Photographing Insects - Macro Zoom and an Amateur's Dilemma

Here is an awesome and interesting article on Photographing insects from Nikon. It's worth the time to view and read:

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/gfv2vkmu/photographing-insects-and-other-small-creatures.html?cid=SM-Facebook-0413-Shooting-Insects#!

After reading the story I realized why I've had such trouble shooting close-ups of insects. Apparently one needs a Macro Zoom lens, which I don't have, nor do I have a camera that is capable of changing lenses.

I do though have a very nice camera that has 14.1 megapixels and a 35X zoom. In making an attempt in getting close-ups of a bee gathering pollen from a lily, I realized that when I zoomed right up on it I could not focus, it remained blurry. I even went to the camera shop and asked why I was having this problem. They seemed not to understand and couldn't give me an answer.

So in my infinite wisdom "NOT!" I went out to try other options. What I discovered I can do as I have super high resolution and a superb zoom, if I stand back a little, then zoom to where I can still focus, then I take the shot. I have much more in the frame than I want, with the bee being the subject, so I just crop until I have the desired photo. The high resolution still allows for a large enough print to be printed and enjoyed.

I'd love to hear your input on this macro zoom dilemma!

Willing Subject - Not So Cooperative Lighting

Beautiful day outside, I was heading towards town, down a country road when I passed a buzzard resting on a fence post. As I passed, I noticed that he didn't even flinch. Well, this might just be a great opportunity! I pulled to the side of the road, took my camera out, did a U-turn and approached the bird in my car. I knew better than to get out of the car, so approached slowly.

This is the first shot that I took. He didn't seem bothered by my approach, so I continued on moving closer. Note that I'm posting these pictures as they were shot and haven't modified the lighting or contrast in Photoshop so you can see exactly what my problem was.

It was pretty cool that this guy was going to be pretty cooperative, I was delighted!

It was great fun that he didn't spook or flinch or even appear to want to leave as I got closer and closer.

I was noticing that I was having some troubles with the lighting - dark shadows that were hiding some really interesting parts of this bird.

I tried driving to the other side of him, but still not getting what I wanted. I was north of the bird and the sun south and slightly west. I couldn't get to the south side of the bird as it was a field and there was likelihood that I might get stuck in there. Mother Nature refused to move the sun to accommodate me, so I worked with what I had.

I wanted to get an action shot of him taking flight. I was alone in the car and hoped that if I focused then blew the horn, turning on my rapid shoot option that I might get a good one of him spreading his wings and leaving. It took some creative moves to get him in focus, hold the camera and shutter with my right hand while honking the horn with my right elbow. I managed it! Mr. Buzzard just stood there and looked at me. Oh, well, fail that move!

Finally he decided that I'd had enough of a turn and he took off for a nice flight with a view of the river below the bluff. Thanks, Mr. Buzzard.

When I got home and pulled up the photos on my computer, I was indeed disappointed with the pictures, as you can easily see the dark spots. I pulled up Photoshop and tried to work with the lighting and contrast, but still, the dark areas were too dark to do any justice. I suppose I must be happy with what I got as an opportunity like this doesn't come along very often!

If you have any suggestions for what I can do in the future, I'd love to hear them.

Happy shooting!

Shooting Action Shots - An Amateur's Frustrating Experience

             

When taking action shots, amateur photographers such as myself can become frustrated. I have a nice camera, which does a lot of great things, super zoom (35X), high resolution, great variety of ways to shoot the shot, effects and so-forth. While taking pictures of my daughter and grandson at the playground, I became very disappointed in a lot of great photos I could have had - had I known how to use my camera properly.

Upon return home, I studied the User's Manual again and about the problems I had. I was not familiar with the fast shooting option of the camera and the User's Manual didn't have any information on it either! The next event that I attended and was taking photos at was an Easter Egg Hunt at a gated community. This neighborhood lined all the children up at one end of the park (which was scattered with over 1500 Easter eggs) and released the children to run and gather as many eggs as they could as fast as they could go! (My thought was, "Gosh, I wish it was this easy to get them to clean their rooms!") Back to the issue of the camera. So, I used that rapid shot mode on my camera, expecting to hear rapid clicks and get rapid shots. NOT! It was tremendously slow! As evidenced by shots seen below:

   

  

When I pushed the shutter button all the way down, the camera would take time to focus, then shoot, focus, then shoot, focus then shoot. By the time it took the picture, the subject matter was long gone! Needless to say, I went back to still shots to get the material needed for the neighborhood's magazine. The picture below is the one we used for the cover:

Still faced with the dilemma, I went to the camera shop where I purchased my camera asking for help! The salesman was very helpful, but I was still left highly disappointed. He helped me to speed up the operation of the camera by explaining that I should first depress the shutter button half way to assure myself of the focus I wanted then to depress it the remainder of the way to obtain faster shots. My disappointment - this camera was only capable of a shot every 1.3 seconds until the disc becomes full. That is EXTREMELY slow! But it is what I had.

