6 comments on “Dad’s Photography Corner: The Journey Begins

  1. Veddy, veddy good images. 😀

    Your experience actually mirrors a lot of pros: They’ll use maybe a couple of images they feel are worthy out of hundreds. (Julieanne Kost, an “Adobe evangelist,” went through her creative thought process on one of her videos, which was really interesting.) The important thing is to shoot first and sort it all out later.

    In the future, invest in a good monopod, as this will allow you to take pictures without worrying about camera shake (at least vertically). They’re a little easier to use than a tripod (which you can obviously invest in too to completely eliminate camera shake).

    Sooner or later, you will invest in photo editing software of some sort as RAW is practically the de facto file standard when working with images in post. It’s also lossless (as compared to JPEG, which is a lossy format).

    A common technique photographer’s use is to shoot two (or more) different exposures of the same shot and then blend those in an image editor. An example I can give is an outside shot where the foreground is perfect but the sky is “blown out” (or the sky is perfect but the foreground is too dark). Photographers take the two shots and then “mask out” the offending parts. It’s a very easy technique but extremely effective.

    Relatedly, when you do get an image editor of some sort, consider also getting a graphics tablet at some point as it will make image editing that much more enjoyable. With a graphics tablet, you’re allowed to apply things such as size and opacity dynamically; pressing lightly will produce a lighter effect, pressing harder will produce a darker effect. I could explain in more detail but this is turning into a TL;DR situation already.

    You don’t have to go for something like a Wacom Intuos; you can go for something like Wacom’s Bamboo line.

    In conclusion, don’t sweat it. You’ve got the basics down. You’re already on your way. 😀

    • Thanks Iac! You certainly know a lot about photography. I think the biggest eye opener was how expensive it would be…it’s still hard to believe that a single lens is the same amount as my mortgage payment. 🙂 I’ve also learned that I’m not a fan of flash, it does some things to the picture I don’t like. When taking a picture of an amimal, the light reflects off their eyes no matter what setting I use and sometimes, the flash throws the lighting off a bit. It’s a challenge, but I’m having fun. I can’t wait to try out a macrolens for those close-ups.

      • Haha! It is expensive. Just use the trick Heather used on me. She showed me the prices for the large format cameras first. So when she showed me the prices for the medium format camera she wanted I thought it was a deal!

        • LOL! Sneaky! “Hey hun…I want this camera for $3,000…but look! This one is on sale for $1,000! That’s cheap, right?” 🙂

      • Image editing software will definitely help with “red eye” and “green/white eye” (in the case of animals), either with dedicated tools or other methods.

        • That’s great to hear, I’ll have to look into the Adobe software you mentioned. The flash gives my animals white eyes, but I’m glad to see that can be fixed with editing software.

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