shared between 15 other photographers from The Bloom Forum, across the United States. As always, don’t forget to link to the next photographer in the blog circle at the bottom of my post to check out her interpretation of the theme or prompt.

This weeks theme is Silhouettes. 

Silhouettes are one of those techniques that can be difficult to photograph, intentionally! I have tons of photographs of silhouettes in my archives that I never intentionally meant to photograph. And they usually resulted because I wasn’t metering or exposing for my subject. And in that mistake  lies the answer to how to photograph a silhouette. Silhouettes can be achieved by metering for the light areas or light source around your subject and not the subject itself.

My silhouette this week is of my son visiting the California Academy of Sciences aquarium on his field trip this past Friday.  To get the shot I set my camera to manual, set my aperture at 2.o (I was shooting in near darkness) and metered off the bright blue water in the aquarium, and adjusted my shutter speed to get my meter about 2/3 of a stop over zero.  Oh, yeah, my ISO was at 2000, just in case your curious. Silhouettes are not easy to get when you are actually trying to achieve them, so sometimes you need to take lots of shots, I mean lots! When I was first learning how to photograph silhouettes, I would use the bracketing for exposure function on my camera. Lastly, silhouettes work out best when the light source is directly behind your subject, and usually on the horizon.

{Silhouette} California Academy Sciences, Ganon Summer Field Trip July 2011

And I really wanted to include the one below, because you can just see the excitement on his face as the rest of his classmates showed at the start of the field trip. It was a great day.

Now grab your morning latte and head on over to the fabulous Krista Keller | Danville CA Family Photographer for her inspiring silhouettes.

Welcome back to my Project 52.  We are on week 27, and I can hardly believe it??? It seems like the summer is flying by me, and I’ve barely started to enjoy it. And, in case you haven’t visited my blog before, my project 52 is a creative journey shared with 14 other amazing photographers where we explore and interpret different themes and prompts each week.There is some pretty amazing talent in this circle, so don’t forget to click the link to the next photographer in the circle at the bottom of my post.

Well, I have to admit I almost chickened out on my post. My work load has been INSANE! Photography and the personal projects, like my Project 52 keeps me from becoming all work and no play, but this week’s theme was a toughie!  My creative mojo is on vacation without me!  The theme this week is {On the shelf}.  Like I said my creative mojo was flat this week, but I did go out and shoot with the sole intention of capturing the theme, which is what this project is about. All I can say is I can’t wait to see how the ladies in my blog-circle took to interpreting this week’s theme.

For this theme, on the shelf, brings to mind books.  And so I headed to the library with not just two uncooperative subjects, but three (insert sarcasm here).

{On the shelf}

Now, don’t forget to head on over to check out Krista Keller | Danville CA Family Photographer. Krista is an amazing natural light photographer and one of the women in the our blog-circle that I’ve had the pleasure to actually meet in person! She has an amazing sense of humor and rocks the natural light! Check her out you won’t be disappointed!

Welcome back to my Project 52. I hope that all of you had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday weekend! I had an amazing weekend, spending it with my brother and his family. There are some exciting changes to the Blog-circle Project 52 for the second half of the year. We have some new ladies who will be joining in the cirlce and sharing their amazing perspective and interpretation of each weeks theme or prompt. Please remember to click the link at the bottom of my post to the next photographer to see her take on this weeks theme. Unfortunately, there are some amazing photographers that have been part of our blog circle since we started in January, that have had to step out of the circle. Everyone will be very missed and in our thoughts!

On to this weeks theme, Independence. This week I have decided to feature my oldest child on Fourth of July morning. This particular photograph was striking to me. When I look at him now, I no longer see a baby or a toddler, but a little boy. A little boy that is growing and changing right before my very eyes, in every picture that I take. In each month that passes I see him struggle to not be a toddler, but to exert his own independence, his own choices, to know more about the world, and how he is going to fit into it, and to test the knowledge that he has learned in his few short years. I never realized the amount of change both physically and emotionally that a young boy experiences before the age of five.

{Independence}

And my outtake, featuring the Fourth of July garland that we made together, and his plan for a photoshoot…he found just the right tree stump in just the right light for me to take the picture. Seriously, he picked it all out!

Now don’t forget to check out Kristin of KMS Photography | Lake Mendocino County Childrens Photographer