The Shutter Priority

Did you know that changing your shutter speed can change the feeling on your images!

This handsome young man is constantly on the go! What better way to capture that spirit and the energy he has than to slow my shutter slightly and capture some motion blur as he waves his hands at me?  If you don't do anything too drastic you won't have a super blurry mess! The secret to this is CONTROL! A little change makes a big difference!

Verte Tip: Shooting a sporting event? Set your camera to the "sports mode" It sets your camera to a fast shutter which FREEZES action! (Or use the S priority (shutter speed) and do it manually!)

Priorities

One of the easiest ways to highlight your subject is to control your depth of field... otherwise known as your aperture.

How MUCH of your subject is in focus. Below is my photo of the day, a bracelet that was in the studio recently crafted by Crafty Gal Creations. I selected a shallow depth of field, or a SMALL aperture setting so that the front would be in focus and the back would blur, drawing your eye to the details in front.

Remember, the smaller your aperture setting (f2.0 or f1.8 etc.) the MORE light you are letting in, and the less depth of field you will have. If I wanted to shoot the same image and have it all in focus I would have turned up my lights and selected a higher number of aperture perhaps a f8, or f11) to create that effect.

Verte Tip: Aperture settings can be selected on MOST cameras! If your camera has the options for P, S,A, M you can select A for Aperture priority so you can select the Aperture and your camera will adjust the rest for you to create the proper exposure! If you have a point and shoot without those manual settings look for the "flower mode" in your presents - this typically has a smaller aperture, where the "mountain" mode is a larger aperture (meaning everything would be in focus)

Join me!

I've heard your comments! So YES! Here it is, this is the list of the words I will be continuing with in Feb for my monthly photo challenge! If you want to join along I would love to see what they inspire from you!

Now, I am a realist! So, I choose to do my PAD challenge a bit different! You get ONE word for the week... and the challenge for me comes from how to represent that word in 5 different ways. (For me a week is M-F... but feel free to include weekends in your personal challenge!

I also include not only the image, but the thoughts on that image, along with a photography tip... or  'how-to' information with each of my images! So you get to learn a little bit along the way!

Scintilate

scin·til·late

[sin-tl-eyt] Show IPA

verb (used without object), scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing.

1.

to emit sparks.

2.

to sparkle; flash: a mind that scintillates with brilliance.

3.

to twinkle, as the stars. 

Today is Dictionary day!!! In our school they celebrate by dressing up as words for the day!  

I wish I could take credit for the fantastic word... however I owe the idea to the fab Kristina from 

http://www.joyfullysmitten.com/

I thought that it was the perfect note to end our week on! 

Keep on shining!

Warmth

Today I thought I would bring you a little sunshine! During the winter months we often forget how bright, and fast summer comes! This was a quick something I snapped in between clients in CO last summer.

Sometimes it pays to stop, and smell the flowers around you.

VERTE TIP: Open your mind! Just because you are out shooting portraits, or animals at the zoo.... doesn't mean there isn't another opportunity if you simply look for it! 

The Reflection Advantage

For this weeks last "retrospect" image I am going to take a look at one more way you can use reflection in your images. Anytime you have water, you have opportunity! This doesn't just apply to lakes, pools or other calm bodies of water although those are the most common. You can also take advantage of reflection off of water droplets, bubbles and wet sand, like I did below!

©Verte Photo Image available for purchase in my shop

This image was taken at sunset in CA on the beach. While most people think that is where the orange tones come from (the orange warm glow of the sunset light) that was not the whole of it! In truth there was a brick colored home much further back on the beach, but at the right angle, and with a smaller aperture I managed to blur the reflection of the house keeping the color but not the detail.


Happy Shooting!

Product reflection

It's a two-fer day!! Here are two examples of how to achieve a reflection in your product photography. 

©Verte Photo / Product supplied by Melli's Trinkets /Melli's YarnWorks

The grey is a reflective background, it is a super gloss finish and when combined with proper lighting it captures a reflection of the product on it. For the home photographer you can achieve this on a white background by picking up a poster board at your local craft store that is a reusable dry erase board. It will be white - but that tends to be better for the home photographer to use due to lighting anyways :)

©Verte Photo / Product provided by Streeter Ltd now Studio1241

This image shows you an alternate way to achieve a reflective surface on any color of background. By using a sheet of plexiglass. You don't see the line on the background where the paper underneath the plexiglass rolls up to create the seamless look because of the aperture setting (shallow depth of field) This was shot at a F3.5 keeping my product sharp, and creating blur everywhere else. Since it is a solid surface you don't see the actual blur so it is not distracting to the image. It simply hides the plexiglass (scratches on it, and the line behind the product from where it stops and the paper continues)

Family

One hundred years.

That's a long time.

It's even longer when you look at it in one image. This image was over 5 years ago, but I can't help reflect back on the moment while we explore our topic this week. This was taken on the weekend of by grandpa's 100th birthday, just months after my daughters birth. We are extremely lucky that my child has gotten to know her Great Grandpa, who is still living on his own, alone and every bit as feisty (and maybe more so) then we remember. When you reflect back on those things that are important to you this week, I hope that you have a few simple memories like this.

VERTETIP: Looking at the camera isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes the true expressions in the moment are much... MUCH more important. Capture the moment, not the perfect shot.