The most important aspect of your photography is what causes you to take a picture in the first place. Often the impetus is a definite subject, such as a familiar face, or a landscape, or wildlife. Next comes an awareness of the context of your subject, such as background and lighting. From there you start thinking about the basic composition elements such as the rule of thirds, balance, leading lines, framing, depth of field etc. After taking the image comes the process of post processing. Some of you “purists” minimize this aspect to basic cropping, however there is a whole world of amazing possibilities with Photoshop or Lightroom or any photo software for that matter.
The object of this challenge is to find inspiration from the images you have taken in the past, or images you have seen that inspire you. Then really think about the images you would like to create before you pick up your camera. Then go out and intentionally and carefully compose your new photos “in-camera”. Then optionally use your favourite photo software to create your final image.
Two Photography YouTube channels you might want to consider for philosophical inspiration are Sean Tucker and Ted Forbes
One source of inspiration could be the “The 2024 Best Photography from the CALL Digital Photography Group”
My motivation for taking pictures is mainly about capturing beauty and then savouring it . This can be in a photo album, a framed picture on a wall or on a computer screen. I try to compose the image as much as possible “in-camera” but often find that there are many things that interfere. Such as lighting conditions, and ugly distractions. Here are a few images that demonstrate the sequence from an average to much better image.
The intent of the image above was to “over shoot” to later crop the image. I wanted to focus on the eye, torso and main markings on the wing. Here is a first crop.
The main distraction here is the light area in the upper right hand corner. I “selected” this area and then used AI to “remove” it.
I went to the conservatory to photograph the caterpillars. The idea was to have beauty in an unlikely subject. I had trouble getting a clear image last time. This time I used the flash in the camera but very reduced in intensity. Iso 400 105mm f13 1/200
I had an ICM of the butterflies flying around and used it a backdrop for the composite. The other thought of the image is the cycle of life
Stunning caterpillar and great choice of ICM background.
My grandsons are probably my most photographed subjects.
A while back I realized that even though I had opportunities, I didn’t capture good images for many of my relatives. For the past few years, I have tried to document the story of my own family while I pursue my photographic hobby. We all have memories and stories that are important, and they need to be recorded
1/800 sec @ f6.3, ISO 320 Edited in Lightroom
Great action shot Paul! I agree. After my mother died, my sister thanked me for being such a good “documentarian.” I’d never thought of myself like that, but even 20 years before I got into journalism I was taking pictures of my family and friends with the Brownie box camera my mother gave me when I was eight. (She won it curling and already had her own rangefinder.)
Thanks Frankie. Every family needs a documentarian. That is a word I should start using.
What matters most to me is my family with a smattering of pets and animals thrown in for good measure. I love taking pictures of my grandchildren in action and interacting with each other, either in sports, pets, nature or family time. I really got into photography 15 years ago when my daughter and I went to Africa and then when my grandchildren starting arriving, everything really changed in another direction. My mother was our family “documentarian” and I have countless film albums. I was so glad when I discovered digital! This is one of my favorite pictures of my granddaughter when she was 5. She just turned 15. Bootsy is now 10.
Beautiful shot. People in action and interacting are my two main areas of interest also, although I mainly shoot strangers (no grandkids).
I mainly like to photograph landscapes. These were taken last week on a (rare this year…) sunny day at Healy pass (taken with cell phone)
and the flowers were amazing…
Gorgeous photos!
What matters to me, in photography, is that if I present an image as a photograph it should be one. Post processing, I judge it by asking myself ‘if I were a decent photographer and the conditions were right could I have produced approximately the same shot in-camera’. I shot this photo with the intention of creating a ghostly scene. But I blew it. Shutter speed was one notch too fast. The other shots too slow or subject movement was not right, etc. So I used LR to soften the entire image, darken here and lightening it there, a little sharpening and voila. Could have sort of been done with filters and judicious placement of lighting etc. Not that I strictly live up to these ideals, but I try.
Very cool effect!
This exercise caused me to think what I liked to photograph. The answer is what I do not like to photograph. Birds just don’t do it for me. If an opportunity comes along I will take it. Mostly, meh! I should have gotten excited about that humming bird I posted last session. They are so freaking fast. Did not. But I did enjoy learning how to shoot hummingbirds. For example, this bird would feed at feeder a few seconds and fly backward about 1 1/2 ft, hover stationary for a few seconds and back at the feeder. Did this over and over. I noticed she/he went back and hovered to the exact same spot each time. So I set the focus point for that spot and waited with burst shooting ready. Got some real sharp shots. But if I had to choose, I like shooting ephemeral moments. Requires one to scan and anticipate something that may happen.
Oops, I explained what matters to me in the Photographer’s Choice section. It’s about the feeling a photograph evokes. I should add the adage, A picture is worth a thousand words. I.e., it can tell a story. That’s why I like to shoot people doing things or interacting with each other.
I went to Fish Creek Park on Saturday to check out the Canada Paints Plein Air Competition. It was charming! There were 54 entrants. Sadly I left my Canon on the hood of my husband’s car in the garage while I was adding a quart of oil to my old car. I did have the 40 mm Ricoh with me, but it’s acting up and I didn’t get as many shots as I would have liked.
ISO 800, 40 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 s
I got fed up with banging the Ricoh against my metal wrist brace to smarten it up and took out my iPhone. This family group off in the distance struck me as very unusual so I took a quick shot with the phone’s so-called telephoto lens (52 mm) before they got too close. I want to know more about them. Why are they dressed like that? Why is the stroller empty? Are they enjoying the beautiful day in the park? Why are they walking so close together? They look so timid.
Another iPhone shot. I only put one photo in Photographer’s Choice so I thought I’d sneak another one in here. This was the scene down by the river. The creek was brown thanks to all the rain lately. Most of the artists were scattered throughout the forest.
I enjoy photographing flora and fauna. I also enjoy taking photos of landscapes and pets. This photo is of plant life and water is from the Bearspaw area – 1/160 sec. @ f/7.1, 50mm, ISO 100 using an EF 24-105mm lens. Edited in Lightroom.
To me, photography began in high school, during my grade 10 Graphics Arts class, where I learned about shooting and developing film. This first picture could well be my first 35mm photo taken with the school’s Yashica rangefinder camera. The negative has gotten a little scatchy, but cleaned it up and not so bad, taken in 1973 Saskatoon Weir.
My photos are works in progress, I think about the art aspect and my vast collection of slides which haven’t been digitized, and the stories they could potentially tell…..
One photographic subject which I really enjoy is flowers. All types and colours, the closer the better. Tack sharp focusing fading into soft background colour with hints of lines drawing you into the subject.
The apple blossoms were in RiverPark this spring, taken with my cell phone.
Having problems loading this picture is the last one I took with my phone in macro setting.