August 29, 2009 – Day hike at Stone Mountain

1/100

f6.3

ISO 400

18mm

RAW

As many of you know, I am the Scoutmaster for our church's Boy Scout troop. Next summer we are heading to Philmont Scout Ranch for a 12-day backpacking expedition, and today we officially started our preparation. It was nothing strenuous, just a 6.5 mile hike around Stone Mountain with simple day packs. Philmont allows only small groups, so our expedition will have only 12 people. Today's group was slightly smaller than that, but it did include one of the boy's mother.

Because the trail weaved mostly through the dense forest, I put my 18-55 f3.5-5.6 IS wide angle lens so I could capture more of the trail and our hikers. I didn't want to interrupt their pacing (and just capture things as they were happening, photojournalism style), so I set the camera in 'P' mode. This lets the camera make most of the decisions for camera settings, yet allows me to make modifications in case I think the shutter speed is too slow or the shots are underexposed (by the way, the camera did a great job picking).

I kept hiking ahead of the group to find places where I could get a good shot, like this one. The trail curved in front of me, and there was a log I could stand on. I had to wait a few minutes for everyone to catch up, but it was worth it.

My son is in the lead. If you will notice, his hind foot is slightly blurry, which helps convey the idea of motion in the photo. The 1/100 shutter speed was just fast enough to freeze the movement of their torsos but some extremities are blurred.

I shot about five photos at this bend in the trail, but this was the only one that was devoid of bright sunlight reflecting off of their clothing. This one also had some good spacing between the hikers, which is nice.

In hindsight, I wish I had put the people in the front a little higher up in the frame (hmmm . . . maybe I shouldn't have stood on the log). I also wish they were looking up and you could see more of their face. Sometimes it's the little details like this that can change a good photo into a great one.

August 23, 2009 - Suwanee Town Center at night

1/10

f5.6

ISO 1600

20mm

RAW

My wife, Rachel, has been encouraging me recently to do black and white photography, and this is my first attempt at accepting her challenge. Please let me know what you think of the shot.

I am by no means an expert on black and white photography, so I won't be offering much along the lines of tips for this kind of photography. It's something new to me, and it's always good to step out of your comfort zone and be willing to make mistakes as you learn something new. It's a great way to become a better photographer.

There was one really challenging aspect to this photo. One-tenth of a second is really slow (even for my IS lens, which helps offset camera shake at slow shutter speeds), and I didn't have a tripod. So what did I do? I braced myself to be as still as possible and then held down the shutter button to fire off several shots in succession. Out of the five shots taken, this is the middle one and it came out crystal clear. The others were all a little blurry.

I tried to frame the shot a little bit by having the solid brick wall on the left and the tall shrubbery on the right. This allows the curvature of the store fronts go three-quarters of the way into the photo, but prevents it from reaching the edge. This helps keep the viewers eye in the photo.

This was shot after 9 p.m. on a Monday night, so most of the shops were closed and few patrons were walking around. I might go back on a Friday or Saturday night and try this again with several pedestrians walking through the photo.

Basic Photo Tip: Framing and leading lines

Framing and using leading lines can do wonders for your photography. They can take a good photo and make it great. Using these elements properly can really rivet your viewer’s attention to your photo.

Framing is using something in the photo to frame the subject. You can frame the subject with two tree trunks, in a mirror, through a window, under an archway, or in any other similar way. You often see this in portrait and wedding photography.

Below is one of my favorite photos. Here I use the bottom of a curved playground slide to frame the face and hair of my youngest daughter. It’s a very simple framing technique, but works really well.


In other example of framing, let's go back to the photo of my daughter waiting for her event at a swim meet. I used the out-of-focus bodies of two other swimmers to frame her face.


As for leading lines, look to see if there are any natural elements that will lead the viewer’s eye into the photo or towards the subject when you are composing a photo. These leading lines can be things like a path, roadway, river, railing, or even clouds in the sky.

In the next photo, we were walking around the gardens surrounding the Alamo in San Antonio. I just loved the shot of my daughter following the rest of the family, but turning around to make sure I was following to. Notice how the path keeps your attention in the photo.


In my photo below of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the curving road leads the viewer’s eye into the center of the photo.


Leading lines can do wonders to subconsciously keep them looking at the photo, but only if they lead the view into the shot. Leading lines can easily draw the viewers eye out of the photo, too.

Because the road in the photo above disappears before reaching the left edge, it helps keep the viewer’s eye in the photo. If I had composed the photo so the road went from one edge to the other, I would have risked the viewer’s eye going out of the photo. Then the viewer could easily loose interest.