The camera salesman showed me other models that shoot rapid-fire - well, those are not in my budget at the present. I figured that I'd make do with what I had. And I still love this camera as it has allowed me to take fabulous photos that many people have been amazed with.

Still, the rapid fire shooting was nagging me. A few days ago, while shopping at Costco, I browsed through the camera section, just in an attempt to see what they had available and what type of rapid fire cameras they had on their shelves. I stumbled across a very small camera that was offered and boasted 10 fps (frames per second) shutter speed! To my delight, the price tag was within reach - $149.00. I swooped up the camera and brought it home with me. Joy!

Then I began trying to find the setting to the rapid fire. Try as I may, I couldn't find it. This camera is a different brand that the one I had been using. And small - as I said - it is TINY - not much bigger than a stack of credit cards. I took the camera back to Costco and asked for help there. The assistant was very helpful and found the setting and proceeded to fire off a rapid ten shots! YES! Then it stopped. I looked puzzled. The assistant explained that yes, the camera CAN shoot 10 fps, but then it has to load them before you can shoot another 10. AARRRGGGHHH, I can see a problem here! But, it is a small improvement over the other camera. I asked him how to find the setting, and he told me, "Just leave it there, you may never find it again." Big Eye Roll. I came home and studied the Owner's Manual and did find how to find the settings so I'm good there. I'll keep the camera, as it has great resolution and 10X zoom. The 10 fps can come in handy and the price is right. 

Below shows a first practice session with the 10 fps setting.

 

As you can see a LOT happened in that one second period. I also see problems I have to work with here. Focus is one major thing; second, following the subject with the camera will take lots of practice. It's hard to see the viewfinder in an outdoor setting. It could also be beneficial as this is a high resolution camera to zoom out then crop the photos. The pictures would still be in good enough resolution for print.

I'll see if I can get a willing human subject to practice with. Hmmmm, my grandson at play may be just the thing! I'll be making some plans to practice more.

As I learn and experience when practicing or just taking shots, I'll share in future blogs. Any comments you would like to make that can add to the information on this subject are encouraged and appreciated!

Happy Shooting!

Learning Perspective Related to Photography

Perspective can make or break a photo. As an amateur, I'm just learning this in many regards. One photo I shot while taking pictures of a family on their cattle ranch took me by surprise when I was reviewing the shots to choose the photos for their story. This photo was what really tipped me off on the perspective issue in creating great or not so great photos.

Have a look at this photo:

Although the small cow is standing far in the distance, just the accidental perspective of this shot makes it appear that it's a mini-mini cow atop the subject bow's back. Rather fun, but not the intention of the person looking through the view finder.

This "discovery" awakened me to the necessity of keeping in mind perspective when preparing to click for the shot. Not only distance between objects can make a big difference, but the angle from which you take a picture. Imagine taking a picture of a long hallway. Stand straight in the center and take the shot right straight down the hall. Next try standing to the left or the right. Then from high and low. 

Also, there must be the perspective of light - the direction the light is coming from can totally change the subject.

I'm sure there are more areas of "perspective" that are to be considered, your input is encouraged. I'll also do some reading up on the matter to see what I can learn.

It's time for this amateur to practice some of this perspective photography - with various objects and situations. We'll revisit this subject at a later date, with some comparison photos of perspective.

Happy Clicking Everybody!

Framing Your Subject - The First Lesson I Learned

The very first lesson that I learned about photography was to frame my subject. As a child I viewed many family photos that were taken by a lot of members of my family. Matter of fact, my sister - just yesterday - posted several photos to Facebook of our family probably 15 years ago. She mentioned that she had thousands of photos to go through!

I remember distinctly seeing pictures where many people's heads were cut off - I'm sure you've experienced the same thing. Or the photo of the family on vacation - the grouping of everybody standing in front of the ocean. Oddly enough, the photographer was standing so far away from the "subject" of the photo that all you saw was a small grouping of people in the center of a large picture of just water and sand. None of the faces were recognizable. 

As I became old enough to pick up a camera on my own (back in the days of the Instamatic with the Cube flash), I was acutely aware of the fear of cutting people's heads off or loosing the subject matter to competing surroundings. Early on people commented on my good pictures.

The owl pictured above was a very willing subject for me recently at the zoo. She is used in the Winged Wonders Bird Show at our local zoo and is happy to be on first hand display to the departing audience. I was excited at this opportunity for a close-up shot of this fabulous raptor. When seeing the outcome of this shot, I was happy. UNTIL it came time to frame the picture to hang on my wall. I ordered a nice 12 X 12 print and the eyes were stunning. Once I tried to put it behind a matte, then frame it I ran into a problem... I had framed my subject so tightly the I had trouble not cutting off the tufts on the top. I finally gave up and mounted it on a board and I hung it unframed.

This golden eagle was another willing subject on the same day. I framed this fellow much better allowing for the framing and matting. 

With new technology, we can even sit at our own homes and order prints at local photo development shops. The programs allow us to choose the size of the photo and crop it as we wish for developing. We have to remember about cropping too closely and allow for the matte and frame around the subject.

I'm still learning about utilizing colors in the matting, that's a blog for another day.